Put it in perspective.
I have a Toyota van type car. A kid about 14, moved his bike between my van and another van. He has the wide handlebars. He scraped both vehicles as he rode through, the full length of the vehicle. Brand new car scraped down into the metal and dented. For repair of the entire side I first had to go to 3 body shops(I went to 5) and get a price estimation. It ranged from $400 to $1500 to fix this gouge and paint the side of the van.
As my insurance was going to cover it, I chose the most costliest shop once I got the okay to go ahead(because I could). The work done by any shop has to meet with my approval(or they have to do it again)-$400 or $1500.
. So I am wondering what he is claiming that takes $2000.00
.You can repaint the car for that and do body work.
. No shop of any quality strips off an old paint job. They spot sand...and if the dent was not noticeable, they would have just used rubbing compound and buffed it out...not even applying paint as you just marred the car (kind of like soaping windows Halloween night) so the buffing compound just takes off the finest layer(like using 5000grit sandpaper) and basically polish it up again. I paint cars so kind of know how it is done.
He and the bodyshop are screwing with you. Screw him back and say you are going through insurance so they got to see the damage...and they have their own estimators as to how much it is going to cost to get fixed. Insurance dictates the cost. Bodyshops live with it.
Later, a sawhorse fell on the hood and put a dent in it plus a scratch. That is $500 at the same body shop and they are only doing the "hood" as the dent is as large as my fist. Very obvious. Am leaving it alone until I get a front ender where it really has to be repaired. That could be 20 years from now or never.
It isn't a good idea to go around backing into cars that belong to someone else: they may not share your opinion of that it's a "tiny scratch", may well think more of their property than you do and want it repaired properly.
It would be entirely possible to leave NO visible marks, but still damage the impact bar behind the trim you look at as well as other bits.
Yes, call your insurance company and think about being more respectful of other people's property as your insurance premium increases.
Talk to your insurance company. Since there was no police report, you may not be liable for anything. It sounds like you are being ripped off, because what should be happening is that the repairs should be done and the bill be sent directly to your insurance company or yourself.
If it was on an panel where they would have to repaint the whole section I could understand, but even then $2000 would be still over the top.
If you have the make of car, then why not research this yourself, it sounds to me that he is just trying it on!
Were there any witnesses?
It really depends on the car and the paint used. You should be able to ask him to come to another, reputable shop for your own estimate and then decide. I would suggest NOT trying to take him to some rinkydink $300 shop like maako or whatever...
In some cases, they have to strip and re-paint a bumper, if not replace the entire part. Get the estimate in writing and get him to get at least one more from another place
You can replace a whole bumper for less than 500 bucks. He's screwing you. Call your insurance company and let them deal with it like you should have in the first place.
Read this article on the dangers of trying to settle an accident without your insurance company. You're playing with fire here
http://ricksfreeautorepairadvice.com/do-...
Time to get out of the middle of this and call your insurance company. They do this sort of thing with cheaters all day long.
I can tell you exactly what the issues are with the $2000.00 figure to fix the scratch - AFTER you tell us what the estimate says. Until then we are all just guessing!!! STOP GUESSING PEOPLE!!!!
Today I was backing up and slightly tapped a car. I left an unnoticeable scratch on his Bumper car but I immediately apologized and was willing to pay for his car because it was MY FAULT. He refused to call the police and took down my information and called me with estimate of 2,000. In my head, I'm like what? I thought I would have to pay $500 or maybe even 1,000 for such a tiny scratch but 2,000? Is that how much it usually cost? If so, I will have to pay the amount but I just don't want to be sure I am not being ripped off
The hit-ee (you) calls police. Hope you learn from your screw-up.
2K would repaint the whole vehicle, professionally,
