Hi Need some guidance here. Whilst in a private car park ( Wickes , Carpet Warehouse , etc ) My car was damaged by a run away trolley. I was leaning aginst the car and the trolley rolled away from the a individual loading her car up.

As the trolley was a heavy one Sure enough a dent and scratches on the whell arch. Numbers etc were exchanged etc.

Several repair quotes were obtained £250 and £350 I am now in the position where the other party are saying the dent was already there , it was just scatrches recieved by the trolley. requesting 3 quotes just for the scratch repair.

Whats the best way to proceed ? I have an excess of £250 and its not been notified to Insurance co yet

Pxxd off

If you involve your insurance company, you will lose NCB and have the claim recorded on your policy. Do not involve them.

In my view £250 seems a lot for damage done by a trolley and I would also dispute the claim if you were looking for that amount from me. You should get more quotes and don't say to the garage that someone else will be paying otherwise they'll quote another silly amount. You could get the whole car painted for the sort of money that you are talking about.

I imagine if you contact the other person and ask for £50, they will just post you a cheque. If you ask for hundreds they will probably contine to say that it wasn't their fault or that the damage wasn't as bad as to warrant that sort of cost.

You could go down the road of a small claims court action but, in my view, the outcome would not be certain and additional costs will be incurred.

Maxsteam--- You could get the whole car painted for the sort of money that you are talking about.

Geeez Max ....When was the last time you had any bodywork or a respray done by a reliable bodyshop. ? You will be charged around that just for preparing, masking off and re-spraying a single panel these days. !! .....Granted, it gets a little cheaper the more work you have done at the same time...but. .?

Max has suggested the most sensible approach is not to involve insurance at all though, just go to the other party and persuade them it's in both your best interests to just go halves for cash, or even invite them to get a price off a bodyshop who they deal with if they don't believe the quotes you supply.