Right.

To cut the strory short - I very slightly damaged another car with my wingmirror in a small, congested, London street.

The damage is very superficial and is simply surface damage to the paintwork, which, in my opinion (!), will easily polish out and will incur minimal cost to sort out.

My question is - do I have to make a claim on my insurance? If no, how can I ensure that the 3rd party is not going to go to some "matey" garage and come back with a ridiculous quote? Can I also have a say in which vendor he/she uses to get the paintwork sorted? (Am keen as a very close friend runs his own garage and I can get this easily sorted in the cheap-far cheaper than an my excess and the resulting increase in premiums etc!!!) What can I do if he does come back with what I consider an "unjustified" amount? Is there anything I can do to demand getting a second quote for example?

Any thoughts?

Hi,

You don't have to make a claim on your insurance but it's down to the 3rd party really and what they want to do. Have you tried talking to the 3rd party? Just ask them if you can do this. Unless your mates garage is not reputable or the 3rd party is a bit of knob, you might just be able to do this.

JJ

No you dont have to make a claim on your car insurance, however if negociations between u and the third party do not settle you may need to report the incident to them just in case he/she does.

You have no say in where the third party take their car to be repaired however you can obtain a quote for the work to be undertaken to compare quotes. He/she may be reasonable and let you repair the vehicle.