Is this fair?

[Cheeese]

Morning,

A couple of weeks ago whilst carrying some furniture from the garage to the garden, I managed to drop some onto the bonnet of our neighbours car. Causing a small dent and a couple of scratches I got a quote to have this repaired and let them know what happened when they returned home. The cost of the repair was £370.00, which I have budgeted for and fully accept.

They work for Honda and it's a Honda UK company car. The company have said they will not accept a repair and want a new bonnet, they will only accept the work being done by themselves. The car in question is a 72 plate 1.4L Jazz. This is the quote they have presented:
Bonnet - £163.43
Bonnet labour - 0.4H
Paint - £169.42
Painting labour - 5.7H
Associated work labour - 1.4H
Labour cost @ £25ph - £177.50
Label air conditioner £0.79
Label battery information £4.89
Label coolant information £2.01
Total £518.05
Vat 20%
Total - £621.66


I hold my hands up and admit fault, but am questioning the need for a new bonnet. I will try and upload pictures of the damage when I can, but the damage looks to be miniscule. The dent is perhaps the size of a tennis ball and the scratches aren't deep and only a couple of inches in length (x3)
Is the pricing fair?
Can they force the replacement to be done by themselves or can I insist on secondary quotes?
Can I say that I will pay for a repair but not a replacement?
I assume this is not covered by any of my home or car insurance, but I think I can ask them to claim through insurance. Is this the wrong thing to do? I think I would then cover the excess. As it's a company car, with insurance I would assume this wouldn't effect my neighbours no claims?
Would a bonnet really take 5.7H of labour to paint?

I will do the right thing, but £600 is a lot of money at the moment so I just want to make sure I have covered all bases.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

[vikingaero]

Cheeese said:

Morning,

A couple of weeks ago whilst carrying some furniture from the garage to the garden, I managed to drop some onto the bonnet of our neighbours car. Causing a small dent and a couple of scratches I got a quote to have this repaired and let them know what happened when they returned home. The cost of the repair was £370.00, which I have budgeted for and fully accept.

They work for Honda and it's a Honda UK company car. The company have said they will not accept a repair and want a new bonnet, they will only accept the work being done by themselves. The car in question is a 72 plate 1.4L Jazz. This is the quote they have presented:
Bonnet - £163.43
Bonnet labour - 0.4H
Paint - £169.42
Painting labour - 5.7H
Associated work labour - 1.4H
Labour cost @ £25ph - £177.50
Label air conditioner £0.79
Label battery information £4.89
Label coolant information £2.01
Total £518.05
Vat 20%
Total - £621.66


I hold my hands up and admit fault, but am questioning the need for a new bonnet. I will try and upload pictures of the damage when I can, but the damage looks to be miniscule. The dent is perhaps the size of a tennis ball and the scratches aren't deep and only a couple of inches in length (x3)
Is the pricing fair?
Can they force the replacement to be done by themselves or can I insist on secondary quotes?
Can I say that I will pay for a repair but not a replacement?
I assume this is not covered by any of my home or car insurance, but I think I can ask them to claim through insurance. Is this the wrong thing to do? I think I would then cover the excess. As it's a company car, with insurance I would assume this wouldn't effect my neighbours no claims?
Would a bonnet really take 5.7H of labour to paint?

I will do the right thing, but £600 is a lot of money at the moment so I just want to make sure I have covered all bases.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Quote, paint and parts look reasonable. People still get stuck into the idea of £xx mates rates to repair cars. If it's tennis ball sized with paint damage then would a smart repair be feasible?

The owner of the vehicle (Honda UK) can choose who they want to repair the car. For most people, getting a sample of quotes would be normal, but why would a car company go to another company to repair the damage? Let's say I own a fridge company and you damage my fridge. It would be absurd for you to insist on another fridge company repairing it.

If you ask for an insurance claim and to pay the excess, then the Insurer can come after you for the full amount anyway. If you're paying an excess then look at claiming under the Public Liability section of your home insurance policy.

[paintman]

Bonnets are difficult.
The whole panel has to be painted, you can't do small area repairs on them.
ANY minor imperfections will stick out like sore thumbs.
Likely to be more cost effective on a common car to fit a new bonnet than several hours of panel beating & filler work.
Probable that the wings may need some paintwork to avoid noticeable differences between them & the bonnet.

I don't think the price is unreasonable.

As to insisting on the getting cheaper quotes elsewhere, if this was your nearly new car and someone else damaged it would you be happy with a cheap backstreet job & the potential effect when it comes up for sale?

If you don't want to pay then consider that Honda will go ahead with the repair they want & sue you in the small claims court.

Edited by paintman on Tuesday 9th May 09:37

[SteBrown91]

Ultimately the car post lease will be supplied as approved used to a Honda main dealer (thats were virtually all ex employee cars go) so they will want it to meet approved standard, and not have a blob of filler in the bonnet.

If you were to get your car repaired via insurance then they would replace the bonnet.

[TwinKam]

Yes it's fair, you damaged their car and it needs to be returned to how it was prior to the incident, ie virtually brand new, virtually perfect.
Incidentally, the labour rate is extraordinarily kind... £25 ph?... looks like they are doing that at 'staff rates' or something., bite their arms off.

[QJumper]

A tennis ball sized dent sounds quite big. Personally, if it was my car, I'd want a proper repair, rather than just a touch up. I think they're being reasonable in their demands and fair on the price.

[FWIW]

Would your home insurance cover this?

[Pica-Pica]

OP, if you had a 72 plate car, wouldn’t you want the best repair possible?

[Leptons]

Bonnets don’t fill well. The repair always sinks with the heat and stands out like a sore thumb. Sorry OP, you’ll have to suck this one up I’m afraid!

[Smint]

£25 an hour labour rate is unheard of in this country, overall i think their quote is very reasonable.

Your home insurance might cover this, certainly worth asking.

[edthefed]

Have you considered that if its a Honda UK owned car or supplied by Honda on a staff scheme there may be a requirement to have damage repaired by a Honda dealer ?

[Jaska]

Not sure £300-ish price difference is worth pissing off someone who lives so close to your house either...

[jamieduff1981]

I also immediately noticed the £25/hr* - they're doing you a favour there. That'll be their internal cost rate to pay the person doing the spraying, not the fully burdened sales rate they'd charge anyone else.

I think you're being offered all this at cost. I get that it's still a big chunk of money, but I'm not sure you'll get close to the quality of repair the owner of the vehicle expects going anywhere else.

• I don't own a bodyshop but do have some knowledge of cost to employ someone. There's rate to person, an insurance burden, pension contribution, employer's NI contribution and a burden for sick leave and holidays. You can usually work on a ratio of something like 1.3 to 1.4 times the rate to person to get the total cost to business of employing a person. Working that backwards, the person doing the prep and paint will be on £18-19/hr which doesn't seem outrageous.

Edited by jamieduff1981 on Thursday 11th May 12:23

[James6112]

Label air conditioner £0.79
Label battery information £4.89
Label coolant information £2.01

How petty are they?

Thanks for the heads up, will avoid Honda as my next car !

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

James6112 said:

Label air conditioner £0.79
Label battery information £4.89
Label coolant information £2.01

How petty are they?

I think that it will be sold on as an approved used car previously owned by Honda themselves, like another poster has said, so they require it to be put back to its original condition. If that means it requires new decals, then that is fair.

[Sheepshanks]

jamieduff1981 said:

I also immediately noticed the £25/hr* - they're doing you a favour there. That'll be their internal cost rate to pay the person doing the spraying, not the fully burdened sales rate they'd charge anyone else.

I think you're being offered all this at cost. I get that it's still a big chunk of money, but I'm not sure you'll get close to the quality of repair the owner of the vehicle expects going anywhere else.

• I don't own a bodyshop but do have some knowledge of cost to employ someone. There's rate to person, an insurance burden, pension contribution, employer's NI contribution and a burden for sick leave and holidays. You can usually work on a ratio of something like 1.3 to 1.4 times the rate to person to get the total cost to business of employing a person. Working that backwards, the person doing the prep and paint will be on £18-19/hr which doesn't seem outrageous.

Aren't bodyshops going bust left, right and centre as insurance companies will only pay them £25/hr?


OP: Your house insurance might cover this under occupier's liability to third parties. It covered damage a colleagues kid did to a neighbours car when he rode his trike into it.