Argument with a concrete bollard (the car lost)

[mrrossi]

Hi all

As per the subject line... sadly, we now have a large dent & scratch in the drivers side door. Thankfully, it didn't extend to the rear panel*.

Any advice on next steps:

1) Get a 2nd hand door. For this car they're around £250-300 and I may be able to sell the lock for over £100 as they have a known issue and rare (I should know, just had to replace the left door lock - shame it wasn't that door that got damaged!!). There's the "faff factor" though - removing the door, swapping the locks, fitting the door and getting alignment right, and then there may be a colour mismatch too. May need some tools I don't have, and I've got a bad(ish) arm, so I'm put off this option, even though it's the cheapest. Although my inner "I can do it" is telling me to do it!!

2) Go down the insurance route. Would have to pay £250 excess. Problem is, I made a claim (first since passing my test in 1995!) only 2-3 years back and now another... even with NCB protection, it'll still affect my future insurance costs, right? It was also such a pain last time and took forever to get sorted.

3) Just get the damned thing repaired locally. Cheapest quote so far is £475 and he'll spray the rear panel to merge the colours nicely too and even fix a small ding he spotted on said wing.

Thoughts, opinions?? If I'd found a quote for around £350-375 I would have just got it done but £475 is making me consider options 1 and 2...

Cheers
Rx

[alscar]

Firstly no one knows yet what if anything your Ins will increase by.
Secondly if you go the Insurance route you don’t as yet know whether they will accept the £475 estimate.
After the excess though the difference is £225 so for that if you are paying privately arguably you might be protecting the value of the repaired car to an extent.
Personally I think I’d be paying myself especially as the bollard won’t be claiming.

[Robertb]

For the sake of the extra £100 or so over your ‘target’ I’d go with the local repair.

An insurance claim will cost you more once you’ve paid the excess and premium load.

[brillomaster]

What car is it, and how much do you want to keep it? Low value cars get written off by insurers for the smallest things, so think carefully before claiming on insurance.

[mrrossi]

Thanks all.

It's a 2004 Maserati Coupe (4200) which we only bought a couple of months back for around £14k. Idea is to keep for approximately a year.

[Sebring440]

mrrossi said:

If I'd found a quote for around £350-375 I would have just got it done but £475 is making me consider options 1 and 2...

It's a £14K Maserati and you're quibbling over 3 or 4 hundred quid?

[mrrossi]

Sebring440 said:

It's a £14K Maserati and you're quibbling over 3 or 4 hundred quid?

Ha!! Yup.

If I hadn't quibbled over a few hundred pounds here and there on a regular basis over the last 30 odd years then I wouldn't have been able to buy the Maserati

Anyhoo. It's more about "the best" option rather than the cheapest. Arguable the insurance route is the cheapest, outright anyway - but it's that premium load and not knowing how much that'll cost long term. The general consensus here seems to be... it'll cost more.

Point to note actually. It wasn't me driving, it was the missus. I don't think she's had a claim in the last 10 years or so, so that may be better... or worse. It's my insurance with her added on top, but the plan was to sell her Micra soon and when my insurance runs out, for her to insurance as the main driver, and me gon on hers. This way, neither of us loose our NCB, and we both drive the car an equal amount to be fair.

(Note: I didn't state the type of car and the fact it was my missus driving from the start as, in my former experience, that tends to lead to unhelpful and snarky or s3xist comments!!)

Thanks again all