Working outside the house this evening, with spanking new V70 outside, I heard a bang.
Looking up, I saw the young lad from a neighbouring house picking up his bike...next to the offside rear corner of the V70.
Uh Oh. My heart sank.
"I didn't hit it mister.
"Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure", he said as he pedalled away.
Of course, he had hit it, so I calmly walked to the offender's house, where I met Mum, and explained the problem. She called matey.
"Did you hit this man's car?"
Over the next minute we went in stages from outright denial, to "It was my hand". Some knuckles he must have!
With this, the three of us walked to the car, and when the damage was seen, his Mum asked him again if he had caused the scrape.
At this, he copped.
Now the best bit:
"Well count yourself lucky it's only a Volvo and not a Merc like ours", says Mum. "At least it'll be cheap, so we won't need to take your pocket money to fix it".
The cheek of it.
The scratch is quite long, but I think most of it will polish out, which I would prefer to a resprayed (pearlescent paint) wing.
The section that won't is the fuel flap, in which the scratch is indeed a scrape, horizontally along the middle.
Hopefully Volvo can sell a prepainted fuel flap, but if not, repair (fill and feather spray out to the shut line) should be easy and 'invisible'.
The reason I parked the car where I did was because when I left the previous car on the other side of the house, it got scraped by either a skateboard or bush bike, as well as assaulted by grit laden footballs!
I can't win!
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Ah well - at least it's only a Volvo ;)
(joke, don't get angry..)
Seriously though, good thing you caught the little runt, and even better that his Mum seems so supportive.
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To be honest, the Mum sounds a bit of an expletive to me.
HF
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You don't even want to know how big I would make the bill if someone said that to me...
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Hey, it's only a kid!
Just extend the hand of friendship and tell him he's welcome to leave his bicycle near your car at anytime - next to the front wheels would be good...
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Get the statement in writing before they change their minds (especially if it costs dearly). People change their minds when they see the bill and want to 'negotiate'.
My coleague ran me over on my bicycle (I can mention bicycles here can't I?) but instantly agreed to pay for a new wheel as they don't ride very well when they're in a figure of '8' kinda shape.
I keep my bike muddy and manky on purpose to avoid it gettin nicked in York but I did warn her that the bicycle is quite a nice one and it was a hand-built wheel she'd just squished.
She came out with some interesting phrases and suggestions when presented with the three-figure bill ... but paid in the end
rojer@lycos.co.uk
Astra, Renault 18, Renault 25 TXi, Astra Est, Passat Est, Mercedes 190E, Mercedes
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Desperately trying to see the good side I can think of only two;
1) A false denial is better than the "#$$!@ off, #@%$%" which seems the norm.
2) She didn't argue about whether or not she should pay
These days I have a feeling that that counts as a positively winning situation. Although having said that, I might have done the same when I was a kid, and so might my Mother - although hopefully without the comment.
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Am I the only one who thinks that a comment like that makes her look stupid AND snobbish - try getting the same paint job done on a Lada as a Mercedes and see if there's any noticeable difference in price... there might be on the panels, but that's not what we're talking about here?
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Well, most of it did indeed polish out, and the only part needing professional attention is the filler cap. Autoglym Super Resin polish, which contains a very mild cutting agent, did the biz.
Volvo do not supply filler flaps pre-painted out of the box, so the most cost effective option is to repair the original one.
£65 will be the damage.
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"Volvo do not supply filler flaps pre-painted out of the box"
That's right - they don't even supply the colour coded mud flaps. Having said that, it probably wouldn't match as well if the car was older.
I think the fact they owned up is worth the cheek! Anyway, it's odd that she thinks being ripped by Mercedes for repairs is some kind of badge of achievement.
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You are aware that sonny is insured, aren't you?
I had a similar case with a lad riding a mountain bike who scratched my car.
A policeman saw him and we went to see his dad.
Dad's house insurance covers public liability claims and I got my money through his policy.
Claim. It's your right and will focus his mum's mind.
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My sister's (silver) Xantia had the filler lid prised off by a vandal. We bought a green metallic one from a scrappie for a tenner, flatted it lightly with wet and dry then sprayed with an aerosol and fitted it. It's surprisingly good - can hardly see any difference. Might be worth a go.
I agree with other posters, though, if you can get it off them, do so. It will certainly be a much-needed lesson.
Once had a footmark shaped dent in the back of a Renault 11. I was given the name and address of the culprit. He confessed. I spoke to the police and they said they couldn't do anything because it would just cause paperwork and wouldn't get to court!!
The duty sergeant actually said, 'If it was me, I'd be tempted to get him on a dark night and have a few words.....'
I daresay he's right, but would that be thrown out of court?
Harrrumph!
Graeme
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As i have just been charged over 300 pounds for repairing one wing mirror on my S60 i would be very interested to hear how much more a merc driver can expect to pay!
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Well, I've just collected the car from repair ... and the fuel flap is now a totally different shade of colour to the rest of the car!
Repair shop are now going to contact Volvo UK (which is why I gave them the VIN last week, but anyway...) to establish whether the paint on mine is solvent or water based (apparently Volvo use both) and which recognized 'shade' (there may be more than one, even though they all carry the same code!) it is.
A sample chip will then be sprayed up to test the match before more paint goes near our car. If it doesn't match, matey's Dad is up for a rear three quarter spray, which frightens the life out of me on a brand new car.
To my eyes though, the problem is in the pearlescent mica, or rather the relative absence of it in the resprayed fuel cap, regardless of which angle you look from.
Sean - Thanks for the Household insurance tip. This did not enter my head, and may prove useful if the bill goes up!
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Er... wasn't the kid's mother being quite funny? I thought it was!
Don't even DREAM of getting a three-quarter panel resprayed - just make sure they get the paint match right on the fuel flap! Don't let them paint ANYTHING beyond the flap itself - and ultimately... if its NOT a perfect match on the flap, the 'shut lines' at its edge take the eye off the mismatch.
DON'T LET THEM PAINT THE PANEL!!
Even if it matches now, it won't in 2 years!
Sad, but true. Those who have other opinions (se recent threads!) are welcome to them, but I've sen this to many times to believe them.
Neil
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My job relies on informed fact, not hearsay, but in this case what you write, and that I might just end up with a bigger non-matching area, despite 'feathering in' is my worry, Neil!
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