Hello.

I hit someone's car few month ago.

wasn't a big hit. just minor scratch and so on.

and now that person is fixed it up and invoiced me a sum of $3764

is that somewhat reasonable amount for Mercedes Cl180 SE komp?

i attach some of those invoices.

I'm not good at these stuffs..like what is what..and what is right.

can anyone have a look and tell me whether it seems right?

( i'm just afraid... that the scratch was only minor one side scratch but that person might have fixed everything, such that wasn't needed and unrelated )

 

I think this person actually has done full re-inspection on the vehicle.

like taking out battery door fitting seal etc...wasn't neccessary and that just made a huge labour charge? or am i wrong..

 

Mercs are notoriously expensive on parts and can be fiddly which could be the reason therer is so much labour but it's hard to say whether you have been ripped off just by looking at the invoice.

How minor was "just minor scratch and so on." - it sounds like according to the invoice there was damage to the bumper, guard, door, mirror, etc. Do you have any pictures of the damaged Merc?


Are you not insured?

 

Where did you hit this merc at? How big was this little scratch?

Don't you have insurance?

 

Thank for the replies. Minor scratch was. scratch on mirror ( but the mirror wasn't broken, just at the edge of it )

same for bumper and door. it was because that merc drove past me from other direction. like i was driving on the road and the merc was driving past me on the other side of the road. then we made a scratch while driving past. ( it was my fault T.T )

unfortunately I didn't take any photo, because i didn't have any camera at the time.

so scratch was front mirror bumper door guard of one side. for generally speaking.. if it was scratch like that on my rx8, i wouldn't change any parts ( maybe mirror ) and go to panel beater to fix it and paint it. ( Max $1000? )

the place of accident was at sydney city. ( NSW ) I was driving my work vehicle, mazda van not rx8. I do have insurance, but decided to not claim through it because of particular reason. ( because vehicle is under my name but the insurance was under my uncle's, and he didn't wanted to raise his premium. If he does, it would increase all the premiums for other insurance as well right? like his house, other vehicle etc )

 

It's really hard to say. I am having a small scrape on my rear guard repaired for just over $1,000 and that's with no replacement parts, just labour and paint, so for multiple Merc panels it's probably on the money (pun unintended).

As for insurance premiums, that would be something your uncle needs to work out with his insurance company but as far as I am aware it will only effect the premium on the van, not all his other premiums. I would say that paying an extra couple hundred dollars or so a year on insurance would be much cheaper than 3K.

 

Thanks again! I will ask insurance company about premium issue. 3k really breaks my heart

 

I think this is a good reason to go through insurance. At least your insurance company will have a good idea of what is reasonable here, and respond accordingly

 

You have 3 options.
#1 Go through insurance.
#2 Pay up.
#3 Write back to the NRMA and claim contributory negligence. Insurers use a Barometer Of Liability and won't proceed with some types of accidents.

Although you may get away with #3 unless you are a lawyer or have a very good knowledge of insurance your chances are slim and you may end up in court paying more.

I would go with option 1.

 

to put things in perspective for ya
I have a CLk500 03 model,
Person in front at a traffic light stalled and when into front of me,
damages were
2 MINOR scratches (about 1mm diameter)
Broken Number Plate
and a scratches chrome whisker.

That was a 1.5k repair job.

only the whisker was replaced and that was 400 from Mercedes (a strip about 50cmx 1.5)

 

btw which company is your uncle insurance with?

Did you ask if you uncle had rating protection option?
if your uncle have rating protection, then you don't need to worry about premium increase etc... nothing will change...

Even better, ask your uncle if he has rating one protection for life? (if NRMA)

Check your insurance letter policy

if your uncle don't have rating protection, then at most the premium will only increase about 25% of 3.7k...
Depending on your insurer, you will have different discount on the premium... i.e. AAMI 65% at rating 1, and i think 60% at rating 2... something like that

Assuming, no accident occur during next year; The year after, your uncle will be back to rating 1 again...

Just go thru insurance, you save more that way...
if you do go thru with insurance, then just pay your uncle the additional insurance premium next year...

 

1.5k wow!

 

"the place of accident was at sydney city. ( NSW ) I was driving my work vehicle, mazda van not rx8. I do have insurance, but decided to not claim through it because of particular reason. ( because vehicle is under my name but the insurance was under my uncle's, and he didn't wanted to raise his premium. If he does, it would increase all the premiums for other insurance as well right? like his house, other vehicle etc ) "


Look sorry to be a bit harsh here but this whole thing sounds like you should wake up and get with the real world. Insurance is expensive but so can minor accidents be - as you're now finding out, and the sort of 'dodge' you're pulling above leaves you open to the insurance company itself cancelling your insurance completely. Which in this case is a matter of a few thousand dollars, but imagine the consequences of cancelled insurance had you totalled the Merc, totalled your ute and injured somebody in the accident...

 

I don't get what you are saying at all SARRAS. Are you saying you get consequences if they refuse the claims. There are not many incident they can refuse if you are willing to pay excess and increase the car's premium. I think in katana's case he admit fault and if he is driving legally and it is ok. I can only thing of one... you are driving illegally (like drink driving) .. or you are doing illegal business (like crash the car while you are robbing a bank, running away from cops etc).

BTW, claiming insurance on the van will only increase the premium on the VAN only. I know because I have 3 cars and a claim with the RX-8. Some of the minor accidents are not claimed because I was tracking my car under CAMS rule and no insurer will pay. The only time I claimed resulted my RX-8 in rating 2 but I recently took out a 135 in rating 1 with the same insurer. The 4WD is also rating 1.

Insurance company love you not to claim. They don't have to do all the work.

 

I'm going to say one thing: if your insurance company works out that your uncle has no insurable interest on the vehicle, you will get nothing.

The contracts are quite clear cut in that ... from what I've read, you might as well have no insurance!

 

I have a policy on my RX-8 that excludes all claims by drivers under 25.
Maybe it is this type of problem?

 

No. Take age out of the scenario. It is the type of problem where the insured (his uncle) is saying he's the person with insurable interest in the vehicle (owns the vehicle or has total financial interest over the vehicle) ...

(NB. Whenever you take out a contract with any insurance company, they will make it clear that you must be as honest as is humanly possible)

... if he has some or no substantial insureable interest, but other insureds aren't listed, the insurance company would have a clause in the contract to reduce or refuse the claim based on the fact that the insured doesn't have any interest over the vehicle.

For example, I have insureable interest in my car because I would have to replace/repair it if I wasn't insured. Your uncle would not have insureable interest because you would have to replace/repair it if you weren't insured ... so technically, you're not insured if your uncle is the owner of the insurance policy.

 

Takahashi - what he said above in case my words were too elusive for you. Plus the bleeding obvious in that the Uncle matter is basically a lie and all policies have a disclosure clause about such things - if they cancel the policy because of a disclosure problem - that is if they decide you've lied to them, then you're uninsured and the full burden of expenses comes out of your pocket. Sure you may get away with it - but sure also you may screw yourself with such arrangements.

If you really want to lean on an Uncle, put the policy properly in your name, but get Uncle to pay the bill - that's kosher. Meanwhile with the current claim - best advice would be cough up and shut up.

 

I don't see why asking your uncle to claim this accident is the wrong thing to do? As long as you're being honest about "who" was driving it at the time of the accident, it should be fine...

if you said your uncle was driving the vehicle at that time, then obviously you're screw...

Most likely, the excess that you have to pay is less than the damages that you will have to pay if you don't claim thru insurance...

I don't see how difficult this situation can be...

Depending on your insurer, some may require you to pay an additional excess for un-name driver in the event of an accident...

Read the PDS!

and about the rating
if your uncle don't have rating protection, then just pay your uncle the "additional premium" for next year...
just get a quote from the website at the time of renewal and pay him the difference...

I reckon that would be the cheapest option...

 

Oh where do I start with the inaccurate statements in this thread??!!

Actually, you know what, I couldn't be bothered. Good luck.