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Had the new car for two weeks…
somehow managed to give it a little bump against a wall at the local supermarket. Scratches and scuffs, and some body work needs ‘popping’ back into place but only minor cosmetic stuff. Not massively noticeable stuff…
But I am utterly devastated! My lovely new car! I feel like such a complete fool and an idiot.Never put a claim in before and will be ringing the dealership tomorrow morning with my tail in between my legs..
Does anyone have any experience for minor cosmetic things like this, and so soon into a lease? How much will it effect things going forward?
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Motability may not need it to be fixed if it’s just cosmetic, but sadly it will be a daily reminder for you, and if you’re like me, you’ll want it sorted.
I can echo what Wigwam has said Jay N. My first mobility car got keyed from rear tail lights to B pillar. I informed motability who said “it’s only cosmetic so it’s okay to leave it” I could not stand looking at it every day as it was on Drivers side.
In the end I paid to have it professional repaired. I just could not live with the reminder.
Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.Two weeks into my current car 3yrs ago some idiot ran into the back of me while we were sitting in traffic waiting to move up to a roundabout. Hardly any damage but had to get it repaired. His insurers were paying so did not affect Motability as such. That little bump cost about £1500 + a Volvo XC60 for 5 days hire.
Spoken to Motability and they’ve said it doesn’t require a repair. I’d love to get it sorted though – I know it’s a bit of a how long is a piece of string question, but how expensive are these things to fix?
scrapes and scratches on bumper and grill, pretty much all across. One misshapen/loose bit of detailing, inch or so of scratching at tip of bonnet. Some bodywork on right side that has undone slightly and needs ‘popping’ back in place. It doesn’t look like a lot but I’m guessing a private repair won’t be cheap.
I had similar, but didn’t want to live with it. So put in a claim, only paid first £100 to RSA but am much happier and know it won’t affect £600 good condition bonus
My car got hit in a supermarket car park and the driver didn’t leave their details. It was scraped and small dent to drivers door. I didn’t want to claim insurance as I knew it would have went down as me at fault as they couldn’t re coup the costs. I went to nationwide repairers directly they quoted £650 but I negotiated and got them down to£500 including a courtesy car while the repair was getting done. The done a great job.
Sorry I’m obviously missing something here, you reversed and damaged the car, surely now it should be repaired by the insurance.?
What sort of insurance would say leave it, was there any damage to what ever the car was reversed into.
Do we have insurance cover on these lease cars, if so it needs repairing..
My first ever car was a motability car I was 18, on the day we picked it up someone reversed into the two left doors denying them both, insurance had to take it away for two weeks
Ajn, It’s a motability decision. Quite often they’ll tell you not to worry about a scrape. Sometimes it doesn’t even affect the gcb!
Thanks for that Tim, the motability process is a first for me lots to learn I guess, but I’m getting there ?
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We’ve had a couple of dings in doors or wings from inconsiderate ‘bar stewards’ in car parks. Like others, I can’t live with a scruffy looking car, so paid for Chips Away (or similar) to rectify them. Sadly, dents don’t just pop out without leaving imperfections, so it inevitably requires more than that and respraying the affected area. From memory, the repairs were around £120 to £150 each. Anything more substantial and I would expect Motability to cover it under their insurance. I would never drive a private car around that looked scruffy and don’t expect to with a lease car either. We pay a lot for these cars, what with the £10k sacrificed benefits and AP etc, so personally I would not accept the suggestion that it’s just cosmetic so live with it. I would insist on a proper repair but would obviously expect to pay the excess. If Motability refused I would tell them that I want to return the car as we haven’t paid all that money to drive around in a tatty looking car. I know that it doesn’t bother some people, but it does me. If I was happy to drive around in a car with dents and bodywork damage I would opt out of Motability and buy a car for a couple of grand and save a fortune!
@Gloss Guy totally agree with every word you wrote.
I don’t think Motability are saying it shouldn’t be repaired. We had a previous car dented and they said they didn’t require it to be fixed. We said we did, they arranged the repair and we paid the £100 excess.
@Wigwam that sounds fair enough..
Personally I’m also in the camp of keeping a nice car, nice. However, if I were a couple of months away from a change of lease/hand back I’d certainly look at if motability needed it repaired. Saving £100 excess and not declaring the incident for 5 years on my own policies would be nice, likely more than £100 cost if you opted for a non insurance repair too. Reading about some of the GCB stories from here over the years with scrapes too… certainly worth keeping in mind.
I would be careful because if you have a certain number of insurance claims on a mobility car they can refuse to allow a new contract. It happened with me where a wing mirror was knocked off and being new to the scheme I called them, then was in an actual accident and when it came to renew they were going to refuse on the scheme even though the accident was settled as the other drivers fault. So minor cosmetic damage I will fix myself as I had to jump through hoops so they’d allow me to stay on the scheme.
I agree with those who say you have a choice. I had my last one keyed whilst parked in London. Motability said they had no issues with leaving it as it was, but like others I wanted it done.
They happily agreed and I paid the £100 and had a courtesy car for the week it was in.
Came out looking brand new. They even did a different slight dink “whilst we had it” that wasn’t included in the quote (free of charge) that was barely noticeable.
Thanks for the responses chaps.
as things stand, RSA said they were fine with the damage from the sounds of it so didn’t warrant a repair. They said now I’ve informed them that if at the end of the lease I want it repaired I could still make a claim for it at that stage.
I rang my dealership, took it in and they are going to put it into the garages next week to see if they can correct some of the popped out bodywork. Because one side has come away slightly, quite a lot of the front end is slightly misaligned and they are going to need to take the front off and reassemble the lot.
shouldn’t cost me more than £50 hopefully.
it won’t fix the noticeable scratches and scuffs, though the kind gent at the dealership did say when it’s in he will have a go around them with a corrector pen thing and see if he can make them look better.
So, hopefully that will at least take the sting off and ideally make it liveable with.
if not, they have recommended a local place for a private repair – In which case, if I really can’t manage living with it at that stage I will probably try to claim for the work.
fingers crossed the garage can do the brunt of the work though, enough at least to manage with.
doesn’t stop me feeling like a complete and utter idiot though!
Don’t feel too bad no one was hurt & no major damage done.
An oap recently put their auto thru the local supermarket cafe window when they stamped the wrong pedal recently. That resulted in air ambulance, police and the store being closed down. Now that’s bad. Luckily the car was trashed & the window & cafe got smashed up but the cafe had no one in it due to lockdown or it could’ve had fatalities easily.
We all make mistakes from time to time especially with new cars learning the size of them etc. I hope you get it all sorted out nice & easily
Jay – I still don’t understand why you don’t just say to RSA that you want the whole repair done professionally. Why pay £50 for a botch job on a brand new car when for a £100 excess you can have the whole car restored to new. As others have said, whilst RSA don’t insist on a full repair, you can. Absolutely no need to live for 3 years with a damaged car. Maybe I’m missing something but I think you need to put your foot down here.
I suppose I’m just concerned about claiming at all – just in case it makes things harder next time around?
black mark next to the name and all that…I suppose I’m just concerned about claiming at all – just in case it makes things harder next time around? black mark next to the name and all that…
I wouldn’t be concerned about that Jay. If you were in the last few months of your lease fair enough, but you will pay an awful lot of money for your Motability car (£10k in sacrificed benefits alone) and part of that payment covers the insurance. Why put up with a damaged car for the full 3 years? It would irritate the hell out of me! We all make mistakes and Motability are very understanding. Touch wood I’ve never had to make a claim as the couple of dings we’ve had have been minor and didn’t cost me much more than the excess if we had claimed, but if I’d done what you describe I would have no hesitation in claiming. I really wouldn’t be so accepting of second best. You are paying handsomely for a service, so don’t be reluctant to use it!
You are right, really.
I’m going to give it a bit more thought, I may wait to see what the garage can do about at least getting the bodywork straight. It’s a proper Vauxhall garage attached to the dealership so they know what they are doing.
I think if I’m still feeling deep shame every time I see it afterwards I will probably put the claim in.
to he perfectly honest, it’s really knocked my confidence driving. I haven’t driven in 4 years before getting on the scheme, so I was already somewhat nervous and to make such a stupid, silly mistake so early on has left me feeling a deep sense of dread about driving, especially as I am the driver for my wife.
I’ll hopefully work my way past that but although in terms of accidents it’s incredibly minor, the most damage was done to me and my confidence and pride.
no claim can sort that out, I suppose 🙂Jay N, would it be possible to have a few refresher lessons with a driving instructor as you’re back on the road after the long break off it…
The advice above from Glos Guy again seems the best route, if it were just a mirror casting, or a cracked rear light fair enough, but you description sounds quite bad..
Any chance of any pics, no problem if you feel you don’t want too, it just might be easier to advise..
Dont feel to bad I guess we’ve all bumped or scraped a car at some stage, even if we don’t admit it???
What hoops did you have to jump through?? My sister is going through the same thing and need to appeal. Any advice??
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