I took my 3 day old car to get a tow bar fitted 2 weeks ago. It had less than 100km on it & was as it left the showroom – its privately owned not a company car.

Anyway, when I collected it the fitter had clearly scratched (more gouged actually) an interior trim panel when removing the 3rd row of seats to do the wiring. The gouge is about 2 inches long & very noticeable – whenever I open the tailgate it just stares at me. That and a black oil mark on the interior roof panel.

So I showed the fitter who to be fair admitted it was him & said get a quote to repair & he will pay. I did, replacement of panel & interior clean is c 250 gbp.

Anyway, now he knows what the price is he is kicking off saying its only a small scratch, 250 is more than he earned doing the job, the 3rd row of seats were hidden (they fold flat into the floor)…blah blah.

TBH I just want my car back unscratched & he did it so he must make good the repair. Its a proper business so he has insurance to cover this & if I let him off he may not think next time & do it again.

Anyone had anything similar, reassure me I am not being unreasonable!!!

I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all to expect someone to pay for damage to your property.

IME towbar fitters are the most cack-handed, ignorant, mechanically and electrically inept bunch of unemployables in the motor trade.

They broke it, they fix it, irrespective of how much it’ll cost. I think the current rolling total for the Yeti is: new Westfalia loom; entire new body loom for the car; new body computer; replacement westfalia ECU (x2); severe bo11oking from skoda uk; free roof bars; car hire for over a week…

So I showed the fitter who to be fair admitted it was him & said get a quote to repair & he will pay.

That’s all you need to know really.

Anyway, now he knows what the price is he is kicking off saying its only a small scratch, 250 is more than he earned doing the job

That’s irrelevant.

Obviously, his liability for the damage he caused isn’t limited to his profit margin for the job.

This is why he pays public liabilities insurance (hopefully)

You’re being perfectly reasonable.
Surely he’s got liability insurance that covers things like this?

If he’s got an issue with paying up, get plenty of photo’s etc of the damage along with quotes and take the small claims court route.

Or suggest that he gets it repaired on your behalf (and obviously he’ll be responsible for it being done to your satisfaction). That way he can shop around and use his contacts.

That way he can shop around and use his contacts attempt to do it himself with a power sander and a bottle of turps.

After everything you’ve said I really, really wouldn’t trust him to do a proper job.

Well done for spotting the damage whilst you were still on site.

I had a classic “closing the door with keys in hand” scratch on the drivers door but didn’t notice until the next day.

Nothing I could do to prove it was done on site, still there today and still annoys me.

As John says, offer for him to put right by fixing himself or paying. Either or.

cheers all, at least he fessed up I was all ready for him denying any responsibility.

That’s exactly why I never touch anything when a new client wants something doing.

Could be worse.

I bought a new car last week and some bandit scratched it in the motorway services on the way home 😕 :

And didn’t stop to let me know, just left… 😈

My brand new car got a scratch right across the bonnet about an hour after delivery when some muppet with a bag over their shoulder brushed past it in a car park.

Is it just me, or is car paint made of custard these days?

Every modern car I’ve had has scratched soon as look at them. I’m certain I never had this problem back when I was running motors of 80s and 90s vintages, and I was a lot less careful with them than I am now.

Is it just me, or is car paint made of custard these days?

Every modern car I’ve had has scratched soon as look at them. I’m certain I never had this problem back when I was running motors of 80s and 90s vintages, and I was a lot less careful with them than I am now.

Modern acrylic paint is water based…

Makes me feel better (me, me, me – sorry!), I managed 2 years this time before some muppet damaged my car for me. Previous car was 4 days.

actually you are spot on, the interior plastic is very soft, far weaker than my old car.

Sorry to hear about the new car scratches & walkoffs. You can probably polish them out.

You can get special treatments these days that actually work, BMW offer one for £££.

My car is scratched to buggery:

Old dodger smashed near side front and rear doors trying to park in a CHURCH car park and buggered off (so much for the religious types morality!!)

Son decided to use the other side of the car as a black board using stones to scrawl on it whilst i was polishing the other side!

Bonnet is fubared due to Roadworks off the A13 leaving stones and grit strewn everywhere..

On my new car the towbar fitter wired up the electrics randomly – I had to buy a new board and take it in to the garage to prove how messed up it was. The fitter also left a huge scrape on the bumper during fitting. But it was black plastic – so ignored it. I was more worried about turning left indicating right and other random lights going on.