So, my girlfriend was on her bike last week and knocked a car wing mirror. She stopped and gave the guy her name & phone number. She thought that she just knocked the mirror glass out of alignment slightly, the glass didn’t break and the plastic casing didn’t move. Unfortunately she didn’t take any photos at the time, but thought that the driver had.
The driver has now sent her a couple of texts, asking for £650 for a new casing and a replacement mirror motor. She has asked for the photos that she thought the driver took at the time, but he has said that he didn’t take any. Obviously we won’t be handing over any money until we at least see a quote from a garage and some photos of the damage, but is there anything else we should be doing to avoid getting scammed?
There seems to be a lot of advice out there for cyclists who have been hit, but not much for ones who have damaged a car. What’s the best thing to do? And for future reference is it best to take out some sort of third party insurance, so there is at least a formal route to go through? Or just pay up?