It was peak hour in Bangalore, around 10 AM, (Possibly everyone was doing 2-5 Kmph at the Banaswadi Garrison junction) and this Junction is usually full on both sides. Usually, the one coming straight keep to the left and the ones taking right (at-least 3 lanes or more), all jostle for both the lanes, and end up landing on the right lane.
Scenario:
My Father, driving the Red Polo (7 year old) and another person in the White Creta (5 year old), arrive and jostle for that one position, and since there is a Bus arriving on the other lane, there is absolutely no room, and collide.
They both Park on the side after that, take pictures, and exchange phone numbers; and my father seems to be in a hurry, says, I have to go, you tell me how much it would cost, and I will pay (Seeing a small paint mark)
They both park and the Creta person takes pictures and forwards it to my father, with an estimate of 15 thousand. And asks for the full amount to be paid by my father as agreed.
This is around afternoon, and then my father calls me, and says the same, and he says, if I don't pay up in an hour, he will lodge a complaint.
I see the picture, and assume that it was our two wheeler that scratched the car (Aprilia SR 125, Red, which is also my Father's). I finish work and call the Creta person, saying that I wanted to take a look.
I go there in the evening, and realize that it was the car, and not the two wheeler. I at first assume that wiping away the paint should fix the whole thing, and ask for a wet cloth.
I wipe it quite a bit, and the after picture is like this.
![Need advice on a small accident which left a mild bruise on the other car-img_4970.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/street-experiences/2423627d1687211672t-need-advice-small-accident-left-mild-bruise-other-car-img_4970.jpg)
I try to convince the Creta owner that if I use a rubbing compound, the remaining Red should go away, and the slight imperfection should also be unnoticeable when the wiped away portion also catches a little fade.
The Creta owner has seemingly enquired at his favourite Hyundai person who says, it needs dent removal and full repaint. The Creta owner is adamant to get the full work done, and that we should be paying up the full amount. He thinks it was entirely my father's fault, and for no fault of his, he doesn't want to claim insurance nor spend anything from his pocket.
In his words, he was already there, and there was no way my father could have sneaked in, but the Polo still crashed into the side.
In my father's words, the Creta guy saw the bus and turned sharp right instead of holding the left lane, and my father didn't anticipate him cutting so much, and hit the vehicle.
I don't want to take sides here, and don't want to give my opinions here on who is right and who is wrong. I just put across two sides of the story.
When I ask why Creta owner wants it to fixed so badly, he said he plans to sell it and doesn't want this imperfection to come in the way if at all there is a case. He also says that if it was his car, he could have ignored it, but he said it was his wife's car, and the situation put him in a bad spot. Again I don't want to contest his opinion that he wants it fully fixed as brand new.
I also took a look around, and found that it was very neatly maintained. There were no body scratches, though there were some bumper ones. I just found one deep mark on his left front door, which looked like a pierce mark from a sharp object. So, will this alone drop his resale value? I doubt it. (I didn't talk about it to him though)
I then tried to convince him that any new paint job done will make it look odd, compared to the rest of the body (I have experience with our own Polo), and you could never convince any potential buyer that this door wasn't repainted. He doesn't buy this story. He believes that since the fault is all my Father's, he needs my father to fix it fully for him.
He also gave other options like:
You claim insurance on your car (I actually came to know that it was the car and not the two wheeler when he said this), but this would need an FIR to be filed, and a few other things.
So, his proposal is that my father pays up full amount (15 within a day), and based on how much it actually costs, he will return, or ask for more, on the Bill.
Other options that come to my mind:
He claims insurance, and we pay up balance
He claims insurance, we pay up balance + No claim bonus
We just walk away saying that it wasn't our fault. Even our bumper needs repaint, who will pay for that. (Yes our Polo Bumper also caught a little white, and anyways needed repaint for some time now for other scratches)
I gave him my own instances where I had to replace the entire rear hatch for no fault of ours, and got nothing from the person who hit, and we claimed our own insurace, also another instance where we did take 3000 rupees from someone who didn't brake and hit two cars. All this didn't convince him since he believes, those were accidents, and this was entirely my Father's mistake. I also said, this also is an accident, but he thought otherwise
I just want to do the right thing. Need advice from fellow BHPians on this and similar instances. I even convinced him that I would ask my expert friends on Team BHP and then decide