A few weeks ago I was hit from behind whilst stationary at a junction. The impact was low speed, and the damage to my car (a 2011 BMW 5 Series) was light (a scratched/scuffed bumper). We exchanged details and I reported the incident to my insurer who gave me a pretty hard sell on the virtues of taking my car to one of their approved repairers (the closest of which was a Ford dealer in Huddersfield). In addition they appointed Enterprise to arrange a replacement vehicle whilst mine was being repaired.

After inspecting the damage the Ford dealer quoted £201.34 (ex VAT) for a bumper re-spray/repair, and Enterprise £195 (ex-VAT) per day for a similar car likely to be required for 2 days. I wasn't convinced, so I took my car to the local BMW franchise (Sandal Huddersfield). After 10 minutes they brought my car back round having managed to simply buff the scratches out of the bumper, and confirmed that there was no damage to the parking sensors, all completed free of charge. It is crazy that such a high cost could have been incurred for repairing minor damage, especially as the other party has not yet admitted liability.