Has anyone in the “you did it, you fix it” crowd looked at the photo in the OP?
Do you always park next to her car?
Maybe she’s just gotten tired of you or other coworkers who use her fender as a doorstop and, now that she’s caught you in the act, decided she will give you some incentive to quit doing that.
Let your insurance company handle it, and document exactly what you did vs. what else is wrong around it. I can understand being pissed about carelessness (watch your car doors!) but clearly that’s not the first or worst ding, and I wouldn’t have pushed for a repair, personally.
Yep. She might be a dick, but you should be more careful. Pay to have the damage you caused, then in a week or two key her car.
ETA: Win/Win!
I’m with the “you did it, you fix it, and nothing else” crowd. Prorate your cost based on the number of other dings and scratches that will be fixed during the repair, AND insist on seeing the bill for services rendered before giving her a dime.
I think a reasonable rule of thumb is $500 per panel being fixed, that means it’s sanded down, all the dents are repaired, it is then primed and repainted. I can’t imagine a shop wanting to bother with sanding, filling and painting such a tiny bit of a car to do a spot repair.
The fault is yours alone and to your credit you’ve accepted responsibility. Get the name of the exact paint color her car is, go buy her a applicator bottle of it and offer to fix that one ding yourself. She then has the means to fix the other numerous dings on her not so pristine car.
You’re out less than a repair ticket and she can now fix her precious vehicle to her heart’s content.
Yup, you caused that damage and should have to pay for that amount of the damage. Since the car is not in pristine condition, offer to pay a percentage of the amount to fix it based on the other damage on the fender. 10% seems to be a fair number.
The purpose of insurance is to make the person whole again. Not so she can get rid of some pre-existing scratches that were not of your doing.
If she squawks, offer to have your other co-workers put it up for a vote and that should shame her enough to take the offer.
Ultimately, if you hit someones car, you should pay for it. Granted, judging from the photo, it doesn’t look like she takes very good care of the car, but that doesn’t mean anyone who swings their door into her car should get a free pass. I’ll admit, her motivation sounds a bit suspect, but if you honestly accept the blame for it, then she isn’t wrong in asking for it to be fixed. I’d like to understand her rationale.
Otherwise, that shouldn’t cost too much to fix-- the irony of it, is that it will likely cost more in labor.
You should always feel responsible for damage you cause to another vehicle-- it’s a clear at-fault issue. Insurance categories exist for just this reason.
Yes. You damaged her car. Give her the repair money, if only for the sake of your working relationship. 
She is owed the difference in value between the car before the scratch and after. Actually not worth mentioning, but you could settle for $10 to maintain the peace.
Technically it’s your fault so your responsibility. But that car looks to be in crappy condition and she is being a douche nozzle for insisting you pay. If this was me, and it was a brand new car, I would not insist on a coworker paying for such a tiny mark.
Honestly, I wouldn’t even notice something like that.
It seems sketchy to me that someone with such a beat up fender would want to file an insurance claim against you for such a small thing, in light of the other much larger and prominent dings and scuffs. I have to wonder what her angle is- the cynical part of me says that she put the other ones there, and she’s thinking now she can get her entire fender fixed on your insurance’s nickel.
That being said, I’d still offer to pay, but I’d make damn sure the quote was only for that little spot, and if the body shop said they had to remove the fender, fix dents, and repaint the whole thing, I’d tell them to stick that where the sun doesn’t shine.
Having had the cruddy car in the past, and having had people ding my doors and stuff, I never held their feet to the fire to pay me for little dings- it wouldn’t have made the car any less crappy, and didn’t affect the performance, so I didn’t care.
I would literally laugh at it and tell you, “no apology necessary, these things happen all the time. As you can clearly see by just LOOKING at my car! hahaha!”
And that would be it.
But yes technically you are responsible for the damage which you have already admitted, and yes she is being petty and ridiculous insisting that you pay for this. Definitely reeks of a scam to try and get the whole fender fixed if you ask me.
Hell I remember some poor girl backed up right into the front of my car once (backing out of a parking lot right into the road that I was pulling into) and she was so sad and scared and I just laughed and told her it was no big deal and that I was sorry I didn’t honk to warn her that she was going to hit me.
I think you are wrong. She could posting this same question and asking “A co-worker dinged my car, and now he’s miffed at me for wanted to get it fixed! Isn’t that outrageous?”
But, I understand it being irritating to you. But, I think you should “man-up” and take responsibility.
Just let her ding your car in response and call it even
Have you had any problems with her before this happened? Her car looks pretty scratched up; why would she go through making a co-worker pay for such a tiny thing considering her car’s condition, which is far from pristine?
You dinged it, you fix it but I would really love to see the look on the repair shop guys face when she rolls in to get your tiny ding fixed and not all the others on her demolition derby car.
Considering the condition of her car, she is making a mountain out of a molehill and a grande frappa something or other would have been more than enough compensation.
There are way too many people out there who get all worked up about every little ding, mark, scuff, etc. on their cars - my dad being one of them.
This kind of stuff is STANDARD WEAR AND TEAR on a car, plain and simple.
Road debris, bird shit, tree sap, shopping carts, kids, the list goes on… it’s part of owning a car. If you expect your car to look perfect all the time and are going to sweat any little mark on it then you don’t drive it, keep it in a climate controlled garage, under a tarp/cover.
Edit to add - the intent of insurance is cover a loss - as in a loss of value if property is damaged such that it reduces the value of the property. I can’t view the pic where I’m at, but based on comments this person has not realized any loss in value and doesn’t have a justifiable claim.
I’m not sure how your working relationship, such as it is, should influence her decision. Do you work for an employer with many long-term employees? Do you expect that you and she will be working together for many years?