dicky ticker

posted here as well as insurance to get more help

hi peeps

dad had his new car (Jag) parked outside some shops. whilst in the shops someone hit his car taking out the wing mirror and scratchin all the way down the side of the car and drove off. a passer by got the number and the perp has been traced and is fully insured - phew

anyhows he takes it to the designated insurance repair garage who say they will do a fill in and respray to the wings and door panels. dad was not happy with this as he wants his new car back to "new" as it was before it was hit.a month later his insurance company have sent out an assessor who echoed what the garage said as it is usual to do the cheapest/economical repair possible. dad told asessor that he would not accept this and that it wasn't what he paid his fully comp fully protected insurance for. the assessor took great umbridge at this and said that people pay insurance for what he thinks is best not for what they think.

my dad has recieved a letter saying he is "officially in dispute" with his company and that they will contact him within four weeks.

has anybody got any experience/knowledge with disputes like this?
is dad legally right to stand his ground?
why is his insurance company trying to reduce the cost for the perps insurance?

any help greatly appreciated

cheers

colin

Trout

iTrader: (1)

What does your father think that 'as new' means in this case? A new car?

You can request that you get quotes from another garage that is not an authorised repairer however it is unlikely that he will be able to tell them what work to do. The quote will be to make good the damage which is probably the same repair.

You need to check the details of your insurance contract - however I would be very surprised if the offer will be anything other than make good the damage.

If the car was a certain age that covered new for old AND the damage was above a certain percentage of the cars value then you may have a case.

From what you describe it would seem that neither of the above apply.

Oh, and having a protected NCD gives no extra protection with regards to the repair.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

If you know anyone in the trade, take it to them for a once over to get their opinion. Failing that you could take it to a good local garage, get a recommendation. You do not have to use an approved repairer, you can take it somewhere else if want. See what they say, and take it from there.

After all, if the only advice you are getting is that the repair the insurance company are suggesting is the one that they would carry out, you are not going to get very far

Dedrater

I feel the pain here, who would want loads of body filler in there doors after some **** drove into it, then drove off.

dicky ticker

thanks T & L & D

dads idea of "new" would be to have his panels/doors replaced for "new" ones. not many repairs are completely unnoticable to a trained eye or will perfectly last the test of time. why should he have a devalued car just because someone else couldnt be bothered driving down the road with due care

he did take it to the jag dealer at first for a quote but the insurance company stated he had to use their designated repair centre. i'll get him to clarify that bit and ask a few more garages for their opinions

his pain and expectations may be more than what some people would expect but he has wanted a Jag all his life and has worked his knackers off to afford one- its a bit more than just a car as most of us on here will appreciate

cheers

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

And i bet they give him a tiny Corsa or something as a curtesy car.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I have a suggestion for you. Its worth asking if he can source the parts that are damaged and get the garage to do the work. I did that on my car when i got hit by a bus. They wanted to fill the car but i got some new panels which the insurance paid for and the garage finished the job. It worked out cheaper for the insurance as they wasnt so much labour involved.

dicky ticker

if only - daewoo matiz!!!!!

then again i used to suffer a micra when i serviced the scoob

thanks for the suggestion.

SunnySideUp

Well, he won't be getting a Jaguar XK-R courtesy car

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

It could be worse. Chinchencho or whatever its called


Try and find the cost of the panels that are damaged first then give the info to the assessor. If you have a breakdown of the parts and labour you should be able to work out the difference. They are usually pretty reasonable if you are, good luck

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

the insurance company will repair as cheaply as possible they can also use spurious panels headlamps, door mirrors if the car is over a certain age, unfortunately your dad isn't going to win with the insurance company, no matter how much he tries.

dicky ticker

unfortunately thats likely to be the case

its crap that his insurance company seems to be looking to protect the guilty's insurance company rather than doing the best for their client(victim)

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

try this one you could threaten the guilty parties insurance with going to the police and reporting thier customer with leaving the scene of a accident and point out that it takes longer at £60.00 plus per hour to repair panels than it does to repair and reshape . however have you considered that the drive offs insurance company might just be the same company or owned by the same group ??

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

And therein, I guess, lies the problem

dicky ticker

good morning-bump

the perp pleaded ignorance when approached - "i didnt notice or hear my car scraping down the whole length of another car". they have cooperated fully since and as far as we are aware just got a slapped wrist of the plod.

i think the insurance companies are different but theirs is a Winner in promotion and settlement whereas dads is more of a No No No rather than a Oh Yes

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

Normally if you both had the same insurance company they will not argue the toss with each other over who was in the wrong.

M4RKG

iTrader: (22)

The insurance company like any other business, are a business at the end of the day and will repair the vehicle back to how it was previously at the best price they can without slacking on quality, those doors werent brand new when they were damaged (even if the car was an '10 plate) they were none the less used and could have had other damage/wear and tear.

The only way he'd get brand new is if the car was written off/stolen and not recovered, he was 1st owner and car was less than 12month old.

He might be better off trying to go through the 3rd parties insurer, but again he might still be in the same situation... the best he can hope for is Jag doing the work and hoping they give some osrt of guarantee for it.

Sh*t I know.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

I think the argument is 'betterment' the real issue is getting the paint to match rather than straight panals. a decent body shop should have the panals as straight as new ones but whether they are filled or not they'll need painting and that's the problem.

Better to take the filled one i'd say and push for a full respray when one side looks brighter than the other!

5t.

The Zohan

Hi There,

There is a chance that the vehicle already has filler in it already, cars may fail body QC checks and be repaired on the production line or even damaged whilst being transported and repaired by the dealership or thier tame bodyshop.

The important thing is to ensure the repair centre is good and will do an excelent job as good as or better than the original. many ins approved bodyshop submitted the lowest tender and won the work which does not necessarily make them the best choice, try to get a reccommndation for a good loacl repairer and take it to them for an estimate and send this to your insurers.

I understand you dad is not happy but sometimes sh*t happens and you have to accept that and get on with it. It is not the end of the world, superficial damage easily repaired by a good bodyshop, he'll never know the difference.

[-(o)-]

iTrader: (1)

Why does your Dad's insurer have an issue with this - surely its up to the 3rd parties insurer to resolve? As I understand it your dad has the right to demand he is put back in the position he was in prior to the accident. Has he got legal cover? If so he should consult a solicitor.

spray1974

I would consult a good solicitor. But the only thing about that is they don't move very fast either.

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

you had take into account the labour to strip+refit the doors, and the price of the panels,this alone would sway towards repair rather then replace.

dicky ticker

thats the bit i dont understand. apparently dads company sort the work then charge the perps insurer

Coupe-Se

Having had personal experience with this very issue, I can give some FACTS not opinion.

My wifes 8 month old Mini Cooper S was rear ended quite badly by another driver when she was stationary at a roundabout on the A14.

My insurance company: Direct Line tried to give her a crappy Matiz as a courtesy car and demanded that we take it to their 'Approved' repairer. I've had dealings with their approved repairer in the past and rejected their repair work twice on my car. They re-sprayed a rear quarter panel without taking out the rubber windows seals out and the laquer flaked where it met the seal.

As it was a no-fault accident with 3rd Party liability a whole new set of rules apply. I took my wifes Cooper S to a Mini garage who had their own body shop.
They phoned Direct Line with me there and spoke to them when Direct Line initially told me I wasn't permitted to use them. Direct Line instantly backed down and said we could use them!!
Mini also told me that as a 3rd party was a fault we were entitled to a courtesy car identical to the one my wife normally drove and they rang a specialist lease company who dropped off a new Cooper S courtesy car within 4 hours.
Mini replaced all damaged panels with new ones as well as changing the entire exhaust system. They even did a full 4 wheel alignment test after the repair to check all was 100% ok. No cheap or shortcut repairs and the bill was satisfyingly expensive. The courtesy car hire bill was just under £1500!!

Just over 2 months after the car was repaired we had a letter from Direct Line saying the claim was closed and all costs were reclaimed from the 3rd party and that our No Claims was not effected.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Call these guys. We used them to fix the 5 series when some idiot scraped along the side of it when it was parked.

Our BMW main dealer recommends them (it may have been AE that did the Mini claim as described above).

We got a brand new 530d courtesy car for a week. The car was repaired and AE dealt with the third party claim.

We notified, but did not claim from our own insurers. AE will also recover any unsinsured losses. They are used by lots of main dealers as it gets business into their repair centres.

Accident Exchange

stilover

As a brand new car, I'd also insist that new panels were fitted. Who wants a brand new car full of filler? Not me.

Plus come to sell the car or trade-in, the value will be less as it's full of filler.

I'd also insist the manufacturer/dealer repaired the car.

Stick to your guns (Well your dad) and insist on what you think is appropriate.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Hi should really insist on new panels as it engenders no "Financial Betterment" as it's a new car

Shaun

Dedrater

Problem is, however well done the repair is, if you sell it on to the trade (or hand it back to your company car provider), for what ever reason, they will use a magnetic ring detector (not sure what they are properly called) and they will go round the doors, arches etc and easily detect it was involved in an accident, you then get a right talking to, or lose a large percentage off the value of the car.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Just referring back to my last post (27), if it's a new car then there is no "financial betterment" with the insurance company fitting new panels as it won't make the car worth any more.......as it's new already.

If the car was a year old then the insurance company could claim that they were increasing the value of the car by repairing it with new panels.......hence they could repair by way of filling / respray.

Your argument should be that as it was new it should be returned to the original condition as it wouldn't increase the value of the car, just reinstate it to the pre-crash condition.

Whatever you do don't say that you want the car "as new"....... this has been proven many times due to people taking dealers to court with new cars they have bought which have been found to have fallen off the transporter, crashed in the car park ect and repaired. The court will accept a repaired car sold as a new car to be "as new".

Shaun