EdwardH

Went to pick Scooby up from the 'Insurance Approved' bodyshop today where it had been to have some light front end panel damage repaired.

Not satisfied would be an under-statement- the repaired vehicle is in an appalling state.....

-some damaged items not repaired / replaced
-repaired / replaced items not working e.g bonnet would not shut
-replaced front wing showing bare metal to outside(!!!!)
-new scratches on bodywork done while at bodyshop
-interior filthy; grease,dust, sticky stuff on seats. I would almost say beyond cleanable.
-told items replaced when they haven't been

There was also evidence that they had little if any experience of dealing with scoobs. The repair sheet detailing what needed to be done had 'use Mitsubishi Charisma' written on it. What would that mean? Is that some setting for a rig / frame of some kind. I guess the bonnet closure not working would reflect this as well.

The bodyshop have offered to rectify the problems.

Should I accept this?

Should I insist the vehicle is transferred to my Subaru dealer to have all this rectifed
or should I just insist it is checked by a Scooby engineer.

Who do I go after the Insurance Company or the repair shop?

This car is 7 months old and my pride and joy ( after the wife of course.)

Any help gratefully received.

Ed

Paul Wilson

I'd ask your Subaru dealer to come and have a look at it and give you a report on its condition. I wouldn't let the original repairers touch it until someone alse has seen it to avoid coverups.

I'd not bother with the body shop, go straight to the Insurance Company, after hearing your troubles they may just tell you to have it sorted out by a Scooby dealer, but it is worth finging out which body shop does the work for the Dealer.

RichS

Yeah, with a gripe list as serious as that you should complain to your insurance company, not the bodyshop.

Presumably your car was booked into this particular bodyshop because it is the one approved by your insurance company.
You don't HAVE to use the approved bodyshop for accident repair (it's just a bit more hassle if you don't.)

If the job is even half as bad as you've stated, I won't even contamplate taking the car back to them.

Get on to your insurance company and give them hell!

Maybe a few photos of the offending bits might be prudent if you need to back up your claims.

Good luck

Rich

EdwardH

I forgot to say I have left the vehicle there having ' rejected' it.

I wasn't sure whether to take it or not.

This was at 5.45pm as they closed so I guess I could recover it in the morning for evidence.

Ed

DJB

I suspect that the rules will dictate that you give the approved body-shop an opportunity to do the job properly (it'll also be less trouble). If you're still disatisfied speak to the insurance company. Tell them this particular 'approved' body-shop is crap anyway.

I had a similar experience with my previous scoob when one appproved repairer carried out very sub-standard work. I asked for it to be done again and second time round it was satisfactory.

In a subsequent case, I insisted to an insurance company that a Subaru dealer should carry out the repair (they were not an approved repairer). I achieved this without too much difficulty.

D.

Paul Wilson

I AM NOT A SOLICITOR
At this point you don't want to do anything that will make your position worse.

My advice would be to first thing tommorow morning, before they have had a chance to do anything, to call them and tell them that you are not happy with the work, and then tell them not to do any work to the car.

In my view you have done exactly the right thing in leaving the car there as taking it MAY imply acceptance. If you have to take the car anywhere else tell them/write down, that you are not accepting the car and are taking it for inspection.

Basically your dispute is with the insurance company though as the body shop are only their agents. On the bright side the insurance company will probably want to get this resolved quickly as they are paying for your hire car.

GavinP

Edward,

Personally, I would be on the phone to the Insurance Company ASAP and insist that an assessor from their company comes out to inspect it.

If the Insurance company give any problems, say to them that you will be getting an AA/RAC inspection to take with you to court..
(and then do it)

Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks

Gavin

crusher

Firstlty what a nightmare...I've been there with other cars and eventually got problems sorted...but yours sounds even worse than I experienced.
I agree with GavinP...IF they are approved repairers or not the insurance company are the way to go...leave the car there and arrange a time to meet with THE INSURANCE COMPANIES ASSESSOR ,preferably the one that saw your car to begin with and aggree what repairs to do. This should
1 Jump start the garage
2 Provide concrete evidence to the insurance company which may or may not suggest more than one solution, ie repair 2 by original garage,or if a very resonable assessor/insurance company your choice of repairer....hope this is of some help....I hate having body repairs done because standards always seem shocking to me!...dirt in paint colours patchy..panels ill fitted.etc etc....

EdwardH

Thanks for all your responses.

A brief update.

Contacted the insurers first thing with a rather sharp fax.

Didn't hear back so phoned them up.

It turns out they had agreed with the bodyshop that the bodyshop will complete the work, despite me telling both parties not to touch the car. The bodyshop has started to rectify the problems before I found out.

I have demanded an inspection by Subaru and the bodyshop basically told me to get stuffed and that they wouldn't pay for it. I then asked the insurers to pay for it. The insurance co Engineering dept told me to speak to Claims who didn't return my call. Nice.

Fortunately my scooby dealer has agreed to do it for free.

I am not sure I can do anything more but see what the car comes back looking like.

Who do I go after if the interior is still marked?

Thanks

Ed

Stef

I have been through exactly the same thing.
My insurance company said that the garage should be given a chance to rectify the faults, which I gave them.
The work was still unsatisfactory, and after inspection by an insurance engineer I insisted on a Subaru dealer (where it should have gone in the first place!) sorting it out. The insurance company had no choice other than to agree.
Most insurance work comeswith a lengthy warranty anyway.
Never let your car go to an 'approved repairer' unless they are Scooby dealers.

Stef.

Imran

Sorry to hear of your problems EdwardH.

Been there myself, and it aint pretty!

Just for the record, you are fully within your rights to take the vehicle away, without signing a satisfaction note, and instead detailing the condition on the satisfaction note (every scratch etc). Then you take the car away and you have evidence to take them to the cleaners.

Whilst the satisfaction note is not signed, the workshop can not get payment from the Insurers, and they hassle them constantly. The insurers hassle you, you say you're not happy, and they send out an inspector. When HE sees the state of the car, (he's an engineer) he laughs and cries and makes a recommendation that is normally quite favourable.

I would always take the car in this way, because the ball is then in their court, and it gives you the strongest position.

By taking the car without signing a satisfaction note, you are in no way accepting the work, quite the opposite really, and the law states that you can take the car without signing. Believe me, I've done it, much to the horror of a bodyshop manager.

Otherwise, they get a chance to cover-up the messy work, and cover-up is all they do, and you get left crying over what looks like a half decent job, when you know full well, that deep down it's bodged.

I guess it's too late know, but you could remember this for future.

Good luck mate, and don't accept anything till your 101% satisfied.

Imran

DavidG

EdwardH, really sorry to hear about your problems. You should push the insurance company and threaten to go to court and/or the insurance ombudsman. Always get the name of the person you speak to at the insurance company. Then ask to speak to their superior.

<B>Webmaster</B> - I think EdwardH would be justified in "naming and shaming" both the insurer and (particularly) the bodyshop here, if he wants to. I'd certainly like to know who they are. What do you think?

I'm in the process of getting a repair done to my Scooby and am realising that the insurance companies don't give you the whole picture. I took the car to my dealer and got a quote, which I gave to the insurance company. They said I had to get a second quote, though they insisted that they wouldn't necessarily insist on using the cheaper quote (yeah, right ). I refused and said that I wouldn't have anyone but a Subaru dealer touch my car and that doing so would invalidate my bodywork warranty. They then backed down and said that I could get it done at the dealer but they would have the car inspected by their engineer at the dealer and that the engineer would negotiate the price with the dealer. The dealer confirmed that this is common practice. It's a pain in the **** though as the engineers don't exactly bust a gut to get round to see your car. The dealer had sent me a form to nominate them as my nominated repairer, which stated that I had a legal right to select my own repairer. My insurance company admitted as much when I pushed them but <I>at no time</I> did they volunteer this information. A trick that some of them play is that although the insurance policy says they will pay for a hire car, they won't if you don't use their repairer.

So all this is too late for EdwardH but for anyone else, remember that you don't have to use the designated repairer.

[This message has been edited by DavidG (edited 07 September 2000).]

GavinP

Edward,

When you get the car back if it is still not 100% (or more! ), I would take the car along to the Subaru dealer and ask him to inspect it (as he/she has kindly offered).

Get them to quote for the remedial work and then fax it over to the insurer. As previously stated, if you are not happy on collection then don't sign anything.

Is the bodyshop a member of the VBRA or any other professional body ? That's another potential avenue to getting some satisfaction.

I'm sorry that you have to suffer this sort of incompetence - just stand fast until you get what you are justified to expect!

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks

Gavin

ianlove

An all too familiar tale then. Had my paint redone up to 4 times due to incompetence.
I am always nice about it, ( is that the problem? ), but I will not accept a shoddy repair. This has happened four times over the years. Why can you not rely on a professional job? Do they think that you are blind?! Stick to your guns and give them hell! Then they will be more careful next time. Maybe....LOL
ian

Airmiles

Well, sorry to hear about your problems, Ed, I hope it turns out well.

Thanks to everyone else for their advice - I am in a similar position. I had Subaru Assist take me straight back to my dealer (Lavender Hill) and I'm awaiting the reults...but justifiably paranoid about panel fit/colour match etc. etc.

The only griff from my insurers (Churchill) has been having to pay for the insurance transfer to the courtesy car, on account if it not being their registered repairer - but they didn't blink at me taking it back to a Scooby specialist - sensible peeps.

But I still can't believe they didn't write it off..one week old (sob)!

Yex

This is what the BBS is all about, some great advise and mostly from experience of bad service.

I too had my previous Scooby shunted by an idiot, argued with Admiral (w**k**s) that I wanted it repaired by supplying dealer. They took a little while to agree, but after I found out their recommended repairer was little more than a "back street" operation they relented. I gave them the same line Imran gave about continually sending it back if it was not as good as it was prior to the idiot hitting me. I think this is what they bit on....so stand up for what you think is right for your particular car, we pay premiums we expect good service if we ever have to call on the policy.

Yex - now with better insurer just in case

NickF

If it's any help, this is what I did when using a bodyshop who'd screwed up last year.

The car was delivered back whilst I was at work, and the au pair just took the keys. She couldn't see anything wrong with it, though it later transpired that there were some serious issues that needed rectifying.

As soon as I realised there was a problem, I rang the bodyshop, spoke to the customer services manager, and told him of the problem. I also did the same with the insurance company, who told me that they would get involved only if the bodyshop didn't sort it out.

I sent letters (recorded delivery) confirming my complaint to both the bodyshop and the insurance company. I also pointed out to them that they had delivered an unroadworthy car, which would probably have invalidated my insurance had I had an accident in it. I also queried the effectiveness of their road test procedure, as it took me only 100 metres to realise there wes an issue to be resolved

The bodyshop called me the next day and apologised, then asked to have another go. They took the car away, fixed it and brought it back, with an apology and a £50 cheque for my trouble (the cost of my excess, which I'd previously paid to them).

I'd recommend putting it it writing and dealing with the most senior people you can - basically, be a thorn in their sides (but in a nice way)and don't be fobbed off.

I don't know if this helps, but I'd say that it's well worth getting the insurance company in the loop as soon as possible, and letting the repairer know that you've done this.

Nick F