T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

After the tyre blew out last saturday and destroyed the front of my baby via the central reservation of the M20 it's now in a Vauxhall garage bodyshop to be repaired this is where the insurance co have taken it.






Assessor has assessed that it is to be repaired its only 15months old- looking at 6-8 weeks though
front Steering and suspension and rad and everything else up front! f00ked plus alot of body work (front and passenger side where It 'parked' on the hard shoulder!)

Any ideas if they will be able to keep/redial my prodrive settings though?

Will they replace the front springs (if they are damaged) for the prodrive ones i have now? or will they put 'normal' ones back on- they are declared on insurance policy

Is it like for like? I had STI wheels put on- its a wrx? i dont wont STI wheels on the back and wrx ones on the front do I? they arent declared on insurance policy felt as only colour change i never bothered

As, bar three panels, the car is scratched and dented all over I assume thay will respray it all, for a drink shall i ask him to change the colour for me? Can he do that? or have a not had enough sleep since the accident

I had fitted foglight covers too, they werent even found at the scene (i had spun about 1/4mile or so) can i expect them to be replaced or not?

Any advice cheers
Trevor (no damage to me just f00kin scary)



I miss her but they have given me a corsa so not everythings bad?

Mangel

seriously unlucky mate.

Suggest you ensure that the quote includes all the bits before you agree it.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

wow mate bad news, how fast were you going ?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

See if your insurance co let you choose a repairer, some do if the price is good (a good subaru body shop for instance so you know your car is going to be ok )

Tony

T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

Not fast really, it was tipping down as well.

T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

I tried that when some **** hit my door when it was 9 days old- they kicked up a stink when i said i wanted it repaired by subaru but in the end they did a good job

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Are there any tho ?

since my prang today, i have had a look and subaru repair shops seem very scarce, scoobyclinics is about 150 miles away etc, in these circumstances its weird having a scoob repaired at a vx or warners garage

Hungrytang

Unlucky mate..

I notice you have an sti scoop, Make sure they dont fit a wrx one instead.

Also you will have to de-tango all over again.

simo

If any non standard parts were not declared to your insurers you run the risk of them being replaced with standard parts. You might be lucky and get an assessor who authorizes the parts, you might not. Ask to see his report.
Any undeclared parts could void your insurance btw, its not worth the risk. You mention you changed the wheels and only the colour was different. An insurer may look at that as a higher risk as it might make the car more desirable to a thief.

Main thing is that you are ok.

T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

Going tomorrow morning to get my stuff out the boot- so ill speak to the garage fella- he may 'understand' my predicament - dont want any favours just MY car back as it was with no hassle (but better tyres- lol!!)

Bar the wheels everything declared - scoop, springs, ppp, exhaust
They are gold subaru wheels rather than anthracite so he probably didnt notice

And you are of course right. i am ok. which is the main thing but still...

speedking

What sort of tyre was it?

simo

Fair chance they will just get replaced with gold wheels then as he should have spotted the colour . (Unless he is one of PS Lewis' gold wheel police )

If everything else was declared you should have nothing else to worry about chap Reference the prodrive settings, make sure the car goes on a full geo alignment machine as I would want to make sure it is all straight when put back on the road & give them your settings as you had done.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

i had asituation yrs ago when my car was stolen,old cav sri mk2, anyhoo, i had 17" alloys on it and didnt declare these, when the car was found the guy noted these and my excess went from £100 to £490 !

hence this was a tad more than the value they would of given me for the car so i had it back, all battered up.

GC8

They have no choice Tony, the law's clear. Whether someone in a call centre will understand this immediately is a seperate matter of course...

timchump

I thought you could have your car repaired at any garage you wanted? something i didn't know until i also crashed my scoob.
I was unhappy with the job the "insurance approved repaired did" and then it went to a subaru garage.

I'm not 100% sure though i was advised by a local independent body shop this is how it works (and unsurprisingly not many people know this).

GC8

timchump, you can. Thats what Im saying in the post above, although it does look a little ambiguous now.....

timchump

Ah agreed then my advise for T123VOR would be to stand up for yourself and get the service you deserve from the rediculous high premiums you have paid.

KIPS

Ive heard scooby clinic are quite helpfull in these matters they will pick the car up aswell give them a buzz and have a chat before vauxhhalls start any work
kip

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

As regards the "choosing your own repairer", you certainly can. But be aware that some, not all, but some, insurers reserve the right NOT to pay for a courtesy car if you don't use their repairers. If a courtesy car is going to be important to you, use their lot.

Secondly, any competent bodywork repairer will put the car back as it was, UNLESS instructed not to do so by the insurence claim assessor. In which case, your insurer will contact you to tell you why.

I cannot see the repairer allowing a car to leave it's premises with different coloured alloys on front and rear, for example. That's just too obvious.

Having said that, they may NOT notice things like the scoop. It would be best to point it out to them. Not everyone is a Scoob fan, and notices stuff like that See the bodyshop manager, and explain in what ways YOUR car is different, and if necessary, name the parts, and where they came from. Put it in writing for him so it's easier for them to source bits.

When my eldest's Ibiza was in for a frontal repair recently, the repairer rejected THREE headlights for it as they had oredered on part number/chassis number, but my lad's car had the colour coded headlights on it. All sorted eventually, just three more days in the bodyshop.

Alcazar

T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

Cheers guys

A lot of helpful stuff there

Im off to see him this morning so ill speak to him- everything mangled was subaru/prodrive so they should get that stuff without any hassles ( )

I do need a courtesy car (I have a shiny corsa 'design' on mydrive no less) so cant really argue with them


Trevor

spaspeckerthedull

before I had my scoob, I drove an imported eunos roadster that was badly damaged by a drunk driver. It went to an "approved repairer" and when it came back it looked ok. Then the problems started. When the guy dropped it off I drove it round the block and noticed a REALLY bad knocking noise from underneath. I told him and he said I should call his boss in the morning, so I refused to sign for the car or pay him the excess. It was only the morning after when I had the AA out that I found what was really wrong - the rear diff was hanging on by 2 bolts (instead of being fastened on by 8) and had come completey loose and the drive shafts fell out. So back it goes. It comes back with that sorted and a couple of days later only for me to find that where I had been closing the boot lid, it had made contact with the panel underneath and was rubbing off the new paint. On closer inspection, the panel underneath that they had replaced was red - the car was white - so I got my cousin (who used to be a sprayer) to have a look. He said straight away "second hand panel" When I queried this with my insurance they told me that their "approved repairer" had invoiced them for new panels. I demanded that the car was to examined by an independent examiner, he came out and went over the car from bumper to bumper. The list was quite extensive -

no repair to rear diff causing driveshafts to fall out
second hand panel fitted to rear and not painted properly (insurance invoiced for new)
incorrect rear panel fitted anyway, as it should have been a square plate NOT oblong (they fitted a uk panel, not an import)
boot seal not fitted correctly causing boot to fill with water
boot pop from alarm fob not refitted
damaged front grill not replaced
original damaged side repeaters refitted
no underseal applied to one side of boot
underseal that was applied was also applied to exhaust causing it to smell when hot
battery not fastened down after wing replacement
electrics not fitted correctly so only one headlight would pop up
overspray on nearly every external panel
overspray on door glass

total charge by repair company? just a shade over 3 grand

the moral of the story? please PLEASE ask if your car can be repaired by subaru - if it goes to an "approved repairer" don't sign for the car until you are COMPLETELY happy with the repair

timchump

i agree with the above, you probably wont want the extra hassle of pushing for a subaru garage and will want your scooby back as quickly as possible, but i would seriously consider making them take it there as impreza aren't your everyday vectra or mondeo.

Shark Man

You have the right to have you repaired at any garage to wish, so long as operate to recognosed bodyshop standards.

NEVER let your insurance co bully - they do this to save themselves money - nothing else. Yes their excuse is to assure repair standards, but many a case has been proven that this is the opposite.

Any good bodyshop will warrantee their work.

Personally, I will never let an insurance company take my car to THEIR "approved" repairer.

The same applies to taking your car to a Subaru Dealer for body repairs....how many Subauaru dealers do you see who run bodyshops? Not many Best deal with teh bodyshop they use instead, as your the customer, not the dealer or ins co.

andythejock01wrx

T123VOR, you asked if your insurer was obliged to replace non-std parts which you had declared to them. Well generally the answer is yes (I work in insurance claims ), but I considered insuring my Scoob with Admiral when i first got it, but they said that they would under no circumstances replace non std parts (specifically my bodykit), regardless of whether they are declared at the outset.

Hence I am insured with Groupama, via A-Plan, who would replace the parts on a like for like basis (which is the norm).

T123VOR

iTrader: (2)

Went to see her this morning and to chat to the guy regarding my toys-

he was understanding about it so seems ok

Car doenst look any worse but it is f00ked

Just wait now i suppose




Especially how far the wheel has been shoved back!