Insurance repair problem - third party
Discussion
Hoping someone might be able to offer some advice.
Last July I was involved in an accident. Non fault and third party accepted full liability.
They arranged directly for the repair of my car so I didn't claim on my insurance (big mistake, but my insurance said it would work out better for personal injury claim)
Since July it has been to the approved repairer 6 times. It was returned to me once with the brakes damaged, either through poor workmanship or accident damage that was missed. I nearly ran over some school kids who darted across the road when my brake pedal went to the floor. I've had to have a window replaced, as was damaged whilst in the bodyshop. Door trims have been replaced on top of the original crash damage to them breaking things whilst in for repair.
I am looking into small claims court. Just not sure on who best to do it against. The lady who hit me, the insurance company, or the garage who can't repair the car without damaging it in other ways.
Any advice would be welcome.
Last July I was involved in an accident. Non fault and third party accepted full liability.
They arranged directly for the repair of my car so I didn't claim on my insurance (big mistake, but my insurance said it would work out better for personal injury claim)
Since July it has been to the approved repairer 6 times. It was returned to me once with the brakes damaged, either through poor workmanship or accident damage that was missed. I nearly ran over some school kids who darted across the road when my brake pedal went to the floor. I've had to have a window replaced, as was damaged whilst in the bodyshop. Door trims have been replaced on top of the original crash damage to them breaking things whilst in for repair.
I am looking into small claims court. Just not sure on who best to do it against. The lady who hit me, the insurance company, or the garage who can't repair the car without damaging it in other ways.
Any advice would be welcome.
Been in a similar position with a pathetically bad quality repair by an 'approved' repairer. Was a fault claim as my wife missed the brake pedal and hit a wall. Repairer left the chassis leg bent rather than jig it to check it was straight. When they realised it was bent they cut the locating lugs off the panels they were fitting so they could wriggle them into position rather than doing it properly. Failed MOT on collection as headlight pointing at the floor and couldn't be adjusted to a legal position
Cutting a long story short I wrote a 4 page report with pics (I used to work as an accident investigator so this wasn't tricky) and sent to the insurance company stating it needed to go somewhere else as the original repaired had quite clearly thought a bodge job was perfectly acceptable
The 2nd repairer had to replace all the new panels again due to poor paint and the fitting issues. Took 6 months in total to rectify and still wasn't perfect but I lost the willl to live. Car was sold shortly after
Basically in this case if they are making the car worse on each visit speak to the insurer and ask them to send an assessor out to look at the car. Depending on the value, if the cost of repairs to date plus whatever's required to rectify is over half the value of the car consider asking them to write it off. If they insist on another repair attempt I'd advise it going somewhere with a decent reputation. The majority of approved repairers are authorised on the basis of their ability to do a job at cheap labour rates within the minimum time possible. They're usually quite good at finding extra bits that 'need doing' once it's striped down to make up the bill to the insurer.
Cutting a long story short I wrote a 4 page report with pics (I used to work as an accident investigator so this wasn't tricky) and sent to the insurance company stating it needed to go somewhere else as the original repaired had quite clearly thought a bodge job was perfectly acceptable
The 2nd repairer had to replace all the new panels again due to poor paint and the fitting issues. Took 6 months in total to rectify and still wasn't perfect but I lost the willl to live. Car was sold shortly after
Basically in this case if they are making the car worse on each visit speak to the insurer and ask them to send an assessor out to look at the car. Depending on the value, if the cost of repairs to date plus whatever's required to rectify is over half the value of the car consider asking them to write it off. If they insist on another repair attempt I'd advise it going somewhere with a decent reputation. The majority of approved repairers are authorised on the basis of their ability to do a job at cheap labour rates within the minimum time possible. They're usually quite good at finding extra bits that 'need doing' once it's striped down to make up the bill to the insurer.
Tje said:
The lady who hit me, the insurance company, or the garage who can't repair the car without damaging it in other ways.
I have to say that's the bit that worries me when people on here often say you should go direct to the 3rd party insurer. If you do that, then, to my mind, no-one is going to have your interests at heart as you're neither the insurer's nor the body-shop's customer.Touch wood, it's a few years since we've had an incident - a woman ran into the back of wife's car and broke the bumper, so not a big deal. To my mind, this is what fully comp insurance is for so I called our insurer and they took care of the whole thing. I had it repaired through the franchise dealer who provided a car and our insurer (LV=) even waived our excess.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Wednesday 22 February 09:46
I was quite badly rear ended 2 years ago. Car was sent to TP insurers approved bodyshop. Bodyshop were pretty good, apart from listing 4 brand new wheels for £1500 each, then 18 months later the lacquer started peeling on all my wheels and I realised they had just refurbed the damaged ones and pocketed the cash.
Insurance company were a joke. Never told me if the car was a write off or being repaired. I found out from the bodyshop who phoned me with an updated after a week of carrying out work.
I phoned the TP insurer (an 8 sided shape) and they had no record of my car or the repair and wouldn't honour their 4-year warranty on the work. Bulls
t.
Insurance company were a joke. Never told me if the car was a write off or being repaired. I found out from the bodyshop who phoned me with an updated after a week of carrying out work.
I phoned the TP insurer (an 8 sided shape) and they had no record of my car or the repair and wouldn't honour their 4-year warranty on the work. Bulls
t.Six times is enough to prove that the chosen repairer is incompetent. Any court would side with you that you've given the TP and their chosen repairer plenty of opportunity to put things right.
You have no contract with the chosen repairer, so you can't sue them. Its the TP who is responsible for putting your car right, the repairer is just acting for the TP insurer (who is in turn acting on behalf of the TP).
Get a quote. Contact third party insurer, tell them that your car is going to a garage of your choice (main dealer) for repair and it will cost them £xxx.
Ask the TP insurer if they would prefer to authorise the repair directly or deal with an AMC of your choice. Give the TP insurer 14 days to authorise. Book the car in for repair in 21 days time.
You should sue the TP directly. His / her insurer will settle on their behalf.
Good luck.
You have no contract with the chosen repairer, so you can't sue them. Its the TP who is responsible for putting your car right, the repairer is just acting for the TP insurer (who is in turn acting on behalf of the TP).
Get a quote. Contact third party insurer, tell them that your car is going to a garage of your choice (main dealer) for repair and it will cost them £xxx.
Ask the TP insurer if they would prefer to authorise the repair directly or deal with an AMC of your choice. Give the TP insurer 14 days to authorise. Book the car in for repair in 21 days time.
You should sue the TP directly. His / her insurer will settle on their behalf.
Good luck.
Sheepshanks said:
I have to say that's the bit that worries me when people on here often say you should go direct to the 3rd party insurer. If you do that, then, to my mind, no-one is going to have your interests at heart as you're neither the insurer's nor the body-shop's customer.
Not strictly true - the 3P insurer does have a duty of care to you as the 'victim'.But broadly agree with the principle - you have no contract with them so you have less power/influence over them.
Sheepshanks said:
I have to say that's the bit that worries me when people on here often say you should go direct to the 3rd party insurer. If you do that, then, to my mind, no-one is going to have your interests at heart as you're neither the insurer's nor the body-shop's customer.
I had a car drive into the back of me on Saturday evening. The 3rd party insurance phoned me on Sunday and an acceptable write-off fee was agreed. The money was in my bank account Monday morning.Not all insurance companies are shysters!!
Had a third party assessor out today to view it. Still needs paint and putting back together properly. They managed to fix 2 of the 6 things it got returned for last time, but in the process have caused a few more.
Waiting to hear from an operational manger at admiral to see what they want to do, but have decided to just instruct a solicitor to proceed with taking the TP to court.
Waiting to hear from an operational manger at admiral to see what they want to do, but have decided to just instruct a solicitor to proceed with taking the TP to court.
They hit me, admitted full liability. I need to be put back into the same situation as I was before so the solicitor thinks it's best to go for them, and likely she'll instruct her insurance to represent her.
Alternative is to go for the insurance for breach of contract.
Easier and cheaper to go after the driver apparently. That's the advice I got.
Alternative is to go for the insurance for breach of contract.
Easier and cheaper to go after the driver apparently. That's the advice I got.
Tje said:
Easier and cheaper to go after the driver apparently.
I believe that's the logical way to do it - the insurance co for the 3rd party are providing a service to the driver of the car that hit him, and it's the driver's actions that have resulted in the claim. The insurer will end up providing the legal representative to deal with it.Adrian E said:
Tje said:
Easier and cheaper to go after the driver apparently.
I believe that's the logical way to do it.Both the 3rd party and the third party's insurers have done what they should have done. The claim has been paid out, you cannot claim for the same incident twice just because you don't like the outcome.
The original claim has been paid out and it is certainly not the drivers fault that the garage didn't do the repairs properly. Why should the driver be responsible for an incompetent garage?
The problem the OP now has is with the garage, they are the ones responsible for the present situation.
If the OP has any contract with the garage (IE paid the garage and claimed the money back from insurance) then go after the garage direct. If the 3rd party insurance had the contract with the garage then it is up to them to ensure the garage does an acceptable job and the car is returned in a satisfactory condition.
I do appreciate that is easier said than done and they may need 'nudging' a bit but I don't believe going after the driver will achieve anything.
Accidents happen - that's why we have insurance.
Garages mess up - that's why we have consumer rights/claims courts.
Don't get the two muddled up.
I wish people wouldn't post opinions like the one above without knowing something of contract law.
1) 3P 'injured' (in the legal sense) the OP
2) 3P has a contract of insurance to indemnify him from consequences of such things
3) Insurer therefore has a legal duty of care to the OP
4) Insurer nominated the garage as a way of satisfying their d-o-c
5) Garage has failed to fulfil their obligations satisfactorily
6) ...so the insurer hasn't satisfied their obligations, and by extension neither has the 3P
So, the OP should go after either the 3P (who has the original obligation to put the OP back in the pre-accident position), or the insurer (who has a duty of care to him but no contract). The garage has no d-o-c and no contract with the OP, so absolutely NO point in chasing them.
Does that help?
1) 3P 'injured' (in the legal sense) the OP
2) 3P has a contract of insurance to indemnify him from consequences of such things
3) Insurer therefore has a legal duty of care to the OP
4) Insurer nominated the garage as a way of satisfying their d-o-c
5) Garage has failed to fulfil their obligations satisfactorily
6) ...so the insurer hasn't satisfied their obligations, and by extension neither has the 3P
So, the OP should go after either the 3P (who has the original obligation to put the OP back in the pre-accident position), or the insurer (who has a duty of care to him but no contract). The garage has no d-o-c and no contract with the OP, so absolutely NO point in chasing them.
Does that help?
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