Urgent Insurance advice - Carpark smash

[edo]

You have a right to chose where it goes, and you def have a right to inspect it before it is given back.

[eybic]

As said, it is up to you whether you accept the repair or not, if you have an issue the insurers will probably send an assessor out.

[EnthusiastOwned]

BuzzBravado said:

I did when it happened to me. 4 different policies and they all added a slice at renewal time.

4 different!? Ouch! I'll give them a call over the weekend then. Didn't affect my current, so fingers crossed.

Hudson said:

A Juke?! you should have pushed for an Austin Maxi and an hour in the pain glove, now we'll all have to pay £20k to insure our cars

As for the Golf, the insurers will know you've been involved in an accident as it goes on a database, If it effects your policy or not is down to them i'm afraid. I would imagine more specialist insurers (IE the ones that offer classic car insurance) won't be as tight as the mainstream lot?

Haha, to be fair it's a decent spec so can't complain at all, I'm enjoying driving it as a guilty pleasure kind of thing (I really want to try a Nismo Juke now!).

I'll give my insurance a call.

[EnthusiastOwned]

edo said:

You have a right to chose where it goes, and you def have a right to inspect it before it is given back.

eybic said:

As said, it is up to you whether you accept the repair or not, if you have an issue the insurers will probably send an assessor out.

Cheers guys.

The company has some good reviews and they've been saying the right things. Lifetime warranty, genuine parts only, fixed to manufactures spec, 4 wheel alignment and laser rig tested, road tested etc.

I probably should have took loads of pictures as a comparison before, but didn't get chance and the car was in an underground car park so lighting was too poor.

[EnthusiastOwned]

Just had an update from the repairers.

The rear bumper has polished out with no further damage. Not sure if I should be sceptical about that or not. The car moved a good few feet into a solid wall, I would have expected internal damage, but what do I know - thoughts?

The front end had been removed and no structural damage, just bumper, grills, bracing and bonnet. The front bumper will be replaced but unsure of the bonnet (I should have asked). The bonnet was bent to the front, quite minor all things considered but bent nevertheless. It'll need re-bending and filler - I'm not sure how I feel about filler on a brand new car, especially on something as open to chips like the front end of a bonnet. Should I be asking for a new panel?

Also things like brackets etc, if they were snapped; is it reasonable for these to be repaired or should they be replaced? E.g. I noticed one of my fixings on the foglight casing had snapped clean off, should I expect the whole foglight unit to be replaced or the fixing to be repaired with adhesive etc?

[blueacid]

EnthusiastOwned said:

Just had an update from the repairers.

The rear bumper has polished out with no further damage. Not sure if I should be sceptical about that or not. The car moved a good few feet into a solid wall, I would have expected internal damage, but what do I know - thoughts?

The front end had been removed and no structural damage, just bumper, grills, bracing and bonnet. The front bumper will be replaced but unsure of the bonnet (I should have asked). The bonnet was bent to the front, quite minor all things considered but bent nevertheless. It'll need re-bending and filler - I'm not sure how I feel about filler on a brand new car, especially on something as open to chips like the front end of a bonnet. Should I be asking for a new panel?

Also things like brackets etc, if they were snapped; is it reasonable for these to be repaired or should they be replaced? E.g. I noticed one of my fixings on the foglight casing had snapped clean off, should I expect the whole foglight unit to be replaced or the fixing to be repaired with adhesive etc?

I would suggest that anything plastic that's snapped should be replaced with manufacturer parts. They mentioned it in the first place, but it seems they're loathe to actually use any..

[Daston]

You pay insurance so that your vehicle is returned to the same state it was before the accident. As your car has only covered 3500 miles I would expect it to look like a car that has covered just 3500 miles after the repairs.

[TazLondon]

I'd be surprised if they use filler for repairs. They ought to be replacing panels. Is your car still under the manufacturers warranty? If so, any repairs would need to comply with the terms of that warranty, which would usually mean replacement parts to OEM spec.

[Vaud]

OP, do you own it or is it leased?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

tedman said:

Make sure they don't try to settle 50/50 with your insurer, too.

I got stung with that a few years ago in a car park prang that wasn't my fault...

Te other party must've thought differently. There was obviously a dispute over the circumstances with no independent evidence either way.

[KungFuPanda]

petop said:

Get your policy out and make sure you ticked commuting to place of work.

Why?

The incident wasn't the OP's fault so he'll be claiming off the third party's insurance. Even if he held no insurance whatsoever, he can still claim from a third party if he isn't at fault or partly at fault.

[Mike_Mac]

petop said:

Get your policy out and make sure you ticked commuting to place of work.

Surely that doesn't matter as it's the other party's insurance that will be covering this?

[EnthusiastOwned]

Thanks Chaps.

I was going to buy it outright but it's actually on a PCP - 0% interest free and was planning to buy it out after the term (no chance of that now).

I'll speak to the insurers today and stress I don't want any filler. New panels only and no plastic welding.

I've been thinking and I'm concerned about the rear bumper. The car took a knock big enough to move it a good couple of feet, into a wall with enough force to bounce off it - with the handbrake on and in gear! It only has scuffs visually, but it's the internals i'm worried about. Surely without removing the bumper to take a look no one would be able to tell if there was any damage? I don't want to be driving around with a weakened bumper for safety reasons. Should I be insisting they investigate further?

[edo]

go and see it in person...

[anniesdad]

Daston said:

You pay insurance so that your vehicle is returned to the same state it was before the accident. As your car has only covered 3500 miles I would expect it to look like a car that has covered just 3500 miles after the repairs.

The OP isn't claiming against his own insurance so his own insurance contract terms do not apply.

[anniesdad]

TazLondon said:

I'd be surprised if they use filler for repairs. They ought to be replacing panels. Is your car still under the manufacturers warranty? If so, any repairs would need to comply with the terms of that warranty, which would usually mean replacement parts to OEM spec.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. The OP is asking the third party insurers to handle the repairs, the likelihood is that their instructed engineer will argue parts replacement and argue the cost down to something more palatable for them. In this case it is their approved repairer that is doing the repair. Fix Auto aren't the best for repairing cars, they're just one of the biggest bodyshop groups so do a lot of work for the insurance industry. They may well be working to a fixed fee arrangement with the insurers so there is no real incentive on the bodyshop to take their time.

Sadly insurers aren't too concerned about handling claims for non-client third parties and ensuring that manufacturer paintwork warranties are kept intact.

edited: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

Edited by anniesdad on Monday 13th June 11:21

[EnthusiastOwned]

anniesdad said:

TazLondon said:

I'd be surprised if they use filler for repairs. They ought to be replacing panels. Is your car still under the manufacturers warranty? If so, any repairs would need to comply with the terms of that warranty, which would usually mean replacement parts to OEM spec.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. The OP is asking the third party insurers to handle the repairs, the likelihood is that their instructed engineer will argue parts replacement and argue the cost down to something more palatable for them. In this case it is their approved repairer that is doing the repair. Fix Auto aren't the best for repairing cars, they're just one of the biggest bodyshop groups so do a lot of work for the insurance industry. They may well be working to a fixed fee arrangement with the insurers so there is no real incentive on the bodyshop to take their time.

Sadly insurers aren't too concerned about handling claims for non-client third parties and ensuring that manufacturer paintwork warranties are kept intact.

edited: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

Edited by anniesdad on Monday 13th June 11:21

And this is my concern. The insurers will be wanting to fix this as cheap as possible and will be willing to cut corners everywhere, what the eye can't see springs to mind as 9/10 people wouldn't know any better, or care. I've already received a letter stating the labour rate is £28 an hour, that's worryingly cheap. The insurers will have negotiated (hard) with the repairs for the rate, so what else would have have been negotiated at the same time to meet that rate? On the flip side, because labour rate is so cheap will the repairs want to drag it out to get the monies worth, or is it just a numbers game, in and out as fast as possible?

[anniesdad]

uuf361 said:

I don't know of anyone who has been able to pass on the increased premium to the other party.

Explained that my premiums would go up on both cars (provided comparison quotes) and therefore I'd be out of pocket but was told it was not something that could be claimed for.

Me neither.

Potentially you may have to go back to the at-fault insurer 3 years in a row to claim back the extra cost for every year you are affected. Insurers normally ask for details of accidents/claims in a 3 year period.

If NCD is taken away as a result of an accident and you suffer a premium rise before the case has chance to settle then that extra premium should be automatically refunded (but you should make sure it is anyway), once it is confirmed not to be your fault.

[anniesdad]

EnthusiastOwned said:

what the eye can't see springs to mind as 9/10 people wouldn't know any better, or care.

You're right sadly and that is to the economic benefit of the insurers. I would suggest you get copies of all the repair paperwork ie. repair estimate, authority, engineers report (if applicable), repair invoice, guarantee and satisfaction note that you will sign if/when you are happy with the repairs. Don't be surprised though that if you are not happy with the repairs and refuse to take your car back until you are that the courtesy/hire car that you have been provided with will be taken from you.

[AMG Merc]

Was the other guy's a manual freelander then? Suggest he gets an auto next time he does it!