What is the goal of an insurance repair?
Discussion
Hey all, thought I would ask the PH hive mind as I'm a bit stuck.
Some throbber came over the wrong side of the road and crashed into the wifes Vitara in June, they admitted fault, insurers were happy we were non fault so passed us on to another company to deal with the repair, who contracted it out to a local bodyshop.
The bodyshop were awful, some complaining to the middle company got them to get the body shop to rectify things.
The car is still not in a state I'm fully happy with on one point.
In the crash the front left wheel was damaged beyond repair. The bodyshop got a new wheel from Suzuki but despite being the same part number the design seems to have been slightly revised over time as the new wheel they have put on clearly does not match the original 3.
The spoke and outer rim design is slightly different as are the colour and finish.
nobody on the insurance side will deal with me anymore with the whole chain saying well that is the part from Suzuki so lump it. They passed me on to a mediator who cant seem to a pick a side so is doing nothing.
I'd said if that is the only type of wheel available then they should order me 3 more so I have a matching set of 4 again but they will not entertain this idea, I even offered the compromise of getting me 1 more new wheel so I can have matching pairs on each side so it is not obvious but again nope.
So what is the goal of an insurance repair? is it just to get the car back on the road or is it to restore you/ your car to the position it was in before the accident?
Some throbber came over the wrong side of the road and crashed into the wifes Vitara in June, they admitted fault, insurers were happy we were non fault so passed us on to another company to deal with the repair, who contracted it out to a local bodyshop.
The bodyshop were awful, some complaining to the middle company got them to get the body shop to rectify things.
The car is still not in a state I'm fully happy with on one point.
In the crash the front left wheel was damaged beyond repair. The bodyshop got a new wheel from Suzuki but despite being the same part number the design seems to have been slightly revised over time as the new wheel they have put on clearly does not match the original 3.
The spoke and outer rim design is slightly different as are the colour and finish.
nobody on the insurance side will deal with me anymore with the whole chain saying well that is the part from Suzuki so lump it. They passed me on to a mediator who cant seem to a pick a side so is doing nothing.
I'd said if that is the only type of wheel available then they should order me 3 more so I have a matching set of 4 again but they will not entertain this idea, I even offered the compromise of getting me 1 more new wheel so I can have matching pairs on each side so it is not obvious but again nope.
So what is the goal of an insurance repair? is it just to get the car back on the road or is it to restore you/ your car to the position it was in before the accident?
RB Will said:
So what is the goal of an insurance repair? is it just to get the car back on the road or is it to restore you/ your car to the position it was in before the accident?
I've always thought it was to replace any losses the party may incur from negligence from a 3rd party, either financially or repair. So the "just getting it back on the road", in my book at least, shouldn't be the option that you end up with.I would be looking closely at the wording of your insurance policy and the definitions pages to see what they term as 'repair' and any wording as to the goal of their service as you point out.
But I would agree with you that what you described doesn't leave you in the position you were in prior to the crash. In effect you've now in the position of either one incorrect wheel, or three incorrect wheels.
RB Will said:
Hey all, thought I would ask the PH hive mind as I'm a bit stuck.
Some throbber came over the wrong side of the road and crashed into the wifes Vitara in June, they admitted fault, insurers were happy we were non fault so passed us on to another company to deal with the repair, who contracted it out to a local bodyshop.
The bodyshop were awful, some complaining to the middle company got them to get the body shop to rectify things.
The car is still not in a state I'm fully happy with on one point.
In the crash the front left wheel was damaged beyond repair. The bodyshop got a new wheel from Suzuki but despite being the same part number the design seems to have been slightly revised over time as the new wheel they have put on clearly does not match the original 3.
The spoke and outer rim design is slightly different as are the colour and finish.
nobody on the insurance side will deal with me anymore with the whole chain saying well that is the part from Suzuki so lump it. They passed me on to a mediator who cant seem to a pick a side so is doing nothing.
I'd said if that is the only type of wheel available then they should order me 3 more so I have a matching set of 4 again but they will not entertain this idea, I even offered the compromise of getting me 1 more new wheel so I can have matching pairs on each side so it is not obvious but again nope.
So what is the goal of an insurance repair? is it just to get the car back on the road or is it to restore you/ your car to the position it was in before the accident?
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.Some throbber came over the wrong side of the road and crashed into the wifes Vitara in June, they admitted fault, insurers were happy we were non fault so passed us on to another company to deal with the repair, who contracted it out to a local bodyshop.
The bodyshop were awful, some complaining to the middle company got them to get the body shop to rectify things.
The car is still not in a state I'm fully happy with on one point.
In the crash the front left wheel was damaged beyond repair. The bodyshop got a new wheel from Suzuki but despite being the same part number the design seems to have been slightly revised over time as the new wheel they have put on clearly does not match the original 3.
The spoke and outer rim design is slightly different as are the colour and finish.
nobody on the insurance side will deal with me anymore with the whole chain saying well that is the part from Suzuki so lump it. They passed me on to a mediator who cant seem to a pick a side so is doing nothing.
I'd said if that is the only type of wheel available then they should order me 3 more so I have a matching set of 4 again but they will not entertain this idea, I even offered the compromise of getting me 1 more new wheel so I can have matching pairs on each side so it is not obvious but again nope.
So what is the goal of an insurance repair? is it just to get the car back on the road or is it to restore you/ your car to the position it was in before the accident?
If you want 4 new wheels they could ask for money from you for betterment.
If the only answer was to get a second hand wheel do that and ask for some money to get it refurbished.
kestral said:
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.
Clearly this is not the case. They do not compensate you for the loss of value of having an accident/repaired car rather than one that hasn't had an accident.BertBert said:
kestral said:
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.
Clearly this is not the case. They do not compensate you for the loss of value of having an accident/repaired car rather than one that hasn't had an accident.Tommo87 said:
BertBert said:
kestral said:
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.
Clearly this is not the case. They do not compensate you for the loss of value of having an accident/repaired car rather than one that hasn't had an accident.BertBert said:
kestral said:
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.
Clearly this is not the case. They do not compensate you for the loss of value of having an accident/repaired car rather than one that hasn't had an accident.How would you know if a car was repaired after an accident?
Hint: if it has a write off marker the market value will have been settled.
In my (limited) experience.
My car (SLK55 R171) sustained damage to the rear wheel such that it wasn't repairable. The wheels are NLA (and cannot be found anywhere). So the ins company paid me out for their interpretation of the value of one wheel - which was fairly low - £350. But then I had to buy a set of aftermarket alloys for the car.
Would suggest trying a similar tack with the company (get them to pay some money for the value of the wheel) and source your own
My car (SLK55 R171) sustained damage to the rear wheel such that it wasn't repairable. The wheels are NLA (and cannot be found anywhere). So the ins company paid me out for their interpretation of the value of one wheel - which was fairly low - £350. But then I had to buy a set of aftermarket alloys for the car.
Would suggest trying a similar tack with the company (get them to pay some money for the value of the wheel) and source your own
Dingu said:
You don’t half like posting about things you know nothing about.
How would you know if a car was repaired after an accident?
Hint: if it has a write off marker the market value will have been settled.
I'm not quite sure what the ad hominem remark is about. We can just debate without that perhaps?How would you know if a car was repaired after an accident?
Hint: if it has a write off marker the market value will have been settled.
Assuming so...
Many, most, if not all accident repairs are detectable. Many, most if not all buyers are likely to value a damaged repaired car lower than the same car that is not damaged repaired.
I'd go to Suzuki themselves and verify if the correct wheel can still be obtained. It sounds like the repairer or Suzuki simply messed up the order. It happened to our Vitara. We had bad corrosion (that horrid etching you get on diamond cut wheels) that they agreed to replace under warranty. Dropped the car to swap the wheels but the wrong ones had been supplied! (Got it sorted in the end though).
Daughter had a similar issue with her car when it was with the Suzuki accident repair centre.
Kept telling us they were waiting for a bonnet catch and Suzuki didn't have any stock, so after chasing the repairer for the next few weeks, decided to call Suzuki customer services and ask if they did have any in stock and if not, when they were due in, and she came back with the answer of " it's the same catch across a variety of models and we have hundreds available.'
A quick call back to the repairer with the information and a slight b
king and low and behold, a few days later the car was delivered back to her.
Must admit, even though they fked us about, it was an excellent standard of repair.
Kept telling us they were waiting for a bonnet catch and Suzuki didn't have any stock, so after chasing the repairer for the next few weeks, decided to call Suzuki customer services and ask if they did have any in stock and if not, when they were due in, and she came back with the answer of " it's the same catch across a variety of models and we have hundreds available.'
A quick call back to the repairer with the information and a slight b
king and low and behold, a few days later the car was delivered back to her.Must admit, even though they f
ked us about, it was an excellent standard of repair.Panamax said:
You don't need three additional wheels - you only need one. Nobody is ever in a million years going to notice a tiny difference between one side of the car and the other.
Ebay should see you home and dry very easily. I've certainly bought replacement wheels from there.
OP has already offered that and was declined.Ebay should see you home and dry very easily. I've certainly bought replacement wheels from there.
kestral said:
The legal position is that the insurer puts you back into the position you would have been in had the peril not occured.
If you want 4 new wheels they could ask for money from you for betterment.
If the only answer was to get a second hand wheel do that and ask for some money to get it refurbished.
Is that true though? You'd assume the repairers will hang on to the three "wrong" wheels and it's up to the insurers what happens to them. It's not like OP ends up with an extra 3 wheels to keep. Wheels are not a consumable item either so it's not like he's staving off that new set of wheels he needs every 20k miles.If you want 4 new wheels they could ask for money from you for betterment.
If the only answer was to get a second hand wheel do that and ask for some money to get it refurbished.
A reasonable person will look at a used car with mismatched tyres and the tyres will be a factor in the price they are willing to pay. A car with a mismatched wheel will be worth less than one with matching wheels, so the repairers offering one odd wheel is not returning the OP to the position he was in.
Also, if being anally retentive you could say the OP will need to declare the odd wheel to his own insurers as his car is now modified
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