Botched repair

[warren182]

Last week I had my car repaired following an accident. Several parts have been repaired/ replaced:

Offside front wheel refurbed, is now a different colour to my other 3 wheels.
Front bonnet, has a dent which was previously there, yet they claim to have replaced it
Front offside wing, has a strip along the top edge which is unpainted
Offside headlight, is loose within it's casing, so dazzles oncoming drivers, have been pulled over twice last night for this

My insurer tells me I have to back to the same garage to have these faults repaired, is this my only option? I'm not happy taking my car to the same cowboys that have poorly completed a fairly simple job.

Rant over, thanks for any help.

[justinp1]

warren182 said:

Last week I had my car repaired following an accident. Several parts have been repaired/ replaced:

Offside front wheel refurbed, is now a different colour to my other 3 wheels.
Front bonnet, has a dent which was previously there, yet they claim to have replaced it
Front offside wing, has a strip along the top edge which is unpainted
Offside headlight, is loose within it's casing, so dazzles oncoming drivers, have been pulled over twice last night for this

My insurer tells me I have to back to the same garage to have these faults repaired, is this my only option? I'm not happy taking my car to the same cowboys that have poorly completed a fairly simple job.

Rant over, thanks for any help.

This quite a common problem.

Although the insurance companies used 'approved garages' this does not mean 'only the best' it means ones which will accept their cheap labour rate.

Similarly, as the garages seem to believe that as you are not handing over thousands of pounds of your own money then you wont be as watchful for their bad workmanship - as they will still get paid unless you complain.

I would speak to the insurance company and explain the situation fully to them. I would explain that you do not think they are capable of doing the job properly, and this time you would like the work completed by a reputable garage of *your choice* or the local dealership of the car marque. If they refuse I would say that you intend to get an independant overview of the quality of the work carried out. You could do this merely by explaining the situation to the local dealership. They will gladly get the money from the insurance company for doing the job properly. If they can fax the insurance company the faults with the work, and offer to put it right - the people in the insurance call centre will probably see this as an easy option and agree.

Good luck!

[Balmoral Green]

Such is life, unfortunately. I reckon let them have a go at resolving all the issues. Taking it elsewhere at the moment is the road to grief until you've at least given them a chance. It's called snagging.

[jasandjules]

Give them one chance.

But put in writing to them, and CC the insurance company, that if the repairs are still inadequate then the vehicle will be taken elsewhere and they will pay the bill.. Via a County Court Judgment if required,

[catso]

My wife's car was hit some time ago, the 'approved' repairer (whose name suggested that they work Widely throughout the Nation) did an absolute crap job, paint didn't match, bonnet didn't fit and they didn't even replace the damaged wheel, I had to take it back twice to get it (almost) right. Absolutely awful repair shop yet they're one of the largest and most widely used by ins companies (suspect they're cheaper than most others).

When my car was hit by a bus and I insisted that I took it to a place of my choosing for repair, which although the insurance company weren't happy about they had to oblige. This time the Repair was spot-on, I will never take a car to the approved repairer again (unless the approved was the one I wanted in the first place).

[bertelli_1]

My car was also repaired by an 'approved' company. IIRC the insurance company were not interested in helping to get it done properly - my contract was with the repairer. When you pick up your vehicle they should get you to sign a document stating you are happy with the repair. You are not obliged to have the car back before this point, check it carefully and if its crap, let them keep it (oh, hindsight). The best way is to phone them all the time until they are fed up with you and agree to fix the faults, probably at their own expense.

www.conrod.co.uk

[Disco_Dale]

The insurance industry are legalised mafia.
The labour rates paid to their "approved repairers" are less now than 20 years ago. That's what you're dealing with.

Give the repairer one chance to sort it out, and tell your insurer you'll be getting the job done elsewhere and chasing them for the money if it's not right.
That way they'll pressure the repairer not to **** up.

Still feel the insurer is the big villian in this though.
They know theres no way you can get a quality job consistently for the rates their paying.

[TSS]

I had my Subaru repaired by N*t*o*w*d* C*a*h R*p*a*r some years ago. It came back with a nice big hole in the door trim that wasn’t there before. After some “discussion” they agreed to have repaired by a trim repair specialist – and it took him four goes to get it right!

Then I discovered they’d neglected to reconnect some of the drive shafts properly (something to do with not refitting cir-clips I think) so if you cornered fast you got 4WD, 2WD or 0WD depending on the angle/speed – a great safety feature when cornering!!

In the end I got Subaru to fix it. Paid for it myself and sent a copy of the invoice to the crash repairers. They paid it without much hassle as I think they knew they where in pretty dodgy ground giving a car back to a customer with the drive shafts falling out.

As others have said, I’d speak to the manager there, give them one more chance to fix it to your complete satisfaction. If that doesn’t work, have it fixed by a main dealer, get a report from that dealer of all the things which were wrong and needed fixing and use that to claim the cost back from the repairers.

[jwo]

Never take your car to an approved repairer - have recent had a car stolen and recovered and fixed. From the start i was completely clear to the insurer that the car was going to a main dealer bodyshop to be repairer and that was the bottom line (so much so that i even had their estimator out to quote before the insurance company did!) which they couldn't argue with. This is after another car (5 years ago) was stolen and crashed then recovered - it was sent to an insurance approved repairer. Final shake down of the vehicle revealed clunking from rear. The repairers had failed to take note of the 4wd system and quattro badge on glove box! The rear diff oil had leaked out due to crash and wasn't refilled, hence rear diff was knackered and repairers failed to notice! Lots of shouting to insurers and car was shipped to audi for a £2.5k rear diff the fitting!!!!!

[munter]

This time last year my car went in to the approved dealer and they did a great job. They even fixed the miss aligned bonnet from before the car was damaged. So they are not all bad... (Another good point was this body shop was abouot 300m from my house at the time )

[martind]

jwo said:

Never take your car to an approved repairer - have recent had a car stolen and recovered and fixed. From the start i was completely clear to the insurer that the car was going to a main dealer bodyshop to be repairer and that was the bottom line ............!!

Trouble is most main dealers don't have there own body-shops anymore , they use an approved to them body-shop which can be 'approved' by the size of the 'backhander' in the approval process.
I know of a prestige German sports car makes approved body-shop that has loads of awards of excellence on the wall in reception. I also know of a car of that make sent there for just a basic front end re-spay , it took them 3 attempts over 10 weeks to get it right .
There quality control seemed to be nonexistent , afterwards when discussing the company with other owners ( of same make) I was told of loads of other complaints about the body-shop .
So main dealer body-shop does not guarantee a 1st class job at the 1st or even 2nd attempt.
Like everything in live , there are good & bad .

[warren182]

Bit of an update, took it back today, Redditch branch of an accident repair group with NationWide coverage. Dealt with the manager, who to be fair seemed as appalled as I was. Organising to have the car back for a few days, so fingers crossed.

[sospan]

I once took my Renault to a dealership opposite where i work -
replacement of driveshaft and used them coz it was convenienet - paid for by me anyway.
Picked the car up.
Drove home.
Noticed poor workmanship-
indicators wouldnt cancel, steering wheel out of alignment.
Took it back next day to complain and it was sorted.
While there i made reference to the certificates plastered over the wall proclaiming the testing and expertise of their mechanics.
Asked how they had the nerve to put them there as the pleb who did my car didnt apply his expensive expertise.
High hourly labour bill compared to the cost of parts?
Luckioly the manager was apologetic - but did he actually scold the offending technician/
Anyway - shows how getting to know a good service centre pays dividends.
Don't accept shoddy work. Make them put it right.

[Philbes]

My car went into a Honda dealership and was serviced by a mechanic that had the highest possible certificate from Honda. The car was returned to me with the oil level not even showing on the dip-stick. The dealer offered to refund me back the cost of the oil (some of which wasn't even put in the engine!) in compensation. I haven't used the garage since.

[zumbruk]

FWIW, the bodyshop at Marshall's Peugeot in Kempston, near Bedford, has a good reputation and the two repairs I've had done there (on the recommendation of my tyre supplier) have both been done to an excellent standard - I can't see the repairs, even though I know where they are.