Caterham go slow
Discussion
In March bought a Superlight R400 from Caterham, shortly afterwards I was involved in an accident and the car was returned to the factory for repair. My insurers quickly agreed to meet the claim and everything seemed to be progressing smoothly.
Caterham provided a breakdown of the repairs which amounted to circa 70 – 80 hours work and then dropped the bombshell – They would be unable to complete the work until mid June, 10 weeks since they got approval to carry out the work.
I spoke to the Head of Workshop whose curt response was “accident damage fits round all other work and we are very busy!” followed by a clunk as he hung up on me.
Next I tried Sales figuring they might be a little more customer friendly (given that I spent a good chunk with them), sadly they were apologetic but unhelpful “we are very busy and we have a small workshop”.
I thought about finding another specialist to carry out the work but Caterham tell me they are the only firm authorised to carry out this work by insurance companies.
So I am frustrated that from accident to return will be three months, all for 80 hours work and the Caterham give the impression of not being at all interested.
If anyone has any other ideas as how I could try and deal this I would love to hear from them.
Caterham provided a breakdown of the repairs which amounted to circa 70 – 80 hours work and then dropped the bombshell – They would be unable to complete the work until mid June, 10 weeks since they got approval to carry out the work.
I spoke to the Head of Workshop whose curt response was “accident damage fits round all other work and we are very busy!” followed by a clunk as he hung up on me.
Next I tried Sales figuring they might be a little more customer friendly (given that I spent a good chunk with them), sadly they were apologetic but unhelpful “we are very busy and we have a small workshop”.
I thought about finding another specialist to carry out the work but Caterham tell me they are the only firm authorised to carry out this work by insurance companies.
So I am frustrated that from accident to return will be three months, all for 80 hours work and the Caterham give the impression of not being at all interested.
If anyone has any other ideas as how I could try and deal this I would love to hear from them.
Sadly Caterham are a very small company, and to make a profit no doubt sail quite close to the wind, and 80 hours work suddenly dropped into a busy build and service schedule is a tall order. As you can tell by insurance premiums, not many people crash Caterhams (very surprisingly), so they've hardly got a dedicated workforce for doing accident repairs. Having said that, I'd expect them to be able to spare a mean average of more than 45 minutes a day, and three months is a bit poor. Maybe try and get some upgrades out of them or something?
Arch are the chassis manufacturers, and will be sub contracted by Caterham to do the work anyway. Besides, do they deal with the new Metric chassis such as the OP's car has? (I'm assuming it was new?).
Arch are the chassis manufacturers, and will be sub contracted by Caterham to do the work anyway. Besides, do they deal with the new Metric chassis such as the OP's car has? (I'm assuming it was new?).
The Crack Fox said:
That is disgusting ! I hope anyone considering buying a Caterham reads this ! Send 'em this link with a million views, see if that makes a difference.
As the repairer (Caterham) cannot offer a firm and reasonable timeframe for repair, can you argue the car is a write off with the insurer ? I'd be worried about them repairing it anyway by the sound of their attitude. I always root for plucky underdogs like Caterham, but this level of customer service will kill them.
OP - good luck.
Don't be tool.As the repairer (Caterham) cannot offer a firm and reasonable timeframe for repair, can you argue the car is a write off with the insurer ? I'd be worried about them repairing it anyway by the sound of their attitude. I always root for plucky underdogs like Caterham, but this level of customer service will kill them.
OP - good luck.
Caterham have commitments to meet new customer demand. It's not their fault the OP ran out of talent and bent his new car; I'm sure even you can appreciate that they don't have the resources to sit around and wait for crashed cars to come back for repair.
Ergo, our petulant OP will have to wait. There are worse things that could happen
Great Pretender said:
The Crack Fox said:
That is disgusting ! I hope anyone considering buying a Caterham reads this ! Send 'em this link with a million views, see if that makes a difference.
As the repairer (Caterham) cannot offer a firm and reasonable timeframe for repair, can you argue the car is a write off with the insurer ? I'd be worried about them repairing it anyway by the sound of their attitude. I always root for plucky underdogs like Caterham, but this level of customer service will kill them.
OP - good luck.
Don't be tool.As the repairer (Caterham) cannot offer a firm and reasonable timeframe for repair, can you argue the car is a write off with the insurer ? I'd be worried about them repairing it anyway by the sound of their attitude. I always root for plucky underdogs like Caterham, but this level of customer service will kill them.
OP - good luck.
Caterham have commitments to meet new customer demand. It's not their fault the OP ran out of talent and bent his new car; I'm sure even you can appreciate that they don't have the resources to sit around and wait for crashed cars to come back for repair.
Ergo, our petulant OP will have to wait. There are worse things that could happen
Rebrab355 said:
Sadly not - Insurance is a multi car policy, so they assume you can use another car and won't pay for a courtesy car
Caterham were happy to provide me with one for £140 a day - so if my maths are right that about £6,300 until the car is back...............bargin!
Why have you registered to post this?Caterham were happy to provide me with one for £140 a day - so if my maths are right that about £6,300 until the car is back...............bargin!
Wake up and grow a pair.
Once you get your car back it sounds like you'd do well to pay these guys a visit.
The Crack Fox said:
RobM77 said:
Sadly Caterham are a very small company, and to make a profit no doubt sail quite close to the wind, and 80 hours work suddenly dropped into a busy build and service schedule is a tall order.
Sure, but the point is they're being given money to do this (by the insurer), and prob with a decent amount of profit too, they could spend the money on overtime payments, more staff, machinery, whatever. I understand these things take time, but they're taking the p1ss IMO. I know that Caterham is a tiny company, that the car needs to go back to Arch Motors for a long front end and that pre scheduled work cannot delayed. But two things irritate me
1) Their attitude - they really could not be less interested or helpful
2) If they want to continue to be a successful manufacturer surely they should try and provide better quality aftersales service. After all I cannot be the only bloke to have an accident?
1) Their attitude - they really could not be less interested or helpful
2) If they want to continue to be a successful manufacturer surely they should try and provide better quality aftersales service. After all I cannot be the only bloke to have an accident?
if the car is mad of say 17.5% vat and in the region of 10-13 grand's worth of componentts then what's left over is something in the region of £1k for profit and labour.
you do have to say, as others have that this sounds like a write-off really?
i am very surprised caterham/arch are the only people permitted to mend this even accounting for the fact that it's a low volume car.
bummer.
you do have to say, as others have that this sounds like a write-off really?
i am very surprised caterham/arch are the only people permitted to mend this even accounting for the fact that it's a low volume car.
bummer.
Rebrab355 said:
I know that Caterham is a tiny company, that the car needs to go back to Arch Motors for a long front end and that pre scheduled work cannot delayed. But two things irritate me
1) Their attitude - they really could not be less interested or helpful
2) If they want to continue to be a successful manufacturer surely they should try and provide better quality aftersales service. After all I cannot be the only bloke to have an accident?
Why? The workshop told you what its commitments were. I would also imagine your story of events is laid atop a foundation of poetic licence.1) Their attitude - they really could not be less interested or helpful
2) If they want to continue to be a successful manufacturer surely they should try and provide better quality aftersales service. After all I cannot be the only bloke to have an accident?
I don't see a problem here. You bent your car, which subsequently needs to go to a very small, under-resourced outfit and you are "shocked" that the repair will take three months.
Welcome to real life.
briSk said:
actually i don't think some of you are being fair to the OP.
assuming he was polite to them it does would sounds as though the attitude was a bit ' we don't need you'. maybe it wasn;t and it's he said she said but i don;t think we should start falling out over this...!
I think that's rather naive. After all, the OP would hardly advertise it were he to get shirty with them. Besides, his talent deficiency has caused the workshop extra work. assuming he was polite to them it does would sounds as though the attitude was a bit ' we don't need you'. maybe it wasn;t and it's he said she said but i don;t think we should start falling out over this...!
Caterham don't put its staff to the Lexus school of decorum I imagine.
L100NYY said:
briSk said:
as a guide - how long would it take lotus to sort an elise tub? would they even do that? would it just be a new replacement? etc etc
Chassis damge generally would = writeoff as it is a bonded ali tub.
I guess the reality hasn't turned out to be that simple.L100NYY said:
briSk said:
as a guide - how long would it take lotus to sort an elise tub? would they even do that? would it just be a new replacement? etc etc
Chassis damge generally would = writeoff as it is a bonded ali tub...so back to the queue or a used car.
3 mths not too bad..!
______
GP - i just think it's better not to fall out with each other. i suspect it's a bit of both and he's just 'miffed'.
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