It's a Kit Car! Knowledgeable Insurance companies.

[NickyTwoHats]

So as per earlier post a colleague drives into me in the car park.

His fault - call insurance say "I'd like to go to a specialist as it's an unusual car".

"No you have to go to our nominated repairer OR wait two weeks while we approve the one you want to use along with their quote."
Give in gracefully (with a 100% guarantee i can back it until I'm happy and a promise it'll be dealt with within 24 hours).

48 Hours later call to check where they are..."Oh it's a kit car so obviously you won't be able to take it to our repairer didn't they call you to tell you? You'll have to take it to a main dealer".....(can anyone show me where I can buy a new Noble just now?).

Complain (nicely) - the good bit is that they called back, apologised and have booked their engineer to approve the repair for Thursday am.

So .. no "main dealers" nearby. Coes anyone have experience of Castle Lotus in Stanstead Montfitchet - I hear Giles Cooper is there and I've never had any (real) complaints about him. I'd hope that as a Lotus dealer they have fixed a few fibreglass bits.

Thanks in advance

N2H

[gaz 7404]

KIT CAR?.......KIT CAR? TUT.

[Adrian W]

I know someone who had an eise done there and they just subbed it out to a local bodyshop.

[NickyTwoHats]

gaz 7404 said:

KIT CAR?.......KIT CAR? TUT.

Yeah - in the end I got bored of repeating "NO IT ISN'T" ..

[D_G]

My local guy has just stopped doing insurance work, I know it's not your area but if you are really stuck let me know and I'm sure he'll do it (and his work is amazingly good).

Dave

[Mr Noble]

Kerridges is a very good Noble dealer about 50 mins up the road from Castle, they are in Needham Market near Ipswich. Highly recommended.

Greg

[daddysumo]

Yep I will second Gregs recommendation as I had my car repaired there earlier this year both front and back clams. It really is a good repair as I cant see from the outside the repair at all !

Steve

[Biggriff]

Castles seems to be owned or co-owned by Hilton Bodyworks so they definitely have the capability, but have heard mixed reports on quality. Suggest you try Kerridges as they should be good.

[Mr Noble]

Also worth noting that if I were to look at buying your car, and I found out about the repair. I would much rather it had been done by a dealer.

[NickyTwoHats]

Thanks all - problem is finding the time to get to one..I only have a few days in the country between now & mid January! Still if you want something done ask a busy person. I'll find a way.

[NickyTwoHats]

NickyTwoHats said:

Thanks all - problem is finding the time to get to one..I only have a few days in the country between now & mid January! Still if you want something done ask a busy person. I'll find a way.

BTW It's fairly minor damage

[Adrian W]

Mr Noble said:

Also worth noting that if I were to look at buying your car, and I found out about the repair. I would much rather it had been done by a dealer.

Little bit odd that one, so if I had some work done by Mclaren it would be substandard, surely it depends on who it was?

[nigelw]

weird one that ! ...at the moment we are doing the maintenance of my Noble within our company as we know that we are more than competent to do it (see link on profile)with , of course , advice from this forum ! but I do wonder whether to have one basic service done to keep the service book stamped up for people who want everything done by "approved dealers" .... It can help a car to sell I suppose .

[snuffy]

NickyTwoHats said:

..."Oh it's a kit car so obviously you won't be able to take it to our repairer didn't they call you to tell you? You'll have to take it to a main dealer."

N2H

Well, surely you pointed out the gaping hole in their argument then ? If it's a kit car how can you take it to a main dealer ?

[Biggriff]

This is a good dilemma, as I hav experience of the my local Noble dealer from previous cars and I would not give them work as I trust my local people to do a better job.

If the repair was carried out properly I would be ok with that I think.

Richard

[nigelw]

I think the problem might be that we all know a good local guy for these sorts of repairs , but if you come to sell to someone from further away who doesn't know how good they are , they may be less keen than the standard "dealer repair" even though we know that these can be to a quite low standard sometimes .... sounds like Kerridges would be a good solution in this case ?

[roi354]

NickyTwoHats said:

So .. no "main dealers" nearby. Coes anyone have experience of Castle Lotus in Stanstead Montfitchet

Looked at the titanium GTO3 they have there for sale which has had the spoiler painted by themselves because "the carbon bit faded" and had front clam painted for stone chips. I could have done better myself.

The actual colour match was spot on but the prep is where they were lacking.

Loads of overspray under the clam and mask lines at the ends of the spoiler. Looked like a rushed job, and one that would have left you disappointed.

All IMHO of course.