Car damaged by RAC during recovery. what to do?

[deadtom]

Sadly this is not a particularly sensational story, so I shall be brief.

The recovery man jacked my car up by the chassis rail rather than the jacking point, resulting in a crushed chassis rail (pictures related)

He said I should contact customer services about it and that he would pay for the repairs if necessary, however the garage it got taken to said there was nothing that could be done to repair the damage.

Not sure where that leaves me.. it doesn't seem to affect the way the car drives, but the drivers footwell floor has been pushed up a bit, and because I know the dent is there, I am almost certain I can feel it when sitting in the car.

I am currently trying to sell the car, and wouldn't feel right selling it without telling the buyer about the chassis damage, which would affect the value of the car I expect? If you were after a car like mine (10 year old 156 wagon) would it affect your decision to buy/price you would pay?

Would this sort of damage be an MOT failure issue?

I have not called customer services yet as I want to have an idea in my mind of what I should expect them to do about it before I do so.

What would you do? what would you expect them to do about it?








ETA: I don't mean this post to be in any way defamatory to the RAC; other than this unfortunate incident I have nothing but good things to say about them. Mods feel free to edit the title of this thread if you deem it necessary

Edited by deadtom on Tuesday 5th March 15:35

[Krikkit]

Not much they can do? Pathetic answer really. Even if they can't sort the floor distortion they could have chopped the bent chassis part out and welded in a new one. I suspect the best course is to take it to another garage who are brave enough to tackle trying to straighten the floor.

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 5th March 15:41

[Captain Muppet]

Call the RAC, get them to fix it.

[steveo3002]

could be fixed...cut that section off and beat it straight then reweld it on , or preferably weld on a new piece

pretty slack of them to do that

[deadtom]

thanks for the replies so far.

Does anyone know if this sort of damage would be an MOT failure / safety issue?

[ARobinson]

Definitely get it sorted at their cost.

It won't cause an mot failure just an advisory but it will rust soon where the metal has bent no doubt.

[surveyor]

Captain Muppet said:

Call the RAC, get them to fix it.

This. It's not rocket science.

[deadtom]

surveyor said:

Captain Muppet said:

Call the RAC, get them to fix it.

This. It's not rocket science.

well yeah, but I assume the RAC don't have their own workshops? Should I ring them and ask them what they are going to do about it, or should I form an idea in my mind of what I expect of them before doing so, so that it's harder for them to try and ignore the issue and hope I go away?

as you can probably tell I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before

[surveyor]

deadtom said:

surveyor said:

Captain Muppet said:

Call the RAC, get them to fix it.

This. It's not rocket science.

well yeah, but I assume the RAC don't have their own workshops? Should I ring them and ask them what they are going to do about it, or should I form an idea in my mind of what I expect of them before doing so, so that it's harder for them to try and ignore the issue and hope I go away?

as you can probably tell I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before

Why would you go away? I'm sure they know plenty of workshops...

You can always ask them to use a manufacturer approved one.

[itz_baseline]

surveyor said:

Captain Muppet said:

Call the RAC, get them to fix it.

This. It's not rocket science.

Yep. This. Phone them, I'm sure this isn't the first time it's happened and will probably just offer to sort it out. The guy has admitted he did it so hardly like trying to argue who did the damage of whether it was already there.

[deadtom]

called them and got through to a nice sounding fellow called David who gave me a case number, said I should email the photos of the damage and said that they will get in touch again just as soon as they can.

hopefully wont have to wait too long.

[XDA]

I wonder how many other vehicles the RAC clown has managed to damage!

[s3fella]

Firstly, it can be fixed, but it is worrying that its crumpled like that, it's relatively normal that such a rail should be able to take the cars weight, although I'd use a block of wood if it were me!
But it may well be able to be pulled out using a nail welder and slide hammer, tidied up and re undersealed etc. normally that'd be a bit strong for a nailer and slide hammer, but I suspect it's a little weaker in that area to have crumpled like that.

But it can be fixed, and they'll have to do so!