Car Insurance - Repairing car AFTER policy expired
Discussion
Had a car park accident 2 weeks before my annual insurance policy ended - insurers renewal price doubled(! this was before me reporting bump) so shopped around and bought a policy a few quid cheaper (declared the above 'accident').
Damage is to passenger door, essentially looks like someone reversed out of the carpark space next to me and dragged their nose down my door (no deets left), skin pushed right in, which popped out later, leaving all sorts of creases and kinks around handle and door skin. Tried a couple of mobile repair guys who were both 'can't' do' then got a direct quote for bodyshop repair which was around £700-900.
Decided to go insurer route as excess is £300 and I have 15 years protected no claims with no other incidents bar windscreens.
Insurance gave instruction to their bodyshop who picked car up and dropped off courtesy car (Volvo V90 >>to>> Seat Ibiza) on 20th July. Rang Monday to check progress and body shop informed me
"your vehicle is in authority request, we are waiting for the insurance company to authorise repair."
Several calls to insurance company has elicited 'our engineers need to approve quote' wait 48-72 hours. Check in again today (6 Aug) and same response. I've not had any car insurance interactions other than the odd windscreen replacement so just wondered...
Damage is to passenger door, essentially looks like someone reversed out of the carpark space next to me and dragged their nose down my door (no deets left), skin pushed right in, which popped out later, leaving all sorts of creases and kinks around handle and door skin. Tried a couple of mobile repair guys who were both 'can't' do' then got a direct quote for bodyshop repair which was around £700-900.
Decided to go insurer route as excess is £300 and I have 15 years protected no claims with no other incidents bar windscreens.
Insurance gave instruction to their bodyshop who picked car up and dropped off courtesy car (Volvo V90 >>to>> Seat Ibiza) on 20th July. Rang Monday to check progress and body shop informed me
"your vehicle is in authority request, we are waiting for the insurance company to authorise repair."
Several calls to insurance company has elicited 'our engineers need to approve quote' wait 48-72 hours. Check in again today (6 Aug) and same response. I've not had any car insurance interactions other than the odd windscreen replacement so just wondered...
- Is this a long time to get fixed?
- Policy ended, no longer a 'customer' so could this be cause issues?
- Any experience of 'simple' damage repair timelines useful
I doubt your car will be ready in time. The bodyshop will blame the insurer for delays, and the insurer will blame the bodyshop for delays.
In my case, I simply hired a car for the week (IIRC £200 for a 320d Touring) I needed something bigger than their Vauxhall Viva.
Mine took 6 months in the end - between ever-increasing estimates, write-off discussion, Christmas closure, swap-out of old fleet of courtesy cars to new Vivas, 'forgotten' repairs, mismatched tyres (size & brand) - and even then we had to finish off the repairs for the bodyshop as they'd not rectified a damaged diff/drive-shaft and routed electrical cables incorrectly so you couldn't get to the plugs without stripping half the bodywork off (plug should be behind a flap in the arch - but was hidden behind the bolted/bonded on rear wing).
In my case, I simply hired a car for the week (IIRC £200 for a 320d Touring) I needed something bigger than their Vauxhall Viva.
Mine took 6 months in the end - between ever-increasing estimates, write-off discussion, Christmas closure, swap-out of old fleet of courtesy cars to new Vivas, 'forgotten' repairs, mismatched tyres (size & brand) - and even then we had to finish off the repairs for the bodyshop as they'd not rectified a damaged diff/drive-shaft and routed electrical cables incorrectly so you couldn't get to the plugs without stripping half the bodywork off (plug should be behind a flap in the arch - but was hidden behind the bolted/bonded on rear wing).
I doubt the fact that you're no longer a customer makes much difference - it's not really different from an insurance company dealing with a claim when they're the third party.
I had a claim a couple of years ago (which was through the third party insurers). I was initially told that I only had to send photos - then when the bodyshop provided an estimate, they had to send an assessor - which took a couple of weeks.
I think the delays are basically just because insurance companies are fairly useless.
I had a claim a couple of years ago (which was through the third party insurers). I was initially told that I only had to send photos - then when the bodyshop provided an estimate, they had to send an assessor - which took a couple of weeks.
I think the delays are basically just because insurance companies are fairly useless.
hoganscrogan said:
*Policy ended, no longer a 'customer' so could this be cause issues?
There would be no reason for that, other than petty mindedness.They are dealing with an issue which occurred whilst your insurance policy was in effect and it's perfectly acceptable for repairs to be completed beyond expiry of that policy.
hoganscrogan said:
Insurance gave instruction to their bodyshop who picked car up and dropped off courtesy car (Volvo V90 >>to>> Seat Ibiza) on 20th July.
Who is covering the courtesy car? Often automatically covered on your own policy but obviously that's now expired. It's nothing to do with your new insurer so they won't be insuring it. Make sure the garage have it covered. UPDATE: It's all COVIDS fault - Insurance and repairer are waiting for engineer to give go ahead - less engineers currently working due to ******19 and NOBODY can contact the engineers other than by email so we all just have to wait for them to clear their inboxes!
Top tip above about checking I'm not paying for courtesy car, that gave me pause for thought! Anyway it's covered by my policy and free for as long as repair takes.
Top tip above about checking I'm not paying for courtesy car, that gave me pause for thought! Anyway it's covered by my policy and free for as long as repair takes.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
But who's insuring it?
hoganscrogan said:
Anyway it's covered by my policy and free for as long as repair takes.
hoganscrogan said:
It's covered by the repairing insurance company - confirmed on delivery as stated only my wife can drive as she is policy holder.
???????hoganscrogan said:
It's covered by the repairing insurance company - confirmed on delivery as stated only my wife can drive as she is policy holder.
But you no longer have a current policy with them? I would query this. It's possible they told you that because that's the norm, but normally the customer still has a current policy with the repairing insurer.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff