Not satisfied by insurance claim outcome
Discussion
I initially thought the following problem would be expensive to repair but on investigation I could have repaired it myself for a few pounds.
It only required a rivet nut to be fitted.
A ball joint at the end of a tailgate strut was pulled away by a strong gust of wind when the tailgate was up.
I claimed on my insurance and LV arranged for a repair at their approved garage.
However it worked loose again after a few days. I was charged £350 excess and was told that the total bill was £406.27. That seems excessive.
They have offered to repair it again but I don't trust them.
Can I get it repaired elsewhere and present the bill to them?
And can I retract my insurance claim?
It only required a rivet nut to be fitted.
A ball joint at the end of a tailgate strut was pulled away by a strong gust of wind when the tailgate was up.
I claimed on my insurance and LV arranged for a repair at their approved garage.
However it worked loose again after a few days. I was charged £350 excess and was told that the total bill was £406.27. That seems excessive.
They have offered to repair it again but I don't trust them.
Can I get it repaired elsewhere and present the bill to them?
And can I retract my insurance claim?
No and yes (kind of).
The repair is guaranteed by the insurer, but you'd need to return to the original repairer to put the fix right if you want them to cover the cost.
You can repay the cost of the claim to the insurer, which will change the claim from being considered "fault" to "non-fault" - this would reinstate any lost no-claims bonus and have the benefit of being considered as having a non-fault claim rather than a fault claim which you'd ordinarily expect to be cheaper at renewal/when shopping for next year's policy, but you'd still be bound to disclose the incident as non-fault so likely your premium would still more expensive than if you'd otherwise not had a claim.
Given that you've only had the benefit of about £50 from claiming, logically I'd wager it'd be financially beneficial in the long run to do this.
The repair is guaranteed by the insurer, but you'd need to return to the original repairer to put the fix right if you want them to cover the cost.
You can repay the cost of the claim to the insurer, which will change the claim from being considered "fault" to "non-fault" - this would reinstate any lost no-claims bonus and have the benefit of being considered as having a non-fault claim rather than a fault claim which you'd ordinarily expect to be cheaper at renewal/when shopping for next year's policy, but you'd still be bound to disclose the incident as non-fault so likely your premium would still more expensive than if you'd otherwise not had a claim.
Given that you've only had the benefit of about £50 from claiming, logically I'd wager it'd be financially beneficial in the long run to do this.
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