rubbish insurance approval repairs...

[donn1901]

After a lad reversed into side of my audi a3 causing slight damage only the insurance booked it in to NATIONWIDE CRASH CENTRE for repair. After a week they said my car was ready. I collected it and was horrified at the state of repair my bumper was 2 colours and the wing was all undersprayed. It went back they had it nearlly 2 weeks and bought it back on a truck where i picked around 30 faults with their delivery driver and that was without the same 3 coloured car. It went back on the truck and as come back the same but with damage to rear 1/4 panel which they are denying all knowledge of. Insurance have been notified who said its a long winded process. An engineer from more than is comin to look next week. It doesn't take a genius to work out it's not right. what do i do next any1 know??? or how can i get my once mint condition car back up2 my standards quickly???

[Hymie]

If you don�t get any joy from the engineer�s report, I would think your best bet would be to arrange for an independent engineer to inspect the car. At least then you will have a record of the state of the car, which could be used in court to support your claim. I would also take some good quality photos (as further proof) � although I know it can be difficult to capture in a photograph, how bad a paint job looks in natural light.

Once you have your engineer�s report, you can use it to beat the insurance company.
All this will cost money, which you may not recover, so you need to weigh up the likely costs versus the potential gain.

[shutts763]

Firstly you do not have to go with the repairers that your insurers want you to use, the down side to this is that you may not get a courtesy car. You can choose who repairs your car! The insurance companies dont like this but it is the truth.
It all depends on what the engineer says, but if you are still not happy then you should probably employ the services of a solicitor.
When dealing with anybody over this matter dont forget to record their names and if possible get their views in writing and keep a diary of the events. This will be invaluable should you have to go to court. If the engineer states that the repair is substandard I would choose another reputable repairer to make it right.
Let us know how you went on.

[tufty7]

This is not the first time i have heard this story , I do work for a large repairer , they get paid peanuts for turning work round and they don't have time to spend on your car getting it right, just do not accept it from them if you are not happy, they will get it right if the complaint is just . IF you are still not happy get an independant report done on the car and tell them they have 2 weeks to get it right or you will take it to an audi approved bodyshop for rectification and they will get the bill..... sorry but insurance companies that are cheap want cheap jobs doing and thats exactly what you get ..... next time you have a bump insist it goes where you want it to...... after all if its another persons fault they will have to foot the bill for the courtesy car . best of luck

[gouldc]

To be fair, working for a large insurer, I wouldn't use our repairer's if they paid me too.

Tufty is right - insurers screw the repairers out of money by ''negotiating'' (ie forcing) them to work for low hourly rates.

When they send their estimates in, they are scrutinised, and the amount of time they are allocated to do the work is inevitably reduced, so you get a shoddy job that is rushed.

ALWAYS use an independent bodyshop, even if it means that you are without a car for a short while (although, if it was not your fault, and the other insurer agrees, they may hire you a car for the duration of the repairs)