Halfords damaged my car!!

brightside229

brightside229

brightside229

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Joined
10 Mar 2009
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1,411
Location
Newark
Took my car into halfords for the "brakes for life offer" on my civic sport 55 plate, looks like when they had it on the ramps they have opened the door not realising just how long it is and its hit the metal support thing on the ramp and caused a 5p size deeeep dent which has removed the paint, took it back the following morning *today* and they have accepted it as being damaged while in their care and have told me to get a quote got one and the guy basically laughed and said get another quote as they need two, so spent most of my day off getting quotes for the repair :/ bad day!

To be fair it was a fairly expensive quote but if i want it doing i want it doing to the standard it was before, which means spraying the whole door and blending it into other panels. £500 waiting for second quote to get back to me via email

Also that does not include the fact i will need other method of transport while the car is in for repair, maybe i should bill them for a courtesy car, wont be going back to the garage for my brakes for life on this car or any other thats for sure!
 
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If your car is still under warranty then make sure it is an approved Honda bodyshop so that any future paintwork claim isn't invalidated.

Safest just to go to Honda and insist Halfords pay the bill.
 
Barry Smalley said:
I'd have just got two quotes from Honda garages and saved yourself some ballache.
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Funny thing is for my second quote i went to my local honda garage, to which they said they are not a body repair centre and that the nearest garage they use is just down the road so waiting for the second quote from the garage down the road, the other nearest "approved" body center is around 25miles away, not sure if i want to spend another morning tomorrow visiting them. But no doubt they would replace the door and the bill be £1k+
 
Voicon said:
Go to Honda and ask them for a courtesy car while they repair yours, don't they provide them free?
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No idea but the smile on the managers face when he saw the bill was like "yea riiiiight" got a good mind to go to the approved place in the morning for a quote but again its my cost and my petrol!

No matter where i leave my car it always seems to pick up marks and damage had to wet sand my rear light cluster and rub out some black mark which looked like plastic transfer which could only have been done by my next door neighbor when she was moving a friends house contents into a garage next to where my car was parked thankfully 2 hours later and not a trace of it can be seen.
 
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Go to two Honda dealers and give Halfords the quotes from each.

I had a similar issue with National Tyres a few years back with my BMW 728i, they damaged the rear arch somehow, I got two quotes one from Knights BMW in Stoke, the second from Belham BMW in Wolverhampton.

Both were within £20 of each other but still over £400! (this was back in '05)

Initially, the branch manager said the quotes were too high, a phone call to head office soon had him back tracking.

As head office said to me, they'd damaged the car and I was within my rights to have it properly repaired which it duly was by Knights Stoke.
 
Bad luck for Halfords then! They probably thought you would come back with a fifty quid quote from a Chips Away type repairer!
I would also get a proper quote from a Honda approved garage, especially if there is any risk to your warranty.
 
What would happen if you used your insurance company, would they deal with it and get the money back off halfords for your out of pocket expenses?

Not sure how this would affect your no claims though or is it protected?
 
Uther said:
Bad luck for Halfords then! They probably thought you would come back with a fifty quid quote from a Chips Away type repairer!
I would also get a proper quote from a Honda approved garage, especially if there is any risk to your warranty.
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Car is a 55 plate and i have had it for 4 years or so i don't think their is any warranty left on the car? even so its spotless and the guy in halfords said it looks like it just left the showroom and that "they made sure to take good care of it" because it looked so pristine.



This shows the condition the car is in, now has a type R rear spoiler though but you get the idea, thats the main reason they didnt try and dispute it i think due to the condition of the car
 
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Voicon said:
What would happen if you used your insurance company, would they deal with it and get the money back off halfords for your out of pocket expenses?

Not sure how this would affect your no claims though or is it protected?
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No protected no claims, so not going to take that rout especially since it will bump up my premium!

In any case if they say that the quote is too high for such damage and get it done cheaper i will be taking it as far as i can with their management! this is the first time the car has ever been to any one other then a honda main dealer it has 9 stamps from honda. And it will be the last time too put me off taking it anywhere else but honda now
 
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brightside229 said:
No idea but the smile on the managers face when he saw the bill was like "yea riiiiight" got a good mind to go to the approved place in the morning for a quote but again its my cost and my petrol!

No matter where i leave my car it always seems to pick up marks and damage had to wet sand my rear light cluster and rub out some black mark which looked like plastic transfer which could only have been done by my next door neighbor when she was moving a friends house contents into a garage next to where my car was parked thankfully 2 hours later and not a trace of it can be seen.
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Have some free .................
and some ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

;)
 
brightside229 said:
Car is a 55 plate and i have had it for 4 years or so i don't think their is any warranty left on the car? even so its spotless and the guy in halfords said it looks like it just left the showroom and that "they made sure to take good care of it" because it looked so pristine.



This shows the condition the car is in, now has a type R rear spoiler though but you get the idea, thats the main reason they didnt try and dispute it i think due to the condition of the car
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Rust and paint work warranties are often for much longer than a standard warranty. On some manufacturers they are 7 years or more. Give Honda a call and ask. You may beer right but no harm in a quick phone call. The last thing you want is to invalidate it if you still have it. Halfords will complain but their lack of care put you in this position so you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in before their actions.
 
Unless you know a good bodyshop (and if you manage to find one don't ever forget it!), I'd be ringing around a few local Honda dealers and getting quotes off of them.
 
Voicon said:
What would happen if you used your insurance company, would they deal with it and get the money back off halfords for your out of pocket expenses?

Not sure how this would affect your no claims though or is it protected?
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I wouldn't even mention it to insurance - doubtless they'd use it as an excuse to bump up your premiums!
 
brightside229 said:
Funny thing is for my second quote i went to my local honda garage, to which they said they are not a body repair centre and that the nearest garage they use is just down the road so waiting for the second quote from the garage down the road, the other nearest "approved" body center is around 25miles away, not sure if i want to spend another morning tomorrow visiting them. But no doubt they would replace the door and the bill be £1k+
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As you're in Newark, is that approved body shop by any chance Auto Body Tec in Sandiacre? If so I've just had about £1500's worth of work done on my MX-5 there and I was exceptionally impressed. I remember having a chat with one of the guys who works on my car and he mentioned they are an approved Honda body shop.
 
Been to my nearest Honda Approved repair center today and waiting for them to email me a quote through for the repair, 30minutes they said! that was at 12 this morning so not going to be today i guess, I have also wrote a complaints letter to halfords main branch but not sure who to address it to on the address, complaints? or a actual person? Hoping for some sort of compensation for the fact i wont be using them again to redeem my brakes for life gaurentee, and the fact i have done 1hour 30mins+ driving and 70 miles getting quotes

Maybe address it to one of the guys in this list? not sure if they will be based at halfords HQ though

http://www.halfordscompany.com/investors/governance/the-board
 
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divaboy said:
Address it to the CEO Matt Davies or email it to him [email protected] .

I've had good success by writing to him by post and addressing it to him with private and confidential written on it.

Best of luck
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That worked a treat! had a phone call from the ceo this morning, getting a refund for the brakes assured me that my car would be repaired and paid for and gave me a direct number for him if im not happy with anything in the process!
 
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