Soldato
- Joined
- 5 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 8,540
- Location
- Essex
Back in June someone opened their door onto my car as I was driving past it, which smashed my front bumper, front wing, wheel, shredded the tyre, dented the door panels, rear wing and rear bumper. Completely their fault and the insurance sided with me and the car was repaired, which took nearly a month.
Just over a week after getting it back the rear bumper partially came off on the nearside and promptly hit a few bushes damaging it again and also pulled the mud guard and rear skirt into the wheels, smashing them to pieces. On inspection I could see that the thin plastic tabs, which hold the rear bumper on had been bonded back together by the repairer and the bonding had basically snapped causing the bumper to come away.
The repairing garage agreed to take the car back and look at it the next day also providing a courtesy car. However once they got it back they insisted that I'd hit something again causing the bumper to come away, I argued that any signs of impact are from the bumper hanging off and several things that I drove past as I didn't immediately realise it had detached and drove for a good couple of miles before noticing.
They cancelled the courtesy car agreement so I had to faff around getting the car back to rental company.
The insurance company agreed to send an independent engineer out to look at the car, it took a week for them to inspect the car at the compound and then several more days for them to issue their report, which found that I was right and they also found several other issues with the original repairs such as paint overspray.
After the findings the insurer arranged another courtesy car and sent the car to another garage for rectification. Two weeks later I get a call from the garage saying they've rectified everything the original garage messed up but haven't done the bumper or skirts as they were told by the other garage it was my fault! My insurer then had to argue with them for 3 more days to say the independent engineer agreed with me and they finally agreed to rectify these issues, which is going to take another 2 weeks!
So all in all since the original accident in June my car has been off the road for nearly 3 months except for the week in between.
I'm absolutely livid with the whole situation, I was trying to sell the car but looking at guide prices I've probably lost nearly £2k on it in these 3 months.
Would I be within my rights to try and claim this from the garage via my insurers, not to mention the amount of aggravation I've had to deal with this and faffing around with courtesy cars and chasing the insurance company and garage constantly for updates. I sincerely hope the car comes back to me looking immaculate!
Just over a week after getting it back the rear bumper partially came off on the nearside and promptly hit a few bushes damaging it again and also pulled the mud guard and rear skirt into the wheels, smashing them to pieces. On inspection I could see that the thin plastic tabs, which hold the rear bumper on had been bonded back together by the repairer and the bonding had basically snapped causing the bumper to come away.
The repairing garage agreed to take the car back and look at it the next day also providing a courtesy car. However once they got it back they insisted that I'd hit something again causing the bumper to come away, I argued that any signs of impact are from the bumper hanging off and several things that I drove past as I didn't immediately realise it had detached and drove for a good couple of miles before noticing.
They cancelled the courtesy car agreement so I had to faff around getting the car back to rental company.
The insurance company agreed to send an independent engineer out to look at the car, it took a week for them to inspect the car at the compound and then several more days for them to issue their report, which found that I was right and they also found several other issues with the original repairs such as paint overspray.
After the findings the insurer arranged another courtesy car and sent the car to another garage for rectification. Two weeks later I get a call from the garage saying they've rectified everything the original garage messed up but haven't done the bumper or skirts as they were told by the other garage it was my fault! My insurer then had to argue with them for 3 more days to say the independent engineer agreed with me and they finally agreed to rectify these issues, which is going to take another 2 weeks!
So all in all since the original accident in June my car has been off the road for nearly 3 months except for the week in between.
I'm absolutely livid with the whole situation, I was trying to sell the car but looking at guide prices I've probably lost nearly £2k on it in these 3 months.
Would I be within my rights to try and claim this from the garage via my insurers, not to mention the amount of aggravation I've had to deal with this and faffing around with courtesy cars and chasing the insurance company and garage constantly for updates. I sincerely hope the car comes back to me looking immaculate!
