Car Crashed into.. AGAIN! what to do

Conanius

Conanius

Conanius

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
12,906
Righteo.

An old dear turning her car managed to crash into the Fabia, 2 non fault accidents in 4 months !

She's come round, apologised and the damage isn't terrible (dented and scratched rear left panel, scratched bumper, scratched alloy wheel, appears to drive ok)

I've got all her details, whats the best way to minimise hassle to myself.

Do I -

A) call my insurers, get them to do everything

B) call my insurers, get them to register the incident, and then use someone like Europa/HelpHire and get them to deal with it....

If I do A, do I have to pay my excess?

I want the car to be _PERFECT_ when it comes back as its literally 7 months old, regardless which route I use can I insist on a Skoda garage to do the work so its a perfect match etc?
 
has the old biddy admitted liability?

if so whatever route you prefer tbh . helphire will give you a better courtesy car and probably be more ameniable to your choice of garage. be warned you will see a hike in premiums possibly next year due to 2 non faults
 
With option A then I believe you will have to pay your excess but your insurers will reimburse it once they settle the claim with her insurance.

There is an option C... Inform your insurers, but then go through her insurance directly to sort it.
 
Pete,

That sounds rather interesting.... Option C that is.

I don't have her policy number (its Post Office car insurance apparently)

Shes just called me to say she's spoken to her insurers and they will be contacting me directly. Recon I just call Liv Vic and say this is the case? I guess as long as I report it with them now I can get them involved on Monday if needs be?

Edit - Tempted to call Post Office claims line and see what we need to do, and then give LV a call after if all goes well with that call.
 
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I had 5 non fault accidents in my E46 over 4 years and 80,000 miles.

Last one was the worst, stopped at a light, 5 seconds later, a woman drives into me.

15 minutes later, expanison tank blows up.

16 minutes later I'm screaming at the car in public asking why it treats me like this when I show it nothing but love whist kicking it with people watching me like I'm some sort of nutter.
 
LV informed.

Post Office told me they couldn't do anything until one of their claims advisors called me, so I called Skoda UK to see if I could get them to do it and bill the 3rd party (Post Office).

They can do it all, but no courtesy car. I'll try going through her insurers and Skoda UK as the chosen repairer, if not, I'll try Helphire/Europa Consultants and Skoda UK as the chosen repairer.

With the alloy being damaged and it being a painted one I'm concious that a 'bodged' repair might cost me down the line in the form of a wheel refurb due to bubbling. Unreasonable to request a new wheel to be sure?
 
Surely insisting on Skoda repairing the car is not the best option? I imagine they just send the car off to some local body shop who won a contract with them?

Perhaps instead find the details of a reputable bodyshop and use them?
 
Matt82 said:
Whipy!
Click to expand...

I wonder how many people have claimed that successfully when they were not even sat in the car... ?

Tesla said:
Surely insisting on Skoda repairing the car is not the best option? I imagine they just send the car off to some local body shop who won a contract with them?

Perhaps instead find the details of a reputable bodyshop and use them?
Click to expand...

I'd have thought with it being a 7 month old car surely this was the absolute best option to ensure they don't try and wriggle out of bodywork guarantees further down the line with 'this has been resprayed, we won't cover xyz' ?
 
Conanius said:
I'd have thought with it being a 7 month old car surely this was the absolute best option to ensure they don't try and wriggle out of bodywork guarantees further down the line with 'this has been resprayed, we won't cover xyz' ?
Click to expand...

This. I'd rather it went via a main dealer even if they were going to farm the work off elsewhere.
 
It's a slightly odd route to go to talk to skoda though? Helphire/Europa would be my move in this situation, and ask THEM to talk to skoda.
 
Hxc said:
It's a slightly odd route to go to talk to skoda though? Helphire/Europa would be my move in this situation, and ask THEM to talk to skoda.
Click to expand...

My car comes with Skoda Assist, one call to them and Skoda UK deal with everything for me.

I obviously don't want a 'that'll be a close enough match, we can blend it in' on the paint, and nor do I want issues down the line.

Granted, Skoda may well go and use bob and pets paint shop, but that is their choice and their issue to live with if in 3 years the arch rots out.

Had a closer look at it all in proper daylight today. She's made a right old mess of the bumper with several deep grazes on it. God knows why she decided to keep driving along the car and not just stop.
 
The plot thickens.

I spoke to Skoda on Saturday and they had agreed to collect the car today from my house, I cancelled this in case my insurers were thinking I was being a bit too keen.

I've had a company called Gemini Car Solutions call me today on behalf of the third parties insurers offering to sort repair and a hire car. I've said to them that it was fine as long as the work was done in a Skoda approved bodyshop to ensure there would be no impact to my paintwork warranty. They basically said 'we have a list of garages, if it isnt on that list we won't do it for you' so we left it.

I called my insurers to ask how they wanted me to proceed. In short they want me to either
A) Pay my excess, and claim it back after non fault is agreed. They will sort me a hire car and repair the car with one of their garages, non skoda approved, who would guarentee the work
B) I choose the garage, claim through my insurance, dont get a hire car, LV have to get a quote and authorise the work, work is guarenteed by whoever I chose.
C) Have them informed on 'information only' and progress everything myself. They won't provide me a hire car, but Eurocar or someone like that have been passed my details by my insurers to give me a car and claim off the third parties insurers.

I thought, option C sounds best, so called Skoda to organise them doing the work. Skoda Assist have now decided as I can drive the car I need to speak direct to a Skoda garage to get the work done.

I called my local Skoda garage who tell me that they dont have a paintshop, but their group (Blade Group, they have Audi and VW garages also) has a workshop on the VW site down the road from me. If I want them to do it I go to them direct. This is a Skoda approved garage I'm told by them. I've checked this on this site here - http://www.vwgroup-paintandbody.co.uk/googleCentreLocator.asp?myPostcode=GL2+9DD and it does appear to be listed (Blade accident centre)

Slightly confused as to what I should now do. I called the garage I bought the car from who said if repair work is done the work is not covered by the skoda guarentee anymore, and is covered by the paint shop. The Skoda Corrosion warranty is 12 years... I doubt they will cover that long somehow (Who's to say I'll have the car then to be fair)

Short version, confusion reigns and I now don't really know what I should be doing. Am I right in thinking I should

1 - Get the work done by this Blade Accident centre, I've been told by a Skoda Garage they are an approved Skoda repair centre. Get the 3rd Parties insurance to pick up the bill.
2 - Get the hire car from this Eurocar company whomever they are, get them to bill the 3rd parties insurer.
3 - If Skoda get silly down the line say 'You said this was an approved garage, why won't you cover this?'

or... do I just do what Hxc has said and get Europa/Helphire to do this for me.

Only problem with the above... 3rd parties insurer haven't got in touch with me yet !
 
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