Somone crashed in to my car & left a note
- Thread starter terley
- Start date
You appear to have a massively optimistic view of the bodyshops that insurance companies use. Insurance companies use them because they are cheap, end of. You won't get an "engineer" instead of a "bodywork mechanic", I don't want to be rude but the very idea of this is laughable.
You certainly have the right to go through the insurance, but please don't expect a superior repair (there are many excellent independent body shops) and be prepared for your own insurance premium to increase because of this. Personally I would avoid any dealings with insurance companies if I possibly could, and provided you get to choose the place that repairs this (rather than neighbours mate in a lock up) then it would be the best option.
Soldato
You only have to look for threads on here where people's insurance have sent cars in for repair and the work has been less than subpar requiring more work to 'put it right'
I bet he's regretting leaving a note. He did the right thing and you are being massively unreasonable on a crappy car.
If it's worth £500 then I wouldn't bother fixing. Take a token payment from him as it's going to cost you more than £500 in increased premiums
If it's worth £500 then I wouldn't bother fixing. Take a token payment from him as it's going to cost you more than £500 in increased premiums
Caporegime
Yep, so far I've not found a single bodyshop, insurer supplied or otherwise that has satisfactorily repaired anything on the first, second or even third try.
So much about this is bizarre.
Not responding quick enough (guy text you inside 2 hours)
Going via insurance will cost you both much more in the longer term.
Could have been sorted easy - go to local body shop, get a written quote, arrange to meet the person, agree the quote and get payment from him there and then. You then get car repaired
Instead of a £200/300 job - this suddenly becomes a £1000/£1200 insurance job with hire cars/claims assessors etc etc. No wonder insurance premiums are going up and up every day.
Not responding quick enough (guy text you inside 2 hours)
Going via insurance will cost you both much more in the longer term.
Could have been sorted easy - go to local body shop, get a written quote, arrange to meet the person, agree the quote and get payment from him there and then. You then get car repaired
Instead of a £200/300 job - this suddenly becomes a £1000/£1200 insurance job with hire cars/claims assessors etc etc. No wonder insurance premiums are going up and up every day.
Associate
I hope the car is written off and the OP regret's being so awkward with someone who was being more than reasonable and honest.
I had a repair on my car done by a local guy. He worked for McLaren as a painter for quite a long time, so knows his stuff and did a proper job of it. Cost me £180 (cash obviously) for him to respray half the boot (pearlescent white, so not easy to work with) and fix a dent in a really awkward spot
But yea actual good bodyshops are hard to find and insurers don't tend to use the best, only the cheapest. Many will just slap some un-even filler in the dents and throw on some badly matching paint, then call it job done.
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Associate
A friend once told me how a lot of the insurance companies have set £x per car repaired deals with bodyshops, some they pay a lot more than the repair cost, others they pay a lot less than what the repair cost.
Certainly wouldn't want to be in the latter group, hardly inspires the bodyshop to go the extra mile with the work.
Associate
Well, I've had one non fault claim in twenty years of driving and my premiums have gone up slightly since 2014 because of it.
You're either not declaring it, or talking crap..
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Nov 2011
- Posts
- 11,376
Sounds like the first accident coincided with a risk reduction (e.g. being over 25) so his net result was his insurance didnt go up, but would have been much cheaper, considering I pay about the same on a brand new 6.2l car as what he is paying on an old hatchback, if he's always been within 5 years of having an accident then he's been sat there with the addition and not known its affecting his costs
Soldato
Engineer? You're having a laugh. This is a body shop job, not a chasis repair.
Soldato
Your lucky the guy left a note and offered to pay up. That is the best course of action here.
I've had my car hit and run few times, no notes nothing, I got it repaired and few other bits done by a bodyshop who do mostly insurance job. They did a joke of a job, so 'insurer approved' bodyshop means nothing.
The car looks like some old Focus? Going through insurance, your car will be written, your insurance will go up, so too the other guy and so too rest of us, as its another accident statistic on the book.
The impact looks less than a 10mph damage, there will be no chassis damage, just a £100 wing swap from a scrap car, or couple of hundred pound hammer, out, filler and paint job. Only thing you would want a mechanic look at is if the axle took any impact.
Good luck.
I've had my car hit and run few times, no notes nothing, I got it repaired and few other bits done by a bodyshop who do mostly insurance job. They did a joke of a job, so 'insurer approved' bodyshop means nothing.
The car looks like some old Focus? Going through insurance, your car will be written, your insurance will go up, so too the other guy and so too rest of us, as its another accident statistic on the book.
The impact looks less than a 10mph damage, there will be no chassis damage, just a £100 wing swap from a scrap car, or couple of hundred pound hammer, out, filler and paint job. Only thing you would want a mechanic look at is if the axle took any impact.
Good luck.
Yep and even if it needed structural/chassis repair, they would almost certainly write it off.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
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- 38,372
25% you sure about this? don't you mean 90%? or 100%?
wow.
well good lucking adding yet another claim on. i bet your insurance jumps up by at least £500 a year.
I used to really enjoy hunting down the best quotes. It's a sport.
Think it's closer to 50%, certainly not as high as 90%.
Nooooooooooooooo, it's a tedious waste of life
Associate
More like 60-70% or so iirc. The rest can easily be used up by unexpected costs/admin effort/remedial work etc.
Soldato
Nooooooooooooooo, it's a tedious waste of life
Isn't it? At least I can usually get mine the cheapest nowadays by checking Comparethemarket and bouncing between either Aviva or Admiral since no-one else seems to come close.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,372
how does that work in the case of Noel Edmonds who demanded the exact same car when his was written off? they then re-built a brand new mclaren f1 at a cost of like £10 million when it was probably only insured for £300K?
figures may be out slightly.
figures may be out slightly.