Insurance Claim, Proving Damage

[BH182]

Hi,

I was recently reversed into by a Volvo v70 (aka a Tank) whilst static, he caught my bumper on the rear passenger corner, which pushed by bumper in and scuffed the paintwork, it caused the car to judder sideways as he continued to reverse, old gentleman said he didn't even realise he had hit me....

A individual behind me in a large SUV called me over and to use there words saw my roof flex, when I looked over the roof sure enough in the rear drivers side corner of the roof roughly 3 inches from the back and 2 inches from the side is a very very shallow dent which in certain lights has a very light crease in the middle, this was not there before the incident with the Volvo as I had just cleaned the car and would have noticed it. When i asked them to be a witness to the fact this occurred they swiftly wound up there window and drove off uttering the words sorry no.... Nice

The insurance, LV (his company) where all happy and accepted all liability (after a small battle with him denying it!) i got several quotes from my own garage and all seemed well they said they where happy and it just had to be signed off by another engineer, and then all of a sudden they ask for a 'independent' assessors report, to which I agree, I take the car to meet the assessor half way as he fitted me in-between visits, he had one look over the car and said it couldn't possibly have been caused by the incident and he would not authorise a repair to the roof but only the bumper. Upon closer inspection it turns out he works for Lv and so in my opinion cannot be independent! he also disregarded the fact that I had been to several body shops who said that it could well have been caused at the time but maybe the impact was not the root cause and rather the juddering or other factors could be the issue.

I asked the assessor to give me a reasonable explanation of how such a small shallow dent could have appeared on my roof with a perfect straight crease, to which he replied you could have dropped something on it? I returned with the argument well why is there no other damage or scratching around the area of the dent and no difference in paint finish that would be related to polishing it out.

As a result I have now elected to go through my insurance as they seem to be more understanding, however where do I stand with proving how it got there, is the emphasis on them to prove that in no possible way could it have been caused or do I have to provide exact proof, as obviously like others I do not take pictures of the corner of my roof every day! It may well be a 'freak' result but after all the clio roofs are like tin cans and the damage is coherent with the direction of the juddering/impact from a much larger heavier car!

Others have suggested PDR however it appears to be in the area where the rear support bar finishes and so may be double skinned or the bar may obstruct it!

Apologies for the essay,

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Neil@greenlight]

Ben

Your insurer will send an engineer out to inspect your car. If you explain the impact and what the SUV driver saw then engineer will likely be able to tell that the damage was caused by the impact.

Best Regards
Neil

 

[BH182]

Hi Niel,

it it is going into the assesors/ garage today from my insurance company, I took it to another of there approved garages as I was passing last night who also assessed it, however they said that yes they think it was probably caused they just didn't know how to prove it , as they described it a 'freak symptom' due to the lack of other creasing in the roof. That you would expect from a impact if it was hard enough to create one dent/ crease it non ally creates others....

They like me me think that they/I would have a hard time proving it wasn't pre existing but genuinely was caused by the oaf who failed to look where he was going !

Hence my question do I have to prove it wasn't there or is there such a thing as giving me the benefit of doubt? I was also told that regardless of what the garage say the in house engineers who don't see the car make the decision so even if they said that it could have been caused if they aren't happy they will refuse it.

Thanks again
Ben

 

[McGherkin]

Here's how it'll pan out.

Your insurance company will claim that in their assessor's opinion, the dent has been caused by the crash.
Their insurance company will claim that in their assessor's opinion, the dent has not been caused by the crash.
You can press them for it, and they'll go to court for a decision, which could go either way depending on what the judge has been smoking on the day, or you can drop it.

Have you got any recent pictures of the car which show the dentless roof?

 

[BH182]

I have pictures of the vehicle as a whole but not specifically the roof, and it's the kind of dent /crease that is so shallow they are having a nightmare trying to photograph it themselves! My insurance company however do have a independent report on the vehicle outlining every defect from a previous incident, that is dated July however the condition of the car has not changed.

The garage I took it to yesterday have agreed with me that they can't see how it was pre existing due to it appearing to be a fresh defect (no other damage or attempted repair or buffing in the area) but like me have also said its a bugger to prove, they have states in there opinion it was as a result of the accident and in not so many words is a 'freak' symptom but entirely possible.
now awaiting Admiral in house engineers to review the assessment and quote for approval hopefully!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Make a complaint to LV about the 'independent assessor'? They're regulated by the FCA so will have a complaints team who will get back to you within 10 days and in my experience, complaints teams are very much less biased toward siding with their internal colleagues.

 

[Neil@greenlight]

Let it Pan out mate and see what they say first. You may be worrying about nothing.

Also with parts costs and the bodyshop labour charges at the level they are these days you may find the replacment door, wing and painting may be enough to delcare the vehicle beyond economical repair even without the roof.

Neil
Greenlight