Shonky insurance repairs, What can I do?

[Dermot O'Logical]

Any insurance bods on here that can help/advise? I had a minor ding on the front of my 172, just needed a new bumper, a few plastic panels, kerbed the two front alloys and a few shallow dents removing from the front of the bonnet.

So I took it to my insurance approved repairer and thought that would be it, job done. after the first repair, they forgot to fix the bonnet ("I'm sorry I didn't think that needed doing" FFS!) and they'd fitted the bumper so badly that it looked like it was done in the dark, nothing lined up. the paint finish was so patchy that it might also have been done in the dark. they hadn't fitted the top grille properly and had failed to notice that I'd left the old grille in the passenger footwell (so that they could re-use the undamaged Alternator cover) so just threw it away. They also re-conditioned 1 x front wheel, and a completely random rear wheel in a different silver to the others on the car (which did have some minor kerbing, but not relating to this accident) At first I refused to pay the excess as the job wasn't finished, but they wouldn't release my car. After a while I could see that I was getting nowhere, so paid-up and got out of there before contacting my insurers about the mess, three days later, the lower grille fell out where it was not fitted correctly....

....So a week or two later the car went back to be finished, so I was a little put out that the first thing they told me was that they couldn't find the missing alternator cover (Why book it in again then!!!!!) but I made sure that they knew that I'd put a list on the passenger seat of all the snag areas. This time the car was with them for a week, and being a trusting sort, I figured that was because they were busy making right on their previous gaffs.
Needless to say, they'd done next to nothing, the only thing they had done was paint the bonnet, BADLY! The dents were on the left side and they had filled these and prepped them, but then painted the whole bonnet, including the unprepped right hand side. Now I have a before/after bonnet with one side having acne I challenged the workshop controller on why nothing seemed to have been done and why the whole panel wasn't prep'ed before painting it, and he said "I didn't know about the other jobs" (there was a sheet of A4 on the passenger seat!!!) and they only prep'd one side as the insurance co won't pay for the whole panel (If I'd been told this I'd have put up the extra, but I was just assured that "it will all be sorted") yeah right!

Now, I've had varying levels of help from the insurance people, from "we are very sorry, we are happy for you to take the car somewhere else to have the Bumper, bonnet and all 5 wheels re-painted properly" to what now appears to be "we'll only re-paint the bumper, the rest is commercially acceptable and if you aren't happy, you can get it done yourself as if we do it, it's Betterment and not covered"

Is it worth getting a solicitor involved to get them to make good on the repairs as I'm really unhappy with the job? They are sending me paperwork for an "appeal" of sorts, but this being from them, I'm assuming that it will be lengthy are un-successful. Any help gratefully recieved!!!

(mods, wasn't sure if this is the right section, feel free to move it. and no names involved as it's on-going:dapprove

Sorry about the novel, just want to get it finished before it becomes a saga

 

[Gally]

Ah not like the insurance to fob you off mate, no doubt they haven't looked at the car. Contact a solicitor and also an independent assessor company they will give you advice.

The independent will give you a report to say it hasn't or has been repaired to satisfaction.

Oh and betterment doesn't exist in the industry anymore.
That's like saying you have to put money to the bonnet paint because it has stone chips, doesn't happen.

What insurance company and what's the garage and area called?

Sorry just re-read!

They painted (blended) half your bonnet? Are you joking? I need to see some pictures.

Trading standards will also help my friend.

 

[kendz]

Are they a member of the below?
http://www.thatcham.org/kitemark/index.jsp?page=255

If so it might be worth quoting it back to them, worked for me when I had problems with an 'approved repairer'...

 

[Gally]

They won't be pas125 approved mate.

 

[geesus69]

just picking at a few points.....

they have painted over stone chips/imperfections on one half of the bonnet because the insurance company won't pay for the full panel prep time?

i'm gonna take a guess (a calculated one as you have already said you had excess to pay) that this is a fault claim and therefore is going through your own insurance?

if so, here's your problem, engineers working on the fault side of things are ruthless when it comes to saving money!

Gally, what do you mean betterment doesn't exist anymore?

 

[Gally]

Well my understanding if you burst a tyre in the accident you don't contribute towards a new tyre even tho there was only 4mm left in the old one?

I understand the customer should get his car back to it's pre-accident condition without benefiting really.

I know what you mean by the insurance won't pay for the dents but you wouldn't paint half a bonnet, surely it would be better painting over the old dents.

How do you even prep half a bonnet!

 

[_WILL_]

I would ring your insurance company, as to speak to the most senior person you can about a complaint and who your solicitor should contact. Might work but if not you aint lost anything.

Can i ask who you are insured with at the mo (PM me) cos im due to re-new pretty soon as would be interested to know.

Cheers, Will

 

[mx1_champ]

for the extra prep work involved to do a blow in on a bonnet , would be more than its worth to paint the full thing .
not to mention the size of a bonnet and to blow it in , id love to see good quality pic's of that , maby on a small panel , wing , sill top of a quarter ect but a bonnet ! thats bad

 

[geesus69]

Well my understanding if you burst a tyre in the accident you don't contribute towards a new tyre even tho there was only 4mm left in the old one?

We would ask for a contribution

I understand the customer should get his car back to it's pre-accident condition without benefiting really.

indeedy, so by giving them a car back with more tread depth on a tyre than when they had the accident, they are benefiting by the extra mileage/use they will gain. we cant supply a partly scrubbed tyre, so we ask for a contribution.

I know what you mean by the insurance won't pay for the dents but you wouldn't paint half a bonnet, surely it would be better painting over the old dents.

I dont think he means they have painted half the bonnet, i hope not anyway. rather they have painted the whole thing but only fully prepped the damaged side, leaving the deeper stone chips showing


How do you even prep half a bonnet!

i assume they have just prepped it lightly and not rubbed it right back to eradicate the deeper stone chips, then just painted over them, giving the pimples the OP describes.

at least this is the jist i get from reading it

 

[Gally]

Lols, you can only tell so much from a description I suppose.

No insurance company up here work with betterment anymore, used to be tyre, exhausts, batteries then onto the car itself, removal of rust and old dents ect...

 

[T0M0]

hire a jcb for the day and just drive it straight through the workshop that did this to your 172

 

[Dermot O'Logical]

Yes, they did paint the whole bonnet! But one side looks awful as it has little pits all over it. I know it's not terrible (you wouldn't see it from a distance) but even allowing for the blown-over chips the paint finish is not nearly as good as the standard panels.
I've been quite good about giving them every chance to sort things out. But after 4 wasted journeys, I just want to book it in somewhere else so they can get it right. My car used to look like a well kept Clio, now it looks like a badly repaired Clio.

The JCB scenario may well happen soon though ;0)

 

[Pinkorstink]

I am in a very similar situation. I had a rear quater panel and a sill resprayed recently by the garage Direct Line recommended. At first glance it looked good but a bloke with an 'eye' for paintwork said there's overspray in three areas including two of my alloys!!

Now whilst my car was in for repair the company (Richmond Motor Group) went into administration and so held onto the car for ages. This I suspect was the reason for the lousy work. However, I got in touch with my credit card company who were interested in only one thing; did the garage offer me a guarantee when I paid the £500 excess? Well, yes they did, now because the garage cannot honour it Lloyds TSB would reclaim the payment and put it back into my account. The administrators for the garage (KPMG) decided to give me a full refund of the £500 rather than have a strike against them for non-conformity of conditions of sale??

Now Direct Line have approved Renault in Worcester as the repair company and they are putting the paintwork right and also coating my alloys gloss black. I suggest you ask your insurance company for their complaints procedures and an address for the Financial Ombudsman as you would like to canvass their opinion on the situation. It should work wonders.