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Maxwellphillips

Accident and insurance help!

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Hi everyone! 

So I was unfortunately in a minor crash going to work the other day. Slow speed, relatively small amount of damage, but annoying non the less. 

I've never been in a crash before, but I let my insurance know straight away, and they set things in motion to get the car inspected and fixed. The other party admitted fault at the time, and has also let her insurance know it was her fault. 

The question I have is; do I get my car fixed through my insurance or through hers? Her insurance have said they'll sort everything, Inc. Hire cars etc, so I was just going to do it through them, but my insurance have now called me back to say I won't be covered legally if her insurance fails to repair my car correctly (won't have any come back etc). Is this right? 

And on a related note, are there any good/proven body shops in the Midlands area I can suggest to either insurance company? 

 

Thanks! 

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Their insurance is offering to repair it because yours would use their own approved* (not always the best) garage to do the work and then bill the other insurance company a massive amount for the pleasure of doing all the work for them. If their insurance has offered to repair it this will be the quickest and most cost effective way of getting the job done without insurers fighting over eachother. Your own insurer probably won't even let you choose who you want to fix it.

If you are allowed to get the car in at RRG or at least another Toyota centre it will probably be the best route, especially when it comes to trying to blend in the 3 stages of the white paint.

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Despite what any insurer says you have the last say on where the vehicle is repaired. Some do have clauses in them with an additional excess for it though so it's worth reading the smallprint. I don't think it bares any odds legally in terms of warranty for the work or who undertakes it as you will have a paper trail and the work should be warranted and covered either way.

From experience Toyota repair centres aren't all what they are cracked up to be, you're best off going to a local you trust.

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I would have thought the 2 insurance companies would communicate to each other and let you know what you need to do, surely that is what the are paid all that money for?

Luckily I haven't been in that situation so not entirely sure myself, but I think you let your know insurance company know all the details, what happened, the other person's name address and there insurance company and policy number etc. Your insurance should then contact her insurance, her insurance will then contact her; but this will probably take months; I know someone that still has a dispute going on for nearly 2 or 3 years now. 

Just seen steeps reply and probably that would be best solution as it would be quicker. Has her insurance contacted you to say they will pay? 

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Ah crap dude, at least it's not too bad. The bumper looks salvageable with a bit of body work.

Normally I'd recommend: Mick at Spray Station, but last time we spoke he was on about retiring and that was at least 12months ago so I'm not sure if he's still around. He's the guy who resprayed my boot lid.

If he's not around try a guy called Greg Howell, he's fairly well known in the VAG scene: http://greghowell.co.uk/. He's done some nice cars recently: https://www.instagram.com/greghowell_/

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As an "official approved repair" that'll be disproportionately expensive. New bumper, new wheel, maybe the panel cut out and replaced with new metal, but it looks uncreased.

When I made a claim through Direct Line about a decade ago (damage to my parked car), my insistence on using a local repair shop that I could walk to and from caused them to send an assessor out to see the car and quibble with the much cheaper quotation from the nearby garage. I saved them money and they made it difficult for me.

With fault admitted (they hate that) it'll be much faster to resolve than your typical back and forth, but do still expect your insurance to increase a bit next year...

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9 minutes ago, nerdstrike said:

As an "official approved repair" that'll be disproportionately expensive. New bumper, new wheel, maybe the panel cut out and replaced with new metal, but it looks uncreased.

When I made a claim through Direct Line about a decade ago (damage to my parked car), my insistence on using a local repair shop that I could walk to and from caused them to send an assessor out to see the car and quibble with the much cheaper quotation from the nearby garage. I saved them money and they made it difficult for me.

With fault admitted (they hate that) it'll be much faster to resolve than your typical back and forth, but do still expect your insurance to increase a bit next year...

Might as well get rocket bunny kit to hide all that! It'll probably work out cheaper as well haha 

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Thanks everyone. From the general consensus on here and at work, it looks like the best option is to go with her insurance (as they've said they'll pay) and choose a decent body shop that'll actually do a good job, especially with the pearl paint. 

I'll ring around a couple and go and visit (thanks Will and Deacon and others for the suggestions), and start to get some quotes in. 

I'll feedback so you can get the sweepstake going. 

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Exact same scenario I had (when my car was only a week old). Had it fixed through other drivers insurance (and a loan car) and at my repairer of choice (RRG) Also worth noting my wing was more creased than that and it got straightened fine so no need to cut out the panel.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Get an independent quote listing all the parts needed so that you know exactly what has got to be done. check with your insurance on any financial penalties you may suffer for your no fault shunt and put a claim in. My wife and I use a broker who always gets us a better deal than the internet and advises on claims to make sure we get every thing you are entitled to

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Had my first estimate back... 

*drum-roll*

£4078.28.

This was done through Listers body shop, as they are the dealer I bought the car from. Now I don't know much about accident repair, but this seems astronomical considering the damage done. I'm going to Southam Bodies (Greg Howell) for a second opinion. 

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Did you see the damage to my car in the build thread? £6k that cost, and they had to strip the whole back end down to chassis.

£4k for yours is absolutely batshit crazy.

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