Substandard insurance repairs

[67westy]

Just after an opinion on this. Just after christmas an old fella pulled out from a junction and swiped the front wing on our Fiat 500. Dented front wing, scuffs down the drivers door, cracked mount on the headlight and two kerbed wheels. Went in to be repaired by autorestore in chesterfield and they had the car for a couple of weeks.

We got it back last week and initial look over it seemed fine I had a closer look over after work and noticed there was a line of primer on the wing where it meets the wheel arch and also on the lip under the arch so I contacted them and they came out to collect and rectify. Fast forward to today and we have the car back for a second time. Just occurred to me that I never had a look at the headlight after the concerns with the bodywork so popped the bonnet to look tonight and wasn't pleased with what I found! For a start they have used a non-genuine part (how does that affect my warranty?) and secondly it's out of line and it looks like they have had to cut a lug off to make it fit! This has left a larger gap between wing and light on one side. Heres some pics, bad side first:

And the good side:

So am I right to expect genuine parts (car is 18 months old so still in warranty) and surely if they are using non-genuine they should at least fit properly and if not they should use genuine or maybe it's a sign of something else that is damaged if it wont fit?

Phone call first thing tomorrow just a bit pissed off now :evil: :roll:

 

[aspro]

**** repairs Adam. Obviously cutting corners instead of fixing it right. Call your insurance company up not the repairer. Demand a proper repair from another company.

 

[67westy]

**** repairs Adam. Obviously cutting corners instead of fixing it right. Call your insurance company up not the repairer. Demand a proper repair from another company.

My first thoughts were to go elsewhere, problem is the repairer is the insurer approved one so I'm not sure where that will lead. I'm hoping it's just a case of fitting a genuine part and all will be good but who knows :roll:

 

[dave]

would not accept that, as above phone insurer and complain, may be even take it to an independent bodyshop for an appraisal / quote to put right. believe all insurance repairs should be done with genuine parts where available, bet they quoted and invoiced genuine price to insurance co!!

 

[67westy]

Just had a quick look at the policy book and they state they may use non-gen parts

2. Parts
We may use parts which are not made by the manufacturer of your vehicle, but are of equivalent type and
quality to the parts we are replacing. This may include recycled parts or parts made from recycled materials.
If any part or accessory is not available for use, the most we will pay you in respect of that part will be the
cost shown in a supplier's latest United Kingdom price list. We will also pay reasonable fitting costs.

I think a quick call to the repairer in the morning to see what they propose to do, if I'm not happy complaint to the insurer. All this hassle for something which wasn't our fault :roll: Cheers for the opinions, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being unreasonable :shock:

 

[rickyrooo1]

substandard repairs will affect future resale value, your insurance company must have an e-mail addy that you can fire those pictures off to, i'd be asking for recompense for wasted time as well..... get a discount off next years premium off them.

 

[67westy]

substandard repairs will affect future resale value, your insurance company must have an e-mail addy that you can fire those pictures off to, i'd be asking for recompense for wasted time as well..... get a discount off next years premium off them.

Good points, I especially like the recompense idea, I must have wasted 3 or 4 hours of my life chasing this up on the phone or ducking out of work to collect vehicles. Just found the light units and it's only £30 more for a genuine one, not much of a saving for them especially after they come and collect it, deliver another courteousy car, replace, return car etc....

Just wish they were closer to me so I could rant in person

 

[marco]

Most decent repair shops try and use genuine parts as repro don't fit, but theres little money in it for them to start with and the insurance co. won't pay for gen if they specify pattern parts. Hope you get it sorted.

 

[67westy]

Most decent repair shops try and use genuine parts as repro don't fit, but theres little money in it for them to start with and the insurance co. won't pay for gen if they specify pattern parts. Hope you get it sorted.

Cheers mate, I think as this place is tied in with the insurer it's a case of do it as cheaply and quickly as possible. Fine for most cases I guess as a lot of people wouldn't look too closely

 

[Marriedblonde]

Not sure what happened to my reply but as the car is under warrenty they need to fit genuine parts.

Also you can claim the difference in price back from the other person for a crashed vehicle. Its about 10% of list price if I recall correctly.

I've been through all of this and never use insurance approved repair shops because of it. The insurance approved companies insist on a set hourly rate which it too low for the garage to make money.

Fight it, they rely on most people to just accept it.

My wife was involved in an accident, took countless times to get it right but got their in the end.

J.

 

[67westy]

Never heard of claiming the difference back before, might have to look into that. Any idea on how you go about it?

I'm hoping I can avoid countless times and stick with 2

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[67westy]

Well thought I'd update this. The repaireres were apologetic but apparantly the insurers insist they use pattern parts but as I've now complained they can use a genuine unit (sounds a bit dodgy). I still don't know how they can look at it and think "yeah, that's acceptable". So they have this one chance to sort it so we'll see how we go.

Thanks for all the opinions

 

[Mr Brightside]

Good Luck Adam !

This place is only a few miles from me & unfortunately I have had dealings with ADR in the past (who this really is), from my experience this is not unusual, the 3 jobs I had done there all had to go back more than once (poor fitting panels, bolts missing from slam panel, but more worrying half the main bumper bolts missing & the others loose)


Everything is done to a tight schedule.

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