Ok, what a poo day!

Some people might know more here about insurers stuff!

My audi s3 had its clutch done the last few days at a Clutch/Gearbox and Engine place in Colchester, I've had a whole fuss because apparently they quoted for an a3 and blah blah blah, twice as much work. Anyway it ended up that i wasn't paying any more and that i would just have to wait, This afternoon they rung me telling me that the mechanic has crashed it/ gone into the back of a car....

Anyway They have sent me there certificate of insurance so at least i have something, and they are going to drop the car off tomorrow, then have someone collect it and apparently i have to deal straight with their insurers.

I thought that i would be dealing with the garage, who then deal with insurers?

Oh and i wont be getting a courtesy car because im under 25 apparently Do i hire a car and then claim on the insurance the cost?

Will i be able to say that i want the repair work done at Audi or Listers, not a backstreet place or is this unreasonable?

I admit its probably best that i wait for the call from insurers and see how much damage, apparently it looks worst than it is but is repairable.

I asked how this happened, apparently the mechanic coming out of a roundabout went into the back of someone!! Sounds like driving like a tit!

Anyway, Rant over, extremely angry as i have IVA on wednesday and need a tow car for that? Can i ask for a tow hire car, or courtesy car with a towbar? or do i claim what i lost to IVA etc..? etc??

Ed

Do you have legal cover through your car/home insurance or bank? If yes, might be worth giving them a ring to get an idea of where you stand re claiming things and courtesy cars etc.

I'd also be tempted to make sure that the police are aware of the accident - may shine a bit of light onto what actually happened!


But.. I'm not a lawyer, so these are just my thoughts.

Id phone you insurance and enqire with them and make sure the convosation is recorded and you get names as theyll try to swindel you well some places do and as for the curyesy car a freind of mine had one for 6months before getting his motor back n he was 18, id go through the legal jargen with your insurera and your policy book to find out what your entiteled too

Bummer

Same thing happened to me years ago and somehow the garage managed to put the repairs onto MY insurance so I lost no-claims bonus etc.

Anyway if you're really stuck for a tow on Wednesday I could come over and do it for you ( assuming you have a trailer Let me know.

Edit to add

Where TF is North Weald ? Don't forget you can cancel and rebook IVA with 3 working days' notice with no loss of money.




[Edited on 21/7/11 by Macbeast]

Speak to their insurers and explain the situation. If they don't want to play ball them, as much as I hate them, I'd suggest talking to a claims management company and see what they see.

As your car was in their posession as a result of a business contract between you and the garage, they should have 'a duty of care' and be responsible for your car until it is returned to you.
Worth a chat with Trading Standars Consumer Direct.

Get in touch with your insurers straight away, if they're one of the big ones their phones will still be on. Make sure you make them understand that it was in the care of the garage when it happened.
Although it's 'no claim' rather than 'no fault' discount, in these sort of circumstances they should fight your corner and possibly claim against the garage, with a bit of luck you might hang on to your NCD.

Get straight on it chap.

Just read your post again, as they were driving it on a public road they would have had to have been driving it on their own insurance, puts you in a much stronger position.




[Edited on 21/7/11 by norfolkluego]

Surely as far as you (and consequently your insurers) are concerned the accident was the fault of the mechanic driving it?

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Originally posted by Macbeast


Where TF is North Weald ?



[Edited on 21/7/11 by Macbeast]

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So they gave you a price for an A3 done the work then after told you that you need to pay more cos its an S3 and it was more work, instead of calling you to say that they made a mistake and if you`d like them to carry on. And why was the mechanic driving the car a few days after they done the work, using it as a courtesy car. becarefull that there insurance refuse to pay as it sounds like they was just using it to go shop and back and not test driving it to find a fault and then your insurance will have to end up paying for the other cars dammage.

[Edited on 21-7-11 by spiderman01980]

No sorry
We had an discussion yesterday and I told them to either sort it or put it back as it was, they chose to do it for no extra cost, this afternoon they told me it was nearly done, just going back together so I could pick it up tonight If wanted
And apparently he was testing to see the clutch, but surely this would have been checked driving around the car park!!

give there insurance a call and see what they say, but then they need the driver to fill in the papers with there licence details and what happened at the accident so i dont understand why they said you have to sort it out.

Personally I wouldn't deal with my own insurance for a third party liability; I made that mistake once and won't do it again. Your own insurers can get the car fixed and then claim back from the other insurers, but prior to this claim being processed you have effectively made a claim against your own insurance so you will lose NCB during this period. If things drag out (as they did with mine) and you get a renewal during this period, you have a claim on your record and you will get stung. Got it all resolved but took over a year to get my money back.

Yep don't really want to bring my insurers into it incase it goes on our record etc.. Renewal is up in 3-4 weeks so needs to either be kept away from insurers or dealt with quickly, Although i have a feeling if the car he hit into, goes to his insurance with my numberplate, it will get back to my insurers quickly!

You have the right for your situation to be restored to how it was before the car was damaged (not enhanced) and make good any loss you have suffered as a result. Your insurance company should sort it out for you but they might not. As this involves a business, although it could be a long haul, you can take them to court to recover any loss. If they don't pay a court order then you can send in the Bailiffs as they will have assets worth seizing. Probably won't come to that. I'm sure you are full of emotion at the moment but these things take time and you have to keep a cool head and keep focused on the long game. Keep all documentation, note down all conversations and interactions with anyone. Make notes of who, what date and time and what was said and agreed.

you can try citizens advice bureau and see what they say, i went to them when i went bankrupt and was very helpfull.

Thanks NorfolkL - closer than I thought then

My first call would be to a lawyer familiar with vehicular law...I would recommend BenB's brother...

PS My initial thought would be, as a minimum The Garage are Liable for ANY reasonable costs you incur due to not having your vehicle available to them...this would include a hire car of similar specification to your own.

Hate to say it but this is one of the times it may be worth chasing one of the ambulance chasing outfits...

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Originally posted by spiderman01980
give there insurance a call and see what they say, but then they need the driver to fill in the papers with there licence details and what happened at the accident so i dont understand why they said you have to sort it out.

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Get your insurers to deal with it, the tech term is subjugation where thay handle it on your behalf, or at least help ensure any remedial work done to your satifaction. Also make clear to garage you have informed your insurers who will be looking after the incident on your behalf, and that the gararge will be responsible for any increased premiums over subsequent years As far as you are concerned the ding is nothing to do with you, so as others have said, make sure your insurer is clear on this, and get them to email/write to confirm.

ATB

Simon

My Mum had a simillar problem a couple of years ago. someone crashed into her car on the drive way (We're still completely unaware as to how or who) so it went to the Merc dealer for repairs (It was a Chrysler and at the time they owned Chrysler and were the only local place that could fix it, and this was on insurance). They went to the dealer later to find out what was taking so long where they found the car had been parked on a narrow bit next the building that led to the back area and while they were there they actually witnessed the dealers delivery driver squeeze a van through the gap between the car and the building and in the process pulling off the mirror, denting the door and putting scratches all the way down it. After alot of complaining I believe the owner agreed to pay for all the repairs, including the ones it originally went in for.

I would expect them to sort it out, If you suspect they might have been using the car rather than testing it I would go to the police as that would be taking without consent, and as far as insurance is concerned theft. As other have said, it might be worth getting legal advice.

Who has said you can't have a courtesy car? The garage themselves or an insurance company?

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Originally posted by Confused but excited.
As your car was in their posession as a result of a business contract between you and the garage, they should have 'a duty of care' and be responsible for your car until it is returned to you.
Worth a chat with Trading Standars Consumer Direct.

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Originally posted by Simon
and that the gararge will be responsible for any increased premiums over subsequent years A

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

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Originally posted by Simon
and that the gararge will be responsible for any increased premiums over subsequent years A

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That's not going to fly - premiums tend to go up every year whether you've made a claim or not. You have to get a breakdown of your premium every year for the next 5 years to see what percentage of it was due to a third party claim and I don't know of any insurance company that does that.

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Well the car was dropped off on Friday, It doesn't look too bad but the front bumper is about 2" further in the car than it should be, half the lights are wedged in, half are dangling out, The bonnet will need replacing, and possibly the front wings, but they might be ok, all the lights bracketry has broken etc.. and its all a bit deformed....

Its also had a hit from behind, nice dent in one corner now which the garage owner said he didn't know anything about even though it was the delivery man that showed me the damage. This hasn't done too much damage but has shifted the rear bumper forward a bit so the shut lines aren't matching at the moment.

Due to the value of the car, 4K last August, worth between 3.5-4k i would say now. I think it could be close to a write-off.

We have taken some legal advice which was to inform our insurers but clearly state that we weren't in possession, someone else has admitted fault etc.. etc.. and spoken to their brokers, However apparently Aviva just cant process this things quickly so we were told to go and hire a similar car until Tuesday evening, when we will either be told to extend it or they will provide something.

Anyway i've now got a 11 plate seat leon 1.6tdi which does 50mpg so making full use of it

good luck with it eddie, keep us informed with the progress please, incase it happens to any of us we`ll know what to do!

Ok, don't know how useful this post is but the garage collected my 6 month old fiat for a service and then duly crashed it on the way to their garage. They have sorted it all out on their insurance (although I let my insurers know just in case there was going to be any issue...). I got a courtesy car from them. The car is due back today (some 6 weeks after the event because of delays with their insurers and getting parts etc). Anyway, I have not seen my car since it was collected for the 'service' but 2 days after the accident I made the garage send me a scanned copy of the insurers report by email so that I could see verification of the damage myself (after subtle threatening to go to Fiat Head office and start spouting off). Bummer - £4,550 worth of damage! But mostly labour. Anyway it is due back today and am not looking forward to signing it off - as don't know what I am looking for.... They will be bringing it to my work place car park. Damage was mainly to Right side front and rear panels and the airbags. Any advice would be good. I'm a chick and a bit inexperienced in these things (parallel parking also being a bit of nightmare too ).
Cheers.

sf, ideally get someone to look at it with you. You need to check that the gaps between panels/doors etc are even and straight, and that the paint is well finished, ie no bumps or ripples. Also colour i guess...

Keep on top of Aviva Insurance. They're absolutely useless. They covered me when I rear ended someone and I found out that a lot of their staff are based in Bombay, India. I was getting letters asking me to call them, which were from India and then they knew nothing of the letter and I was passed around from pillar to post and then their claims investigators wanted to speak to me as they thought the other party was involved in cash for smash but then I never heard anything else. I complained about their service in the end and received a £50 cheque which was nice but I'll never use them again.

Sf, not only should you get someone to look at the car for you, but get someone who knows that (preferably YOUR car)

I also advocate taking a large torch if it isn't sunny, when they repaired Missus's bonnet it turned out (one sunny day years later) that they just bent back the dent and it left a nice ripple effect.

Well 2 weeks after the crash, they have finally taken away the audi, i've been hiring a car from hertz which is going back and im getting a courtesy car audi a4 with a towbar so that is good news. Although i've had to swap over insurance from the crashed audi to it for 2 weeks as the courtesy people couldn't get me insured on it.

Oh well, a lot of stressful phonecalls and i feel like we are heading in the correct direction.

Lets hope it all goes well! have you had your IVA test yet and where are you taking it, its not in croydon in redhouse road is it? is it

not in croydon, had an IVA fail last week, retest in 8 days time

how much is the test and to retest it?

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Originally posted by spiderman01980
how much is the test and to retest it?

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what did it fail on?

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/32/viewthread.php?tid=158831

Had the estimate come through today to repair s3 £4500 + vat so £5422 in total. Cant see how we will be able to fight against a write-off at that value.

Well that's not the end of the world... Better get looking for another one

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Originally posted by eddie99
Had the estimate come through today to repair s3 £4500 + vat so £5422 in total. Cant see how we will be able to fight against a write-off at that value.

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