Accident repair is riddled with lies!!!

jbindebt

Can anyone tell me who to complain to about my insurance company? I had an accident repair completed recently and my car has been returned to me in various states. I'll not bore you with the details but even the independent assessment to settle my query was attended by a guy who "did'nt have the right kit" and "kicked a few tyres" before claiming "pay for other work and if you can prove it's our fault then we'll refund you!"

dacouch

You need to give the Insurers the opportunity to sort things out by doing an executive complaint, the details of how to do this are in your policy. If you do not get the answer you want you can then complain to the Financial Ombudsman who can make a decision (They do take months and months though).

You could get report from a suitably qualified independant engineer on the repairs to the car that might be a good way of getting your Insurers to play ball

jbindebt

I have just called the Ombudsman today.I guess it's a red tape process with no guarantee but it all boils down to some shoddy customer service and a comical repair company who change their story each time I call them. I have a car that drives wonky, scrubs tyres, is now out of MOT , has been assessed as "poor" by a main dealer and I can't move forward unless I fork out a substantial amount to get it fixed properly just so i can prove the insurance company wrong. Frustrated beyond belief!!

dacouch

Was the repairer one of the Insurers recommended companies?

Which Insurer is it

jbindebt

My insurance company was Elephant which to be fair have been pretty good up to now. The garage they recommended have given me a terrible runaround ,at one point they tie-wrapped the front of the car back together as they could not get the parts and told me to fetch it back in two weeks rather than supply me with a hire car.Elephant have given them a ticking off but now that I am complaining about the unusual wear of the vehicle and having had it assessed by a dealership who listed other faults, I now find that certain tests weren't done correctly or not at all and as I said before, they got this independent guy who walked around it, listened to my story and then dismissed my complaint without any mechanical assessment. He actually supplied a document that was barely unreadable, had vague false statements and made no actual decision on my query. After paying £320 excess fee you expect things to be correct, not, we think you are wrong prove us otherwise at your cost??? At one point the insurance company said " as so many things have been done to your car that may or may not have been necessary we will never know how bad the original damage was and whether your current problem is relevant" I'm looking at the thick end of £400 for me upfront to finally get some solid evidence to take back to them. My original accident was back in Feb and I have been messing around since.

dacouch

Did you post about the problem a couple of months ago as I have seen a very similar problem with Elephant on MSE in the last few months.

As you have used a garage Elephant recommended it is Elephants problem to sort this out.

jbindebt

In case anyone was following this. The Insurance company came back with a final decision saying they would take the matter no further. Gutted!

gordikin

jbindebt wrote: »

In case anyone was following this. The Insurance company came back with a final decision saying they would take the matter no further. Gutted!

What did the ombudsman say?

jbindebt

Ombudsman say to wait eight weeks before getting in touch so thats my next step. thanks for asking but Im beginning to lose heart.

jbindebt

Just as support to others.

After a year of waiting the Ombudsman came down on my side. Although my insurance company had practically told me to get lost it was with great satisfaction to have a nice cheque in the post from them.

Ombudsman told them to pay up and £150 which I never would of had came my way. Just shows you what can happen if you stick with it.

Good luck to others.