Suspect Coachworks Firm Damaged My Car....Can't Prove it

fallen121

I got some work done on my car today, the guy was lying down the side of the car and spotted that the car had been damaged underneath (looks like the car fell off a car jack and was dented) and the car resprayed with anti chip paint over the original anti chip paint to try and hide the damage. He immediately called me out to show me what he had found.

You can't see the damage unless you lie down the side of car or put it on an inspection ramp. The respray is clearly evident from underneath the car because the sprayer didn't mask if off and the spray has splatted over other areas underneath the car. The car has been owned from new (18 months) and is still on the original tyres, the only time it has ever been in a garage was to repair accident damage last year, when wheels were changed around to correct problems with the wheel alignment (presumably using a car jack!) and the front wing replaced and resprayed (this is now flaking off, although THAT is covered under the repair guarantee).

I am taking the car back to the coachworks next week but I have a funny feeling that whilst they will repair the flaking paint, they will try and claim that the other damage was nothing to do with them. They only have my word that the car has never been in another garage...but why would it, be, apart from the accident (not my fault!) the car has never given any problems and has low mileage, it's never needed any work done.

The car received a basic (1 year) service at the dealership a week or so after the accident repair, but my husband watched the service and the car wasn't in the garage for long enough for a respray to have taken place, because if this had happened, the paint would still have been wet when he drove it home (and would have picked up dirt from the road). I am quite depressed because the damage affects the chasis, it's on the underside of the bar which runs along under the doors, and the damage is near the rear drivers side wheel and looks like a round type depression with stress fractures around the edge.

I am very worried that the bodywork could rust because the paint job is so bad....but I'll never prove it. Maybe if I had noticed it the day I picked up the car from the coachworks....but why look underneath a car which has only had the front wing replaced?

I guess there is a lesson here, which is TRUST NO-ONE, but I spent a good half an hour looking over the car when I first went to pick it up and never spotted it, the guy who did the service at the garage never spotted it, my husband who regularly checks the tyre pressures never spotted it. The person who did the damage and made a botched job of repairing it assumed (quite rightly) that it would be AGES before anyone spotted it, and by then would be hard pressed to ever prove it.

Because this coachworks firm is the only one in this area used by my insurance company, if I ever have another accident (God forbid!) I'll have to use them again. I suppose I could change insurance companies, but I get a pretty substantial discount because they are owned by my employer and if I move to a new insurance company I'm not sure how I could check what coachworks company they use isn't the same one before I sign up.

I am just fed up having to foot the bill for other people's incompetence. Somebody boobed and figured I wouldn't notice. They were right, as it happens, but now I have to live with their botched repair and I'm not even sure if it IS repairable. Either way it's going to cost me money if the car rusts. And it's only 18 months old

If there was a crying smiley, I'd use it.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

How do you know it wasn't damaged by the original dealer, before you bought it?

You're going to have to suck it up, and pay yourself. Its tough, but that's life.

somech

could be damaged in the factory/ on and off transporters supplying dealer and so on.
also the damage is to the floorpan and wont affect the vehicle structure
cant see rust being an issue either.
its sad but like you said it cant be proved

Mankysteve

If you cant prove it there's nowt you can do.

fallen121

Well I suppose the damage MIGHT have occurred on a transporter, but it looks very much like car jack damage to me and is in sort of the right place where you might jack a car. But I don't know enough about car transporters to know if there is anything on one of those would make a round dent under the car.

If the damage had taken place in the factory or dealership I would have thought the paint job would have been better quality as they would have had access to the original paint.

The coachwork job was pretty shoddy. I actually went to pick the car up and discovered that they had repainted a damaged alloy, but then putting the alloy back on had used clamps without pads which had scratched the alloys at the side, so I asked for it to be done again. The coachworks is also 25 miles away from my house, so rather than take another day off work I asked for the car to be brought back to my house on a transporter. The guy who took the car off the transporter didn't take the handbrake off when he reversed the car, the excuse he gave was that he wasn't familiar with how a DSG worked and thought the handbrake came off automatically as that is what happens on his wife's car. I was absolutely livid.

Shaztastic

Re your concerns about having to have any future damage repaired at this garage as it is the only one in your area used by your insurer.

You have the legal right to have your car repaired at any garage of your choice (including main dealers if that is what you want), not just the one that your insurance company recommends.

Only downsides are you will have to get a quote for the repairs from the garage (which they will send to the insurance company) and you won't automatically be elligible for a hire car whilst your car is being repaired (although some garages might give you one anyway).

terryya

Shaztastic wrote: »

Re your concerns about having to have any future damage repaired at this garage as it is the only one in your area used by your insurer.

You have the legal right to have your car repaired at any garage of your choice (including main dealers if that is what you want), not just the one that your insurance company recommends.

Only downsides are you will have to get a quote for the repairs from the garage (which they will send to the insurance company) and you won't automatically be elligible for a hire car whilst your car is being repaired (although some garages might give you one anyway).

Aviva charge and extra excess as well, if you don't use their approved repairer. For me, instead of paying just £150 I'd have had to pay £350.

Shaztastic

terryya wrote: »

Aviva charge and extra excess as well, if you don't use their approved repairer. For me, instead of paying just £150 I'd have had to pay £350.

Never come across this before but if it's in the terms of the policy then I suppose they can apply it. Something to look out for when renewing car insurance in future.

Thanks for the warning - guarantees I'll never insure my car with Aviva!!