Visiting 'Collision Specialist' garage tomorrow.. what to expect

licky_face

Tomorrow I'm visiting a garage on the recomendation of my insurer, I had a minor accident where I scraped against a barrier which has caused a scrape on my car on the body panels around the drivers side wheel.

I've driven the car over 100 miles since the accident without problem, however I'm a bit worried I'll get an enormous repair bill tomorrow.

I've heard stories that because garages typically think insurers are footing the bill (unlikely in this case, my excess is £1000), they inflate estimates to make a bit more easy cash? Is this likely?

Does anyone know what sort of bill I should expect? The damage looks largely cosmetic but theres a small posiblilty that the internals around the wheel (eg suspension) may have taken some damage, although as mentioned the car is driveable and I can't notice any problems when driving it.

jd82

You needed to make sure you had a quote before they did any work. It is too late now and they can pretty much charge what they want.

shark_DB

You could just ask them to provide a quote, then ask around for a recomended body shop or two and get a quote there. It may well be less than your excess

mikey72

If you had a £1000 excess, why did you tell your insurer first.
It would have been better to get the quote, and see if it was worth claiming.
Get an estimate, if it's around the £1000 mark, pay yourself, withdraw the claim,and get your ncd re-instated.

edit - get a few more quotes from local garages and bodyshops.

Kilty_2

I wouldn't go to the insurance's approved repairer for a quote if you want to pay yourself - when I went to have my car assessed they only communicated with the insurance company about the cost of any potential repairs. It's bound to be more expensive than you can source yourself anyway.

cyclonebri1

The insurer would have you believe you have to go to their "pet" repairer. You don't, just to an approved repair/paint shop.
You could lose your courtesy car by doing this but the smaller outfits realise this and mostly supply a car of their own.

As with what Mikey said, I think you've shot yourself in the foot by going through the insurance, and even if you try to back mout of it the accident will have been lodged against you

Richmc

"Get an estimate, if it's around the £1000 mark, pay yourself, withdraw the claim,and get your ncd re-instated."

Once you have told the insurance company you have had an accident, weather you claim or not, It's very unlikly that you will get your NCB back as you have admitted that you are a liability.

Kilty_2

Richmc wrote: »

"Get an estimate, if it's around the £1000 mark, pay yourself, withdraw the claim,and get your ncd re-instated."

Once you have told the insurance company you have had an accident, weather you claim or not, It's very unlikly that you will get your NCB back as you have admitted that you are a liability.

Wrong. You lose your NCB if you claim - if you do not claim you do not lose it.

You do however have to report the incident

Kilty_2

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

The insurer would have you believe you have to go to their "pet" repairer. You don't, just to an approved repair/paint shop.
You could lose your courtesy car by doing this but the smaller outfits realise this and mostly supply a car of their own.

Unless you're with Aviva in which case there's an extra £200 excess if you don't use one of their approved repairers. I had a choice in which centre I sent it to, but a very limited one.

I have to say they did a very good job, however (Solus Accident Repair in Cumbernauld)

licky_face

Thanks for the replies everyone. I understand the people questioning me telling the insurance company however my insurance document says have to notify them of any accidents whether I claim or not? I didn't want to take any risks in invalidating my insurance.

As it happens the place I went to this morning told me it would be about £1k which I am highly dubious about, so I'm going to get some quotes elsewhere. I'm not even sure it needs any work, the damage looks cosmetic to me, the only thing might be if the wheels have been knocked out of alignment.

Kilty wrote: »

Wrong. You lose your NCB if you claim - if you do not claim you do not lose it.

You do however have to report the incident

Yeah this is what they told me, they have opened a claim, and if no claims are made against me (unlikely, minor if any damage to a barrier, and when I drove past the next day there was a horrific accident in pretty much the same place so unlikely they'll be able to attribute anything to me), and if I do not claim myself, then it will be closed as a 'no claim'.

cyclonebri1

Kilty wrote: »

Unless you're with Aviva in which case there's an extra £200 excess if you don't use one of their approved repairers. I had a choice in which centre I sent it to, but a very limited one.

I have to say they did a very good job, however (Solus Accident Repair in Cumbernauld)

Then the obvious answer is don't insure with Aviva, if they do do that and I don't know, ask yourself WHY?

Answer, only because they are screwing insuredies on the repairs.

Don't fall in the repair trap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek: