forced to go a certain garage for car repairs?

Randy_Trouserman

Hi all,

we took my wife's car to a garage a few weeks ago. Before we'd to the end of the road the garage called us back as next doors wall had blown down and fallen on the wing. The owner of unoccupied property with the defective wall is also the owner of the property that the garage rent space from.

The damage on the Alfa GT will cost £495 plus VAT to repair, this has been quoted by the Alfa garage in Manchester.

The owner of the wall says he won't contribute unless we get a quote from a repairer he knows (an independent). Naturally my wife's not keen on anyone repairing but the manufacturers. Plus the garage isn't local to us, it's over 40 miles for the round trip.

What do we do?
Do we have to go to his garage for a quote - fuel and time might not be refunded?
Can I say stuff it an try the small claims court - is that open to us?

Help appreciated.

Cheers RT

spiro

Put it through your insurnace and let them deal with it.

Tilt

Hi.

Its your car so you should be able to ultimately choose where it is repaired. Is the car still under the anti-corrosion warranty? If so, it will need to either A) be repaired by an authorized Alfa bodyshop or any bodywork which affects the anti-corrosion treatment will have to be inspected by an authorized Alfa bodyshop. What do your insurers say about this?

Strider590

Randy_Trouserman wrote: »

The damage on the Alfa GT will cost £495 plus VAT to repair, this has been quoted by the Alfa garage in Manchester.
T

Dealerships sell cars, if you think they do these repairs themselves then your horribly mistaken..... It'll be out sourced to another company, the dealership will then slap some profit on top.

Think about it....... What sense does it make to employ specialist body repair staff when your main business is selling cars and doing servicing? Proper bodywork specialists command a good wage, so you wouldn't want then sat on their hands all day waiting for a wall to fall over.
If in fact they do the work in house using their usual mechanics then i'd run a mile! no ten miles!!!

Dealerships are most peoples first port of call, when they should be your last.

Randy_Trouserman

Would love to put it through the insurance but then we'd have to pay the excess, wouldn't we?

If the quote is £495 and the excess £250, doesn't it leave us out of pocket?

Thanks again.

spiro

Randy_Trouserman wrote: »

Would love to put it through the insurance but then we'd have to pay the excess, wouldn't we?

If the quote is £495 and the excess £250, doesn't it leave us out of pocket?

Thanks again.

Why would you pay the excess, its clearly someone elses fault.

Strider590

^^ Excess is paid back to you when the claim is settled and the 3rd party has forked out.

Flyboy152

spiro wrote: »

Put it through your insurnace and let them deal with it.

But then, the insurance company will insist on using their approved repairer as well.

Flyboy152

Tilt wrote: »

Hi.

Its your car so you should be able to ultimately choose where it is repaired. Is the car still under the anti-corrosion warranty? If so, it will need to either A) be repaired by an authorized Alfa bodyshop or any bodywork which affects the anti-corrosion treatment will have to be inspected by an authorized Alfa bodyshop. What do your insurers say about this?

As above, they'll send him to their approved body shop.

Flyboy152

Randy_Trouserman wrote: »

Hi all,

we took my wife's car to a garage a few weeks ago. Before we'd to the end of the road the garage called us back as next doors wall had blown down and fallen on the wing. The owner of unoccupied property with the defective wall is also the owner of the property that the garage rent space from.

The damage on the Alfa GT will cost £495 plus VAT to repair, this has been quoted by the Alfa garage in Manchester.

The owner of the wall says he won't contribute unless we get a quote from a repairer he knows (an independent). Naturally my wife's not keen on anyone repairing but the manufacturers. Plus the garage isn't local to us, it's over 40 miles for the round trip.

What do we do?
Do we have to go to his garage for a quote - fuel and time might not be refunded?
Can I say stuff it an try the small claims court - is that open to us?

Help appreciated.

Cheers RT

Very few Alfa Romeo dealerships have attached bodyshop. Your dealer will most likely outsource the work anyway.

Randy_Trouserman

I don't really mind where it goes as long as they do a good job. Hopefully I'm not paying for it, dealer or independent is ok with me.

So if we speak to the insurance company, we won't pay the excess and it won't affect next year's premium?

I don't really want to have to take a couple of hours off work to get a quote from his garage when I don't want to use them. I know now it'll be us that lose out on time and petrol.

Small claims court not worth thinking about? If I don't go to his garage for a quote, would that go against me?

Thanks RT