Is Aviva bodging up my previously mint car?

caterhamsuper7

My Mazda was damaged by an Aviva policy holder and Aviva accepted full liability. A hole was made in the bumper where a bracket to support the bumper was pushed through in the impact. There are other signs of stress across the bumper. Aviva are refusing to replace the bumper. Aviva say they can repair it with staples and blobs of filling material and that is all they will pay for. I say that last week I had a mint condition car with a mint condition bumper that would flex and protect just as the makers intended, and that is what I want on my car next week. I don't want the bracket screwed to a lump of filling material, I dont want a stressed bumper being the first point of contact between my family and any future collision. My insurance company, (I am fully comp with Advantage insurance,) seem unable to get Aviva to budge. I really don't know what to do, I have told Avivas' workshop to not do anything yet, but something has to be done. All I want is that my car will be in the same condition next week as it was last week, I don't want a bodged up front bumper, why can't Aviva see that. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

mikey72

If it's a third party claim, use an accident management company.
They cost the third party a lot more, and tend to get their attention.
(But I'd hold out for a new bumper too. I'd also insist the work was done by my own garage, not Aviva's)

rs65

Bumper repairs have been common for many years now and the results can be quite impressive.

Don't know the answer about the repair being at a mounting point. Perhaps get a second opinion from another bodyshop?

caterhamsuper7

Thanks for the replies, an independant Mazda approved bodyshop say they would replace the bumper rather than repair, but Aviva have refused to pay for this.

mikey72

They're taking the ...
Go through a claim management company. Do you have a credit hire car while it's being looked at?
And insist it's moved to the Mazda dealer for repair.

caterhamsuper7

Thanks Mikey72, Aviva have supplied a hire car. Thanks for pointing me towards a management company as i had not heard of them before. (no prevoius accidents) I have just googled and will give one a ring. They even supply a car if Aviva wants theirs back.

rs65

caterhamsuper7 wrote: »

I have just googled and will give one a ring.

If you tell Aviva you are thinking of doing that, they may change their mind about the repair.

mikey72

rs65 wrote: »

If you tell Aviva you are thinking of doing that, they may change their mind about the repair.

Yes, worth a call to Aviva first, and give them one last chance to change their mind.

caterhamsuper7

Thanks for the reply rs65, to be honest i'm not sure I trust them anymore. I told their body shop that I didn't want the bracket screwed to a lump of filler and was told "the bumpers are not screwed on to the brackets" okay what is the bumper held on by, "screws" they said. They then told me they didn't like to replace bumpers as it was "environmentally unfriendly", I really wish I had a recording of that phone call.

CKhalvashi

caterhamsuper7 wrote: »

Thanks Mikey72, Aviva have supplied a hire car. Thanks for pointing me towards a management company as i had not heard of them before. (no prevoius accidents) I have just googled and will give one a ring. They even supply a car if Aviva wants theirs back.

When one of my colleagues scraped the entire side of mine, they offered to ‘pull the dents out’, but not replace the doors. I went through an AMC as I felt this was purely not good enough on a 2 week old car.

The result of this action is here; car looking spanking new again! Hold out, and you’ll get it done.

CK

caterhamsuper7

I have just spoken with an Accident Management Company that I had googled. It's too late for them to get invloved as Aviva have the car and have supplied a Hire car replacement. If I had known about what Aviva were going to do from the begining and hadn't trusted them to return the car in the condition it was in before the accident, I would have asked here earlier. I may have to pay the extra for a replacement bumper myself, just for peace of mind.