insurance query

bobbyblade

my car was bumped by our works bus which backed into it while i was parked in the car park at work, obviously was not my fault and i have had to put a claim through my insurance for damage to rear door , have told the body shop and car insurance that i do not want it pulling out and filling only the door replacing for a new one , am i in the right for making such a demand

Quentin

Not really.

Your policy conditions will allow your insurer to carry out repairs as they think fit.

If you aren't happy with the proposed repair you can make a formal complaint to the insurer and if unhappy with the reply escalate to the FOS (at no cost to you) for their adjudication.

The downside to all this is that it will be a long process.

50Twuncle

bobbyblade wrote: »

my car was bumped by our works bus which backed into it while i was parked in the car park at work, obviously was not my fault and i have had to put a claim through my insurance for damage to rear door , have told the body shop and car insurance that i do not want it pulling out and filling only the door replacing for a new one , am i in the right for making such a demand

You are entitled to get your car back in the condition that it was prior to the accident - so, unless your car had just had a replacement brand new door fitted - sorry but you will not succeed !!
You may do better - depending on the company - to claim directly through your works insurance company - because you will lose any NCD and have to reclaim the extra cost (excess) from works insurance ....
Make sure, however, that you do claim for a similar loan vehicle for the period that your car is unusable for ....

InsideInsurance

You can "demand" (aka request) whatever you want but insurer will only consider it your preference and will ultimately go with the most economic option for returning the door to its preaccident state. You have a legal responsibility to mitigate your losses and not have betterment and your insurers are helping you to achieve this.

That said, insurers as a whole much more often do the full job of replace, spray and full blend in than the botch job or corner cutting options

bobbyblade

regarding the hire car i have a 10 plate focus i have told both the insurance company and the hire car place that i want the same size car yet they have said it will be either a fiesta or corsa :mad:

Mark_Mark

bobbyblade wrote: »

regarding the hire car i have a 10 plate focus i have told both the insurance company and the hire car place that i want the same size car yet they have said it will be either a fiesta or corsa :mad:

Is that really a problem for a couple of days?

InsideInsurance

bobbyblade wrote: »

regarding the hire car i have a 10 plate focus i have told both the insurance company and the hire car place that i want the same size car yet they have said it will be either a fiesta or corsa :mad:

Hire car company?

Insurer provided cars come in three flavours, generally:

1) Courtesy car - provided by the garage themselves if the car is repairable and is subject to availability. Normally Corsa types thing

2) "Guaranteed Courtesy Car" - provided by a hire company under your policy, independent of repairs but for a limited duration. Normally a Group 1 or 2 car

3) "Enhanced" Guaranteed Courtesy Car - as per (2) but normally a Group 3 or 4 hire car

All of these are funded from your policy and so depends purely on the terms of it.

In a non-fault accident you also have the potential option of a Credit Hire car that almost certainly will provide a like for like replacement and then recover their outlay from the third party directly. They naturally inflate the hire charges massively to compensate for the service/ credit they are providing. Increasingly though insurers are pushing back on if the TP needed credit or could have self funded it.

If you really cannot deal with the car for the duration then contact the Third Party or their insurers and see if they will fund a more appropriate hire car for your needs and avoid the cost escalation and possible issues of credit hire.

That said, I have a 13 plate car with 4.7l engine and was quite happy with a corsa for the 3 days mine was in for repairs after an RTA

neilmcl

bobbyblade wrote: »

regarding the hire car i have a 10 plate focus i have told both the insurance company and the hire car place that i want the same size car yet they have said it will be either a fiesta or corsa :mad:

Then you should have claimed directly from the 3rd party insurer or took the chance on an accident management co. Just remember you are obliged by law to mitigate your losses.

force_ten

from what you said re telling the body shop that you want the door replaced rather than repaired i assume the car is already at or been to the repairer

if you have gone via your insurances then it will be taken to an approved repairer and normally it is them that will provide the courtesy car when they have your car

I would have told the insurance that i want the car taken to and repaired by a for main dealers rather than an approved repairer

I did this with my car recently and i was charged a slightly higher excess on my insurance but the car was repaired properly using OEM parts

Prothet_of_Doom

depends how deep the dent, but most filler is good to 3 or 4 mm, once the panel has been beaten into shape.

Stoke

50Twuncle wrote: »

You are entitled to get your car back in the condition that it was prior to the accident - so, unless your car had just had a replacement brand new door fitted - sorry but you will not succeed !!
You may do better - depending on the company - to claim directly through your works insurance company - because you will lose any NCD and have to reclaim the extra cost (excess) from works insurance ....
Make sure, however, that you do claim for a similar loan vehicle for the period that your car is unusable for ....

With all due respect, how can filler be considered 'in the condition that it was prior to the accident'. Filler is great for cheap bodge jobs, but if I was hit by something and it was being done under insurance, I wouldn't want any filler near my car... unless it was already filler.