Non-fault accident - Insurance Claim - who to go with?

Quentin

During your phone call establish whether or not your insurer has been put to any cost before you cancel the claim.

If you end up with the third party insurer dealing with this then you have no worries regarding them disputing any car hire costs as they will be providing it.

You can also insist on the job being done at your choice of repairer

If you end up having to hire your own car as an unisured item then as long as you keep the cost as low as you can by not hiring an unnecessary model and can demonstrate you needed it then you won't have an issue reclaiming the cost as an uninsured loss.

All assuming no dispute on liability!

jay213

I called to cancel my claim with my insurance, they said they will leave it open in case there's any problems. If they don't hear from me in three months they will close it and change it to "information purposes" only.

Called the Third Party Insurance company, they're going to arrange to send out an engineer to check the damage before the next step.

I reckon that it is repairable. When it goes to a garage I would want the work to be up to scratch. It's a 2005 Audi, would I be best to go to an Audi specialist? I don't have a main garage that I go to as I often use different ones when needed. How would I find a good Audi garage or can you guys recommend any good garages, I'm in North London.

Does going to your own choice of garage affect anything? I last used Russell Automotive Centre which is a VAG specialist for my cambelt. They were good but they are quite far as they are in NW9 and they also ended up charging me more than originally quoted, but that apparently was due to worn screws and nuts that had been over tightened by whoever previously changed the cambelt.

ChumLee

Second cam belt change?
What is the car and how old is it?

jay213

ChumLee wrote: »

Second cam belt change?
What is the car and how old is it?

Audi A3 2005. When I bought it I forgot to ask about the cambelt so I didn't know if it had been changed or not. Turns out it had been changed previously.

dacouch

I'm not an expert, but VW's normally have plastic pulleys that are prone to breakage. Not all garages replace these when changing the cam belt.

One of the motor experts will hopefully explain it better

ChumLee

So we could be in write off territory.

jay213

ChumLee wrote: »

So we could be in write off territory.

Yes, that's why they are sending somebody to have a look before they take it to a garage.

I hope not as I paid nearly £700 a few months ago to change the cambelt and water pump, thinking I'll be having the car for an while and not knowing if it was done previously.

Quentin

jay213 wrote: »

..... I paid nearly £700 a few months ago to change the cambelt and water pump, thinking I'll be having the car for an while ......

Don't expect to see that £700 added on to its value! That won't affect it other than marginally if at all.


If it is a write off, and you want to keep it, then they will happily do a deal to let you keep it.


(Assuming doing the repairs is cost effective. The repairs can be done at a back street garage much cheaper than an insurance job - maybe get a quote before you start any negotiations over a write off - stress to the garage(s) you go to for a quote that repairs would be a cash payment, and not an insurance job)

neilmcl

jay213 wrote: »

I reckon that it is repairable. When it goes to a garage I would want the work to be up to scratch. It's a 2005 Audi, would I be best to go to an Audi specialist? I don't have a main garage that I go to as I often use different ones when needed. How would I find a good Audi garage or can you guys recommend any good garages, I'm in North London.

You don't want a garage, you want an Audi approved repairer. If you don't have one to mind then contact your nearest Audi dealership.

jay213

neilmcl wrote: »

You don't want a garage, you want an Audi approved repairer. If you don't have one to mind then contact your nearest Audi dealership.

Will a Audi dealership give me a list of local Audi approved repairers if I phone them? I thought they would only be interested in recommending themselves.