Crashed car still broken after Co-op insurance repairs

lazydave

Hi all

I could do with some advice if anyone has any please.

Our car was parked and unoccupied, and crashed into with some force by a neighbour. It bent the suspension and other bits around the left front. It's a Jeep Grand Cherokee so quite solid and came off better than theirs did.

This was in early December, and at that time there were no issues with the car beyond the kids leaving their crap in it. It drove well, was serviced as scheduled and had no warning lights etc.

The other party admitted liability and Co-op insurance took my car off for repair. In the meantime they gave us a hire car to use so all was good.

A couple of days ago the garage doing the repairs called to say they thought there was an issue with the alternator, but not due to the crash as it was on the other side of the engine. I said I had had no issues previously and they told me it would probably be OK. The repairer is Alton cars in Huddersfield who have pretty pi$$ poor reviews.

The car was delivered back to us today. The battery light was on constantly, and it managed a local school run before breaking down with warnings to check the 4WD system amongst others.

I complained to the repair company who said not their issue, speak to the insurer. Spoke to them and they referred me back to the repair company before eventually suggesting I take the car to a main dealer to have a diagnostic run (it's a 57 plate - not much to diagnose).

I then tried to raise a formal complaint with Co-op insurance, and asked for a complaint reference but was told I couldn't have one. I was under the impression this was a requirement of a regulated industry?

Speaking to my neighbour who used to run his own garage before retirement he says the issue must be from either the crash or the repair work. I drove it a small way after it was hit and no light came on.

This leaves me looking at either:
- Shipping it to a main dealer and running diagnostics at my expense
- Getting it resolved myself again at my expense
- Being carless while I wade through the mire of hand offs between the Co-op, the !!!!less repair company and the agents that are dealing with it.

All thoughts / advice greatly appreciated.

Dave

Muskey

You are already receiving answers on the insurance board...no need to post it here too.

lazydave

Hi - that was me saying I had moved it here as it seemed more appropriate. How can i remove that thread? Thanks

Muskey

Already reported to board guide as it is an insurance problem.

lazydave

Thanks for curt reply

jk0

Put the battery on charge overnight, then you'll probably be able to drive it to the garage tomorrow.

lazydave

Thanks jkO. Unfortunately I'm out early and back late so it won't be til the weekend that I can get it over there. Unless they agree to resolve the issue though I wouldn't pay them to work on it. Don't trust them and would go somewhere else.

marlot

It could well be that the battery and/or alternator were starting to go faulty, but were just about coping when the car was in daily use.

System

marlot wrote: »

It could well be that the battery and/or alternator were starting to go faulty, but were just about coping when the car was in daily use.

57 plate? Battery most definitely on last legs if it had never been changed. Alternator also within the window for having issues too.

wgl2014

If this happened in Dec and the cars not really had a proper run for a month my money's on the battery. Low voltage can cause all sorts of irregularities with the ECU and other bits.
Once the battery has sat discharged for a while it can be charged up and will be ok for a short while but will then fail to hold charge (possible that the repairers noticed and charged it up before bringing it back).
Test the voltage and replace if needed.

lazydave

Hi all - Thanks for replies. New battery was fitted under a year ago with a 5 year guarantee on it. The repairers charged the battery and said there was nothing wrong with it. I should add the car has only done 50K miles, so although its an old one it's in great condition.