Morrisons delivery driver reversed into me

greensalad

Hello,

I've never had to deal with anything like this before so just looking for advice that I'm doing the right thing.

Last night, a Morrisons delivery van reversed into my rear passenger side (2019 Volvo XC40. Only had it 2 months!) Dented and scraped above the rear passenger wheel, the wheel plastic rim, and into the door. Pretty severe deep scratch plus a dinner-plate sized dent in the rear side panel. Here's a picture, though it looks even worse in the daylight:



Driver admitted fault at the scene and a witness came forward saying they saw him reverse into me. I was stationary in a queue of traffic. He was in a bus stop making a delivery, reversed right into me as he didn't realise I was close. 

Driver gave me a form from Morrisons which states the following:

Our offer

We will be able to assist you by arranging for the repairs to your vehicle to be carried out at a garage at no cost to you. If you telephone the number below, we can authorise the repairs and arrange payment with the garage directly. If you require a replacement vehicle whilst your vehicle is undergoing repairs, we will provide you with a suitable replacement vehicle, free of charge.

I've already contacted my insurer submitting a claim. Now I'm wondering if I should call Morrisons directly now, or if I should wait for my insurer to get back to me (hopefully today) and let them discuss it with Morrisons? 

One thing I'm concerned about is that I've heard they may offer to cosmetically fix the dent, rather than replacing the panels. My car is on HP so I need to maintain the value of it and have, so far, kept it in pristine condition so that when I hand it back I get the best value possible. I don't want a shoddy, cheap repair that ends up looking crap in a year or two. I'm concerned Morrisons are going to go for the cheap option and I'll have to fight to get the panels replaced. Is it worth leaving that fight up to my insurers?

NBLondon

greensalad said:

Hello,

. Is it worth leaving that fight up to my insurers?

Yes.

If the car is anywhere decent and especially as it's likely to be going back then let your insurers argue with Morrison's (or their insurers).

facade

It doesn't matter whether you let Morrisons or your own insurer deal, they will both go for the cheapest repair possible that meets a standard of acceptability..

Your insurer will have a contract with some body shop chain, as will Morrisons (might even be the same one...).

If you know a good bodyshop and want them to do the work properly then your own insurer will charge you an extra fee, because "their" bodyshop offer them "mates rates" due to getting all the work.

Letting Morrisons sort it out means that in 12 months time, when the filler shrinks and starts to show you have no recourse. If your own bodyshop do the work for you, or your insurer sorts it you had a contract with them and can complain.

tifo

facade said:

Letting Morrisons sort it out means that in 12 months time, when the filler shrinks and starts to show you have no recourse. If your own bodyshop do the work for you, or your insurer sorts it you had a contract with them and can complain.

I'd assume all work carried out by an insurer approved repairer will come with guarantee.

Mildly_Miffed

I'd MUCH rather have the existing panel repaired than major structural surgery to replace that panel quarter. It's not just bolt-on, like the front.

Pulling that out won't be hard, will be much less invasive, will take a lot less time, and stands a much better chance of giving fewer issues.

When the car was assembled in the factory, that wing was part of the entire body side that goes from front door pillar back. The official repair process  replacing that wing involves adding seams that were never there from new.

You can see them putting inner pressings onto the outer at 1m27sec in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLwB8T8tT0s&t=87s

If they're going to do a mediocre job of finishing, they'll do it on either.

If your car really is on hire purchase, then you don't need to worry about the finance house's inspection on return - because it never goes back to them on HP unless they repossess it.

facade

tifo said:

facade said:

Letting Morrisons sort it out means that in 12 months time, when the filler shrinks and starts to show you have no recourse. If your own bodyshop do the work for you, or your insurer sorts it you had a contract with them and can complain.

I'd assume all work carried out by an insurer approved repairer will come with guarantee.

Yes, but the contract/guarantee is between Morrisons and the bodyshop, so it is them who have to take it back and complain not the op.

forgotmyname

They are not going to replace the door skin and rear quarter for that, the damage is fairly minor. The will probably
sand it back to clean metal and pull the worst of the dent out and skim fill and repaint.

I would let my own insurance sort it, you may have more clout if the repair is substandard. Letting the
other party sort it may add additional complications.

Looks like it may have had a thick primer or skim filler already or something with concrete hit it, whats
the grey chips and dust?

greensalad

forgotmyname said:

They are not going to replace the door skin and rear quarter for that, the damage is fairly minor. The will probably
sand it back to clean metal and pull the worst of the dent out and skim fill and repaint.

I would let my own insurance sort it, you may have more clout if the repair is substandard. Letting the
other party sort it may add additional complications.

Looks like it may have had a thick primer or skim filler already or something with concrete hit it, whats
the grey chips and dust?

It wasn't concrete. It was the back corner of a Mercedes Sprinter but with the boxy backs that they must put on them for delivering. I don't think it's chalky dust, it is part of the paint? Or the underlying metal under the paint.

DullGreyGuy

greensalad said:

I've already contacted my insurer submitting a claim. Now I'm wondering if I should call Morrisons directly now, or if I should wait for my insurer to get back to me (hopefully today) and let them discuss it with Morrisons? 

One thing I'm concerned about is that I've heard they may offer to cosmetically fix the dent, rather than replacing the panels. My car is on HP so I need to maintain the value of it and have, so far, kept it in pristine condition so that when I hand it back I get the best value possible. I don't want a shoddy, cheap repair that ends up looking crap in a year or two. I'm concerned Morrisons are going to go for the cheap option and I'll have to fight to get the panels replaced. Is it worth leaving that fight up to my insurers?

Who on earth is your insurer that you are waiting for them to comeback to you? On what?

Normally a First Notification of Loss team will book you into the garage then and there and discuss about what your policy provides in terms of replacement vehicle and your excess.

Your insurers wont fight, they'll send you off to their repairer, that will be cheaper than Morrisons, and then just send morrisons their outlay to be reimbursed. Alternatively your "insurers" just sell your details to an accident management company (could be the reason for call back) who do the same but do everything on credit and then charge Morrisons for it plus 10% plus a very expensive hire car.

The advantage of using your own insurers is the fact you can complain to them and the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong but it'll impact your policy until the claim has been settled in full. You'd also need to check your policy in terms of courtesy cars etc... it is possible to mix and match so if you want your insurers to do the repairs but they cant give you a courtesy car then you could ask Morisons to only provide that aspect of the claim. 

Be aware that there can be issues going down the accident management company/credit hire route after the other party or their representatives have already offered to assist you.

Stateofart

I wouldn't have got my insurance involved.  I would have taken it to the best bodyshop and got an estimate, then sent that to Morrisons.

daveyjp

Stateofart said:

I wouldn't have got my insurance involved.  I would have taken it to the best bodyshop and got an estimate, then sent that to Morrisons.

Other than informing my insurance company of the incident, that's what I did last year when a delivery driver hit my car as I wanted my local family run dealership to fix my car in their bodyshop.

The delivery company fleet service company had no issues with this, they just agreed the quote, which was far less than it would have been had I gone through my insurance.