Rights around insurance rectification work

lmr1342

Good morning all

I am just wondering about my rights in regards to rectification work for repairs of my vehicle,  the vehicle was repaired by a bodyshop that was appointed by an insurance company.

I won't bore you with the details as it's quite a long winded issue but I will summarise the key bits

March 2023 car was involved in a collision ( non fault) 

Around June time 2023 I was advised car was fixed and released but due to time taken MOT had expired, the bodyshop took my car to garage to be MOT'd at my expense,  MOT garage advised that whilst doing the MOT , there was an error on the dashboard in regards to a sensor ( issue not present before repair)

Car was sent back to the garage for the 1st lot of rectification work ( issue was around the garage had not fitted the correct moduel to the car) no idea how this was missed in quality control but hey ho...

Car returned to me in July 2023
Repair was shocking,  wrong parts fitted and bits being held on with cable ties....

Car went back to same garage for 2nd lot of rectification work .

Car returned to me October 2023 

Start of March 2024 I've noticed a part of the car that was replaced is starting it rust ....part in question should not rust , especially not that quick !

Where do I stand in regards to this , I informed the insurance who are in talks with the same garage but to be honest I've lost confidence in this place , do I have to let the same garage do the rectification work ? 

This would be the 3rd time in less than a year but appreciate its a different issue but still part of the repair 

DullGreyGuy

You say "an insurance company"... was that your insurance company or their insurance company or possibly an accident management company you are calling an insurance company?

Your rights will depend on who the "insurance company" is in relation to you. 

lmr1342

DullGreyGuy said:

You say "an insurance company"... was that your insurance company or their insurance company or possibly an accident management company you are calling an insurance company?

Your rights will depend on who the "insurance company" is in relation to you. 

Thank you for your response,  I'm referring to them , them being the 3rd party insurance who contacted me directly admitting full liability and offering to repair my car directly trough them 

Not an accident management company 

( yes admittedly hindsight is a wonderful thing and I did shoot myself in the foot by allowing them to do it as I'm aware some of my rights are limited) 

In there information pack they sent me it did state this "All completed repairs come with a 5-year guarantee, or for as long as you own the vehicle."

DullGreyGuy

Ok, so as it's the third party insurer then you have no rights to take the matter to the ombudsman and ultimately if you cannot come to an agreement the only option is court. 

You dont have to let the same company touch your car but your options of forcing them to go down a different path are going to be more limited. Right now the rectification work will be done free of charge to the insurer by the garage as they are fixing their own mess which is why they'll want you to continue going back there. You could ask to go to one of their other network repairers but then they're going to have to pay but at least it's their corporate rates. 

Alternatively, get a quote from your own place and submit it to them, note though that if this goes wrong it's your garage and your problem. If they won't agree to either of these you are then looking at litigation and it would be prudent to consider if an engineers report no the state of the repairs would be sensible to convince the judge of the problems and not just an over picky owner. 

Do you have Legal Expenses on your own car insurance? If so they may be also be able to advise you and help if the matter cannot be resolved amicably. 

lmr1342

DullGreyGuy said:

Ok, so as it's the third party insurer then you have no rights to take the matter to the ombudsman and ultimately if you cannot come to an agreement the only option is court. 

You dont have to let the same company touch your car but your options of forcing them to go down a different path are going to be more limited. Right now the rectification work will be done free of charge to the insurer by the garage as they are fixing their own mess which is why they'll want you to continue going back there. You could ask to go to one of their other network repairers but then they're going to have to pay but at least it's their corporate rates. 

Alternatively, get a quote from your own place and submit it to them, note though that if this goes wrong it's your garage and your problem. If they won't agree to either of these you are then looking at litigation and it would be prudent to consider if an engineers report no the state of the repairs would be sensible to convince the judge of the problems and not just an over picky owner. 

Do you have Legal Expenses on your own car insurance? If so they may be also be able to advise you and help if the matter cannot be resolved amicably. 

Thank you once again for your detailed reply

Yeah sadly I didn't realise about the Motor ombudsman until after the 1st issues but hey ho I'll know next time just stick with my own insurance!

My biggest stress was the car having to go back to same garage but after I posted this thread a quick Google shows the garage permanently closed ...... the company is still going just not that branch , spoke with said company they still honer warranty work just at a different branch , so makes me feel slightly better.

If it falls on its ar*s I will look at obtaining my own quote 

Thanks again for your quick reply ! And on a side note reference legal cover I do have it but as I went trough the 3rd party my insurance don't want to know!

DullGreyGuy

It's the Financial Ombudsman for insurance, much more teeth than the Motor Ombudsman as its formed under legislation rather than voluntarily. 

If you have LE cover on your Home insurance they may be able to advise you but they won't act for your as its in relation to a motor accident.