Hasting 3rd party Insurance claim issue

nem39esis

A lady damaged my car door. Contacted her insurance company (Hastings) all appears to go smoothly. Said I could submit a quote for repair or they. An arrange themselves, initially had my own quote but then garage couldn’t fit me in. So went to Hastings to arrange their own repair. All was being sorted except they wanted the car for a week and no hire car was arranged. After much back and forth I suggested could I just get a cash settlement as it was becoming cumbersome. Yes no problem. They were using shorade, had the quote from shorade for the repairs at £2550. Sent this, they started saying they needed it uploaded by the repair company- much more back and forth- finally done expect Hastings “engineers” are saying they have a quote of £1020. 

Many phone calls back and forth and what it seams like is that Hastings have negotiated a lesser price and are going with that as my offer- I believe this isn’t allowed. They are adamant that’s what they’ve received as the estimate but won’t send me a copy- I think it’s because it’s discounted. 

What can I do- I went to the financial ombudsman but as it’s not my policy they can’t do anything. Made a formal complaint to Hastings which they didn’t uphold no surprise there. 

I think I’m being played and don’t want to accept and then find it’s way more to repair. 

Alderbank

I can't see that Hastings are doing anything wrong.

Their contract with their client is that they must either put your car back in the condition it was in before the collision or pay you what it would cost them to do so if you request that. They have no obligation to pay whatever your favourite local bodyshop has quoted you.

They commission thousands of repairs every year so they are in a position to get extremely good deals, better than you could get, and what they pay the repairer is a commercial secret. You might be surprised at the difference between what Hastings pay and what you as a punter would pay at the same repair shop.

If you and your mates can fix the car yourselves it might be worthwhile to take the cash. Otherwise let them do the repair.

nem39esis

I agree, however the body shop is their own recommended shop-shorade. They’ve given me a quote of £2550 and Hastings have a quote from them that is clearly negotiated to a lesser amount of £1020. That’s the issue. Not different repair company- same place 

Alderbank

So the issue is that a customer who brings lots of repeat business has negotiated a better price than they have offered to you? That's how business works.

Unless you can show they are discriminating against you because of a protected characteristic such as race, colour or religion it's perfectly legal.

Aylesbury_Duck

Seems straightforward to me. Get it done under the other party's insurance, or accept the amount given and get it done yourself.  With the price difference it's pretty obvious which way you should go, but you're not compelled to choose either option.  You could shop around to see if you could profit from getting it done cheaper than £1020 if you wish.  If the damage is solely cosmetic and doesn't affect safety, you could pocket the cash entirely.

After all the faffing about with phone calls, a formal complaint to Hastings and a complaint to the ombudsman, you must have suffered a lot more inconvenience than simply having the car in the bodyshop for a week, presumably some time ago.

HillStreetBlues

You should be entitled to a hire car for the week, so that would be an extra expense if you get them to repair it.
Have you found out the cost of a weeks hire and submitted that to Hastings?
You could decide to forget about going direct via Hastings and use your insurance.

nem39esis

Well it’s more the principle too. If it costs 2.5k to repair then their offer of 1k won’t cut it. That’s the issue. They may have negotiated a lower price but the garage won’t give me that price. So what they’re offering isn’t right surely? 

 Feels dodgy, especially when they won’t share this lesser quote from the same garage.

its a Tesla so not many places will touch it either and always way more pricey than a normal body shop 

Aylesbury_Duck

nem39esis said:

Well it’s more the principle too. If it costs 2.5k to repair then their offer of 1k won’t cut it. That’s the issue. They may have negotiated a lower price but the garage won’t give me that price. So what they’re offering isn’t right surely? 

 Feels dodgy, especially when they won’t share this lesser quote from the same garage.

its a Tesla so not many places will touch it either and always way more pricey than a normal body shop 

And that's the crux of the matter.  It feels dodgy, but it isn't.  As others have pointed out, Hastings is able to lever a much better price than you can.  The details of that deal are probably commercially sensitive, which is why they won't share them and you're not entitled to see them.  

Principles can be expensive things to pursue, as you're discovering.

voluted

nem39esis said:

Well it’s more the principle too. If it costs 2.5k to repair then their offer of 1k won’t cut it. That’s the issue. They may have negotiated a lower price but the garage won’t give me that price. So what they’re offering isn’t right surely? 

 Feels dodgy, especially when they won’t share this lesser quote from the same garage.

its a Tesla so not many places will touch it either and always way more pricey than a normal body shop 

But it doesn't cost them £2.5k to repair it, it costs them £1020.  Either you accept this, and source your own solution, or you allow them to fix it and the cost becomes irrelevant.

I don't agree with them not giving you a hire car if it's going to take several days to fix, however.

Presumably you have reported this to your insurer? What do they have to say about it?

born_again

nem39esis said:

A lady damaged my car door. Contacted her insurance company (Hastings) all appears to go smoothly. Said I could submit a quote for repair or they. An arrange themselves, initially had my own quote but then garage couldn’t fit me in. So went to Hastings to arrange their own repair. All was being sorted except they wanted the car for a week and no hire car was arranged. After much back and forth I suggested could I just get a cash settlement as it was becoming cumbersome. Yes no problem. They were using shorade, had the quote from shorade for the repairs at £2550. Sent this, they started saying they needed it uploaded by the repair company- much more back and forth- finally done expect Hastings “engineers” are saying they have a quote of £1020. 

Many phone calls back and forth and what it seams like is that Hastings have negotiated a lesser price and are going with that as my offer- I believe this isn’t allowed. They are adamant that’s what they’ve received as the estimate but won’t send me a copy- I think it’s because it’s discounted. 

What can I do- I went to the financial ombudsman but as it’s not my policy they can’t do anything. Made a formal complaint to Hastings which they didn’t uphold no surprise there. 

I think I’m being played and don’t want to accept and then find it’s way more to repair. 

So does your quote include a hire car?

Given you will still have to declare a claim going forward, on renewal. As Hastings will declare this on the system.

Maybe the best option is to pass it to your insurance company (Who of course you will have already informed) & let them handle the claim.
If you do not want to pay the extra, between a insurance repair & a personal repair.

nem39esis

No not notified my insurance as there is no requirement to do so, also that then becomes messy as puts my premium up and I then have to go to small claims etc to reclaim for that- not worth it. And no they don’t notify my insurance. 

essentially as I understand it the insurer is not allowed to give discounted rates as a settlement. because the rate they get is not a reflection of the repair cost to me. I.e. they may get a preferential rate due to number of cars they send by that is not a true reflection of the actual cost to repair. 

 Whilst getting Hastings to do the repair is an idea they have really been rubbish and organising a hire car problematic with them.