Motor Insurance Repair Company Negligence

Jocktamsonsbairn

In early February 2024 I ran into the back of another vehicle whilst pulling away from traffic lights.  My fault and no damage to third party vehicle or injuries to any party.  At the time of my accident my car was 8 months old with 9500 miles on the clock. Phoned my insurance company and they arranged for my vehicle to be picked up and transported to their approved car repair centre.  The repair centre is not approved by Mazda (my vehicle manufacturer) but my insurer told me if I chose my own repair shop they would increase the excess I would need to pay and the repairs would not be warranted by them.  They assured me that their repair centre was accredited to British Standard BS10125 for Vehicle Damage Repair.  Five weeks later I received a phone call from the repair centre saying that during welding they had set fire to insulation and burnt out the dashboard causing £5000 of additional damage.  This was on top of the estimated £14000 accident damage.  I contacted my insurance company and raised a complaint asking that my car be considered a write off because of the additional damage and the potential for hidden damage caused by the fire that could render the vehicle unsafe to drive. Three weeks after raising my complaint with my insurance company I received an offer of compensation of £400 for distress and inconvenience but they would not write the car off as it was within their repair to value threshold.  I phoned to challenge this offer and was told that they would now buy my car from me for market value but could not tell me from when the market value would be calculated. ie the date of the accident or date of offer. The same day I received an email from my insurer stating they were reopening my complaint for further investigation. Four weeks later I was contacted by my insurance company to say they were reverting to their original cash offer and if I was not satisfied I should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.  This I did in the middle of May and at the beginning of August they found that the first offer made by the insurance company was fair and the FOS were not upholding my complaint.  At the end of August I was told my car was complete but during inspection a number of faults were found including loose components in the engine bay, a coolant leak and constrictions to coolant hoses and the car was not returned.  I raised a second complaint with my insurance company which was rejected out of hand. To cut a long story short I finally got my car back from the repair centre on 20th December 2024 and after less than 10 miles an engine fault light illuminated and the car was returned for further repair. this happened a second time and was sent by the repair centre to a Mazda dealership for repair.  The car is still with the dealership and they now suspect the fault is associated with a damaged catalytic convertor which must have been damaged in the original accident and not identified by the car repair centre.  I have owned my car for 19 months and in that time I have only had the pleasure of driving it for 8 months.  Any suggestions how I can get fair and redress?  Thanks

sheramber

Have you contacted your insurance company about the latest development?