Car Theft - Cost of Repair??

cw82_2

Hello.

Some**** has taken it upon themselves to steal the satnav from my car. I don't usually leave it in there but having just used it I had forgotten to remove it from the glovebox after I got home. Nothing was on show but they took the punt.

Anyway, I'd just about come to terms with having no satnav (it wasn't an expensive one and wasn't that good either) but then I decided to double check no damage had been done to the car (I had assumed I hadn't locked it since there was no apparent damage).

There is a small hole right under the lock in the door, which presumably they used to put something in to open the door. The locks still work and the only damage is this very small hole.

The insurance won't pay out for the satnav and my excess is £250. I have a protected NCB but if the cost of repair (by their rip off jobs for the boys "approved" garage) comes to more than £250 then not only do I have the pleasure of paying £250, but it also counts towards losing the protection of the NCB.

I have therefore decided it might be more prudent to find a garage myself and do it off the insurance. Does anyone have any idea how much this would cost? Do they have to replace the door panel or can they just fill the hole? I'd like it doing properly so it can't be noticed in future (the cars only worth a few grand but I don't want it to be worth even less) but also don't want to pay out £250 for the privilege of losing my satnav!


:mad:

vaio

You can get little shaped plates that fit behind the handle intended to stop people breaking in but they also can be used to cover up the damage.

They are readily available for various VWs (not sure about other makes)

http://www.candrenterprises.co.uk/image.asp?prodid=ADP

shows the sort of thing I’m talking about