[kierownik]

Hi everyone.
I'm currently going through the painful process of having my car repaired through the insurance.
Long story short. A lady driver was trying to reverse park next to my car and she caught the front o/s. Left a deep scuff on the bumper and scratch on the headlamp. Bumper didn't pop off and everything stayed in place rock solid.
She didn't want to pay for the repair so I had to get it done through the insurance.
Because the car was still fully drivable and road legal I waited for over a month to get it booked in for a repair. Car was collected on Monday over a week ago and I was provided with a courtesy car.
I've not heard anything since then so I called them after one week (last Monday) only to be told that the car hasn't been repaired yet and the estimated completion date is 17th Feb. I was shocked and asked why is it taking so long. I was told that they needed to order parts and they were due to arrive on that day. The parts were apparently some brackets. They also told me that they're an insurance repair garage and everything works like in the factory where different people do different things to the car in the process. Which is fair enough.
So they had my car for 10 days already and still no updates, no phone calls, nothing. I don't want to keep ringing them just so they don't delay it even further to piss me off.
But I just want my car back. Driving the courtesy car is for some reason giving me anxiety. Parking at work or any other car park is just stressful.

What pisses me off is that when my wife had an accident 2 years ago and her car needed both new front wings and bumper and headlamp it was collected and fixed in 4 days. Collected on Monday, returned on Thursday.

So why is mine taking so long? Is it normal?

[555GGM]

I suspect there's something going on with the cost of the courtesy car being billed to the insurance company daily....

No incentive to repair quickly if they're billing for the car at £XXX per day.....

[kierownik]

Originally Posted by 555GGM

I suspect there's something going on with the cost of the courtesy car being billed to the insurance company daily....

No incentive to repair quickly if they're billing for the car at £XXX per day.....

Courtesy car is provided by Enterprise rental which the repair garage cooperates with as they don't have their own courtesy cars. And it's a C class Merc costing £60 a day.

Perhaps the garage also charges for storage so they will hold the car for as long as they can.
Would speaking directly to my insurance company possibly speed thing up at all?

[555GGM]

It's worth a go - i had the same when Enterprise provided a car to me - the garage said they were told to not worry too much about how long the repair took!

[SteveChester]

I had the same problem recently - some minor damage to my M4.

Car sat for two weeks didn't move then they started to work on it.

I saw a copy of the GLE hire car invoice - 3k….

No wonder car insurance is crazy.

[SuperHamz]

I'm having a similar issue, although my car hasn't been picked up yet, I started the process in November last year.

I told the garage that I'll need a family car as my courtesy car where I can fit car seats and space for a buggy, so the day when I was due to drop the car off, I get a call saying they've got me a 3 door Fiat 500. I'm not looking forward to how long my car's going to be gone for repair.

I also got an independent to value the repair and they valued it £500 less than what the approved repair garage is quoting my insurance.

[un1eash]

It's mad at the moment, had my wing mirror taken off by someone driving down the middle of the road. This was just before Christmas, went to get it booked in and they said earliest was end of Jan using an approved repairer. I told them my local Sytner BMW could do it straight away but they wanted to charge me another £250 excess, put in a complaint and they waived the extra excess and my car was repaired within 3 days of initially contacting BMW for an estimate on the repairs.

[Abzynthe]

You also have to take into account a global supply shortage.
Even some service items are on back order for some car manufacturers.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by kierownik

Courtesy car is provided by Enterprise rental which the repair garage cooperates with as they don't have their own courtesy cars. And it's a C class Merc costing £60 a day.

Perhaps the garage also charges for storage so they will hold the car for as long as they can.
Would speaking directly to my insurance company possibly speed thing up at all?

Who told you £60 a day? That's less than you'd hire it for direct, unless they've had a big overhaul of their billing structure then they're actually charging well into three figures, because they think the insurance will pay the cost so why charge retail? Perhaps they've come to their senses and stopped ripping people off.
Who did you arrange the repair through, direct with her insurance?

As others have said, zero incentive for them to be quick on insurance jobs, think my car took a month for the n/s/r wheel and bumper and they billed for an E-Class. Hire cost came to something like £5-6k, which was through enterprise.

[ade555]

Few years ago I waited nearly a month for respray of 2 left doors due to waiting for Audi s-line door trims, if you worried ring the garage and ask what parts they waiting for, then go to BMW and ask them how long will take them to get it, if BMW tell you example (2days) I would ring the insurance company, as other have asked you claiming through her insurance?

[kierownik]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

Who told you £60 a day? That's less than you'd hire it for direct, unless they've had a big overhaul of their billing structure then they're actually charging well into three figures, because they think the insurance will pay the cost so why charge retail? Perhaps they've come to their senses and stopped ripping people off.
Who did you arrange the repair through, direct with her insurance?

As others have said, zero incentive for them to be quick on insurance jobs, think my car took a month for the n/s/r wheel and bumper and they billed for an E-Class. Hire cost came to something like £5-6k, which was through enterprise.

It states £60 a day on the rental document I signed on collection. Obviously paid by the other driver's insurance company.
I arranged the repair through my own insurance company.

I've had a bit of a brainstorm last night and it kind of makes sense now.
My insurance company is Hastings direct. A bit of research last night and it turned out that they're actually not an insurance company but a broker. The company that is handling my claim is.... ENTERPRISE. The same company that's providing the courtesy car, the same company that approved repair garage cooperates with. And because it's the other driver's insurance that's paying for everything they are in no rush whatsoever. They charge for car rental, for car storage and for repair. Pure profit for them. So no wonder they're trying to milk it as much as they possibly can.
And then you wonder why insurance prices are sky high. The repair that would probably cost less than £500 to get it done in my local body shop will go into thousands of ££ because.... Well because they can.

I think I figured it out why it's only £60 a day and not much more. Probably because the courtesy car is insured by my own insurance and not by the rental company.

[GEP77]

Without going into too much detail my car (a Tesla Model 3) was hit while parked by a delivery driver for one of the major supermarkets. This was witnessed by a neighbour and the driver gave me all the details. Everything being picked up the claims handlers for the supermarket and car being repaired by Tesla themselves.

This is still ongoing and has been for 3 months. The hire car provided is another Model 3 and the paperwork suggests that it is £128 a day!

All but one item on the car was fixed within a couple of days. Now waiting on a single body panel, along with quite a few other cars by the sound of things.

The impression I get is that supply chains have been thoroughly messed up, for everyone it seems.

[kierownik]

Originally Posted by GEP77

Without going into too much detail my car (a Tesla Model 3) was hit while parked by a delivery driver for one of the major supermarkets. This was witnessed by a neighbour and the driver gave me all the details. Everything being picked up the claims handlers for the supermarket and car being repaired by Tesla themselves.

This is still ongoing and has been for 3 months. The hire car provided is another Model 3 and the paperwork suggests that it is £128 a day!

All but one item on the car was fixed within a couple of days. Now waiting on a single body panel, along with quite a few other cars by the sound of things.

The impression I get is that supply chains have been thoroughly messed up, for everyone it seems.

I can imagine it's not that easy with Tesla model 3 as they're manufactured in China. So the parts need to be shipped from far away.

However with my car the only parts that were needed were some brackets which were delivered to the garage a week ago. Apart from that just a respray of the front bumper and apparently wheel alignment check (and correction if needed) due to the damage being close to the front wheel (bs).

Like I said before, they're just holding my car to milk the claim as much as they possibly can and it pisses me off that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.

Here's the picture of the damage.
I refuse to believe that repair should be longer than a week.

[chris-c]

That is utterly rubbish. The bumper should be fixed by a normal body shop. They could re-spray the whole thing and have it as good as new in a day (well and another for curing etc)

The headlight would just be a straight swap. The lens wont come off so they'd either buff it out if they're lucky OR swap it. That's a 2 hour job at tops, less considering they've got the bumper off.

[kierownik]

Originally Posted by chris-c

That is utterly rubbish. The bumper should be fixed by a normal body shop. They could re-spray the whole thing and have it as good as new in a day (well and another for curing etc)

The headlight would just be a straight swap. The lens wont come off so they'd either buff it out if they're lucky OR swap it. That's a 2 hour job at tops, less considering they've got the bumper off.

Exactly why I am so annoyed.

[ade555]

Looking at the damage no wonder you getting p.... Off. Lest us know once you get your car back wonder how long will they keep this up.

[kierownik]

Originally Posted by ade555

Looking at the damage no wonder you getting p.... Off. Lest us know once you get your car back wonder how long will they keep this up.

I will probably give the ombudsman a call tomorrow and seek some advice, possibly make a complaint mostly due to the fact that the claim is obviously being milked and I totally disagree with this kind of bs.

[MY340i]

you think thats crazy? A few years ago our Audi A3 went into the bodyshop for repair. Took 9 weeks, 8 weeks of that was waiting for the right 's-line' badge to apply to the wing....

[kierownik]

So I spoke to the garage on Monday. I was told that the car is in the bodyshop. Friday... Still no car. At this point I truly believe that they're just taking a piss.

[kierownik]

Finally got my car back yesterday. They did a really good job with the paintwork but I still fail to understand why did it take so long. Oh and the parts that they needed to order (brackets and front bmw badge)... they never used them, I found them in my car's boot. So yeah they milked the claim as much as they could. So wrong and annoying.

[Kendo67]

Originally Posted by kierownik

So yeah they milked the claim as much as they could. So wrong and annoying.

Similar thing happened to me a geed few years back , the Saab was off the road for more than three months waiting on a new indicator from Sweden , the Icelandic ash cloud was to blame for the massive delay in deliveries.

They gave me a new E Class for running about in @£100 per day , for three months which pushed the total claim to more than double the Saabs actual value , utter madness but someone was making plenty from the third parties insurance company.

I even asked to get the car back with a decent used indicator until the new part was available but was told no as all repairs must be fitted with new parts before the vehicle is returned.

By the time the car was returned the MOT + tax had expired.

K

[kierownik]

I've had a good look at the repair they've done today.... And guess what... They haven't even removed the bumper. They resprayed it on the vehicle. Not even full bumper. Just one side. This is just unbelievable.