[Blacktemplar]

Mrs BT's car got dinged in the car park at work, idiot beside her pulled out too sharp and badly gouged the front n/s bumper, took off loads of paint and broke the side vent off. Doesn't look like the bumper itself is too badly scored, but the PDC sensor on that side is goosed.

It was caught on CCTV and there were witnesses, the person who did it has 'fessed up and their insurance (Admiral) will cover it.

Admiral wanted to send the car to some dodgy-looking north Glasgow repairer they use, gets dreadful reviews - so I've told them it needs to be a BMW-approved bodyshop.

When you speak to the dealer we got the car from, its now Arnold Clark at BMW Hillington, and all their repairs go through their centre at Kilbirnie Street in Glasgow.

Has anyone got any experience of the Kilbirnie Street shop? Online reviews seem to be reasonably positive, but I don't trust reviews much. Not sure what the alternative is, but at least if it's somewhere a BMW dealership approves, at the very least there's some comeback if it goes wrong, and the warranty will be OK.

Thoughts?

[Rbrown]

Hi

I know there are a couple of dodgy places around there.

My car door got damaged by another driver in a car park. Her insurance sent the car to DLG Autos. Was quite a good experience.

https://www.dlgautoservices.com/en/index.html


I have also heard JB Coachworks in Paisley are good.

Good luck!

[Blacktemplar]

Well the die's been cast - Mrs BT has gone back to Admiral and told them it has to be the BMW-approved gaff at Kilbirnie Street, so we are now in the lap of the gods....

[lobeydosser]

I'm too late with this, but I had a front-end repair done by Douglas Park, Hillington a few years ago after hitting a deer on the A9.
New bumper, headlight, etc and cost about £2000.
The work was of a high standard and looked good for the next 3-4 years of owning the car.

[Blacktemplar]

I was hoping for “uneconomic to repair” and letting the gap insurance stump up for a new car, but I doubt it’ll be more than a few £K

[john76]

Be careful with nominating your own insurer, you might find your excess increase.

I had a crap experience with Hastings (long story short, they upheld a lot of complaints I had against the shambles of an 'approved' repairer that 'repaired' it)

I ended up in this position because Hastings double the excess if you don't use their 'approved' repairer, and I decided it was worth the punt. It wasn't!

Next time I'll be driving it straight to an official BMW bodyshop and just stumping up the double excess.

[TurboWeasel]

LV= do a similar thing where they charge you £200 for choosing your own bodyshop.

Naturally, their approved shop is a Google reviews 2 star special because they are the cheapest in the area. Insurance has to be the biggest modern day scam there is.

Similar to Lobeydosser, I needed a headlight and wing after a 3mph collision into my garden wall and got into the whole harangue with LV= about not wanting to use a 2 star rated bodyshop. So they won the argument and I stumped up the £200, and boy was it worth it in the long run as the repair was flawless. The bodyshop man did tell me this happens all the time and mentioned something about it being technically 'illegal' for insurers to penalise you for choosing your own shop. Meh.

It's why I've gone with BMW Flex insurance this year as they only use BMW approved shops. With the cost of labour and parts having soared by 30-40% since covid, it's not worth the aggro of choosing the cheapest insurer on Go Compare because they will just send your car to Bodgitt & Scarper down the back alley.

[KCH1984]

My experience of Kilbirnie was positive. I’ll spare you the essay, but back in 2014 I had an M135i that was supplied by Arnold Clark Giffnock (now the pure gym) and in an accident just a week after I got it (wife was t boned by someone not looking at a junction). Insurer sent it to their approved repairer Mitchell Inglis, who made a complete arse of it. That branch at Kilbirnie ended up making it good.

[Blacktemplar]

Originally Posted by john76

Be careful with nominating your own insurer, you might find your excess increase.

I had a crap experience with Hastings (long story short, they upheld a lot of complaints I had against the shambles of an 'approved' repairer that 'repaired' it)

I ended up in this position because Hastings double the excess if you don't use their 'approved' repairer, and I decided it was worth the punt. It wasn't!

Next time I'll be driving it straight to an official BMW bodyshop and just stumping up the double excess.

Fortunately we’re not claiming on our insurance, it’s the 3rd party insurer that’s picking up the bill.

[Blacktemplar]

Originally Posted by KCH1984

My experience of Kilbirnie was positive. I’ll spare you the essay, but back in 2014 I had an M135i that was supplied by Arnold Clark Giffnock (now the pure gym) and in an accident just a week after I got it (wife was t boned by someone not looking at a junction). Insurer sent it to their approved repairer Mitchell Inglis, who made a complete arse of it. That branch at Kilbirnie ended up making it good.

That’s good to know - their more recent reviews seem to be reasonably consistent & ok. Going there tomorrow to get the estimate for the 3rd party’s insurer. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s repairable, or if it’s a new bumper…

EDIT: looks like it'll be a new bumper as it's too badly gouged in places to repair, and the PDC sensor is damaged.

.