Recommendation on where to get Accident Repaired

[RB79]

Hi Folks,

I've sadly been in an accident involving the driver of a parked car who spontaneously opened his door just as I approached at low speed. The damage is quite spectacular as can be seen in the attached photo. What you can't see in the photo is that the windscreen is also cracked as the wing mirror glass came off and flew into the car hitting the front windscreen. Also the car wet itself going through the ordeal i.e. there was water all over the damaged headlight and on the ground which is probably a washer fluid well under the hood rupturing.

 

So the reason for the request for recommendation is simply that this is clearly more than simple bodywork damage. The bonnet now doesn't sit properly, the headlight is in bad shape, lord knows what damage may have happened to internal components under the bonnet, plus damage to the techie parts of the car i.e. park assist sensors, electric wing mirrors, the passenger window refused to one touch close, it would reach the top and come back down again, and then windscreen has the clever rear view mirror attached. I'm just a bit worried about the competency of 3rd party accident repair garages that get offered by insurance, to identify and properly rectify all issues that arise from this accident.

 

Do I have control over where I get this fixed? Or do I just have to take up what the insurance company offers? Am i worrying about nothing or should this go to a proper Skoda garage to get fixed?

 

Comments and opinions much appreciated!

RB

 

[JD52]

Shame about the damage.

 

Your insurance company will have their own list of approved repairers and you will probably have to go with them.

 

 

[Gabbo]

I think these days most insurers offer 2 tiers of repairer, the first which is standard is you have to take the repairer they choose.

If you pay more for an optional extra you can choose to send it to a garage of your choice.

I guess you have to read your Policy or contact your insurer to be sure.

[Kahunajb]

My wife had a minor accident recently and the insurer had an approved repairer however I requested Skoda which was accepted at no extra cost.

 

 

[RB79]

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

Is my concern about the complexity of the job vs competency of the third party repairers valid? or will I be fine just going with the insurer's approved repairer.

[JD52]

Wouldn't a dedicated body shop normally be better than a dealer?

 

[Kahunajb]

2 minutes ago, JD52 said:

Wouldn't a dedicated body shop normally be better than a dealer?

 

The Skoda dealer I went to had a body shop. VAG approved accident repair centre.

 

DM Keith Leeds

Edited 19 July, 2018 by Kahunajb

[RB79]

 

1 minute ago, JD52 said:

Wouldn't a dedicated body shop normally be better than a dealer?

 

Agreed, but I expect the dealer probably has a separate approved bodyshop partner. Its the non-bodywork bit i'm worried about.

[just music]

If you have Skoda Ensurance and contact them first they will make sure the car is repaired by Skoda. I think they pick up the difference in cost between your insurer's approved bodyshop and the Skoda price. 

https://www.insurewithskoda.co.uk/Products/Ensurance/

[RB79]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/why-modern-cars-are-getting-more-expensive-fix

 

Looks like my concerns were not ill founded. The sensors all round the car is what worried me and it's exactly the same thing that's being cited in this article.

 

My Octy has park assist (and associated parking sensors) and my bumper has clearly been damaged, as well as Adaptive cruise control and associated radar unit which lives in the front bumper. This is all tech which I love and rely on so much and can't afford to go wrong after they do the repair.

 

Keen to hear others experiences on whether Accident repairers tend to be on top of all of this or end up with endless problems.

[ScoutCJB]

I had a shunt in my old Scout - I was stationary and a car hit me in the snow on drivers side resulting in a new bumper, driver fog light, driver headlight, grill and some trims.  It came in at 3k (bearing in mind the bonnet and wing were fine).

 

Im with a reknowned insurer and it went to their approved repairer.

 

My car had Xenons and the replacement one was misaligned and the wrong level /height when I got it back - that's basic stuff as far as I'm concerned.

 

There was a slight dent in the bonnet and paint chip from accident and they didn't do anything as they said it would be more noticeable to repaint ... so they touched it in 

[dunc69]

2 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

I had a shunt in my old Scout - I was stationary and a car hit me in the snow on drivers side resulting in a new bumper, driver fog light, driver headlight, grill and some trims.  It came in at 3k (bearing in mind the bonnet and wing were fine).

 

Im with a reknowned insurer and it went to their approved repairer.

 

My car had Xenons and the replacement one was misaligned and the wrong level /height when I got it back - that's basic stuff as far as I'm concerned.

 

There was a slight dent in the bonnet and paint chip from accident and they didn't do anything as they said it would be more noticeable to repaint ... so they touched it in 

That’s very, very poor. You should be put back into the position you were before the accident. 

 

End of. 

[shakeyman]

When I needed a repair on my Ocatavia, my insurer wanted to use their 'approved' repairer, which turned out to be a Vauxhall garage?!

 

I told them I wanted to use a "Manufacturer approved repairer", which they grudgingly accepted, and sent it to a local Audi garage.

[wg100]

When I needed to utilise my insurance recently I was able to specify a dealership garage for the repair work to be conducted. If I had used the insurers 'approved repairer' I would have had a courtesy car. That was the only difference in my case.

[SC03OTT]

You should be able to use any body shop you like but might have to jump though a few hoops to get there. When my wife had her crash last year I wanted the car taken to a specific body shop but and her insurer was fine with that provided we got a quote from them PLUS another two quotes from other body shops. Given that the car was not drivable (and my wife didn’t really care) I reluctantly just accepted the insurers approved body shop, which turned out to be a huge mistake. 

 

My issue with insurers approved body shops is they have the contract already in place so their only motivation is to get the cars in and out as quick as possible. And that showed with the first attempt at repairing my wife’s car. Came back with cracked trim and still had paint missing on the A pillar. 

 

If you have a body shop you trust or can find a highly recommended one, try to get the car taken there would be my advice. I wouldn’t assume that going to a Škoda franchise body shop will guarantee top work either. Your insurer will tell you that they then can’t provide a warranty on the repair work but if he body shop is a good one they’ll provide their own warranty anyway, so it makes no difference. 

[RB79]

So that Autocar article I posted is very telling of the complexity involved and I'm not wrong to think this should go to koda or a fully Skoda approved garage.

 

I suspect there will be quite a bit of work around the bumper to take it off and replace it. Taking the bumper off means properly handling the parking sensors and radar on the front which will need to be fitted back properly and will need re-calibration which is complex and expensive. If new sensors will be required they will need coding to the car at the very least.

 

There seem to be three category of repairers, 1) Insurance approved but not manufacturer approved; 2) Manufacturer approved third party 3) Skoda Garage

 

The first option I feel I shouldn't touch, second sounds decent enough - called one approved third party today and they said the approval is a non trivial and they get checked regularly by the manufacturers and are acutely aware and familiar with handling the above mentioned complexities and have the equipment to do this. The Third option is a bit harder as I don't think I'll find an Insurance approved Skoda garage.

 

 

On a Side note... a word of warning based on my ongoing experience. Insurance companies do tend to use third party Accident Management Companies whereby your case becomes fully handled and the responsibility of the third party Accident Management Company (somehow you become contracted to them without signing anything or seeing the Tc&Cs. The sweetner being that other company can offer you car hire while you car is fixed even if you haven't included that in your insurance policy. Now from what I'm gathering those Accident Management companies usually take on cases where the case is likely "not your fault" i.e. third party accept liability. Also these companies primarily deal in Car hire and Accident Management is more a means to hire out cars! So they will take on the job of sorting your car out but there can be hiccups. To provide you a speedy experience they may quickly get you signed up to contracts with them which also include credit agreements (why should that be the case if you're insurance is covering the loss?!). So typically there may be some time delay in getting an agreement on who is at fault and to get things moving the credit agreement is a guarantee that the accident management company will get their money for the car rental. Hire can show up pretty quickly, however they will limit you to their authorised repairers so there's an issue right there. Also they may faff about getting your car repaired so you're left hiring their car for longer . The big issue is down the line when the liability is finally agreed and what seemed like third party liability i settled as 50/50 or YOUR fault. In that case who pays for the car hire? At this point your insurance company may decline because it's not included in your policy and they will try to recover the cost from the credit agreement set up with you. Better to either 1) decline your insurance company to be handed off to the third party Accident Management Company altogether and accept the terms of your insurance company and what they offer you  2) Go with the third party company but Not accept the car hire or 3) Only accept once there is a clear agreement it will be paid by the other driver's insurance (so technically they shouldn't need you to sign a credit agreement) . Hope people find this useful!

[TeebsVRS]

I've just had my second non fault accident in 3 months!! Used Skoda Endurance both times for the initial reporting and handling and they were good. Sorted a hire car for the duration of the repair (albeit a naff one 1.6. Petrol Mokka for a VRS Estate) and got my car into VAG body shops. The work on first knock was ok but not perfect and had to go back twice to get rear bumper aligned better then a parking sensor came out (they're just stuck on with tape on Skoda's!)

Damage on most recent claim is much worse so will inspect really carefully once it is done.

Edited 20 July, 2018 by TeebsVRS

[RB79]

Can anyone recommend a good garage in and around Northwest London to fix this accident? Doesn't have to be Skoda franchise but should be Skoda approved. A garage that you have experience of that has the competence and tools to handle all the sensors in and around the bumper and will do a great job of the paintwork.

[ScoutCJB]

On 19/07/2018 at 22:59, dunc69 said:

That’s very, very poor. You should be put back into the position you were before the accident. 

 

End of. 

Reading the small print very carefully, it actually states they can actually use 2nd hand parts!

 

I also noticed that their were 2 caps (That hide some screws) missing off the lower grill.

 

To be honest I had already lost interest and I did a deal on a newer Scout the day after it was returned.  Had I not, it would have been going back to be rectified.

[RB79]

All sorted and like new! Great job done by Twickenham Accident Repair Centre.

[dunc69]

10 hours ago, RB79 said:

All sorted and like new! Great job done by Twickenham Accident Repair Centre.

Great news!

 

I hope you find that everything works as it should. 

[RB79]

14 hours ago, dunc69 said:

Great news!

 

I hope you find that everything works as it should. 

So far so good! Checked a lot of the things before taking back the car.

 

Obviously couldn't test the Front Assist Radar but they said they had it calibrated along with wheel alignment which has to be done as part of calibration. So just have to take their word for it. Took it on an A Road on the weekend and switched the maxidot to show car in front distance and seemed to be fine and didn't warn unexpectedly or slam on the brakes, so that's a good start. 

[mrgf]

...Take it somewhere nice and quiet and try a few emergency stops. Listen out for unexpected noises and keep an eye on the warning lights, too. Try at slower speeds, working up to, I would suggest, a min of around 30 but preferably 50 MPH*, if you can find a decent quiet place. 

There should not be anything out of the ordinary happen at these fault modest speeds. Might also be worth doing a few very fast move-offs, too!

 

* I am NOT suggesting you break the law so find a suitable place.