Hi All,

 

Had a couple ring my doorbell yesterday afternoon - they had managed to reverse their car into mine. It has been an eternity since I've had any kind of major damage on a car.

Insurance process kicked off - provisional date of 14th June (yer, over two weeks until it goes in). This is gonna come back to me in great condition right?

That'll come back right as rain, and is how you should expect it to be.  Be fussy if it doesn't though - I sent similar repair work back four times once before it was to my satisfaction.

 

Good that they knocked on your door 👍

 

Gaz

 

As long as it doesn't come back to you via Copart

 

Do not relinquish the vehicle.

 

Do not allow it to be taken away for assessment.

 

Do not accept a hire car.

 

Maybe the above is unecessary as you have a provisional date, maybe it has already been assessed.

 

Only hand over the vehicle when you have agreed the repairs and the repairer, only hand it over to them, remove all your personal effects and the vehicle documents.

Edited 29 May, 20233 yr by J.R.

So - as soon as the accident happened I went onto Aviva and started the claims process - my statement, third-party details etc.

I was then taken to a "Your Car Repair" site where I could choose my repairer from their list of approved. I have chosen:

 

Axiom Repair Centre Ltd (Peterborough) - appears to have some good reviews online.

 

Provisional date is 14th June - earliest possible selection.

 

The "Guaranteed Hire Car" option is the only optional extra I pay for when it comes to car insurance (having a car is very important). So the Aviva website took me through to selecting a hire car.

I was able to choose from 4 categories (page told me this was based on my policy allowance) - the top one being "Merc/BMW 3 Series", then "Standard Car", "Medium Car" and "Small Car" - just selected "Standard Car", which indicates Vauxhall Insignia or similar.

That is also booked from 14th June via Enterprise - the page made it very clear "This hire car will be provided with no cost to yourself".

 

I have supplied in the region of 10 photos, at various angles and distances from the damage via the Aviva repair portal.

God, as if it wasn’t bad enough that your car has been damaged. You then have the prospect of maybe having to drive an Insignia for a few weeks whilst it’s away being repaired…

So you have nothing whatsoever at present to indicate that your vehicle is going to be repaired and not declared a write off?

 

I hope for your sake that it wont be as it looks like you have voluntarily and willingly gone down the path they have set out for you.

 

It's up to you whether you bear in mind any of the advice given above, once you have handed over the keys and accepted the hire car then you might as well be a bystander, the vehicle will still belong to you for the little comfort that is worth as the actions of the insurer and their agents may well bely that.

BTW the bit about accepting the hire car was nothing to do with that you might end up paying for it but everything to do with handing over your car before the decision of whether it will be repaired or sold on through Copart, driving around in a car that they are paying for while they hold your vehicle and act as if it is their own puts you in the weakest position for any negotiations.

 

Hopefully it will be repaired and you can ignore my alarmism.

I always choose where my car goes. Its always a Skoda approved repairer not a generic 'fixer of all'. A list is available on the Skoda website. The insurance company will want a quote from them first but shouldn't be an issue. This will also give you assurance the car will be repaired.

Edited 7 June, 20233 yr by MeteorOcty
Additional comment

Just the waiting game now. I went to see the people at my chosen repair centre - really friendly bunch and the chap came out and explained exactly what they would do and how the repair would be completed.

Said would look to repair over replace as then original seals are in place etc. He was also saying they had worked on an Octy with similar damage a couple of weeks before and it had come out excellent.

 

Repair centre sent quote over to Avivia and the repair has been authorised - the problem? Repair centre is so booked up that the very earliest they can get me in is 9th August.

So at the moment I'm potentially looking at a two-month wait before it actually goes in and then the repair time - if they have to wait for parts etc.

 

In the meantime I've had a full geo check done on the car in case the wheel was knocked - that all come back clean.

I guess in two months time all of the paper work should be sorted out and I won't have to stump up my excess - as I'd like to think that would have already been claimed from the at-fault driver.