HELP! Insurance repair or lack of rather!

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dan-mb

Active Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2014
Messages
552
Location
Birmingham
Car
E350 CDI coupe, CLS 320 CDI
Hi all,
So before christmas I had a little bump when a car pulled out on me on a roundabout, no big deal the other party took responsibility and my insurers said they would fix it via their approved body shop. Last Thursday they took my car in for repair, courtesy car provided by fleet via albany assistance who are working on behalf of admiral insurance (my insurers) when i went to collect my repaired car today it was not all fixed and i refused to sign for the car. The Engineers report stated the car needed numerous 'new parts' and to 'check' others. Not all the 'new parts' have been completed and the to check other parts hadn't been properly checked or any rectified. It was down for just over £1800's worth of repairs but as far as i can tell all i have is a new bumper and parking sensor insert on the front bumper. When speaking to the engineer at the assessment I pointed out that the washer jets no longer came out (they did before the crash) and that i had condensation in one headlight as a result of the crash. This was not fixed and the accident repair garage tried to fob me off with its normal/its because your lights have just come on/any excuse imaginable. Also i have damaged chrome inserts as a result of the crash that have not been replaced. The garage are saying it might have been before the crash, however its clearly not as the chrome was in front of the parking sensors/surrond/insert on the front bumper that was damaged and replaced. It's really annoying that they have just left my CLK in such a bad way and not repaired it all. So i refused to sign for the car after pointing out all of these and more problems. They said they would try and get it working but there was nothing they could do. So I went off in the courtesy car (which was due to be returned then and there). I rang albany assistance and explained the situation they rang the body shop whilst i was put on hold and after some negotiations i was granted an extra 24hours courtsey car whilst the repairers were 'investigating'. This afternoon i get a call saying the car shop is saying its broke but won't fix it as the engineer didnt specifically say replace it just investigate it. Im due to pick it up tomorrow but don't know what to do. Any advice? Please help. Thanks in advance!

Dan
 
I'm baffled by what 'Assistance' Albany are providing?
 
Bugger all they seem to be useless and don't know what day of the week it is, no help what so ever even suggested i just take/sign for the car and work it out with the bodyshop repairers in a few weeks if the car isn't back to normal, i said 'its not fixed now so why will it fix itself in a few weeks" she replied "it might be working then". FFS really?
 
It's funny how some repairs have been done, and others not done. I might have imagined an investigation to assess the total cost of the repair before any repairs have started. But to start and not finish is baffling.
 
Albany are a bunch of useless clowns from my only dealing with them.

I considered using their services until they wanted me to put my car into a Peugeot garage and then a Vauxhall dealership after I questioned their initial choice. They were binned after that and I went back to Admiral.

I went back to Admiral and told them I wanted my car repaired at a MERCEDES Approved bodyshop that they approved of in order to ensure that my bodywork warranty was maintained and was given the name of Mitchell Inglis in Glasgow who were fantastic.

Insurance approved and manufacturer approved are two entirely different things.

Contact Admiral and tell them you are in dispute with Albany over the quality of the repair.

Do this before you collect and ask Admiral how they want you to proceed. Put the ball firmly in their court - but be polite.
 
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Out of curiosity - if the other party accepted liability, why are you talking to your own insurer, instead of talking directly to the other party's insurer?
 
It seems Albany do monitor online comments and ask people to contact [email protected] with their reference number. Might be an angle worth trying?
 
Hi Mark, I went with my own insurance as the other party had taken responsibility as i felt my own insurance company would provide/insure a full repair and not cut corners as they were not paying for it. My NCB was protected.
 
Hi Mark, I went with my own insurance as the other party had taken responsibility as i felt my own insurance company would provide/insure a full repair and not cut corners as they were not paying for it. My NCB was protected.

I don't think that the other party's insurer can dictate where your car will be fixed. As long as the repair has been approved by the insurer's surveyor, they are not in position to object to your choice of garage (unless you are being extremely unreasonable).

When I was on similar circumstances, I dealt directly with the other party's insurer (Direct Line). My car at the time was a Toyota, and I told them I would book it for repair at the local Toyota dealer (Jemca). I booked it and got a similar Toyota as courtesy car, Direct Line paid the Toyota garage directly.

At any rate... Good luck with your repair.
 
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UPDATE:
After speaking to admiral they claimed there was nothing they could do as they were not dealing with the claim and it was down to Albany alone, i asked to put in a complaint against Albany via Admiral as this was the only service they could provide. The body shop stated that no further repairs had been made and that the work was not carried out as the body shop had over ruled the engineers report and agreed parts/repairs with the insurers. I refused to accept that the body shop could overrule the engineers and refused to accept the car again. After a call back from Albany management they spoke to the body shop who then confirmed all parts had been replaced/work carried out to engineers report i disputed this and even had albany confirm this had not happened. I requested an independent inspection was carried out on my vehicle to insure the repair had been carried out and fully completed to agreed works. Albany contacted the body shop they then stated the car was not fully repaired and parts were on order but would not arrive until Wednesday (presumably because they knew it would not pass the inspection). So my car is still in the body shop i was given the courtesy car until monday next week whilst albany refereed this to a different division in there company. Albany also stated i would have to give the courtsey car back on monday as they could not charge the cars rental to the other party, i stated that i agreed to the repair as i was specifically told that i would have the courtesy car until the agreed work was carried out and that if there were any delays i would keep the courtesy car as this can happen. I spent over 3 hours on the phone on friday hearing lie after lie from albany and the body shop i stated this was not acceptable. Basically it boils down to the car repairers have tried to pull a fast one and got caught out, i asked why i had not been informed that the body shop had not repaired the car as agreed and stated the repair was complete whilst not informing me albany or admiral that the the works carried out were not as agreed, NO answer was given. Im pi$$ed off now its ridiculous! any further advice is more than welcome please!
 
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Glad to hear yours went well, to be honest I don't know how claiming/dealing with the other insurers works I was unsure that they would repair/agree to the work/ disputes etc and as they were not on my side possibly 'rip me off' although this seems it may not have happened, instead I have been done over my my own insurers. Makes me wonder why I even fork out for insurance in the first place.
 
You need to remember that Albany work for you.... in spite of them being recommended by your insurer, they are not an insurer themselves, all they do is approach the other-party's insurer on your behalf.

I think your complaint here is not against the other party's insurer, they have behaved exemplary and agreed to what was put to them by your representative (Albany).

From the other party insurer's point of view, you chose the garage (i.e. Albany - working on your behalf - did), so if things didn't work out with 'your' garage then it's not their problem and they won't incur the additional costs for the courtesy car.

The people who chose the 'wrong' garage are Albany - but the whole purpose of their existence is to pass-on any costs to the insurer, and they now refuse to incur any costs caused by the fact that the garage they recommended messed-up.

It's down to you to try and convince Albany (verbally, in writing, or potentially via SCC) that they have responsibility for the issues caused by the garage they recommended, and that any costs need to be incurred by them (and then they can try and recover the costs from the garage). And that they cannot hide behind 'the insurer won't pay' because this is now an issue between you and them, not the other-party's insurer who did nothing wrong.

The difficulty is that accident management companies are notoriously averse to incurring any costs, even if they did mess-up.

But I would suggest that you refuse to accept any response from Albany that relates to the other-party's insurer - the insurer has done nothing wrong, it's Albany that made the wrong decisions on your behalf by choosing the wrong garage in the first place, and then by agreeing to accept a lesser repair.
 
Albany are merely a claims management company and act for your Insurers not for you. I would advise Admiral that you are not prepared to deal with Albany any further - you are not under any legal obligation to do so. Ringing a call centre jockey at Admiral is a waste of breath and emailing them is a waste of time both will get you fobbed off. If you are entirely happy that you are in the right get a polite but firm letter of complaint off to Admiral with photos if necessary send to the Claims Manager and mark it Complaint. Tell them that you have not been indemnified under the terms of the insurance contract and give them 14 days to confirm that they will cover the cost of the additional work failing which you will have the work undertaken and thereafter pursue the matter legally if necessary. Mentioning a referral to the Ombudsman always comes in useful. Call centre jockies are there to fob you off!
 
This is the second time in just a few weeks where a person I know has been sent to a approved insurance body repairer,and been given the run around,I think there is a lesson for all of us in these postings,insist on a Mercedes approved body shop or whatever make you have,a friends Jag got similar treatment,a small rear end accident turned into a crazy merry go round the garage tried to get him to accept the car with the boot full of water,and the rear parking sensors not working which was the whole ecu that ran them had been ruined,you get the nasty feeling insurance companies just farm the work out to the cheapest body shop,and then they try to avoid doing a proper repair to save money.
 
Dan take it from someone who worked in the insurance industry for decades sorting out c..k ups made by Insurers. The matter is really very very simple. Your contract is with Admiral plain and simple. Albany will have a contract with Admiral and with various suppliers such as body shops car hire companies etc - those contracts are utterly irrelevant to you. If Admiral do not carry out the correct repairs through their chain of suppliers then they are in breach of the Insurance contract - again plain and simple. Admiral cant fob you off by saying that they cant deal with the matter -they are the Insurers. Don't waste irreplaceable hours of your life talking to the body shop or Albany -you appear to have reached an impasse with them. Get your car back sign the satisfaction note( utterly worthless in legal terms anyway) and annotate it that the repairs are in complete. Write to Admiral as I suggested above and in the meantime get realistic prices for the rest of the work for ammo. Tell Albany if they try to contact you that you are no longer prepared to deal with them and have put in a formal complaint to Admiral - that will have them running about like a headless chicken1 Good luck.
 
Sounds like you need to inform admiral's compliance department that they have failed to treat you fairly and failed in their duty of care as your only contract is with admiral and they are repairable for everything else

Also inform them that you are taking this forward to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). A complaint to the FOS will result in admiral being charged £500 by the FOS if they think there is a case to answer and that's before the FOS go to town on them!
 

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