Insurance companies, main dealer or recommended repairer?

[Flash]

any ideas on how i should respond to him when he says doesnt need replacing. Am I entitled to a new door since it wasn't filled/repaired before their insured hit me.. so why should i have a filled door now...... or is my only option to cave in at this point and accept a repair to the door?

"Massage" the damaged door a little bit so that it will defnitely need replacing for sure and beyond the repair of filler unless you want this to drag on for ages and go through the long winded formal procedures/paperwork contesting the third party...

 

[glojo]

"Massage" the damaged door a little bit so that it will defnitely need replacing for sure and beyond the repair of filler unless you want this to drag on for ages and go through the long winded formal procedures/paperwork contesting the third party...

Noooooooooooo

The door has been seen by countless people.

John

 

[Flash]

Noooooooooooo

The door has been seen by countless people.

Only the bodyshop estimator has seen it and it will be his word against SilverSaloon's BUT I doubt that the Insurance Assessor would liaise with the estimator as all the Assessor will do is meet SilverSaloon at a place of his convenience i.e. home or work place and have a look at the damaged door to see if it needs replacing or not...

However, like most things there is always the element of risk that this could also backfire as well.

 

[Dieselman]

You could justifyably argue that the repair will not meet BMW standards so your corrosion warranty might be void unless the door is replaced.

 

[SilverSaloon]

You could justifyably argue that the repair will not meet BMW standards so your corrosion warranty might be void unless the door is replaced.

hi

i thought about putting my boot to the door but i dont think i could risk that to be honest (or bring myself to kick my own car!) plus then if they repair it anyway that would mean even more filler!!!

i will throw in every reason mentioned here to the engineer;

- not my fault so why should i not have a new door
- door was not filled b4 so why should i have a filled door now
- filled door may effect rust warranty in future years
- may effect resale if buyer uses a magnet and it dont stick

 

[SilverSaloon]

hi

i thought about putting my boot to the door but i dont think i could risk that to be honest (or bring myself to kick my own car!) plus then if they repair it anyway that would mean even more filler!!!

i will throw in every reason mentioned here to the engineer;

- not my fault so why should i not have a new door
- door was not filled b4 so why should i have a filled door now
- filled door may effect rust warranty in future years - thats why new door quoted
- may effect resale if buyer uses a magnet and it dont stick

i could try and blag him and say that the estimator said it needed a new door as filler doesnt meet BMW repair standards - although if he thinks this is iffy and contacts the bmw repair centre, i'd expect the estimator to ring me for a good ticking off.... as he did say to me they would repair the door until i asked for a new door.....

 

[glojo]

Never reduce yourself to the lowest denominator. We all hate it when we tell the truth and the other party lies!!

I have given this a bit of thought (I think best during the sleepy hours)

The repair centre has said there is no way that you will be able to tell the car has been repaired!! See where we are heading?

You know exactly where the filler will be applied.

Simply point out to both the inspecting engineer and the repair centre that you intend to place either a small magnet, or one of these filler detectors over the door and you will NOT accept the repair if it fails the test! Why should you? They have stated you will not know the difference, so they have to put up, or shup up.

This ploy might not work, but calling someone a liar, when you know it is you telling lies is simply not my style. "Only the bodyshop estimator has seen it and it will be his word against SilverSaloon's" Your car has been inspected, that part of the procedure is over.

John

 

[SilverSaloon]

Simply point out to both the inspecting engineer and the repair centre that you intend to place either a small magnet, or one of these filler detectors over the door and you will NOT accept the repair if it fails the test! Why should you? They have stated you will not know the difference, so they have to put up, or shup up.
John

thats a very good idea

saying that engineer has yet to phone me. if he doesnt phone soon i will contact the insurers and say i want this sorted and want to get it booked in.....

cheers everyone for their ongoing advice!!

 

[SilverSaloon]

small Update on this:

engineer due to see the car today... wish me luck!

 

[SilverSaloon]

Ok, engineer has now seen the car.

As we thought; said it can be repaired.

I had quite a good lengthly conversation with him. He told me that it will be invisible to the eye/touch and advised exatly how the repair would/should be done.

I mentioned the filler and he said that if i were to put a magnet on various parts of the car, it would fail the magnet test as many cars get a small bit of filler during production? not so sure on that.

he was completely independent to the insurance company (ie wasnt an in-house assessor) and said if a new door was advised he would let me have one no problems, but said that a new door would probably create more problems than good.

He did say that the whole side of the car would need to be resprayed so the paint matches.

not much i can do but to accept a repair and only accept a job done to 100% my satisfaction. He said that most of the invoice would be the same anyway apart from the door panel itself.... ie the labour will be more or less the same as they will still have to remove all the trim to get inside the door to push the dent out & still have to spray down the side of the car.

 

[glojo]

I think you have done your best and life carries on.

I am not sure about filler being used on production??

Quality control on the completed car, maybe. That does not make it right.

Plus of course damage in transit. Repairs might be carried out before the customer takes delivery of his brand new pride and joy, then we are none the wiser, that again is wrong.

John

 

[Will]

Sorry to hear that they'll not be replacing the door, but if the repair is good enough I am sure you'll be satisfied with the result. In some ways they may cause more problems by replacing the whole door (I'm thinking internal mechanisms, alignment etc)

As an aside, unless you were to go over every inch of the car before you bought it, can you be 110% certain that there is absolutely no filler or rectified paint on it anywhere? Even more so if it was not bought from new. What I'm getting at is that 99% of private buyers will be unlikely to spot a perfect repair, so as long as they repair it perfectly you should be ok

Is there any way you can ask a dealer's opinion on whether this will affect future trade-in value (if they check paint thickness etc)?

I wish you all the best with the repair and hope that they give you a decent courtesy vehicle.

Will

 

[SilverSaloon]

I wish you all the best with the repair and hope that they give you a decent courtesy vehicle.

Will

cheers all.

its a merc c class they are giving me (hired from enterprise), which i am more than happy about - better than the Corsa or worse that i would have got thru my own insurance company's recommended repairer.

if the repair is 100% then i will be happy - yeah the engineer said that replacing the door could lead to more problems than its worth, ie it would have to be aligned, adjusted, mechanisms refitted, aligned properly etc....

 

[Shude]

Remember that a brand new door will never be as well finished as the production-line door fitted to the car at the factory. You are in some cases better off finding a second-hand door than fitting a brand new one

 

[petef]

Sorry if I touch on things already said, but it is a long thread !! Always insist on Bmw / mercedes / ford etc main dealers to repair your vehicle. Yes they may sub contract out but your contract will be with the main dealer therefore the bmw /mercedes body warranty is not invalid. If you have your door repaired by Joe Blogs and the paint bubbles after a year its no good going to Bmw re the general Body work warranty as they will refer you back to the guy who repaired the car...I have had experience of this so always insit on main dealer repairs. Yes insurance companies always try to deter you as they know it will cost them twice as much.You just need to be assertive and persistent with a no nonsense type of approach.

 

[glojo]

Remember that a brand new door will never be as well finished as the production-line door fitted to the car at the factory. You are in some cases better off finding a second-hand door than fitting a brand new one

When our repair was done they simply fitted new skins as opposed to doors. (the frame had not been distorted) I am the world's worse critic and I went round everything with a fine tooth comb, but could not find anything wrong

When the car was sold it was sold through the same dealership that had arranged the repairs. I got an excellent deal and the damage repair was never an issue.

John

 

[Flash]

You got a good result as I earlier pointed out in the one of my posts was for you to request/insist on the entire side being resprayed for a perfect/good colour match...

I would live with the filler as the assessor was reasonable and is allowing for the entire side of the car to be replaced which was very good of him.

Off Topic: I'm pretty sure that when MB authorise the rust repair (s) on my Sprinter on one of the large affected panels the finish is not going to be a perfect paint match BUT I will have to let them do it first and then kick up a fuss about respraying the entire side which Graham advised on doing which makes sense.

 

[SilverSaloon]

When our repair was done they simply fitted new skins as opposed to doors. (the frame had not been distorted) I am the world's worse critic and I went round everything with a fine tooth comb, but could not find anything wrong

When the car was sold it was sold through the same dealership that had arranged the repairs. I got an excellent deal and the damage repair was never an issue.

John

the engineer said that if a skin was put on then the weld sometimes isnt very good inside the door, and said it would never look factory fitted.... therefore a damage repair is more obvious.... but i suppose it all depends on the guy who does the job & how good he is.

going to phone the insurance company today to arrange to get the car booked into the garage for repair....

 

[glojo]

but i suppose it all depends on the guy who does the job & how good he is...

That is the bottom line

Good luck,
John

 

[SilverSaloon]

E class sitting in my car park now....

got it until thursday.