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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Insurance Repair Rights


Elise+Imp

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This morning i was hit by a car from behind, looks like a fair bit of repair work or a new clam, exhaust is bent quite a bit and the cat (4months old) is likely to have been crushed a bit. both sections of the diffuser are ripped and fixings bent.

 

initial discussions with my insurer have them being insistent that they want to take the car to their approved repairer, and the only way i'll get a courtacy car - needed as the elise is my daily.

 

 

what i want to achieve is either a new clam, or a top notch repair from somewhere that knows fibreglass, i have a feeling the repair could well be close to writing the car off - if that happens i want to be able to buy it back, if it goes to the insurer approved place i loose any barganing power and i can forsee it being a struggle to buy it back and if so i will need to trailer it once they've taken it half way across the country

i asked about them sending an assessor out, or me driving it to their approved place for a quote, but they don't want to acknowledge that's not just a normal steel panel repair.

 

so how should i play it.

 

(and yes, it about a year since i was last on here - oops)

 

Brian

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Depending on your insurance policy wording, you have the right to get work done where you want. Most garages will provide you a courtesy car so no need to get one from insurer. Although if it is the other parties fault, you can hire a similar level of car and claim it against the third party, so not sure why your insurer is bothered.

 

Take it to where you want the work done and get them to quote. You'll find they probably then send an assessor out to view it at their place.

 

Your insurance company shouldn't be bothered where the work is done and the cost as I presume the other party is admitting driving into the back of you, so it's on their insurance. (I have head that the insurance companies get a kick back from putting all there work to particular garages.)

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Many years ago I had a claim. The insurers wanted to send it to "their approved repairer". That was the Derby Vauxhall garage (who'd just started selling the VX220). I phoned them direct and asked what they would be doing with the repair. they said that they'd send it out to Peter Smiths, then add their cut before sending the bill in to the insurer.

 

I call Peter Smiths and got a ball-park cost that was about 2/3 the expected repair through the approved repairer. I explained that this would save the insurer money, cut out one line of complication, and get the same end result. They agreed to send it direct to Peter Smiths.

 

I didn't need a courtesy car, so don't know how that would have been affected. Probably not as I'd saved them money with just two phone calls.

 

That was a big insurer as well - I'd been expecting the 'computer says "no" ' reply.

 

Worth getting a sensible quote to go alongside the insurer's quote and talk to a real person about the situation.

 

There's a mildly damaged S1 clam for sale on SELOC at the moment...

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When I was backed into in a car park last summer, the insurance company asked me where I wanted it to go and asked for them to fax them an official quote. Their assessor's then delt with the garage direct. I didn't have to do anything but take the car to the garage and leave it with them.

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It is your car, the insurer indemnified (covers) your loss regardless of cause.

 

It does not need to be the cheapest repair/loss just reasonable for the work involved.

 

Some insurers also try to apply an additional xs if you do not use a approved repairer, these have not been tested/considered by the financial ombudsman service (FOS) but unless it has been specifically mentioned to use at inception and detailed in key facts documents I doubt the same would be enforceable.

 

I has an issue with my insurer wanting to take mine to a repairer over 100 miles away and cutting corners on the repair (full resprayed required due to the custom flip paint that could not be matched), they eventually accepted my point but I will not touch AXA ever again for car insurance

 

Re the courtesy car, if you have been shunted you will get a credit hire car no issue or if you want to keep costs down you could speak with the third party insurer and they will be happy to deal with you direct and save them a few £'s ( I am surprised your insurer has not already tried to get you in to a credit hire company as this makes them extra £'s

 

If you get stuck give me a shout, I have a bit of experience of dealing with these things

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If you were hit from behind it is almost certainly not your fault - you need to get the other party to accept liability. If they will, then everything is sweetness and light - you get a like for like hire car, and you can get the repair done where you want. A year or so back I was shunted from the rear, clam had about 100 mm split, but no other damage - yours sounds worse. I took it to Paul Matty, it needed a new rear clam and the bill was just over £5000.

 

If the clam damage is more than superficial don't mess around with repairs, insist on a new clam.

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My understanding is this (assuming the fault is the other party's). Your property has been damaged them them. Let's call them the "enemy". You are entitled to redress for any damage you suffer as a result. (This last bit - "as a result" - is rather tightly defined in law, though). If you ask the enemy to repair it, they need to repair it so that you suffer no "loss". Because this is expensive, they insure themselves. In fact, because this is common, the law requires them to insure themselves. Your insurer shouldn't need to be involved, but you may well get them involved to manage the enemy's insurer on your behalf. Maybe you have terms that change that last bit, but I doubt it, really. You do need to tell your insurer of the event, but that's all.

 

Because your car is made of glass, and anything other than a proper repair will reduce the sale value of the car, you should be entitled to a specialist repair, I feel. They may say, "We can't guarantee the repair if it's not done by one of our special garages." I wouldn't care about that. I would expect the garage that does the work to offer the guarantee, not the insurers. In fact, if you have the work done and are recompensed by the insurers rather than them settling direct, you then have extra redress under the sale of goods act, etc, since the repair garage's contract will be with you and not the insurer. Again, the downside of this is you take on the responsibility for the hassle and paperwork, etc.

 

If it were me, I'd read my policy carefully, then TTFO my insurer, and talk directly to the enemy's insurer. Or else get my insurer to insist the enemy's insurer pays for a proper repair at your chosen place.

 

Your duty is to mitigate the losses. You can't choose the most expensive place out of spite, and you can't insist on hiring a Ferrari in the interim. However, you are entitled to recompense for any damages, so at worst, threaten to sue or sue.

 

All in all, stand your ground.

 

I had a very low speed shunt in my last car, a Nissan 350Z. The claims management company frankly took the p*** out of the enemy's insurer. They replaced far too much of my rear bumper, given the damage, and the garage earned a fortune. They rented me a Mercedes SLK whilst mine was being repaired. It was all vastly expensive, and I see it as a scam. No wonder insurance premiums are so high. On the upside, it did maintain he value of the car. Make sure you get good documentation of what has been happened and how it is repaired. At sale, the repair will be noticeable (to the trained eye of the dealer), since they will see where the paintwork has been feathered in. They will know there has been a shunt, and won't believe it was minor unless you can prove it. So get and keep lots of pictures, receipts, etc.

 

Hope this helps - it seems all here largely agree you should be OK. Good luck, and most of all, commiserations. It's a really pest when this sort of thing happens.

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I had an issue a couple of years ago where i was ran of the road and into a brick wall by a police car traveling in the opposite direction ON MY SIDE OF THE ROAD! Apparently it was my fault i drove into a brick wall and nothing to do with the cop car. Although my insurance company wasn't willing to fight the cops (thus appearing as an at fault claim on my behalf), they did just ask me to get two quotes from garages of my choice and I took it to one of the two. My insurance was on another classic car, on a classic policy so I wasn't entitled to a hire car. I can only guess that they assume the classic is a second vehicle so hire car entitlement was not deemed necessary.

 

One thing i have learned from the above experience is that it doesn't matter how careful a driver you are, there are probably a thousand an one situations out there on the roads where you could potentially get shafted. Even though, in the eyes of any sane person you appear to be totally in the right.

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thanks for the insight people, much appreciated.

 

today the 3rd party's insurer rang me and while they offered their approved repairers , which are all major chains, most likely not fibreglass pro's, they did actually listen to my request for somewhere who is capable with fibreglass, they will let me choose which is good, so next question is where, peter smiths no longer exist, stratstone don't seem to be lotus dealer any more, so looks like option1, paul matty or perhaps paint wrx (daventry).

 

oh and if it is a write off the 3rd party's insurer don't do salvage, that is to say; the car remains mine, and the payout would be a bit less than full pre-accident value to account for the (salvage) residual,

 

i know how you lot like pics so do you recon this will buff out:

 

IMG_3135a.jpg

IMG_3126a.jpg

IMG_3136a.jpg

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Doesn't look too bad - be surprised if that gets written off.

 

Gav at Unit 4 in Burton did good bodywork on mine. Did you check the S1 clam for sale on SELOC ? Might need less work and a quick respray. Good luck with the colour match - yellow is hard !

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Option one without a doubt. That could be repaired however they may insist on a new clam. That may write the car off with the cost of the hire car added on. If you can get it back at the right price its win win :)

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Doesn't look too bad - be surprised if that gets written off.

 

Gav at Unit 4 in Burton did good bodywork on mine. Did you check the S1 clam for sale on SELOC ? Might need less work and a quick respray. Good luck with the colour match - yellow is hard !

Cheers for the heads up on the SELOC clam, if it was my fault then I perhaps would follow it up, but the clam was mint prior to being shunted so I expect a like for like repair/replacement.

 

The colour will be even harder to match as it's not the usual Norfolk mustard, but hew lotus yellow mica, or pearlescent to you and i, I can see it being interesting, hence me half expecting them to write it off.

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I know this is beginning to sound like I bend all my cars, but really, I don't! I've just been reminded of when I bent the back of my Elise. I did it myself. No-one else to blame. The insurers wanted to put in a new chassis as well as a new rear clam, etc. It was a 3-4 y/o S2. I had certainly broken the wheel off the suspension, but this seemed a bit strong. I asked them why they couldn't just replace the engine mount, since that's a separate assembly. They said, "Oh yeah. Good idea!" So it went from a 12k repair to 6k (or something). Looking back it it, that was possibly the usual garage/insurance scam inflating the price, but at the time, it seemed just plan silly to me. Still, the repair was good.

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A decent body shop who understands how to lay special effect paints should be able to match that no problem.

 

If it were me I would expect a new clam from looking at the pictures,

 

The exhaust also looks dead

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