Insurance Repair

[digigriffin]

My 08 A4 B8 has had nice scratches added to it while it was parked:

Rear boot lid, all down the drivers side ,so fuel cap panel, passenger door, drivers door, front wing and the bonnet with a nice deep inscription.

The insurer will not pay to have this repaired by the audi dealer where I bought the car new.

Or rather I can use the dealer and pay the difference on the labour cost myself which is £500+.

Do I have to go with the insurers recommend repairer if I don't want to pay more than just my excess myself?

[Jim Walker]

Hi,

Am afraid you are stuck with your insurer’s choice you could as the insurer said pay the difference and go where ever you like.
But if you do this be careful as your insurer will have nothing to do with it if you had a warranty claim on the workmanship say for a blemish on the paint so you would be left to battle this yourself.

On the other hand if you go with your insurer’s choice the work will be covered under the warranty and your insurance company will put any problems right then claim it back from the company that carried out the work.

The secret is of course when you go for the quotes always ensure that the desired companies quote is the cheapest if it is not get some more quotes until it is.

I hope this helps :aargh4:

[digigriffin]

Well the issue is now apparently over the price of the labour.

My audi dealer labour is £42 per hour and the insurer says will only pay £24 per hour.

I asked the insurer who their repairer would be?

So then googled the coachworks and this is a quote I found about them.

"The worst service and workmanship I've ever experienced
My car was checked-in for quite minor accident repair. They didn't repair some of the damage so it had to go back several times, never returned my calls about progress, didn't keep me informed, much of the the work had to be put right by another garage. It took ages for a minor job. BEWARE!. Rubbish in every regard. Shall be escalating."

So no faith that I will get the quality of repair via the insurance :(.

Methink I will just have to take the insurance money and pay the
difference?

[markp306]

Do I have to go with the insurers recommend repairer if I don't want to pay more than just my excess myself?

Here's a story for you:

Our previous car was an A4 Cabriolet insured with Admiral and just over 18 months ago, a neighbour managed to reverse into it by the rear wheel arch. It was a low speed impact which "just" left a hefty dent, but the labour involved was eye opening: Roof off, rear seat out, new panel welded on, filled, prep'd, painted, rebuilt. So naturally I requested an Audi approved repair via the original garage in Reading. Insurers requirement was that I had to forgo the 'loaner' if I didn't go with their choice and they wanted to negotiate the repairers costs before giving it a green light. A third part claims-recovery firm got me a (Audi) rental instead.

Anyway, Reading Audi's approved repairer bodged it. The work took over a month, the filler subsequently sank after a couple more months and cracked the paint. (It hadn't cured before painting). The radio broke (no reception from ariel built into boot lid), the passenger door didn't shut properly and the passenger door electric window anti-trap kept triggering on closure.

After complaining to Audi Reading, the bodyshop repainted the car a week before we changed to the A4 B8 ("second kid forces sale etc"). It was close!

Anyway, not sure what the moral is. We did what we though was right for us, but Reading Audi let us down and need to review their (off site) repairers. We didn't buy the B8 from them needless to say.

Hopefully, you'll get a better repair for your A4 :biglaugh: