Advice Needed After Accident Repair.

[leighbee1]

Hi Folks,
On the 13th December I had a Landrover discovery come out of a side road and hit my car (bought new in March 2013) in the side.
My insurance company said it was partly my fault Admiral) but to cut a long story short, the lady that hit me admitted liability and her insurance (direct line) started to handle the claim.
They (UK Assistance) collected my car and gave me a new BMW X5 for a courtesy car.
I had put LED daytime running lights into the Audi as I am not keen on the halogen ones that come with it and one was damaged.
UK assistance phoned me and told me it needed a new door, wing, bumper, headlamp, wheel, tyre & suspension parts and the bonnet re spraying.
Despite them saying my car would be delivered back to me on the 7th Jan, they delivered it back to me at 2100 on the 9th.
Having inspected the car today in the day light, despite them telling me that the LED lamp has been repaired, it does not work properly, only lighting the tip.
The wing also does not fit properly, fitting tight up against the windscreen pillar compared with the other side and where the bumper to the right of the grill, there is a wider gap where it meets the bonnet compared to the left hand side of the grill.
The steering wheel is not quite straight when driving in a straight line either.
I am going to phone Direct Line on Monday and kick up stink, I am considering getting an independent engineers report on the repairs.
The car is 8 months old and cost me £33000 so I don't think I should accept shoddy repairs.
I am even thinking they used pattern parts.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[Zacs-Master]

Did you sign anything when they delivered it back to you, to say it was acceptable?
I think I'd begin by taking photos and emailing them to your insurance company followed up by a phone call.

[leighbee1]

It was very dark when it was delivered back despite me being told it would be delivered in the morning.
I did sign to say I had received the car.

[Zacs-Master]

Then I think you may be on dodgy ground.

[Arrods]

Yes, kick up a stink and I would also write immediately to the CEO of DL. On the face of it these are shoddy repairs. Also get DL/repairer to certify that they haven't used pattern parts.

As a matter of interest, why does your own insurer believe you were partly to blame, given the description of the collision?

[SlackAlice]

Contact your Insurers and tell them of your problems. Your insurers and theirs should sort this out. It's your insurers who should have arranged the repairs and sent the bills to Direct Line and sorted who pays what. You recover your excess from the other driver by using your legal aid coverage (if you've got legal aid cover).

[boxtops]

Hopefully when you signed for the return of the car, you read the small print and weren't signing to say that you were happy with the condition....

Don't do anything about your independent report until you've spoken to your insurers. Confused who they are - you say Admiral at one point then Direct Line later on - if DL are the insurers of the third party, it's not your place to contact them at all.

[boxtops]

...contrary to other advice, as I mention above, don't contact DL - that's what you pay your insurers to do. It's their fight but you need to tell Admiral NOW.

[kjn2]

Recently my wife was involved in an accident ( Direct Line being her insurers) the car was collected by a Direct Line repair centre and a curtesy car delivered, the car was repaired and returned, the colour match was not good. Phoned Direct Line they sent engineer down,the car was sent to a different repair centre, and a loan car delivered again, car returned satisfactory second time. Yes it does happen. Keep cool phone direct Line explain problems plus pattern parts suspect and hopefully you will end up happy with the repair like we were, understand your frustration but they will get there in the end .

[boxtops]

Kjn - glad yours was resolved, but Direct Line isn't the OP's insurers, they are third party insurers. Leighbee should be contacting their own insurance company to complain about the quality of the repairs.

[Arrods]

Yes, I would have let Admiral deal with the claim, but it looks as though leighbe1 took the decision to let DL deal with it. In hindsight a mistake. Admiral did a great job in dealing with my son's claim recently. OK get back to Admiral to see whether they can help. But I'm still intrigued to know why Admiral believe liability is not clear cut.

[Arrods]

Boxtops - can't see how leighbe1 can complain to Admiral about shoddy repairs when they weren't apparently involved in dealing with the claim. I think we need more information.

[kjn2]

Boxtops. Have just read the question again, and your are correct his insurers are Admiral, thanks.

[leighbee1]

Admiral were ok, it was when they passed me to their claims management that things started to go wrong, the girl at the end of the phone asked if my car was scratched, then I lost it a bit explaining that I was pushed across the road by a 2.5 ton land rover, of course its bloody scratched.
I even had the footage from my dash cam and they did not want to see it.
I called Admiral back who said I would not get a courtesy car until an engineer had inspected mine.
so I was relieved when Direct line phoned and told me they were going to handle every thing.

[bhg481]

Well Leighbee, I'm just about to renew my motor insurance and that's Admiral out of the window. You only find out how good your insurance company is when you make a claim - their attitude shows aAdmiral to be rubbish.

[leighbee1]

I only went with them because they included European use, bad mistake.
My wife had a bus scrape up the side of her freelander between Christmas & the new year, wrecked the mirror and paint damage to the front wing, but still £500 to repair.
Admiral have been useless with that too, not heard a thing from them.
I will start shouting when my car is sorted.
so, AVOID ADMIRAL INSURANCE LIKE THE PLAGUE

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

You'll get a darn sight further if you don't "start shouting".
It's not the poor adviser's fault. Stay calm and explain your concerns.

[tonyav]

leighbee1
Question Author
It was very dark when it was delivered back despite me being told it would be delivered in the morning.
I did sign to say I had received the car.


I think it was delivered in the dark for a reason. you don't buy a car in the dark, so you are unlikely to inspect a car in the dark.
When you signed to say that you had received your car back was you also signing to say that it has been repaired to your satisfaction ?.

[gingejbee]

Bit late now, but this may help in future:

http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/guides/car-insurance-claims---how-to-make-one/car-insurance-claims---insurers-rated/

[bhg481]

Good link Gingejbee

[leighbee1]

I only signed to say I had received it, not to say I was happy with it.