Dodgy Repairs through Preferred Repairers

[Dru76]

My vehicle was in an accident in Dec 2010. The insurer repaired the vehicle but the tyres wore out within 2000km of the repairs (on a trip up the coast day after repairs). I've had it engineered and the engineer measured a consistent 2mm difference within the chassis diagonals, which translates to a misaligned chassis framework. the insurer also put a castor kit in it to correct the self centering of the steering after I pointed out to the panel beater that one side of the front wheels was almost 1/4 inch different from the positioning of the wheel to the guard. The vehicle has had 6 wheel alignments since the repairs inside 5000km.

The insurer has produced engineering reports disputing my engineers findings, but my engineer did not state that misalignment is the problem. He stated possible bad wheel alignment, also may be a result of misaligned of damaged steering and/or front and rear suspension components.

Also stated that it is not clear whether the collision resulted in damage or misalignment of steering and suspension components. The insurer also took the car back to the dealership for a wheel alignment. They produced two different service reports for the wheel alignment.

The vehicle has now been inspected again due to The Ombudsman office ruling in the insurer's favour, yet the latest inspection states the car has been repaired poorly and not to manufactuer's specifications. It also states the quality of the repairs have deminished the value of the vehicle. The report also states the repair industry uses ±3mm yet the body repair spec sheet does not allow for any ± tolerances.

The bit that I don't understand about all of this is the accident was not my fault. Your on the freeway doing 90km/h, you manage to stop the car just in an emergency stop situation, get ploughed into from behind and yet I am battling the insurer to get the car repaired properly. I mean they have backed the panel shop up in terms of the repairs. The icing on the cake is they want a waiver signed over the quality of the repairs also. Yet they offer lifetime warranty for the repairs.

[one_and_only2004]

I've had two cars repaired, the first one was still bent after the repairs, the section behind the seat in my old ute was still dented but I eventually gave up taking it back. The paint peeled off (which I ended up getting fixed elsewhere) and the exhaust never sat right due to the chassis being out of whack - it just got to the point where I was wasting my time.
It's sad to see I wasn't the only one.

[ozrockracing]

I had a similar incident in 2000, my car at the time was a Mazda 626 with an FE 2 litre motor. I had spent quite a lot on tweaking including a full rebuild of the engine, 2 1/2 stainless exhaust throughout, suspension fully rebuilt and re-speced and all electric controls replaced and re-aligned, the list goes on. I had a truck at the time so the car was the money pit and everytime I saw something worth doing, off the car went to have it machined or fitted.

One night in February 2000, some cretin with a slide hammer decided it was too much to bear and pinched it from the front yard and for the following 14 days went on a bender, ramming it through a bottle shop front window, stealing purses off ladies in shopping centre car parks until they dumped it somewhere in Brisbane.
The car was recovered and at first the insurer agreed the damage was too severe and the car would be written off, until one of those unsrupulous smartie pants repairers came along and said he would be able to repair it and replace all the missing and damaged panels with the correct colored and fitting internals and so on.
The months went by and the car was taking forever to be completed and at 3 months, I demanded a drive car for the remainder of the repair period, which was denied by the insurer...at first.
I contacted the Insurance Ombudsman and explained the case to him, within 24 hours I had an Unlimited Klm Drive car, the unlimited Kilm's were a sore point for the insurer...I was working away and was travelling by plane...until I got the drive car...300klm per day, 7 days per week...nice...that will cost them.

The Ombudsman also took exception to the fact that my car was originally to be a write off and as the insurer had already agreed to pay out the claim and I had committed to finance on another car, they had to pay the difference between the pay out figure and the finance figure, due to them renigging on the pay out. A nice little cheque was drawn in my favour, and a cheque to cover the stolen Stereo as I wasnt putting another stereo in the car.

It took 4 months to do the repairs and finally my car was dropped back to the insurer for collection....when I arrived, I went straight to it, and went over it with the most disearning eye, and made a list of the incomplete repairs or incorrect replacement parts, the fact that the car wasnt clean and had a boot full of water was also a concern....I refused to accept the car and insisted it be returned to the repairer for the adjustments to be made.
Another month of free hire car... the insurer was spewing....2500klm's a week was hurting their bottom line and they had been paying for the hire car for close to 9 weeks and the speedo was ticking over nicely with 2000 klm excess every week and they just had to keep paying.
Finally the car was ready again, so they said...I went to inspect the car and Not Happy, brown internal door panel on the RHS front door the rest were blue? I asked the insurer were they color blind, and he tried to tell me that the panel was no longer available.

I told him that I knew that and had already instructed the original assessor of this fact, but he had been assured the repairer could locate a new one, which he did, a brown one, not good enough, fix it, the dah was cracked from replacing the windscreen...fix it, the list went on.

The manager of the insurance company came out to see the car and in his opinion, I should accept the repairs and move on....to which I replied, if you dont get it right this time, I want the car paid out or I go back to the Ombudsman and let him sort it out, near enough is not good enough, the car is to be fixed correctly, with all the correct colored internal panels, everything working and they have 7 days. If I paid you less than the expected premium youo ask for you would dump me in a heartbeat, so show on other foot, fix the car to the condition it was in or else.

Off I went again, the following Friday, I get there to pick up the car completed and I still wasnt happy, refused to sign their declaration to say I was happy and refused to take delivery of the car.
They had it towed to my house and took the hire car, they were doing nothing more and that was it....they thought...one phone call later, the Ombudsman was happy to proceed on my behalf.
As far as I was concerned the repairs were sub-standard and had been done hap hazzard and it had taken substantially more time to complete than it should have, as a result I had lost a considerably...which he agreed with me about. He instructed me to get 3 quotes for repairing the car to the condition that the car should have been returned in, and 3 seperate quotes as to the vlaue of the car in it's current state.
After forwarding these on to the Ombudsman he made his determination, he found that the insurer had taken my money and offered a service that were unable to perform, and ordered them to pay the difference between the Current market value of the car, and the value the car yards had placed on the car, which worked out to just a couple of hundred dollars more than the original pay out figure.

In the end it cost them, for the hire car, the klm excess, the market value difference plus everything else they had already paid out, I got to keep the car, and they had to honour the lifetime warranty on the repairs as per the insurance agreement......I had finally won or so I thought, until I really had a win, I sold the car to a guy from Goondiwindi... and it played up on him like a secondhand fridge, causing the car to come to a grinding halt in heavy traffic on a trip to Toowoomba, a car ran up the back of the Mazda and some of the repairs burst open, there was bog and rust everywhere, all left overs from the dodgy repair from when I owned it.....Guess who had to fix the car? Guess who carried the insurance for the car that hit it....I reckon I got the last laugh.....and still do, the warranty is for the life of the vehicle, and it is still registered to this day.

The insurer's call centre called me recently to offer me insurance for my current ride....apparently they call all their old rating 1 for life customers to try getting them to change back to them....Like I would consider it....fat chance.

[vn_v6]

you sir, deserve a medal for turning the tables and ####ing the insurance company instead of what they usually do which is #### their customers, this is exactly how people should treat these things, know your rights and the right people to talk to and use every last bit of information you can to get your way.

[VYMAD]

Interesting stories. I wonder can you guys name the insurance companies on this forum? Freedom of speech and all that, or not.... Moderators??

[TI3VOM]

I agree, name the companies that don't want to help out and put you through hell, when your going through one of your worst times ever!

[Sabbath']

Insurance companies are out to spend as little money getting your car back on the road as possible. I had to send my VT back 3 times to get it fixed because the first two times it was repaired very poorly.

Panels not prepped right, panels chipped, panels wavy, colour match not right, parts missing.

When i quizzed the repairer about the missing part, they told me they couldnt get the part from Holden, so couldnt fix what they couldnt get blah blah.

I ended up going to Holden and getting a printout showing that they had the part in stock, infact that they had 100's in stock and gave it to the assessor. The assessor was a rude, arrogant prick who basically told me that the car was as good as it was going to get, i pushed harder, and due to their stupid policy, the car had to go BACK to the place that originally repaired it, even though i showed them that their repairer had been lying to their face etc.

Got the car back from the repairer and they were telling me AGAIN that they couldnt get the part...paint match was still wrong etc.

At this point i lost it, started getting to the point of contacting solicitors, insurance ombudsman, and low and behold i soon had the assessor manager out to inspect the car with the original rude assessor standing there having to eat shit while they agreed to respray the rear half of the car, make sure the part was replaced etc etc.

This was through AAMI.

[VYMAD]

Insurance companies are out to spend as little money getting your car back on the road as possible. I had to send my VT back 3 times to get it fixed because the first two times it was repaired very poorly.\n\nPanels not prepped right, panels chipped, panels wavy, colour match not right, parts missing.\n\nWhen i quizzed the repairer about the missing part, they told me they couldnt get the part from Holden, so couldnt fix what they couldnt get blah blah.\n\nI ended up going to Holden and getting a printout showing that they had the part in stock, infact that they had 100's in stock and gave it to the assessor. The assessor was a rude, arrogant prick who basically told me that the car was as good as it was going to get, i pushed harder, and due to their stupid policy, the car had to go BACK to the place that originally repaired it, even though i showed them that their repairer had been lying to their face etc.\n\nGot the car back from the repairer and they were telling me AGAIN that they couldnt get the part...paint match was still wrong etc.\n\nAt this point i lost it, started getting to the point of contacting solicitors, insurance ombudsman, and low and behold i soon had the assessor manager out to inspect the car with the original rude assessor standing there having to eat shit while they agreed to respray the rear half of the car, make sure the part was replaced etc etc.\n\nThis was through AAMI.

Oh, Sabbath, that's what I DIDN'T want to hear!! I'm with AAMI!!!!!

Interestingly, my ex rolled our old VY just after we'd split up. It was in a 50 zone and the only thing in her favour was the fact that there were some loose stones on the intersection where it happened. Now it was so obvious that she had planted her foot to the floor, lost it in the loose stones, resulting in the poor car ending up on it's roof with it's feet in the air. Any one driving normally at fifty k's could not have rolled it, probably not even have spun out. Nevertheless AAMI wrote off the car and paid out the full covered amount (about $17-18,000 back then)

[Calaber]

This was through AAMI.

Weren't you "Luckeeee, you're with AAMI........."?

Yeah, right.

Low rent insurance for a lower rent job.

[VYMAD]

I thought AAMI were one of the more expensive ones?

[Calaber]

I think they are cheaper than companies like NRMA by a small amount, but the quality of service is another matter altogether. The complaints on this forum about AAMI would fill a book compared to other major companies. I think it's possible that AAMI insure less experienced drivers for less than the big boys, and might even take a chance with some drivers that other companies won't touch.

I admit I have never dealt with them and don't propose to, but at my age, I escaped the punitive insurance levies that young drivers face today.

[oska]

i have my own 6 weeks nightmare to proof coat 2 panels and paint and these idiots got paid 3K for it and it still looks like shit

their painter is so bad that they have sand and polish 2 pac, then it falls back which it has again. plus there is polishing compound baked on that i can't remove, there's over spray everywhere, they've ruined 2 new headlights and the list goes on

tomorrow i'll make a complaint with the insurance then one to the ombudsman

don't let these people get away with it

[ozrockracing]

Interesting stories. I wonder can you guys name the insurance companies on this forum? Freedom of speech and all that, or not.... Moderators??

I agree, name the companies that don't want to help out and put you through hell, when your going through one of your worst times ever!

I was Lucky...lol.

I was with AAMI, what made it worse, I was a contractor for them as well, moving their VALET Cars from Assessing to repairer. Had I known at the time what was about to happen, I would have shopped around and found another policy.

I had a small accident a short time later when a skyline gave me a love bite on the ass, he suffered way more than I did, the tow bar on my Ford made mince meat out of his front end. By this time I was with Suncorp. I notified them on the day, they instructed me to see a doctor immediately, and drop the car into assessing on the following Tuesday.
I followed their instructions and saw the Doc, and dropped in on the Tuesday, they took the car keys, told me what parts would all be replaced, including both front seat belts, as they had popped the safety tags, and that I could pick the car up from the repairer on the Friday.

They shoved a couple of Taxi Vouchers in my paw and sent me home within the hour. Friday came and they called me on the phone to let me know the car would be ready at 3pm, and any further issues, just give them a call.
Picked up the car at 3pm, everything spot on, even completely detailed. Happy as, and No Excess to pay as the driver that hit me was at fault....such a simple process.

Have to love a simple process.

[Dru76]

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