Repairing damage [Keyed Down Drivers Side]

[[ASLYVY]]

hey guys my VZ (2005 Heron White) was recently keyed across the drivers door, rear door and rear quarter panel

ive gone through insurance though the assessor came out and approved the repairs he has only allowed $500 to the paint budget

whereas my repairer (a family friend) has allowed $925 for paint....


either way the two parties will not agree and looks like i have to pay the difference or go elsewhere which i dont want to do as i know this guys high quality work


im just wanting to hear opinions on what is the closer estimate or allowance toward the cost of paint as i have never had to deal with this before


cheers guys

[DevilDRake]

I've never heard of a paint budget, with mine it's tiny damage on panel = full respray of panel. And each panel can range from $250-$600 so that budget is way too small. You've got like $750-$1000 damage there depending who you go through (like you said, $925)

[Pickle']

Wouldn't you insurance excess be more than the $500 anyway.

But as already said, You have more than $500 damage. Maybe try and see if they can reassess it if possible?

[Crisis63]

Check your policy for any reference to “paint budgets”. If there is a clause find a new insurance company. If not tell the assessor to repair the car. If he refuses go to the Ombudsman. I had the entire side of my Landcruiser resprayed due to a scratch that went down the entire length. And this was from the worst insurance company I have ever been with. Who I subsequently took a complaint (about a different matter) about to the ombudsman and had them fully compensate me for. Do it.

[AJT-SV6]

I think you'd find the "paint budget" being referred to is simply the paint portion of the quote, which is in every quote [parts, R&R, repair hrs, paint hrs, etc.]. As for the amount, insurance companies will undercut what is quoted in most cases. I'd be willing to bet that your repairer will be slightly over-quoting because he knows the insurance company is going to assess it at lower than what he quotes.

Your best bet would be for your repairer to take it further with the insurance company, getting another assessor out or someone higher to re-assess it.

[[ASLYVY]]

thanks for your replies guys, i thought this was going to be a walk in the park but this whole repair cost argument has stopped it dead in its tracks

insurance company now claims that i have to fork out the $400 difference between the assessors quote and repairers quote if i want to use that specific repairer
as a sort of "cash settlement" and if i dont want to they can chose one of their "preferred repairers"

what a joke when my excess was only $580 !

i have now gone to another family friend who is going to give them a ring and he has claim number, photos of damage, vin number, etc and see what the go is, (he thinks he'l be able to talk em down and get them to agree to his quote as he deals with them quite frequently, but thinks they are a bunch of monkeys) and looks like it will have to be re-assessed

i had made the claim and had it sorted within a couple of days and now have been waiting 2 weeks to hear from anyone... frustratinggg!

[Mbro]

you should have checked if they would make u go to their prefered repairers when you brought your policy, in a way its your fault. they have prefered repairers for a reason, because if something happens with their repairers and it goes bad they can take away their buisness from the panel shop, but if they let people to go wherever to get their cars fixed they have no control on what gets done.

and chances are they arent a prefered repairer because mainly they dont have the resorces and/or equiptment to do it.

my insurance i made sure i could get it repaired where ever i wanted.

just my 2 cents.

either way the assessor has under quoted that, good luck.

[[ASLYVY]]

you should have checked if they would make u go to their prefered repairers when you brought your policy, in a way its your fault. they have prefered repairers for a reason, because if something happens with their repairers and it goes bad they can take away their buisness from the panel shop, but if they let people to go wherever to get their cars fixed they have no control on what gets done.

and chances are they arent a prefered repairer because mainly they dont have the resorces and/or equiptment to do it.

my insurance i made sure i could get it repaired where ever i wanted.

just my 2 cents.

either way the assessor has under quoted that, good luck.

yeah mate, i made sure the PDS allowed me to chose my own repairer from the start, its just that they were just trying to convince me to go with one of their preferred repairers as it would be less hassle for them

they've now agreed to the quote given by my 2ND option (family friend) so i just have to book in a time for the repairs to take place

thank god

cheers guys

[Mbro]

awesome as long as it all works out