Repair costs

[RevNev]

Yes choice of repairer can be good for some but for most who don’t know the difference between chlorophyll and blue let alone what a good or bad repair is, the life time guarantee can be their best option. And one doesn’t need to preclude the other.

As is, I’ve had a very good outcomes using the lifetime repair warranty guarantee would these issues not have occurred if I went to a different repairer, I’m not sure

The worst repairs I've seen in SA are from the panel shops AAMI send their policy holders, but "lifetime guarantee" on repairs is the confidence factor to insure with AAMI and others who don't offer choice of repairer. However, this particular vehicle a Phantom Black VF2 Redline with driver's door and side skirt damage repaired by an AAMI panel shop I'll start at the top:

Door handles were masked up instead of removed, with mask lines on the doors and clear overspray dulling the door handle finger cavity.
Colour was blown into the rear door and front guard as they couldn't match the color edge to edge.
The rear door, driver's door and front guard were re-clear coated with too much orange peel that didn't match the rest of the car.
The lower inner B pillar was coated and dulled with a mist of grey primer.
The side skirt was 2nd hand previously from a white car where it meets the rocker panel, the black re-spray didn't fully cover the white paint.
The side skirt clear coat likewise had too much orange peel and didn't match the bumper finish as they do OEM.

Despite numerous complaints of a poor-quality job with the panel shop and with AAMI, the end result was AAMI declaring the job acceptable and ultimately ruined a previously nice car. The owner eventually paid a good panel shop 3.5k to fix it properly!

Whilst a "lifetime guarantee" may remedy premature deterioration, it doesn't remedy a poor quality job a policy holder rejects when collecting their vehicle from the repairer unfortunately. Having said, I've seen repairs the owner thinks is a good job in my eyes is garbage and wouldn't accept. There's a wide range of interpretations on a good or bad job dependent on who's looking at in many cases.

 

[Skylarking]

Whilst a "lifetime guarantee" may remedy premature deterioration, it doesn't remedy a poor quality job a policy holder rejects when collecting their vehicle from the repairer unfortunately. Having said, I've seen repairs the owner thinks is a good job in my eyes is garbage and wouldn't accept. There's a wide range of interpretations on a good or bad job dependent on who's looking at in many cases.

IIRC you can still have choice of repairer and lifetime guarantee with many insurance companies (though some may charge an extra fee for the choice). So choice of repairer and life time repair guarantee do not need to be mutually exclusive

What is implied in most insurance repairs is that the vehicle is repaired to pre accident condition. The repair industry itself also provides guidance on how repairs should be done that can be used to gauge quality. With these two bits of info, one can work out whether a job is quality or not and whether the car has been returned to pre accident condition.

Obviously everyone would want their car repaired correctly, but like everything else in life how does one know that they are getting a quality repair job when such knowledge is well outside most peoples wheelhouse?

Also obvious is that many of the insurance companies preferred repairers (often repairers they own) want to appease the insurance companies cost cutting interests, so they cut corners = **** work

Sadly, for most, vehicle repair equates to just a drop it off, have it fixed and pick it up sort of thing. And the repairer’s quality is judged by the cleanliness of the waiting area, the coffee they serve and how clean their usually dirty car comes out of the shop…. Sadly most just don’t have a clue which is why stuff is sometimes/often(?) repaired poorly.

For those who know about cars and know something about car repair, then obviously they may be in a better position to decide who is a good repairer or not before the repairs are started. Such people probably discuss the repair process with the chosen repairer and insurance assessor’s to ensure it’s done correctly.

Me, I’m not a bad enough driver to have a k own quality repairer on speed dial so it’s a bit of a laborious process each time

As is, in my experience, overspray and masking lines are never an acceptable repair since such can’t ever be considered returning the vehicle to its pre accident condition. Why your friend couldn’t get his insurance assessor to rectify the obvious defects, I got no idea but it was a poor outcome Sadly, it’s surprising how many people accept such repairs or won’t take it further I’d have gone to small claims to recover the $3500 cost of rectification

Again, for most people who know didly about car repairs, how do they choose a quality repairer when they just want “easy”?

(and for the rest of us, it can still be a challenge )