Ive just had a call to say that my car is ready to be collected following being repaird after a crash(just got to be valeted!!)

now hopefully i will be happy with the standard of the work carried out as the repair centre have got some good reports……..

..but, just in case is there a procedure to follow incase im not happy with the repair??

do i just refuse to take it away and then contact my insurance??

not had to go through it before so not sure how it all works.

cheers

steve

When I collected mine they told me to inspect it first to make sure I was happy before signing off on it, I did and found a crack in headlight that wasn't there previously and they said fair enough and would replace it (although it wasn't anywhere near the accident damage I guess they were just going to charge the repair to the insurer so didn't argue it with me). Picked it up a couple of days later with the headlight replaced.

Certainly make them aware before you leave so they can't claim it happened anywhere else. Make sure you check the whole car in case they've caught, scratched any other bits while moving it around or working on it.

If you don't get a satisfactory reponse from them at the time call your insurer.

Reject it there and then, mine came back to me with scratches that weren't there when it went in and shoddy work.

Most repairers will be happy to sort out anything you might find wrong, as they'll just invoice the insurance co. If not, just get on to your insurer and they'll have to sort it.

Obviously you are under no obligation to spot everything there and then – for most of us that would be impossible to do (obvious things like broken headlights aside) just tell them when you become aware of it.

For example I noticed that the interior trim hadn't been fitted correctly on my wife's car some two weeks after I picked it up but they repaired it.

Make sure the car is dry, water all over the car can hide a bad paint finish

one thing i will say is that after the crash i started to get some noise from the front wheel bearing on the side that got hit.

i got them to note it down and they have checked it and said there is no fault with it and if there is noise it isnt because of the accident.

now i had the car mot'd about a month before the crash and there were no problems with the wheel bearing then so is there anything i can do to get them to rethink their answer??

A month before the crash, it's acceptable for a bearing to go within that time.

Make sure you give yourself time to give car a good look over and try and get under it if there has been any chassis repairs.
Reject there and then, sign nothing till you are happy. Take someone with some car knowledge.
Wherever it is being repaired will be up to the hammers in repairs and keen to get yours out the door and get the money from your ins.
It may be inconvenient in the short term but likely to save you any more hassle.
From someone who used to do write off rebuilds 😉

walk in and go , . . . "I'm here to collect the Ferrari"

I picked up my car after a crash repair and was running late for work. It was parked real close to another car & I mentioned that the panels didn't exactly line-up, but was fobbed off with the bloke saying that it was the best that can be done without the manufactuers tools etc.

Got it to work & upon giving it a proper look, realised it was cak. Took it round the corned to a body repair place for a 2nd opinion & the bloke said it was pretty shoddy.
Went back the next day & after a bit of a rant, they did admit they could probably do better, and took it in for another day.
Problem is, once you've had it back a while you start to notice things you didn't initially notice.

So, I would recommend getting your finest of fine tooth combs out & going over everything.
I recently replaced a sidelight & found that the small plastic cover over the back of the headlamp unit was missing. This could have only happened when they replaced the wing, but upon ringing the repair place, they denied all knowledge and basically told me to get stuffed. I just assumed they would do the job properly.
So check EVERYTHING you can & if you aren't happy with it, then don't accept the work. It might be another day or two of driving a hire 'noddy' car, but better that, than end up with something you aren't 100% happy with.

And if you remain unhappy with the work, ask the insurance assessor to come and inspect the work too. That's what we ended up doing when a whole panel started to 'sink' a few weeks after we got it back.

thanks for the replies!! i will take a mate with me to give it a look over aswell.

Here's one for you.

Picked mine up Tuesday and it all seemed OK, I did say that I wasn't prepared to sign it off until I inspected closely and they said that was fine.

Now, I always wash my car by hand as it has nice metallic paint. In street light tonight I can see the ultimate crime, it's been through a car wash and the paint finish has the usual swirly crap that only a car wash brush can properly administer.

The card deffo needs paint correction now. But I am stuffed as to how I can prove it was them wot did it.

Learning point to all. At handover show them the paint and clearly tell them NOT to let the YTS lad take it to a car wash.

Make sure you look at the colour match in bright sunshine. This is a must, as you will need as much light as possible.I am a sprayer by trade and its amazing how colours can change in bright light.
Also look at it from different angles.

ok so i picked the motor up and friday when it was pising down, already i could see that the paint didnt match the bonnet,bumper and a pillar.

so they are having it back in to do the blending work.

however over the last couple of days ive notcied a few more things wrong.

bits of trim that have been broke and then stuck back on with mastic, black paint spots over the bonnet and bumper and light, a big cross mark on the window where they have took some masking tape off.

so im going to contact my insurance tomorrow and let them know im not happy!!

Make a list of stuff as you find it – otherwise when you take it back in you will forget to mention something.
Take them through your list & get them to agree that they will sort out all those issues.