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Big Ends Gone After Trip To Body Shop ......


dazde
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Looking for opinions/suggestions here ...

My wife's car was recently damaged - parked up while she was at work, and someone reversed into it. Fortunately, the person left a note on the car, and where my wife works, so it was all going nicely through their insurance.

On Fri last week, they called me to say the car was now finished, and that they noticed the oil light was on. I asked them if they meant just for a few seconds after starting, or permanently (as the car goes through a start up sequence with the lights). They said they didn't know as they only moved it briefly. They also said they checked the oil level and it was OK.

Monday they called my wife to say they would be delivering it back, and they agreed they would call her, so she could be home. No phone call, and when my wife gets home, the car's on the drive (unlocked), with the keys through the letterbox. Monday night I went to move the car, and the noise from the engine is terrible, and the oil light's staying on. To me it sounded like the big end bearings, but to be sure I called a friend who's a mechanic, and he confirmed that's what it sounded like.

When the bodyshop collected the car originally, they took it on the back of a lorry, and I'm assuming it was delivered back that way.

I've looked underneath to see if the sump had been knocked at all, but all looks fine. The accident itself, was at slow speed I believe (although we were not there due to it being parked), but only damaged the wing, bumper and headlight

An engineer has now looked at the vehicle, and the only thing that stands out is that the oil on the dipstick looks fresh. He questioned this with the bodyshop again, and this time they said it was very low so they topped it up.

The insurance now say this was down to poor maintenance on our part, but I feel a bit cheated as it left our house OK to go to the bodyshop, and came back wrecked (engine wise). I had checked the oil level about a month ago and this never used oil, nor was there any sign of a leak. On top of that, I believe there's an oil level warning light (separate to the oil pressure), so I'm finding it hard to believe that it was that low in the first place but now I'm stuck :-(

Cheers,

Darren

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my advise would be get it independatly checked, not someone you know, and get a full report on whats wrong, surely when insurance company took the car there fully inspected it to make sure it was not a write off (like mine lol), which meant there would have not found the problems you having now, get a report and send it in with a complaint, the insurers got no choice but to investigate

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I'd agree with saraj, they will have inspected it at the start so if it was knackered they would have known then.

The bodyshop shouldnt have topped the oil up either IMHO they should have just warned you when the picked it up.

Also if they dropped it off and no one was there you wont have signed for the work? i hope you havent since, cause just send it back and say it must have been caused by the accident so they should fix it.

Stav

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agreed no signature no acceptance, and there will fix it, cause like stav said could have happened with the accident,

my brother golf got bumped into whilst parked up and the insurers wrote that off, as grade d, so its suprising what damage could have happened

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The vehicle was hit whilst parked, and not too hard either, as it was reversed into.

I can't honestly see how it could be accident related, and the independent engineer that took a look can't either.

My problem is if I get another company to strip it and write a report, it will still be up for debate (unless the find something conclusive), and I'll have a fairly hefty bill with still no repair, which due to the age of the car, I don't want to spend a fortune on it.

I haven't signed for it so that's good, but our insurance tell us the legal cover we have will not apply as it's not accident related.

:-(

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im with stav i dont think they should have done anything with the oil especially top it up how do youknow they topped it up with the correct oil or even oil for that matter

Also delivery back no signature keys through the door that is just poor service was it a garage or your choice or insurers ??

Rabs

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you didnt sign, thats hit the nail on the coffin for the garage, what ever is wrong its got to be repaired under your insurance claim, now if you just had the bumper fixed or the whole thing fixed, it makes no difference on your claim, ring insurers up tell them how there delivered the car, tell them about the problems and leave it at that let them sort it out

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As Stav said, I would have thought it's up to the garage to prove that the problem *wasn't* caused by the accident, since they don't have a note (presumably) signed by you to say they accepted the car with an already-knackered engine, so if they delivered a non-working engine back to you then they'll have to fix it !

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dont worry about it mate, as above ring em tell them how it is, and let them do all the work, dont go into details about you had it checked it out and the noise was not there, just keep it simple, you did not sign the paperwork, and that you having problems.

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Thanks for all the good replies guys.

As it was not my wife's fault, her insurance company (a very large automobile one !), advised her to go through a separate company that deal with 3rd partly claims. It is this other company that have investigated so far, and their conclusion is that it's just down to poor maintenance on our part (as the oil level was low so they say).

My wife spoke to her insurance company today (the large automobile one), and they have said the same thing, and that the legal cover will not be applicable in this case.

I've also spoken to the bodyshop, who are very dismissive of it all, and say it's nothing to do with them.

The whole thing sucks, but I'm not sure where to turn as all 3 companies I'm dealing with, are saying it's case closed. To take it up independently with a separate report and solicitor, is likely to cost me a fortune, with no guarantee I'll get anywhere.

Cheers,

Darren

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you didnt sign for it mate, thats not acceptable take it up again with them, if not ring the financial ombudsman, and there will deal. Im dealing with them at the moment about a ***** up by directline where i was not insured for 2 weeks, dont let it go mate

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the below deal with insurance companies and complaint best ones

Ombudsman

the thing is you got to complain first to your insurer there have 8 weeks to investigate, once there invetigate there will send you a letter saying the complaint is closed when this happens then you can pass it to them, your insurer will do its best to prevent this as it costs them money each time a customer takes it further, working at Homeserve in preston we deal with home insurance and i heard it costs around 200 for each case taken to them

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the below deal with insurance companies and complaint best ones

Ombudsman

the thing is you got to complain first to your insurer there have 8 weeks to investigate, once there invetigate there will send you a letter saying the complaint is closed when this happens then you can pass it to them, your insurer will do its best to prevent this as it costs them money each time a customer takes it further, working at Homeserve in preston we deal with home insurance and i heard it costs around 200 for each case taken to them

Thanks Saraj

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You haven't said what the car is ( was ? ), how old it is and if it's got a full service history - these will matter more than anything in this case I suspect.

i presume its the is200 in his little box over here

<------

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You haven't said what the car is ( was ? ), how old it is and if it's got a full service history - these will matter more than anything in this case I suspect.

i presume its the is200 in his little box over here

<------

He said it was his wifes car in the first post though. not his,.

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Hi guys,

Sorry I should have clarified ....

It is my wife's car (I have the joy of owning a people carrier), but we call everything ours LOL

It's a '99 (originally on a T plate) IS200 (the base version, not sport or SE)

Done about 85,000

We've owned it for about 7 years, at which point it had full history, but since then either I'e done the servicing, or my friend who's a mechanic, so no history, which I know won't do me any favours.

Cheers,

Darren

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  • 4 weeks later...

yeah they would have at least road tested it - if they did that, came back with light on for oil and then thought, woah, ooops, will top it up so no one will know!!!!!!!

Sign up to Which? Legal Services for around a tenner and see what their legal team says - being Which, they have some clout in the name/bad publicity etc!!

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