Insurance Accident Repairs

[braindead]

My GS450h is in for repairs having had a tangle with a Transit van. It's only a replacement of the front bumper, grill etc.

I'm with Virgin Insurance who use UKI Assistance repair centre at Castle Donnington as do a lot of other UKI insurers like Churchill.

They picked the car up Tues lunchtime on the basis it would be assessed in 24-48 hours and I'd get a call. Got no call by Friday so rang them. They'd only just assesed it that morning which I make 68 hours not 48

At that point they had not ordered parts nor could give me a completion date.

Anyone had any experience of this outfit, their timescales and, more importantly, the quality of their work?

BTW, they left me with some kind of brand new Chevrolet mini car that we've christened the Chevy Horride (pronounced Hor-eed ) because it's so good.....NOT!

[braindead]

Got the GS back from UKI Assistance at Donnington yesterday. The lady on the phone said a driver would drive it to my work address then they delivered it on a lorry to my home address!

Seems to be a reasonable job. If I were picky, which I am, I'd make the following observations.

• They took it on Tuesday and didn't return it til the following Friday. Long time for the size of repair.
  
• I had to ring them a few times. They're not good at giving progress or dates
  
• They are inflexible. I could have done with the 2 inch square tow hook cover spraying. They wouldn't
  
• The new number plate has UKI Assistance emblazoned on it. Might as well have "it's been crashed" on it.
  
• The dash etc had been wiped with a wet rag or something so had wipe marks all over it.
  
• The tail pipes scraped as it came off the lorry.
  

All in all I'm satisfied, not really happy, just satisfied.

Malc