Hi All
Some of you may recall that I recently bought a ZT, and had an accident in it 2 hours after purchase. TBH, it felt like a minor accident - a van pulled out of a side road at low speed into the side of my car.
Well, it's now 6 weeks since the accident and I have been chasing the garage regularly to push forward the repair, but everything has been so slow....
I won't bore you with the whole story - suffice to say that I have had to chase every step of the way. I don't think they actually started work on the car for the first 4 weeks. Then they started work on the suspension but stopped as they decided it needed more parts than they originally thought, so they had to go back to the insurance company to approve.
Spoke to them again today and now they say it needs a new steering rack so it will take at least another week to finish the repair. So they've now had to stop work 3 times to get in new parts.
The other problem is that they say they only have 1 ramp for cars needing suspension work, so even when the parts arrive, it takes a few days to get the car back on the ramp - then they find they need more parts...
TBH I despair that I will ever see the car again!! I don't understand why they couldn't just work out from the beginning what work needed doing. Their excuse is that the insurance company will only authorise repair work on visible items, which means that other problems only become apparent once they have started work.
But this is such an inefficient process. By the time you add up the repair costs and the car hire charges, I would have thought the total bill would be ~£6k, which is not much less than I paid for the car. All this for a minor accident!
It's a long time since I last had an accident, but I don't recall the repair process taking more than a couple of weeks. So far this time, it's 6 weeks and I think it will be at least another 2 before I get the car back. Should it really take this long?
Sorry for the length of this rant, but I had to get it off my chest....
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It looks as though you are suffering from
a. Owning car for which parts supply may be a problem
b. A small garage without the capacity/equipment to deal with more than 1 car at a time
c. An insurance company who won't authorise a repair in one go -only step by step
The anser seems to be that it will take as long as it takes. Who chose the garage that is 'doing' the repair? You or the insurer?
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Cue RD40 so say there is NO delay in parts for a Rover...
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It was me that chose the garage, not the insurer. I deliberately chose them as they are a large outfit which specialises in repairing MG Rovers, as well as other marques.
As regards the parts supply, TBH, that is the one bit of good news. There doesn't seem to have been any problems in getting parts - wing, bumper, shock absorber, steering rack - all seem to be available and delivered in a couple of days.
I did think long and hard before buying the ZT - and the parts supply did worry me. But that doesn't seem to have been an issue here.
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"their excuse is that the insurance company will only authorise repair work on visible items"
When my Passat was damaged at the front from a collision on a roundabout it needed about £4000 repairs (few years ago too). I have no idea what parts needed replacing but I know it included:
- Driver side wing
- Bonnet
- Headlight unit
- Bumper
- All respraying
- Straightening part of the chassis on a jig (engine had to be removed)
- Lots of other bits no doubt
This was for a car still on-sale at the time so spares no problem. So I would say:
- It took at least 2 months to get it back and all authorisation had been got and the body shop had no problem with parts etc.
- I enjoyed the Alfa 156 2.0 JTS in the meantime ;-)
But before the insurance authorised anything they had the garage strip the car down to see what needed fixing/replacing. Sounds like this is the step that has been missed. How can they authorise without knowing cost. Mine was borderline write-off at the time I believe.
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rtj70
My accident was certainly smaller than yours. But you're right. I think the garage did a poor job in their initial assessment of the damage and we've been playing catch-up ever since.
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Thats the trouble with you choosing the repairer - if you had used the Insurance companies approved repairer they would be better intergated with that Insurers way of working.
I've had two significant repairs done recently both on Nissans (one my wifes and the others my fathers) at a local Ford dealers bodyshop, an approved repairer for both Saga and Admiral.
Both were done within 2 weeks of the accident (one week wait from inspection to taking it in and 1 week to do the job). In one case which wasn't driveable the inspection and courtesy car were arranged within 2 hours of the crash.
In both cases there was panel damage and in onesignificant front end components required (Radiator, air con radiator and intercooler)
SIMON
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Although I chose the repairer, I'm pretty sure it was on the insurer's approved list. It's just not that local to me - making it more difficult to turn up in person and push them to get on with the repair.
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Cue RD40 so say there is NO delay in parts for a Rover...
Aha, the usual suspect, and, acting to type, completely wrong (see OP's post below) :)
lol
R40
ps it's an MG ;)
Edited by R40 on 22/02/2008 at 19:23
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RD,
Even when you quote my post you don't read it.
All I said was you would pop up to claim there was no shortage of Rover parts.
And you did.
Also Rover/MG/whatever same crap different name.
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Also Rover/MG/whatever same crap different name.
Spoken from experience or just speculation!!!
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'Spoken from experience or just speculation!!!'
neither. Just ignorance ;)
Edited by R40 on 22/02/2008 at 19:54
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Don't start ! The OP asked for advice on a problem no reason to go down that well worn track.
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>> 'Spoken from experience or just speculation!!!' neither. Just ignorance ;)
I very nearly put that as a 3rd option, but I didn't want to wake PU from his evening nap, looks like you did it instead, you know he will be all grumpy for the rest of the evening now ;o)
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I should have learned my lesson from previous posts and not mentioned the make of car. My problem is nothing to do with the fact that the car is an MG Rover, but to do with the inefficiency of the garage - and that could apply to any make!
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I guess my gripe is with the repair process itself - the continous need for the garage to get everything approved by the insurance company - not with the garage itself.
Clearly, I want the garage to take the time to do a proper repair and, if they have decided that the steering rack needs replacing, it does sound like they're doing a thorough job.
But the whole thing has been immensely frustrating, not least because I only owned the car for 2 hours before the accident!
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"if they have decided that the steering rack needs replacing, it does sound like they're doing a thorough job."
It's an MG... so I'll pull your leg and jokingly say it was probably broken already ;-)
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No offence taken there. Suffice to say, the particular car I bought had only done 15k miles and honestly felt brand new. That's why it was all the more upsetting to be involved in an accident 2 hours after buying it!
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So Primera Man, did you sort out the worry over the hire car. With this dragging on I hope you're not at risk of owing anything for the hire car.
I'm sure this will all sort out soon. The fact the insurer has authorised some work will probably mean it will lose out if it thought the costs are getting too high. You might benefit from them now assessing this right to start with ;-)
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rtj70
Thanks, yes, I did sort out the hire car - but not without difficulty. After complaining several times to my insurer (along the lines of why should I be held responsible for the hire charges as a courtesy car is a benefit of my policy), I have eventually got it in writing that, whoever is ultimately blamed for the accident, there is no way they would seek the hire charges from me personally. At that point, I rather regretted insisting I swap the Jag X-Type for a Fiesta, but my wife refused to let me swap back.
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Just to let you know that I picked up the ZT yesterday. The total time to repair my car was 7 weeks, which I still think is too long. But it looks like the garage have done a very good job. TBH the paint match is very good and certainly I couldn't tell the car has been in an accident.
Not driven far yet - but will be using the car for work this week. My initial impressions are that it is a great driver's car and very powerful. Trying not to be too exuberant with the right foot, but it is very tempting - I put in £65 of unleaded as soon as I picked the car up from the garage and am not looking forward to working out mpg. I would like to get to 30mpg, but think that may be a bit hopeful.
When I raised the subject of buying a ZT some time ago, there were both positive and negative comments from you lot, but I did promise to let you know how it goes. Well, when I've had the car a bit longer, I'll let you have what I hope is an honest assessment.
I'll also have to change my user name....Can anyone tell me whether I need to set up a new account for that, or can I keep my existing profile with a different name?
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Don't worry about that last query - just seen how to change my user name....
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As you can see, I have changed my user name. Perhaps not very original, but I've got a British Racing Green ZT190+, hence the new name.....
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And your name is Andrew? :)
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Guess I asked for that, didn't I.....
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