My Mazda's been damaged in an accident and will be taken to a bodyshop.
Since it's still in warranty it's been taken under the Mazda recovery scheme to a Mazda approved bodyshop.
However, my insurer - Tesco - wants it to go to one of their own.
Anyone got experience of the differences here ?
Should I leave it with the manufacturer's chosen repairer or have it moved to the insurer's chosen shop ?
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My thought would be to leave it with Mazda's bodyshop. The warranty requires any that any work done on the car is completed to the manufacturer's specification - who better than Mazda to ensure this?
Your insurer wants it to go to their bodyshop as they're probably getting the work done at a keener rate, but that's their problem, not yours.
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id go with mazda
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Thanks for the responses - I'll take your advice and stick with mazda.
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I had a bump (not my fault) when my car was 2 weeks old. It was repaired @ the Ins repairer. All was fine until some rust showed on the tailgate. Honda disowned it as it was a repair @ 3rd party bodyshop.
It took several months of letters before an adjuster came - they were trying to say it was over 3 years since the bump - the Std Honda Warranty was 6 years so I had lost out at the Insurance Company's benefit.
They then agreed to refurbish the back door after many letters to & fro - looks OK now.
If it had been the Honda Bodyshop it would have been done without question under the 6 year body warranty. Therefore Mazda should be your route to potentially saving future hassle.
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Most definately have the work done at Mazda approved repairer.If any problems arose from the repairs your warranty could be invalidated.In the past I had repair work done by my insurers repairers rather than VW.The work was appalling,I rejected the repairs three times.I could certainly have done the work better myself.I will never use my insurers to carry out repairs in future.
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I used one of these insurance company recommended body shops a few years ago when someone ploughed into the back of my last car, and wasn't at all impressed. The only advantage was was the provision of a loan car for a few days.
Clk Sec
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I would not use an insurance bodyshop. When my car was being fixed, my car was in repair for 3 months just to replace a panel, why? Because the repair agent used my car during this period, clocked up 3000 miles. I only discovered when my full tank of petrol suddenly became empty. I got a Mazda dealer to interrogate the ECU to retrieve the true mileage of the car (apparently they have discoonected the speed signal to the dashboard.
The repair agent was made to compensate and got struck off the insurance approval list. The agent to watch out is in Coventry, called Mxx.
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When someone drove in to my wifes Xsara after 3 months of owning it I decided to use the main dealer. Unfortunatly it led to big delays in getting repair approval, in fact so long that the 'at fault' paries insurane contacted us and we dealt direct this them.
Hoever I since learn't that our local citroen dealer was not an approved body shop and just took the car to the local fiat dealer which had a body shop.
The second time we had a bump we were with priviledge insurance and just used there approved garage, car collected, fixed in a few days, courtsey car and delivered back so to be honest I am tempted in the future just to use the insurance agents garage.
Cheers
Jlo
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bare in mind steVee that a mazda approved bodyshop is just that.........approved (it might still be bert and steve in the little lockup down the road ,hello steve)
basically you want to get mazda to approve the repairs are to their standard
i went to approved school (didnt really) but would you want me to work for you?
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sorry jlo i was tipping as you rote
missed your post
:-{
sorry
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No worries.
Just noticed my terrible spelling in my last post? Is there a way to edit posts?
Sorry this is off topic
Jlo
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bare in mind steVee that a mazda approved bodyshop is just that.........approved <<
a good point, bell boy.
It's now getting more involved as the car didn't go to the bodyshop it was supposed to - though mazda still tell me it's approved.
If they called out the recovery truck, why didn't it go to their first choice bodyshop ? Mazda - and the first bodyshop - appear to be as confused as I am.
I'm told it will take up to six weeks to repair :-(
I'll think twice about lending my car to the kids in future.
The opposing view also works though - there were no injuries.
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The only reason insurance companies insist on using their "approved" repairer is that they have contracts in place which basically say
"we will send you all our repair work in return for you charging us rock bottom prices and then giving us a discount - oh and waiting two months to be paid"
not surprisingly the standard of repair reflects the enthusiasm with which the repairer views this state of affairs.
Some years ago one of the leading insurers tried running its own bodyshops and gave it up as they couldn;t make them cost effective.
Conclusion - go for the manufacturer approved one wherever possible. As your vehicle is under warranty you ought to be able to insist - if you cant then demand written confirmation that they will indemnify you against any subsequent body warranty claims - you wont get it but just asking may scare them into doing what you want.
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How good does the Mazda approved one look and how good the Tesco approved one? Have both got full facilities or does one just have a spray-gun and a shed?
If things go wrong at the Mazda one you can complain to Mazda or to Tesco if their's goes wrong. Depends a lot on whose reputation you trust most and how good their repairer appears to be. If there's serious damage that requires experience of that model that could tip the balance in favour of the Mazda place.
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Some years ago I used to work in a bodyshop that was 'approved' by various insurance companies and we were their recommended repairers so to speak for the area. Our bodyshop was nothing fancy, only two or three dedicated staff (on the shop floor in the bodyshop) and was basically part of an traditional style service station. The service station also comprised of a mechanical workshop, MOT's, fuel pumps, recovery trucks etc.
Although we had nothing fancy, we had all of the right equipment for major repairs and we had a fleet of six or so loan cars. Because we were 'approved' it did mean that we had to work for rock bottom prices from the insurance companies, although without blowing our own trumpets we did do proper repairs on the customers cars the first time around. We had very few comebacks over all the years I was there.
Getting to my point, just down the road there was the main agent Renault dealer for the area. Their bodyshop comprised of what can only be described as a couple of lock-up garages, but they managed to do the job in the most part. But whatever they couldn't do would arrive at our bodyshop. That is things like chassis straightening and the more major repairs. Often we would do all of the straightening and the panel work and leave them to do the paintwork, sometimes we would complete the whole job
So imagine Joe Bloggs takes his heavily damaged Renault into their dealership to be repaired by their Renault bodyshop. What he didn't realise is that someone else would end up repairing his car (or at least the major straightening aspects of the repair). I suppose what I am trying to say is that the main dealer isn't always the best option as they may farm the work out elsewhere or may not actually have all of the equipment for doing the major repairs. At least with the approved repairers, the reason that they are approved is because they will do the work 'in house' and they will have all of the proper equipment for carrying out the repair. As for the standard of repair then that is just the luck of the draw, its only like taking your car for a service at an independant rather than a main dealer - it doesn't necessarily mean that the main dealer mechanic wiill be more competant than the independant one.
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I have had three repairs at three garages approved by the insurer, two were so bad, it ended with me suing them.
The third (G B Flint Coachworks Ltd) was used twice and was excellent, the car being returned visibly better than before the accident and the staff very efficient, friendly and courteous. It is always nice to get the car back looking rejuvinated rather than with healed battle scars.
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Would that be GB Flint's in Long Eaton, Derbyshire?
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as i said earlier a main dealer near me has a small lockup for body repairs
well away from customer prying eyes
they do a good job though
its the man that makes the job the tools just help
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I paid a visit to the local Citroen dealer's approved body shop not long ago, when I was looking to get some remedial work done to the paintwork on the C5's bumper, and I was not impressed with their facilities. I was also a bit puzzled to be told they were not VAT registered.
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My wife's Punto had a respray to the bonnet at an insurance-approved repaired at 1 year old.
3 months down the line, the car went into the main dealer for a warantee repair on the wipers. They were washing the car with a jetwash to return to us when great strips of paint came off the bonnet! Fortunately, this happened at the garage, as I never use a jetwash on the car.
They asked if the car had been repaired, and said the bonnet had been properly prepared prior to repainting, but nevertheless repainted it for us. I have to say, I didn't think the standard from the dealer was that great either, the car seemed to pick up stonechips incredibly easily after the repair, and we were glad to get shot of it. at the end of the lease.
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Yes Simon, that is where Budget/Post Office/Bell sent me, and it was fine.
The ones I had problems with were of a similar size, but a nightmare in every respect.
I would only ever choose one I have had a good experience with from now on and insist on using them.
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>>Yes Simon, that is where Budget/Post Office/Bell sent me, and it was fine.
I've dropped a few cars off there over the years to be repaired but I have never seen the end results. I did however pick up a Ferrari from them once which had gone in for repair, but once they had stripped the door off it they decided that it was more complex to repair the body than what they had thought. Hence I picked it up from their premises and took it to a specialist repairer.
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