Firstly it depends whether the accident was your fault or not.
There seems to be some dispute over liability here.
Head-on collisions (especially on narrow lanes) are often deemed to be 50:50 if there are no independent witnesses unless you can show from skidmarks that the other driver was speeding or over the central line.
My insurance colleagues offer a free liabilit and accident investigation service so if you give me more details of the accident via asklucy@honestjohn.co.uk I will be better able to assess liability.
The reason liability matters is that if the other driver can be shown to be at fault then you have much greater control over where your car is repaired as you should be making the claim directly against the third party insurer.
By doing so you can choose who undertakes the repair - HOWEVER - you are under a duty to mitigate your costs so if the third party can show that the vehicle could have been repaired to a similar standard at a cheaper price elsewhere but you still insist that the VW dealer undertakes the repair then you will have to cover the difference between the prices. Moreover the costs of moving the vehicle to your choice of repairer can be covered and a courtesy car provided.
Dealing directly with a third party insurer is not for the faint-hearted especially if liability is disputed so if you need help with this, again come back to me
In the event that you were at fault, or partially at fault, and hence expect your insurer to provide a courtesy car and settle the claim you are in a considerably weaker position and most insurers put barriers up to persuade you not to go outside their repairer network.
These typically include refusal to prrovide a courtesy car (which is legal) and others which may be of more dubious legality.
If the accident was your fault (or partially your fault) and you press the issue of where you want your car to be repaired then most insurers will accommodate you. But again if the estimate is considerably higher than somewhere else which could reasonably be expected to effect a decent repair then you could face the bill for the difference.
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