What are the implications if someone chooses not to use a car repairer recommended by their insurance company?
A few months ago I scraped the left-hand rear door and bumper of my KIA cee’d against a wall. No other vehicle or person was involved. I decided to have the car repaired, but as I had not used my insurance company for about 10 years I phoned to ask the procedure. I did not know whether it would cost a few hundred pounds, whereby I would pay for the repairs myself, or a four-figure sum. I was not informed at the time by Liverpool Victoria that I would have to use its recommended repairer.
This I found very annoying as I had already spent time and money in obtaining estimates from the KIA dealer of Royston and Biggleswade from whom I bought the car, from another KIA dealer in Cambridge and a third East Anglia repairer near Cambridge. As all the estimates were between £1,330 and £1,380 I decided to have the repairs done by insurance. I was then told to obtain an estimate from their recommended repairer - a round trip of 66 miles. I wrote to LV Customer Services and someone phoned me and also, surprisingly, wrote back to me.
The main point of this letter was that that they like to control the repair. They offer a 5-year warranty on the repair. Incidentally the repair done by their repairer was £100 more than my cheapest estimate. My question is what are the insurance and legal implications if someone uses a respectable repairer and not the one recommended by the insurance company? I don't want to take this any further with Liverpool Victoria but the KIA main dealer would have done just as good a job.
This I found very annoying as I had already spent time and money in obtaining estimates from the KIA dealer of Royston and Biggleswade from whom I bought the car, from another KIA dealer in Cambridge and a third East Anglia repairer near Cambridge. As all the estimates were between £1,330 and £1,380 I decided to have the repairs done by insurance. I was then told to obtain an estimate from their recommended repairer - a round trip of 66 miles. I wrote to LV Customer Services and someone phoned me and also, surprisingly, wrote back to me.
The main point of this letter was that that they like to control the repair. They offer a 5-year warranty on the repair. Incidentally the repair done by their repairer was £100 more than my cheapest estimate. My question is what are the insurance and legal implications if someone uses a respectable repairer and not the one recommended by the insurance company? I don't want to take this any further with Liverpool Victoria but the KIA main dealer would have done just as good a job.
Asked on 10 February 2011 by JS, Melbourn, Cambs
Answered by
Honest John
If you commission the repair yourself but the insurer pays there is no comeback over a bad job because you have no contract with the repairer. If you use the insurer's repairer you do have comeback, against the insurer. But because you have no made a claim, your premium will go up and the combined hike over the next five years could be as much as the repair.
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