Do garages inflate their prices when its an insurance job?

molly44 · 01-11-2011, 14:36

had a little coming together with a ford Mondeo a 2008 model and i was driving a old 95 micra. i overtook this bloke and when i pulled back in a misjudged it and touched his offside front wing, just a little touch, but anyhow we both pulled over and i could not believe the size of the dent in the wing. it was around four inches long and about an inch wide. on my micra, there was a thin strip of paint that had rubbed off on the nearside rear bumper. really no damage at all, but the bloke wanted to go through insurance anyway. so we did but i got a call back from him and they want to charge £ 700 to change the front wing!. now is that a rip off or what? what are the wings on a Mondeo made of. it certainly seems to dent easily

truman · 01-11-2011, 14:40

He needs to be talking to your insurance company...but his new wing will need spraying which isn't a cheap job..plus the labour to take the old one off and fit the new one..if it's done at a main dealers then the price is probably right..

Magilla · 01-11-2011, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by molly44

had a little coming together with a ford Mondeo a 2008 model and i was driving a old 95 micra. i overtook this bloke and when i pulled back in a misjudged it and touched his offside front wing, just a little touch, but anyhow we both pulled over and i could not believe the size of the dent in the wing. it was around four inches long and about an inch wide. on my micra, there was a thin strip of paint that had rubbed off on the nearside rear bumper. really no damage at all, but the bloke wanted to go through insurance anyway. so we did but i got a call back from him and they want to charge £ 700 to change the front wing!. now is that a rip off or what? what are the wings on a Mondeo made of. it certainly seems to dent easily

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I had a quote to re-spray a scratched (but undinted) rear wing and that was £560 over 6 years ago.

molly44 · 01-11-2011, 14:49

thanks for the reply s, i just thought they saw an opening to make a few extra bucks from it. its all going through insurance anyhow, but its a big excess for me so it was a expensive little bump from my point of view. i know before anyone says, my fault! yes i know, just these things happen sometimes, luckily it was a low speed one and one one was injured.

truman · 01-11-2011, 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by molly44

thanks for the reply s, i just thought they saw an opening to make a few extra bucks from it. its all going through insurance anyhow, but its a big excess for me so it was a expensive little bump from my point of view. i know before anyone says, my fault! yes i know, just these things happen sometimes, luckily it was a low speed one and one one was injured.

Is you excess more than £700?

alchresearch · 01-11-2011, 14:58

I would imagine that everything has to be itemised and they check all costs against an average.

willman · 01-11-2011, 15:00

the difference is that insurance companies insist on new parts and all the labour that it entails.
At least you aren't paying it personally so the cost doesn't matter a great deal.

You wouldn't believe the number of cars being written off because new parts aren't available.

I'd still be a little cynical as well if it was me.

molly44 · 01-11-2011, 15:01

no five, so i will have to fork out £500. for that. ha that's twice what i paid for my car!. but you live and learn. look in your left hand mirror harder before you pull in.

Bluelight · 01-11-2011, 17:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by molly44

no five, so i will have to fork out £500. for that. ha that's twice what i paid for my car!. but you live and learn. look in your left hand mirror harder before you pull in.

And dont forget your next insurance premium could be a lot more to pay aswell.

TheGuy · 01-11-2011, 17:06

The prices some places charge for such minor jobs are ridiculous.

Tripitaka · 01-11-2011, 17:07

In regards to the OP's questions - yes indeed they do, along with their insurer clients/owners from time to time...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14946628

dan2802 · 01-11-2011, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by molly44

thanks for the reply s, i just thought they saw an opening to make a few extra bucks from it. its all going through insurance anyhow, but its a big excess for me so it was a expensive little bump from my point of view. i know before anyone says, my fault! yes i know, just these things happen sometimes, luckily it was a low speed one and one one was injured.

You dont pay an excess for damage to other peoples property, only if your claiming for damage to your own vehicle.

molly44 · 01-11-2011, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan2802

You dont pay an excess for damage to other peoples property, only if your claiming for damage to your own vehicle.

really i didnt know that. i have been driving for 20 years and this is my first accident in the car, ( had a few on my mountain bike, involving cars) so its the first time i have had to notify insurance company. so i was under the impression the excess was for any claim under my policy

AJ sheffield · 01-11-2011, 22:35

The lads I know in the trade all ramp up the prices for insurance repairs.

Lucifer · 02-11-2011, 09:17

Insurance companies generally only what to know the repairment labour costs because car parts are standard costs.

lee79 · 02-11-2011, 09:53

Garages that deal with insurance companies are a law to themselves.

I sent a car in a couple of years back for a bump in the drivers side towards the rear.

Their work involved;

-breaking my radio (they called me to ask how long it had not been working for-when I'd had no problems with it at all),
-stopping my main key from opperating the central locking or starting the engine
-dis-lodging some of the air vents in front console when they removed it to repair the external body-work, that was at the rear of the car,
-getting paint all over the area they were working on (door handle and tyres)
-and using my boot to put someone elses licence plate in (the guys denied this to their manager, but I still had it).

Then they told me that they were waiving the excess, this I thought was due to them causing my radio to stop working as I was unaware of the rest. Then they claimed no such thing.

Eventually I did get the excess payed by them but I had to involve their area manager.

truman · 02-11-2011, 09:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee79

Garages that deal with insurance companies are a law to themselves.

I sent a car in a couple of years back for a bump in the drivers side towards the rear.

Their work involved;

breaking my radio (they called me to ask how long it had not been working for-when I'd had no problems with it at all),

stopping my main key from opperating the central locking or starting the engine

dis-lodging some of the air vents in front console when they removed it to repair the external body-work, that was at the rear of the car,

getting paint all over the area they were working on (door handle and tyres)

and using my boot to put someone elses licence plate in (the guys denied this to their manager, but I still had it).

Then they told me that they were waiving the excess, this I thought was due to them causing my radio to stop working as I was unaware of the rest. Then they claimed no such thing.

Eventually I did get the excess payed by them but I had to involve their area manager.

You should have complained to your insurance company...

lee79 · 02-11-2011, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by truman

You should have complained to your insurance company...

I did, they said that they were sending out a form to fill in, but once I'd got it sorted I didn't bother sending it back. Just glad to had got it sorted-in their defence the manager (who was on holiday at the time) and the area manager were quick in sorting the problem out.

convert · 02-11-2011, 10:38

Most garages charge differnet labour rates for insurance / warranty / retail / internal work.

The parts are also supplied at varying levels of discount.

(Speaking as someone who worked as an accountant in the motor trade for 10 years)

Grandad.Malky · 02-11-2011, 11:02

If the boot was on the other foot people wouldn’t want their car in a back street garage, the dent bodged up with filler and a quick paint job.