Motor Car damage - independent assessor?

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leah

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Yesterday a joyrider crashed into my (10 month old) parked car and drove it into 3 other parked cars beside it. At the recommendation of the car insurance company they had it towed to their 'aligned' garage for a repair quote.

My understanding from speaking to the insurance company was that an independent assessor would be assigned and would take a look at it next week. The garage would give a quote for the repairs and the assessor would give the go ahead if he deemed it appropriate. I called over to the garage this morning to collect some belongings from the car and got talking to the owner of the garage who informed me that he was BOTH the assessor and the person giving the repair quote. Can this be right? Where is the objectivity here? I'm really confused about this as I've never had an accident before and feel I'm being had.
The other thing is as the car is only 10 months old and the side and back of it is completely wrecked, will my warranty be null and void if I have new parts fitted a non-Opel approved dealer. I'd really appreciate a steer on this guys. Thanks in advance.
 
Are you the first registered owner of this vehicle? If so I'd be pushing for the vehicle to be replaced.

If you aren't the first registered owner, you have the right to get your vehicle repaired where you like and not be coerced by the insurance company. Of course they'd prefer you to use their repairer but you are not obliged to. Their assessor will liaise with whichever repairer to get the best deal for the insurance company regardless.

If repairing is your only option then you should also be looking for depreciation - other posters should be able to give you some idea of percentages, as I haven't a clue (sorry).

Don't forget car hire so that you are not inconvenienced or loss of use if the insurance company are not willing/able to provide hire, (if you are a younger driver for instance).

Fight your corner and refuse to be intimidated, best of luck :)
 
Thank you so much Wednesday that's really helpful and useful information.

It's so stressful when something like this happens and you find yourself being rail-roaded down a path you really don't know anything about (and may not be in your best interests) by the insurance company you've been loyal to over the years and never claimed against in the past while owing a small fortune on a car that someone wrecked for the fun of it...
 
Assessor and repairer should NOT be the same person. Phone insurance company and tell them, as to be honest, they may not be aware of the situation. The Assessor should be totally independent of the repairer.
 
Leah if you are unhappy with the decision of the assessor appointed by the insurance co. you may at your expense mind, engage your own assessor. who will make his report and speak with the assessor appointed by the insurance co, usually the meet in the middle which benefits you ...
 
Most insurance policies I've had have had a clause that a car under 1 year old will be replaced rather than repaired. Is your car 10 months old, or have you had it for 10 months? As Wednesday says, if it's less than a year old, look for replacement rather than repair.
 
Thank you all so much for your helpful advice which I took onboard and had the car moved to the Opel dealer where I bought it 10 months ago as new.

An engineer examined it there and said that from what he could see, there was structural damage to the tune of €8700 done to the car but reckons that they wont know the exact estimate for repair till they get it down to the body shop.

I've just been reading through the generic policy document from Allianz which states that in order to have the car replaced as new, it must be less than a year old and have less than 24,000 Km on the clock (which is the case) and the repair estimate must be in excess of 60% of the new list price of the car. In my case €9k is less than 60% of the new list price. It's so frustrating as repairing the car will never give me back the peace of mind I paid for when I bought a new car 10 months ago.

Does anyone know how strictly they adhere to their car replacement policies and should I stand my ground with them and like Britvic55 suggests, pay an independent assessor?
 
what is the current list price of the car?

Who is the 'engineer' who examined it in Opel garage? Is he different from the 'assessor' who examined it before? You do not have to give the names, simply describe as A and B. If it is the same person, he still has a conflict of interest.

Insurer should be informed that he owns a garage; saw the car and that you are not happy with him to continue with the assessment.
 
Ravima
The list price of the car is 25,695 (basic Insignia model)

The Opel dealer I went to had a 'Body Shop' for parts etc and they got an 'engineer' to put the car up on the ramp and have a look at it

Just to be clear, the original garage it was towed to, where the insurance assessor was the repairer, was not the Opel dealer I subsequently moved the car to.
 
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Then is the 'engineer' an employee of the Opel garage, or an independent assessor? I stand over my initial view that if insurer is aware that their assessor also owns a garage, then he is not 'independent'.

You should get your own assessor to see the car. At least with his report, you will have some documentation to argue/debate with insurer.

On the other hand, was the 'joyrider' caught/identified? If he was simply an uninsured driver, as opposed to a 'joyrider', by which term I understand to be a car thief, then the insurer of the offending car may be involved, rather than MIBI. That being the case, when you add on depreciation to your car following repairs, that insurer may be willing to give you a new car.
 
Thank you Ravima,

I take your point and will get an independent assessor.

The joyrider was an opportunist drug addict (out of his head) who jumped into a car that had been left unattended while the driver went upstairs to her office.

The joyrider was caught and arrested but has 'no means'.

The stuff of nightmares all round I'm afraid...
 
The MIBI should deal with the matter once the offender has been identified.
 
That is up to you. You will have to force your own insurers to recover from the MIBI.
 
You cannot claim depreciation from your own insurance. The insurer of the offending car is not liable and afaik, if you have comp cover, you cannot claim of the MIB. The irony of what you say is, if your Opel Dealer is not a specialist body repairer, and do not have their own body shop, they will sublet out the repairs to another garage you know nothing about, ie: Fred in the shed. Your insurance company would have set standards for a bodyshop to be an approved repairer. You also would be in a much stronger position should problems occur post repair.
 
You are entitled to recover from the offender via the MIBI regardless of what insurance you have.
 
The MIBI is there, for when you have no other means or alternative of recovering your losses. If you have comp cover, you have a means. Each year one of the main Insurance Companys take it in turn to stand over such claims, next year it rotates to another, ie, Axa for 2013 and Aviva 2014 and so on. That has been my understanding.
 
If you have comprehensive cover, you MUST claim from your own policy. Your NCB is NOT affected because all insurers have an agreement with MIBI for that. You will be able to claim car hire, depreciation, policy excess and any other out of pocket expenses from MIBI. They will appoint another Irish insurer to deal with your claim.

From the description you have given, I would think it very likely that MIBI will ask insurer of the offending car to deal with the claim.
 
Ravima thank you very much.

I'm attaching a photo of the scene (hope I'm allowed to do that on AAM). The silver car on the far right is the stolen car (the person left keys in the ignition and the car running when the opportunist joyrider jumped in). The stolen car crashed into my car (black car) at full speed and pushed it into the other cars. Is that the sort of information I should provide MIBI with? By the way the joyrider was caught and arrested and I'm assuming that the insurance on the stolen car is void as it was unattended with the keys in it?

[broken link removed]
 
Void on the basis of settling the owners accidental damage claim for his vehicle but not when it comes to settling claims to third parties!
 
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