Reporting dodgy repair quotes

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bq67ie

Registered User
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Hi all.

Bit of an odd case here.

Our motorhome was damaged recently, and we sent if off to someone for a repair quote. The quote came back at an eye-watering €65K

We asked for a quote from a second provider (an established market-leader in Ireland) and got a quote for the same work, but for €35K. Almost the entire difference was down to labour.

Not surprisingly, our insurance company authorised repair at the cheaper provider, which I'm perfectly happy with.

Went to retrieve my vehicle from the first place - the €65K quote - and was told I would have to pay almost €3K for storage, for approximately the month it had been with them since they quoted for repairs

This was never called out in advance, never agreed to, we were never contacted about removal - it was literally the first I heard of it.

What I do have, is a quote from that same provider for motorhome storage, indoor, for 12 months, for €1200 total.

I rang them to query this and was told the insurance company would cover it, why was I even worried about it.

Really annoyed about this. Don't like someone trying to take me for a ride, and don't like this fleecing of insurance companies. I've no connection to any insurance company but this sort of crap is what drives up the cost of cover for anyone.

I'd love to report them for their behaviour and inflated quotes but don't know where I should go. Any advice?
 
Your insurance company?

Fee sounds excessive and their comment on the insurance company paying it seems cheeky.
 
Thanks for the reply. I did that. Apologies, should have called that out in the first post.

I know there's regulatory bodies for the actual insurance companies, wondering if there is one for the other side. There is nothing on yer man's website to indicate membership of any organisation that might be interested.
 
I have some sympathy for the first repairer, not a whole lot, but some..

A month is a long time to be storing a beast of a vehicle. The repairer being responsible while in their care, I believe you have some responsibility there.

They’re not a small vehicle by any means.

The cynic in me thinks the €35k repair will have supplements on final invoice, rising to a larger repair bill, possibly priced to get the green light..

The original repairer may have seen a possible write off opportunity on the vehicle leading to a nice salvage and maybe even a sale to go with it.

Double the Labour cost is usually pricing the vehicle into a write-off situation as the garage can set their rate at any level they like.

I’d be surprise if the insurance company stumped up the storage cost, they usually don’t, unless they themselves direct the vehicle to a garage or holding area!!
 
They have no right to refuse to release your vehicle if you don’t pay, thus treating it as collateral for what they argue is a debt. Same goes for any any garage repairs/servicing etc.

They can subsequently pursue you independently for the 3000 if they think it’s owed but given that a storage fee was never mentioned, much less agreed upon, they wouldn’t seem to have much of a case.
 
There is no one you can report them to since you have no legal contract with them and since there is no real regulation of the sector (SIMI are a joke)

Chalk it down to experience but the saga reminds me of getting quote from builders where grants can be involved, there's the cash price, the non-cash price and the price if you are getting a grant.
 
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thedaddyman said:
There is no one you can report them to since you have no legal contract with them and since there is no real regulation of the sector
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Even if there was a contract, there is no illegal activity here, nothing dodgy. A repair business are free to charge what they want. They risk pricing themselves out of the market if they take it too far but it is the consumers responsibility to shop around.
 
You can report them to the CCPC. You are a consumer and they did not comply with any of the rules around providing information about pricing to you. That is an unfair practice. Plenty of rules against it.
 
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