How do I know damaged party isnt ripping me off?

M

Maireann

Registered User
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Hi all,
I have to get someone's car fixed that I damaged and they're very particular about the garage they want to use. It charges two or three times of what panel beaters have quoted me, so I'm a bit suspicious and wonder how do I know they're not getting something else fixed alongside the damage? Or doing some other deal with the garage owner who they seem to be quite friendly with. Do I have any rights at all in this situation?
Any advice much appreciated, this has never happened to me before!

Thanks a mill
 
Are you going through your insurance company or are you paying for this yourself?
And what sort of costs are being quoted to you?
 
Have you been provided with an estimate by the injured party, if the claim is big enough it will I guess be done through your Insurer in which case they will challenge it.

If not pay the repair bill yourself, it should include Vat, less likely there is any messing going on when Vat is payable and a legitimate invoice raised.

You are not on really solid ground here, if it were me you would be repairing through a main dealer.
 
Are you paying for this out of your own pocket or going through insurance? If the latter, leave the insurance company to deal with it.

It's feasible that the quoted figure is inflated. I was asked in the past if I wanted to have a repair bill maxed out (where someone else was picking up the tab). It may simply be the garage themselves also. I would bet that if you get a quote having told the garage that it's an insurance job, the price will be higher than if you hadn't volunteered this information.

As 'Palerider' says, you're not on solid ground despite the above. I'd imagine the other party can insist on main dealer repairs - and those will be higher in any event. You could ask the other party if its ok with him if he gets a quote from someone you suggest. You can ask this - but I'm not sure if he would be under any obligation to acquiesce to your request...?
 
If it were me I'd just go through the insurance, I'd have no contact with the damaged party.
 
@emeralds Im paying myself, it's not worth going through insurance and it's not me paying the insurance so I wouldn't want it to go up because of that. A bit over €600 in the garage vs anything between €200 and €300 if it was done by a panel beater
 
If the garage hands back €300 to the injured party after you have paid them will you be able to prove it? If they put 4 new tyres on the car or similar will you be able to prove it?

Most likely not. So either pay it and forget about it or put it through your insurance.

You also say that they are charging two or three times what panel beaters have quoted you. Was their car present when you got the quote or was this just an estimate without examination? There may be unseen damage to the car that is costing the extra monies to fix.
 
I have to say if my car was damaged by a third party I would be bringing it to the car dealership where it was bought to have it sorted, not a panel beater.
I can see for €300 in the difference that you may prefer to pay it yourself rather than go through the insurance but having no say in where it is fixed or the cost of fixing, is the price you have to pay for making that choice I think.
 
emeralds said:
I have to say if my car was damaged by a third party I would be bringing it to the car dealership where it was bought to have it sorted, not a panel beater.
I can see for €300 in the difference that you may prefer to pay it yourself rather than go through the insurance but having no say in where it is fixed or the cost of fixing, is the price you have to pay for making that choice I think.
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Where do you think that most of the maindealers get their bodywork done, the very same panel beater that you wouldn't go to. But then they add on their own 50 - 100 %.

As per your second point, even if you do go through the insurance you still have no say in where it is repaired or indeed even if it is repaired at all.
 
SparkRite said:
Where do you think that most of the maindealers get their bodywork done, the very same panel beater that you wouldn't go to. But then they add on their own 50 - 100 %.
Click to expand...

THey might, but if they do, they have a guy who looks at the end result, and knows whether it is a decent job or not, and knows whether to send it back to the panel beater to be redone.
 
SparkRite said:
Where do you think that most of the maindealers get their bodywork done, the very same panel beater that you wouldn't go to. But then they add on their own 50 - 100 %.
Click to expand...
To be honest I don't really care. What I do care about is that it is my choice where to go and who to use, not the choice of the person who caused the damage in the first place.
 
emeralds said:
To be honest I don't really care. What I do care about is that it is my choice where to go and who to use, not the choice of the person who caused the damage in the first place.
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Absolutely, and that is the way it is.

I thought you were just dismissing "the local panel beater" in favour of a main franchise, automatically thinking that you would be getting a better job.

Personally I would want to bring it to a guy I know who does good work whether he works down a lane or works in a shiny new big garage.
 
emeralds said:
To be honest I don't really care. What I do care about is that it is my choice where to go and who to use, not the choice of the person who caused the damage in the first place.
Click to expand...

I've been in this situation - and wouldn't insist on a main dealers unless the other party had seriously ****ed me off!
 
Like serotoninsid I have been in this situation and what I done was I went to a repair shop which is approved by a number of the Insurance companies and is used by 3 or 4 of the main dealers in the area and got my quote and all was agreed. In the course of the discussion he told me the main dealers do a 30-40% mark up on his price for doing nothing. There are very few main dealers with their own repair workshops nowadays. I would also agree with the comments of SparkRite.
 
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