Car Crash - 2nd Opinion?

boomer_ie

Hi guys,

One of our fleet vehicles suffered an accident at the weekend (ran into the back of another car), the driver did the usual exchange of details etc and the guards dropped by and had a look. They said that they felt the cost of damage to the other car was €500 and to ours was €2000.

The partner? of the other driver (she was female, the person ringing was male) rang us today and said that the garage told them the damage came to €2,500. We just happened to be in with our garage who having looked at the pictures of the damage to the other car and his price lists said that the damage to the car was more around €400 for materials and at most a similar amount for labour. We rang back the individual and asked him to get a second opinion and nominated the garage that had looked at our vehicle (and said ours was going to cost between €1,000 and €2,000).

My question is are we entitled to ask for a second opinion, and if so can the other party refuse?

I myself (as MD of the company) will be ringing the individual tomorrow to see if there is any middle ground (put it this way for €2,500 - €3,000 estimated joint costs it would be madness to go through the insurance companies). If they are not willing to get it looked at our nominated garage then I will be handing it over to the insurance company and their assessor to deal with.

Any suggestions?

crosstownk

The other party is entitled to get their car repaired where they want.

However, you can get you insurance company to send an assesor out to inspect the car - this doesn't mean you'll have to proceed with the claim. But at least you will have your second opinion.

colm_mcm

In fairness, the guards are hardly in a position to estimate damage costs

crosstownk

Is it a leased vehicle? If it is then maybe you have a maintenance contract which may or may not include accident management. If so, then let the leasing company look after it.

colm_mcm

My gut feeling is that if these guys are trying to shaft you on the price of the repair, there's a good chance they'll put in a claim for whiplash as well.

Seth Brundle

I was under the impression that the OP was entitled to get a 2nd quote. As long as the repairs are done then it doesn't matter.

boomer_ie

colm_mcm wrote:

In fairness, the guards are hardly in a position to estimate damage costs

Well considering they got the estimate for our car spot on and the fact that their estimate is fairly close to that of the garage (who saw pictures of the car) and got a description of the incident.

boomer_ie

Unfortunately we dont have a maintenance contract, the driver covered all bases by ensuring that the guards witnessed a refusal of treatment at scene (the vehicle in question is a Ambulance Car and the driver an EMT) so that should mitigate any attempts to claim for whiplash...

colm_mcm

It's very easy to presume that a car in a rear impact just needs a new bumper, and this can often seem the case from looking at a photo, there could be damage that the bumper is hiding.

€500 sounds like just a new bumper

oleras

colm_mcm wrote:

there's a good chance they'll put in a claim for whiplash as well.

Which they are more than entitled to if they are injured...... No ?

oleras

boomer_ie wrote:

Unfortunately we dont have a maintenance contract, the driver covered all bases by ensuring that the guards witnessed a refusal of treatment at scene (the vehicle in question is a Ambulance Car and the driver an EMT) so that should mitigate any attempts to claim for whiplash...

Your EMT aint psychic, how would he know what they would feel like in the morning after the accident ?

colm_mcm

oleras wrote:

Which they are more than entitled to if they are injured...... No ?

pity you left the first half of the quote out!

colm_mcm wrote:

if these guys are trying to shaft you on the price of the repair, there's a good chance they'll put in a claim for whiplash as well.

crosstownk

kbannon wrote:

I was under the impression that the OP was entitled to get a 2nd quote. As long as the repairs are done then it doesn't matter.

Thats quite possible, but I always insist on the same garage for all body repairs (in Dublin anyway). A lot of times this creates hassle, especially when my repairer is not on the 'approved' insurance company's list of repairers. Different insurance companies have different authorised repairers.

Ultimately, if its an insurance claim, the insurance company will send out an assesor who will estimate the repairs using a standardised system such as Glassmatix ot Thatcham Times. Once the figure is agreed between the bodyshop and the insurer then they are usually happy to have repairs proceed.

crosstownk

oleras wrote:

Your EMT aint psychic, how would he know what they would feel like in the morning after the accident ?

Quite true - they have a period of 3 (it could be 2, I'm not sure) years to put in a claim. Obviously the longer it's left the less likely it becomes. Anyway, if a claim is put in then it will be an insurance job - which is why you should notify you insurance company irrespective of whether or not you will claim for repairs to the vehicles.

oleras

colm_mcm wrote:

pity you left the first half of the quote out!

You said yourself you cant give an estimate from a picture, who knows whats bent under the car.....So why would you say they were trying to shaft the OP by their price of repair ?

boomer_ie

oleras

You should note that I said should mitigate not prevent a claim, in otherwords treatment by a qualified person was offered on scene yet all parties specifically stated that they were ok and were not injured, this has been recorded by the Gardai who were present. It will make it harder, but not impossible, to prove that the whiplash is as a result of the accident.

As for the costing of parts the garage told us that parts (including mounting bracket that was alleged to be bent) came to €400 and labour was at most the same as stated so the difference between €800 and €2500 cannot be explained, even more so when they said that €1200 was for 3 days labour, our car which had the most visible damage will take one possibly two days to repair and labour is included in the earlier estimate.

boomer_ie

crosstownk wrote:

Quite true - they have a period of 3 (it could be 2, I'm not sure) years to put in a claim. Obviously the longer it's left the less likely it becomes. Anyway, if a claim is put in then it will be an insurance job - which is why you should notify you insurance company irrespective of whether or not you will claim for repairs to the vehicles.

We have of course notified the Insurance company but have told them that we may not proceed to claim against them but did outline the issue we are having, they are getting back to me wiht paperwork etc

oleras

boomer_ie wrote:

oleras

You should note that I said should mitigate not prevent a claim, in otherwords treatment by a qualified person was offered on scene yet all parties specifically stated that they were ok and were not injured, this has been recorded by the Gardai who were present. It will make it harder, but not impossible, to prove that the whiplash is as a result of the accident.

As for the costing of parts the garage told us that parts (including mounting bracket that was alleged to be bent) came to €400 and labour was at most the same as stated so the difference between €800 and €2500 cannot be explained, even more so when they said that €1200 was for 3 days labour, our car which had the most visible damage will take one possibly two days to repair and labour is included in the earlier estimate.

cool bananas....im just playing devils advocate....:D

boomer_ie

oleras wrote:

cool bananas....im just playing devils advocate....:D

just making sure the facts are clear

colm_mcm

this isn't some mad coincidence?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054988982

boomer_ie

colm_mcm wrote:

this isn't some mad coincidence?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054988982

Coincidence yes, our driver was male and in an ambulance