Quick insurance question with regards to a car crash/knock

Kev.

Well it finally happened,I got a small knock on my Golf GTI

Basically a fellow reversed into me when I was driving along in a car park,
This caused some minor damage to the side of my car,scrapes along the passenger door and mirror and a scrape to my precious alloys

The chap admitted liability,I asked him does he want to sort it out between us and he said he had no money and wanted to go through his insurance.

Anyway,his insurance company sent a mechanic out to me to assess the damage and told me he would write up a claim,submit it and itll be sorted out next week

Tonight I was talking to my friend and he told me to insist that all repairs be carried out by a Volkswagen dealership as a bad repair job would be worse than the marks that are on it now,which is understandable,
he also said that they wont fix my alloys as they are 18inch replicas and to"suggest"that I would need to get a new set of 17inch originals from them

Would anybody have any advise on this from a legal perspective for me please

Thanks in advance

Kev

-Chris-

Not sure about legal perspective, but recommending a VW dealer is unusual advice - very few main dealers have their own bodyshops. I'd think your mate is waffling - ignore him.

Most insurance companies only use very good bodyshops, they don't tend to scrimp and save. Find out who they want to use and post the name here to see if anyone has any experience.

As for the alloys - I don't understand the question. Why wouldn't they fix replicas? How bad is the damage? Why do you want to go down a size?
Insurance is to bring your car back to the condition it was before the accident, not to give you upgrades to your car. I don't now if you can ask for original alloys to replace your replicas.

biggus

Maybe ask for a contrbution towards depreciation as you get near final negotiations with the ascessor. perhaps 10% of the value of the car.

-Chris-

You'll get 10% of the cost of repairs afaik. No more than that.

Locamon

In my experience you should have went and had the damage assessed in the garage of your choice first... quotes for this stuff are free... on showing this to the insurance guy he would have discussed any variation with your garage and agreed the final claim... just my experience of the same thing. You should still be able to get the repairs done where you want.

Can see your friend's point if parts were needed but if it is just bodywork not sure what difference which garage does the work. If you are having any problem get your insurance company to sort it out that's what they get paid for.

Kev.

-Chris- wrote: »

As for the alloys - I don't understand the question. Why wouldn't they fix replicas? How bad is the damage? Why do you want to go down a size?
Insurance is to bring your car back to the condition it was before the accident, not to give you upgrades to your car. I don't now if you can ask for original alloys to replace your replicas.

Thanks guys for your help,

The problem lies in the fact that volkswagen wont fix the small damage done because they are scrapped and are chrome alloys,thats why my mate said that the only thing they can do is order you a new set ,which Volkswagen only stock original 17s,so if I wanted it sorted I would have to accept them

Thanks in advance

Kev

-Chris-

But presumably you can buy another replica alloy?

Kev.

Can you buy 1?