Insurance surprise - whats going on

Christ0pher

Is this unusual? My car was crashed into a while back and the other driver admitted liability. I claimed off his insurance - they sent an assessor out and he advised I bring it to a local body shop. I did so and the body shop quoted the insurance company about 2,000 to repair the car.
The body shop guy also said to me that they could do a patch up for about 700 quid. This was said verbally to me - they meant that they could repair panels rather than replace them and then respray.
So the insurance company say they will send a cheque for 2 grand to me directly - in my name. And that I can then have it repaired with whomever I wish.

My question - is it unusual that the insurance would issue a cheque to me - I assumed that they would wait to be invoiced by the body shop?

Does this mean I could get the "patch" job and then have 1,300 left over ? Surely this couldn't be the case ?

Wossack

you could choose to not get it repaired at all, and pocket the entire 2k

tis up to you alright

spockety

Take the 2K, put it in an account somewhere, and use it to pay the inevitable loading your policy is going to have on it for the next 5 years.

Jacknory

spockety wrote: »

Take the 2K, put it in an account somewhere, and use it to pay the inevitable loading your policy is going to have on it for the next 5 years.

Your insurance should not be affected if you are claiming off someone elses insurance.

CiniO

spockety wrote: »

Take the 2K, put it in an account somewhere, and use it to pay the inevitable loading your policy is going to have on it for the next 5 years.

But he didn't claim from his insurance, but the other person's one.

bbam

spockety wrote: »

Take the 2K, put it in an account somewhere, and use it to pay the inevitable loading your policy is going to have on it for the next 5 years.

Rubbish.
I was in a similar position an my insurance only went up for one year while the case was open. Following year it was back down to pre accident level.
I was told it would only stay up if a % of the liability was deemed to be mine and payable by my insurer.
Even at that It went up by less than 10%

Wolverine_1999

Someone went into the back and I did this just to teach them a lesson. The damage to the car was minimal.. but a respray was still advised. (T-cut did the job nicely )

That'll teach them to keep their bloody eyes on the road ahead of them!

Christ0pher

It really surprises me. Wouldn't it be in the Insurers interest to have it repaired at a trusted centre? That way the actual parts & labour would match the actual settlement amount. And all of our insurance would be cheaper?

I'm kind of torn here - yes I'd love to have 1,300 for free. Or as compensation for the accident and time lost going about for quotations etc.

But also I'm sort of amazed that the insurance company is so lax - with OUR money at the end of the day. It's your premium and mine that get paid out in settlements.

Arrrgh. I dunno how to feel !:(

Wossack

you've suffered 2000e worth of damages - the insurance company is giving you 2000e

Im not too sure whats so lax about it...

krissovo

Sounds simple.

€2k to repair the damage and pay full VAT through the books.
€700 to bodge (panel beat, filler and patch spraying) and I expect cash only.

Christ0pher

Wossack wrote: »

you've suffered 2000e worth of damages - the insurance company is giving you 2000e

Im not too sure whats so lax about it...

As I said - they have no check to ensure the 2000e they give out actually results in 2000e in reciepts and labour from the bodyshop. Why not wait for a verifiable invoice with parts easily checkable from a trusted centre? Why do they have "centres" if they issue cheques based on any old body shop quote.

Open to major abuse in my opinion. What if my mate Dave who works in a bodyshop sends in a quote for 2500 ? See the problem?

opinion guy

Christ0pher wrote: »

It really surprises me. Wouldn't it be in the Insurers interest to have it repaired at a trusted centre? That way the actual parts & labour would match the actual settlement amount. And all of our insurance would be cheaper?

I'm kind of torn here - yes I'd love to have 1,300 for free. Or as compensation for the accident and time lost going about for quotations etc.

But also I'm sort of amazed that the insurance company is so lax - with OUR money at the end of the day. It's your premium and mine that get paid out in settlements.

Arrrgh. I dunno how to feel !:(

2000 to put things back the way they were before the accident. 2000 is the value of damage done that your are entitled to be compensated for. IF you choose to get a **** job done instead that's your business, but you will have been compensated to the full value of damages done.

CiniO

Christ0pher wrote: »

As I said - they have no check to ensure the 2000e they give out actually results in 2000e in reciepts and labour from the bodyshop. Why not wait for a verifiable invoice with parts easily checkable from a trusted centre? Why do they have "centres" if they issue cheques based on any old body shop quote.

Open to major abuse in my opinion. What if my mate Dave who works in a bodyshop sends in a quote for 2500 ? See the problem?

If your mate Dave does that too many time, he will end up in court.
Don't worry about insurers - they know how to save their money.

In that case no matter if it's going to be 1800 or 2200 in real, they prefer to trust some garage estimate instead of sending their engineer onsite.
However if damage was worths 20 grand, I'm sure they would take a more through look on it.

Gary ITR

The point is it'll cost 2k to return the car to its pre crash condition. The 700 job won't do this but it's your car so your choice.

conzy

Christ0pher wrote: »

Open to major abuse in my opinion. What if my mate Dave who works in a bodyshop sends in a quote for 2500 ? See the problem?

You could also roll the car off a pier and say it was stolen? its also insurance fraud and will land you in jail, I suppose some people chance it but 99% dont

Wossack

again though, you dont have to spend the 2k on your car. You are entitled to pocket it

You've suffed 2000e worth of damages
You've been reimbursed 2000e

Tis all even in the eyes of the insurance company. Its not really money to spend on getting the car back to how it was before the accident - because it'll never be the same, no matter how much money they throw at it. It'll always be a crashed car. So consider it really as compensation..

If they did suspect anything untoward in your claim, they'll send out an acessor, and perhaps ask that you get another quote in a nominated garage. Doesnt sound like this happened here, so they must be happy with the quote based on the report of the accident.

sean1141

but you, me and everyone who pays their insurance will pay for it in the long run. the insurance companys wont be at the loss. they will just up their prices if they are and people have no choice but to insure their cars or face having ot walk everywhere!

thebiglad

You car is assessed by the third party and this is why they are dealing by cheque - they simply do not want the potential increased hassle of authorising the garage and dealing with any possible complaints from the repair if you are not their policyholder.

The fact that the garage can make a more superficial repair is irrelevant, if they tried to hold you to that repair rather than the full panel replacement that would raise complaints - you are entitled to fully restore your car, how (and whether) you choose to do that is down to you.

If the repair was to be undertaken at €2,000 is this before VAT and if so, were you to fix the car for that would the insurer be prepared to consider the additional VAT element on the presentation of an invoice?

Finally, if your car will be off the road for 2-3 days whilst repair is undertaken make sure the cost includes a courtesy car or at least the necessary to make alternative travel arrangements.

Christ0pher

thebiglad wrote: »

You car is assessed by the third party and this is why they are dealing by cheque - they simply do not want the potential increased hassle of authorising the garage and dealing with any possible complaints from the repair if you are not their policyholder.

That makes sense. I think it does include VAT, as I am not VAT registered and I told them that. Car hire - I also asked for that to be included. (The full amount is abut 100 quid more than the body shop quote)

Thanks for the replies. Will let you know what I do.

CiniO

conzymaher wrote: »

You could also roll the car off a pier and say it was stolen? its also insurance fraud and will land you in jail, I suppose some people chance it but 99% dont

:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Are you trying to say that 1 person for every hundred which compares to 20,000 for 2 million drivers in Ireland, do roll the car off the pier?

Christ0pher

CiniO wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Are you trying to say that 1 person for every hundred which compares to 20,000 for 2 million drivers in Ireland, do roll the car off the pier?

I think the rolling car off pier comment is missing the thread point. The insurance company themselves are issuing a cheque directly to me, without checking to ensure the 2k ever goes towards the car repair. That is what surprises me. I always thought the insurance companies were far more stringent than this.

Nobody is committing fraud - an assessor has been out, quotation has been submitted, of which I had no say. I assumed the insurance watches the bodyshop like a hawk to get value for money. But apparently not.

Maybe they do on amounts bigger than this. Maybe this is a molehill fast becoming a mountain !

CiniO

Christ0pher wrote: »

The insurance company themselves are issuing a cheque directly to me, without checking to ensure the 2k ever goes towards the car repair.

Because they have no authority to check that. It's not their business if you are going to repair your car or not.
It's your car, and it's absolutely up to you what are you going to do with it.
Garage estimated, that if you wanted to repair your car properly it would cost 2000, so your loss was 2000, and that's the amount insurance company is paying to you. That's it. It's really that simple.

That is what surprises me. I always thought the insurance companies were far more stringent than this.

Nobody is committing fraud - an assessor has been out, quotation has been submitted, of which I had no say. I assumed the insurance watches the bodyshop like a hawk to get value for money. But apparently not.

Maybe they do on amounts bigger than this. Maybe this is a molehill fast becoming a mountain !

I'm sure insurance companies watch bodyshops to get value for money.
But if they'd try to go down with this value too much, they would have to face to many court summons against them from unhappy customers, and they would end up worse.