anyone work in insurance (vehicle) or have claimed compensation for faulty repairs/service

nathanm

nathanm

Eats Squid
so our near new HRV took a light tap up the ass. Went to CGU's repairer who took 3 goes at repairing it. Then when it developed a rattle we took it to an independent who found they had glued the bar bracket to the body and the bar, the also glued the bar to the body and silicone'd the wheel arch moulds on as well when they broke those.

It's now being repaired by another bodyworks, hopefully correctly this time and we've had a hire car for this week, but no assistance earlier.

Have lodged a complaint with CGU and the ombudsman due to excruciatingly poor service by CGU's foreign call centre (took 5 calls to organise a hire car for example). got a call today by the Australian based assessor manager. very apologetic and has offered compensation to the value of 2x weeks hire car which I'm guessing should be around $700.

Knowing insurance companies I'm guessing that this is a lowball offer and we are probably entitled to much, much more. Any have an experience or advice for us?
 
born-again-biker

born-again-biker

Is looking for a 16" bar
(I don't work in insurance)

Yeah I'd be asking some pretty "firm" questions. Gluing bumpers back on is unacceptable.
How about a couple of years' of complimentary insurance? Or lifetime discount?
Or monetary compensation for hard ship etc?
Small claims court?....if you have the time & determination?
I dunno.....insurance companies make the banks look like decent institutions....which means they're very good at winning disputes.

In the last year we've had both our Honda's repaired (CR-V & HR-V) here in Launceston with pretty good results.
Very similar accidents actually.
The CR-V repair is good enough, but the tail gate panel gaps are off.....and because I'm a fussy engineer it irritates me.
The HR-V looks OK....but I haven't had a good look yet.
The hire car thing was a big pain in the arse with one of 'em. The call center could not get their head around what we needed. Hours on the phone.

I'm assuming you've taken lots of photos and documented everything?
 
nathanm

nathanm

Eats Squid
hifiandmtb said:
Car repairs are a problem everywhere:

Take what they are offering & move on.
Click to expand...
Yeah Nah. that's why there are problems because people are happy to accept the status quo and move on. having done some investigation today the ombudsman does have the power to make decisions in these cases and award compensation up to $3k so we will certainly continue to pursue the matter and seek fair compensation.
 
nathanm

nathanm

Eats Squid
hifiandmtb said:
Does that break you even or are you winning?
Click to expand...
yeah well it depends on how you look at it I suppose. We technically haven't spent a dollar during this process but we've had to walk a few kilometres, made over 20 phone calls for probably around 6-7 hours on the phone and been without the car for around 16 days (hire car for 10 of those).
So if you can put up with the pure frustration of the situation and a bit of a dent to your mental health we've come out $1400 ahead which is pretty much 7 days work for me so fair compensation really. I'll still let the ombudsman loose on them though.
 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
I like having a cheap car that's only third party insured... But if the Alfa (or any car worth actual dollars) got a decent smack and "repaired" it would be sold asap. Good repairs are super rare and only carried out when you're paying cash and dealing with the repairers yourself.

Even then its a lucky dip finding a decent repairer willing to pay attention to details... Best outcomes for a big smash is often to get a payout and manage the repairs yourself with cash..

Car insurance is just like health insurance - its their job to take your money and give as little back as possible, short cuts and exclusions will be forcibly pursued. The repairers then have to mark up what work they can do, just like the fees charged by surgeons are always cheaper if you pay cash.
 
nathanm

nathanm

Eats Squid
Haakon said:
I like having a cheap car that's only third party insured... But if the Alfa (or any car worth actual dollars) got a decent smack and "repaired" it would be sold asap. Good repairs are super rare and only carried out when you're paying cash and dealing with the repairers yourself.

Even then its a lucky dip finding a decent repairer willing to pay attention to details... Best outcomes for a big smash is often to get a payout and manage the repairs yourself with cash..

Car insurance is just like health insurance - its their job to take your money and give as little back as possible, short cuts and exclusions will be forcibly pursued. The repairers then have to mark up what work they can do, just like the fees charged by surgeons are always cheaper if you pay cash.
Click to expand...
So very true. I used to own "new" cars but now have a 2008 mazda 3. drives perfectly and is now worthless after I dropped both the kayak and bike off the roof and dented almost all the panels.

Having worked in the automotive industry decades ago it appears that the take over of big insurance conglomerates has completely ruined the industry.

Oh and got the car back again last night from the second repairer. Paint chips, debris in the clear coat and marks in the rear panels so going back again for a fifth time.
 
link1896

link1896

Mr Greenfield
next to my office are three panel beaters, 8-12 bay shops each. I bought mtb parts from someone off facebook who was an assessor for one of the big insurers who dropped parts off to be while inspecting cars. His off the record comments match Haakon's sentiments. Told him how the mob next door failed to fix a door properly for me and didn't replace the water proof membrane or get the red even close to matching, and they were the good ones in the street.
 
Flow-Rider

Flow-Rider

Burner
Druggos drove into my parent's fence, over a month of emails and fighting their legal representatives over a changed letterbox number but they've had the same policy for over 40 years. Car was stolen and insured by the same company.




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