Had a little bump a while back, £350 excess

I have been trying to get around paying this, So spoke to a couple of bodyshops, the list for parts that could be replaced comes to £550, average labour is £350 plus £145 paint and materials.

The only parts that needs replacing is a bumper, the wing can be repaired, as can the headlight fixing, I have the spot light from the bumper and the alloy only has a scuff, the trim mouldings can be reused. so said I would supply the bumper, they can do the work and bill the insurance company for the £695 and i wouldn't have tp pay the excess.

No they still want my £350 claiming they can't get rid of the excess even though i have shown that they can and make some bunce

What I don't get is one place said bring me the bumper and I will fix it for £250, surely they would be better of doing it through the insurance and making £695 than me doing it off my own back for £250.

Iam I missing something

 

body shops can seem to charge what they like

I asked one today if he could fit some bonnet pins for me, wanted £60 for the job

 

Got a top mechanic, always helps me out, never overcharges.

But just can't get a good bodyshop who will help you out.

 

Simple, if you can do it for less than your excess dont claim. If you claim it has to be approved and done by one of their work shops

 

Thing is someone is claiming against me so it's off to court.

Don't have to be done by their approved bodyshops, you have the right to choose, just need to submit 2 quotes from where ever you like

 

have a go at paintin /preppin/flattin/maskin/filling a car its hard soul destroing work and don't get me started on maskin
most places do seem to charge a lot tho well worth shoppin around

 

Not moaning about the price, have done abit of spraying in my time and it takes for ever, but one of the guys said

"give me a replacement bumper and £250 and I will do it for you." but he can't see that doing it through the insurance he can nearly tripple that figure

I am giving him the chance to put a quote in for over a grand with parts and labour, and say I have payed my excess, he gets nearly £700 from the insurance company, for what he was going to charge me £250 for.

Think i will speak to him again and try and make him see sense.

 

bloke must have too much money

 

 

Wouldn't mind but the insurance company are proving to be useless aswell

 

And as people said on your thread. Its about right. You dont want to pay it. Do it yourself.

People need to learn that you are paying for them to do a job. So if they get it wrong they will still sort it out. And you wont (shouldnt) get charged for their cock up.

 

Supply & Demand - simple

 

as people say you get what you pay for ! and you also have to remember that time is money and if you want the job doing right it will cost £££££..
Another thing to remember is that the insurance company can take up to 60 days to pay the bodyshop for their work so insurance work to most bodyshops is a pain in the ass..

 

thats soooooo wrong, every bodyshop round here makes insurance work the first priority !!!!

as they get sooooo much money out of it

 

safflad i`m with you there mate i fooking hate masking up and yet most of the painters ive worked with enjoy that bit sometimes better than painting

some body shops aint cheap i know but get in the trade and you`ll soon find out why

 

If it's an insurance claim then you have to do the job properly. How would you like it if some one bodged your car to save the other guy some £££?

Also they have very high overheads so they are not charities.

 

What I am saying is, on the quote from other companies they have listed the following parts are to be replaced:

Front Bumper
Front plastic bumper trim
Headlight
Spot light
Drivers wing
Drivers wing moulding
Drivers door moulding
Wheel arch liner
Alloy wheel.

I said to him, can we get rid of the £350 excess, he said no, might get rid of £50 off it, but then told me to do that he he would

Use a sceond hand bumper (fine, once sprayed makes no difference)
Repair the wing (small repair, ok with me)
Use a repair kit for the healight bracket
Use the spotlight that I would supply
Re use the mouldings
Re use the whee arch liner (pulled down but ok)
Tidy the alloy wheelup as it is scuffed.

So all of that stuff he will bill for but never have bought only to knock of £50.

Not forgeting that he has also put down £350 labour, £145 Paint £55 storage.

And he isn't alone, a couple of places said, "Oh yeah we will just get a second hand bumper for that, probably just repair that wing, Oh no can't get rid of that excess"

Bet they still going to bill for all the parts

Had it with a mates Calibra, rear end shunt, needed boot pulling out and back bumper and I tail light. The report they sent to the insurance said, new boot floor, new tailgate, new back bumper, new back lights.

When we picked the car up it had only had the floor filled (a big thumb print in the filler) and a back bumper, he had to sign to say that the work had been done etc, he had to sign a photocopy of the estimate and you could see where they had tipexed stuff out after they had sent it to the insurance company but before he signed it.

All I wanted was to meet them half way, they get the job and make an earner and i don't get stitched up for £350 notes from an insurance company who are making a complete hash of my case anyway.

As i said earlier, not moaning about the bodyshop charges, they work hard for their money, pissed at the fact that they get greedy when they see the opportunity to earn 4 times what they want for the job and suddenly wont settle for anything else, I dont expect favours for nothing, they still would make an earner out of it, even when they do deduct my excess from the bill.

 

i work for JUST CAR CLINICS,

based in lincoln branch.

it may seem hard for you lot to get your head round but last year after all our out goings JCC on a whole over 13 sights made ONE POUND SEVENTY THREE PENCE profit per car.

thats with a turn over of sevral million pounds.

the insurance companys are the ones making all the money, NOT the body shops!!!

the body shop doesn't get your exes!!!

all they get it what ever the hourly rate is (usualy around 24 pound an hour depending on insurance company) plus paint and materials at a set price per job.

from that they pan non productives (office staff, valitures, parts staff, drivers ect)
pay for power and heatining, equipment ect ect.

i'm not saying that its wrong to slag body shops off but you just need to understand how they work.

if anyone is to blame its the insurence companys as they always try to cut times on every job

 

Well said ZE VH Phil

I have run 2 bodyshops and the biggest coach builders in the worlds paintshop ( transbus international ) and know how hard it is to make money,
As said the insurance companys are taking all the profits not the bodyshop ,
You cant put in a high quote either as every job is inspected by a assesor from the insurence company before the job gets the go ahead .
Most bodyshops make an average of about 8% on there turnover and if you ask any accountant he will tell you thatthat is rubbish and not realy worth opening the doors ,,


Moan at your insurer mate not the man trying to help you get your car fixed after all its your fault you have a £350 excess not his

 

at least Phil & Paul know the score with this, most bodyshops do mainly insuranse work not because of profit, but because of the constant supply of work. the insurance company will pay the bodyshop an hourly rate, & as said above, if the bodyshop do something incorrectly, they dont get paid to do it again, its there loss, also the bodyshop makes money on the parts it supplies, so the insurance company want a slice of that to. back in the day there was good maney to be made in bodywork, but like most things its getting a lot harder to make the profit now.

 

spoke to the guy at the bodyshop, he made things abit clearer, explained that he can't really claim to have bought parts that he hasn't, as he hasn't, and if mr VAT was checking up on him sp he said, although he could get a bit out of the way he couldn't get it all gone.

So i take back some of what i said, ingnorance on my part.