Insurance repair - right to reject the work?

[MG]

Someone broke into my A3 a few weeks back. They smashed the drivers window, bent the door frame and caused some relatively minor damage inside the car while having a thorough rummage around. Thankfully nothing of value was in the car and they didn't like my taste in music so left the CDs behind.

I logged the call with the insurance company and took it to the recommnded repair centre. Having just got it back, I'm really unhappy with that they have done:

1. For some reason they have re-covered the (leather) drivers seat. They said it was damaged from the glass. Fair enough you might think, although I didn't see any damage to it. The issue is the the leather is a TOTALLY different colour now to the rest of the car. It is more grey than black.

2. They have scratched the bonnett

3. The paintwork on the wing looks really dull, like they have used a cutting compound of some sort then not polished the paint.

Point 2 and 3 are annoying but should be relatively easily fixed. It's point 1 that I'm fuming about. As far as I'm concerned they should have asked whether I wanted the seat recovered, especially when they realised the new leather was a different colour. The repair place has said Audi don't make the same type of leather anymore but that seems a little strange when the car is only just over 4 years old now.

I have complained to the insurance company and the repairer and both "are looking into it".

My question here is really, what are my rights and what would you guys push for? If the same leather is not made then at the very least I'd like the passenger seat recovered so the front seats match. Even that isn't ideal as the back seats will be totally different but I don't imagine for one minute I will get the whole interior recovered.

I'm just really annoyed as I cleaned the glass out of the car pretty thoroughly and didn't see any damage to the drivers seat so it seems like a completely unneccessary piece of work has been carried out with a really poor outcome.

Advice please!!

 

[Welly]

I'm not sure what the legal standpoint is, but I'm pretty sure you'd have the law on your side if you are unhappy. It's typical that the insurance company are 'looking into it'. They should say 'We've dug a hole, and are looking into it'. Quick enough to take your money, resentful to move their worthless butts!!

My mate is a bit of a law junkie and I could ask him when I see him later if you like?

 

[Staz]

Sorry to hear the news mate. All of that damage for nothing worth stealing!

Reject it all the way mate. Write to the HQ of the insurance write to the boss of the repair centre. It's unacceptable.

Get the leather trim checked with Audi. There may be a way of finding out the trim order code for your car and then ask if it's still available. I don't believe that it's not possible to source some from Audi directly.

To find the trim code you need to have a look in your service book. In there you'll find a factory print out from your car with a load of codes on that looks like this:

You put them into this site: http://igorweb.org/equidec/Default.aspx

Thanks to gunshow as his thread was the first I found with it in: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=32419

 

[Broken Byzan]

You have the right and should do so, you also have a 3 yr(min) warrenty so claim now,get it sorted.

I had to go back to my insurance approved place about 4 times till i was happy

 

[jojo]

Yes you have the right to reject the work, even after you have signed for the car and drove it home.

My brother inlaw had a nasty repair on his year old Mk4 Golf at the time, he knows jack about cars, so I had a look and told him to call up his insurance company straight away! I later found out the repair work was carried out at an approved workshop based next to a Ford dealership.
He managed to arrange for an insurance inspector to meet him at said workshop, and the cheeky buggers at the workshop wanted my brother inlaw to reverse the car onto the ramp, at which point, brother inlaw loses his temper and says 'you reverse it in, it's not my frikin job!'... this is followed by a young mechanic who reverses the car in and wipes away the sideskirt of the Golf on the ramp legs right infront of the insurance inspector!!

Really p!ssed now, my brother inlaw left it with the insurance guy and went home.... he got a call a few hours later, and they gave him a brand new car, due to the quality of work was not upto standard, and probably wanted him to keep it to himself also... So ended up better off despite all the hassle!

Anyways, back to your situation, you are well within your rights to choose your own garage to have any repairs done. Approved garage for repairs means just that - 'Approved', I'm pretty sure you can send your car direct to Audi for a repair if you wanted to.

 

[MG]

Thanks guys, it's just so ****** annoying - to wait all this time then find they've messed it up so badly! My car was in with Audi today for a major service but to be honest they were pretty useless - I'm sure I'm not being overly fussy they're customer service just seems really poor, but that's digressing. All they said was get the Audi part numbers that the repair centre ordered and they will let me know whether it matches their records or whether there is an alternative part.


I'll just have to see what the insurance company/repairer say when they get back to me tomorrow. What I'm not sure about is what exactly they need to do to make me satisfied with the result. Even having the passenger seat re-covered the same as the drivers seat will mean there is noticeable difference which will bug me!

 

[Scott]

Absolutely gutted for you mate & I can totally understand your frustration. I had to take my car back to an Audi approved repair centre 4 times to get them to match the colour of my door after a respray and I think I'm happy now. I hope you get it sorted soon mate - I know it's hard, but try not to stress too much about it.

 

[MG]

Thanks Scott1andrews... I'm sure it will get sorted eventually as I'm not the sort to just let it drop until I'm happy. It's just hassle!

 

[Mags]

My wife had her car repaired at a 'recommended' repair centre, after someone in a car park hit her.

They had it 16 weeks before they even started work, and she then rejected it from them 3 times, before they then refused to do any more work on it.

Wrong colour coded paint, bad finish, drips and runs in the paint, silver paint on the bonnet, front drivers light cluster not working, scratches down the doors, all this and the excuses also came thick and fast.
They apparently got paid more, if they finished the job earlier, so you can imagine attention to detail was the last thing on their mind when spraying etc.

Needless to say, after the insurance adjuster came to look at the job, he told my wife she should get some quotes and then they would pay to have it fixed elsewhere.

What they don't tell you is, you don't have to accept the 'recommended' repair centre.

 

[MG]

Just thought I'd provide a quick update... So far I haven't got anywhere with this really. The repair centre has agreed verbally that they will sort the paintwork which is actually much worse than I thought - they didn't remove the S-Line badge on the side so that has paint all over the edges (and will mean if I debadged the car there will be an obvious unpainted patch), the masking along the roof line, inside of the boot and inside of drivers door has left a lip and is not blended, but worse of all is the fact that they painted over the rear window seal so at the moment the rubber seal is bonded to paintwork!! The main body of the paint itself is good so it's just where they have tried to cut corners where they've screwed up.

The seat issue is ongoing - repairer has requested the insurance company to authorise more work, i.e. covering the passenger seat but I don't seem to be getting anywhere fast.

How long would guys wait for the insurance company and repairer to get their act together and agree what can be done? It's really frustrating that several weeks on I'm still not any further to getting things resolved.

 

[MG]

Two months on and I'm still battling this one. The insurance company finally sent another engineer/assessor to look at the car a couple of weeks ago and they have now agreed to re-cover my passenger seat so at least that matches the new drivers seat. The paintwork will also be sorted out... Still waiting on a date to actually get the car in for this work but at least it has been formally agreed now and is moving in the right direction.

I can't believe how much hassle this has all been though.

 

[Staz]

Good result though mate

 

[jojo]

Hang in there buddy, it will all come good in the end. I waited 12months to get a claim through, due to offender not answering the phone! But I was compensated for the time, so worked out ok in the end.