Ahem, let's say...

.... a chap had a motorcycle which was... slightly cosmetically
challenged on one side.

Then said chap had a coming-together with a blind person, resulting on
quite significant damage to the *other* side (damn it!).

How could said chap (who is basically an honest type, and not interested
in any serious chicanery) get the damage to the first side sorted at
minimal cost, whilst the damage to second side is being rectified?

This chap realises that additional work will (and should) cost money,
but wants to keep any outlay to a minimum.

This chap is also quite achy at present, and is therefore (apparently)
motivated to see at least a small upside to the blind person's
blindness.

 

Apparently, what one does is be present when the paintshop bloke does his
assessment. One points out the damage to the near side/front corner
directly attributed to the myopic colleague. Then one invites the pb to
inspect the offside door with the huge scratch courtesy of the Tesco car
park. One asks the nice man to fix this whilst he is at it and let one know
how much one should contribute. One collects the car and asks if there is
anything to pay and is told, "everything has been billed to the TP."

This was just a bit of extra prep & paint. Easy to slip under the radar of
the loss adjuster. If the chap needs lumps of plastic to be purchased then
this might be less easy to facilitate.

 

Oh FFS. What could have happened to this chap, this time?

 

I'm sure your boots did that as you were falling off.....

 

The last time this happened to me, in a car, I persuaded the repair
chappie that, as he was doing so nicely out of a full-cost repair
funded by the ins co, he could do a little extra for me at minimal
cost. He obliged, it cost me not-a-lot and the ins co wasn't charged
an extra penny, so clean consciences all round.

 

I might not have been as helpful as it appears. This was some years
ago, since when insurance companies are far more prone to have a
standing contract with a lowest-bidding localish major repairer,
rather than being prepared to fund a reasonable quote from your own
favoured repairer. But still worth a go.

 

It's your choice where your vehicle is repaired, not the insco's. You
own the vehicle, not them, therefore you make the decisions as to who
does any work on it. You have to fight them on this, but ultimately
they haven't a leg to stand on and have to cave in.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Tourer, CBR600F-W racebike in the making, TS250C, RD400F
(somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

This is exactly what we did, only the body shop contacted us, pointed
out that they had the paint already mixed and ready, and if we wanted
the other dings on The Doctor's Micra sorted, it would cost just £250.

A no-brainer, really.

 

I assume that an ins co can write it into the small print that they
have the right to determine where it's repaired if you want them to
foot the bill. It's not an unreasonable condition.

 

Quite so. When I had to have the Mazda 6 front underpinnings sorted out
properly after the French kerb incident I insisted that the work was
done at a local independent Mazda specialist. The only downside was
having to take it in again after the initial estimate for the insurance
assessor to agree the cost. I didn't have to do any fighting as my
broker[1] had signed me up for their claims service for a small premium.
They did all the negotiating with the insurance company, including
getting back the cost of the emergency repairs in France.

[1] I've been with them for years and despite me trying the usual
on-line quote suspects they always get me cover for within a fiver or so
of the competition. They just switched me to another company after the
premium rocketed on renewal as a result of this claim and got me cover
at half the price.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Classic example of up selling.

 

My car incident a couple of years ago the catch was if I didn't let it
go to their approved repairer then I wouldn't get the courtesy car.
seeing as it was December that sort of swung it for me.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Auntie Carole's man just called. £325 + vat to do the pre-existing
damage.

Sold!

 

With a bit of luck the admin dept will forget to issue 2 invoices and bill
it all to the myopic septic's insurer.

That's what happened with my ickle Citroen.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, wessie

That'd be *terrible*.

 

It made me emotional.


After I'd driven out of Nationwide's compound.