Motorcycle Crash; Car Damaged - Insurance Ripping Me Off?

LChandyMan on 16/05/2017 - 18:26

Got into a prang on my friends motorcycle where I rear ended a new Volvo, I was liable for damages. This happened on the 14/02/2017. The accident left a 12cm scratch down two left rear panels ( http://imgur.com/DJfBJvx ) - we discussed on the spot ways to go handle it from here, where Frank (the victim *not his real name) disclosed that he was likely to not bother going through insurance. Frank later lodged a claim with their insurer 3 days after this happened.
However, due to their insurer being 'backed up' with claims, I was only just now contacted (17/05/2017) by the insurers saying that I was liable to pay ~$1200 (estimated, still waiting on final cost). I had up to this point figured that Frank mustn't gone through the insurer after all. I contacted a touch up guy and he had a look at the damage and I was quoted $440 to repair the damage.

The problem here is, how much say and involvement do I have in regards to the fixes and where Frank gets their Volvo repaired from?

I called up Frank asking about what he has done to get his car fixed, and he said that he went to a Volvo dealership to get it painted and touched up, and has the receipt as proof.
My question is what are my rights to suggesting alternative dealerships/panel beaters (eg. my touch up guy), where money could have been saved (~~$800), however through not contacting me he was grossly over-quoted and has since put me potentially greatly out of pocket?

Thanks!

Automotive

Comments

  • mccaj09 on 16/05/2017 - 18:36
    +12

    Nothing you can do now that he has already had the work done, pay the bill owing and get at least 3rd party insurance for the future and move one

    • ChandyMan on 16/05/2017 - 18:40
      +1

      Ok I feared as much, I do have third party but the excess is $1500. Say the work costed $10,000, and he had it already done, would I still have to just roll over? Or is there a legal clause protecting this kind of stuff?

      • Richardc on 16/05/2017 - 19:05
        +3

        If he has proof that the cost of repair is 10k, then u need to pay 10k, unless it's higher than the market value of the car, ur protection is ur insurance.

        • ChandyMan on 16/05/2017 - 19:06

          So uninsured people are literal money bags, as far as this type of stuff goes?

        • Richardc on 16/05/2017 - 19:20
          +14

          @ChandyMan: They choose to drive and they choose to uninsured.

        • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2017 - 19:49
          +5

          @ChandyMan: Price you pay for being uninsured.

        • bargainbargain on 16/05/2017 - 21:58

          @ChandyMan:

          Key being in this case - "car was new" - in which case the insurance companies are pretty good to make it look new.

          we crashed into a car - some dent on rear and offered them to settle amount close to but not quite our deductible. It was 1996 mazda 323. They wanted to get it fixed - quote was $2k+

          Insurance said no to fix - will rather pay you. The party decided to keep the car and not get it fixed in the end.

        • furys12 on 17/05/2017 - 10:03

          @ChandyMan: as long as they have money to fill the bags, you'd have to be an idiot in todays world to not have insurance, and idiot or broke already

  • Randxyz123 on 16/05/2017 - 19:20
    +8

    The problem here is, how much say and involvement do I have in regards to the fixes and where Frank gets their Volvo repaired from?

    None.

    I called up Frank asking about what he has done to get his car fixed, and he said that he went to a Volvo dealership to get it painted and touched up, and has the receipt as proof.
    My question is what are my rights to suggesting alternative dealerships/panel beaters (eg. my touch up guy), where money could have been saved (~~$800), however through not contacting me he was grossly over-quoted and has since put me potentially greatly out of pocket?

    You don't get a say. NONE At all. It's a new car he was insured he has a right to have it repaired properly by Volvo and not by a touch up guy. Fair enough too. I'd have done the same thing.

    I contacted a touch up guy and he had a look at the damage and I was quoted $440 to repair the damage.

    So? That's just from the photos. I had an accident once where the guy's "friend" was a panel beater. I had a brand new car. He asked if I could take it there. Ummm no. I did what this guy probably did when they serviced my car they fixed it up.

    They gave me a loaner and sorted everything out.

    • Richardc on 16/05/2017 - 19:26

      also repaint cost much more than just touch up

  • nocure on 16/05/2017 - 19:52

    That'll polish out

  • t_c on 16/05/2017 - 21:51

    About $600 to repair, 2 x tows, to and from panel beater at $110 each. Plus 30% markup on the lot, add 10% gst, and that's your $1200.

    • John Kimble on 16/05/2017 - 21:53

      Tows? For that? I thought tows were only required if the car was "undrivable"?

      • t_c on 16/05/2017 - 22:00

        Well how else is the car going to get to the panel beater, sure manager can send a employee to drive it , then send another employee to pick up first employee. If he can afford to loose 2 employees for an hour or so, not to mention the risk if employee has a acco. Just easier to call a truck I would think.

        • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2017 - 23:20

          Or, the owner could drive it there? and then pick it up when it's ready? Like you would if you were getting it serviced…

        • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2017 - 23:29
          +1

          I thought volvos drive themselves these days.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2017 - 23:28

    You can try to haggle with the insurance company … the insurance company wont take you to court themselves, they'll just sell the debt to a factoring company (probably 50c on the dollar).

    They hard part is engaging the insurance company in the conversation. Asking flat out for a discount probably wont work.

    Did you file a police report at the time of the accident? What other evidence exists - apart from the photo you posted? Can you try denying liability? That would be one way to engage them in a conversation about haggling.

  • djmm on 16/05/2017 - 23:31
    +4

    That's actually cheap. You're lucky they didn't hire a car and claim it via you.

  • JiGaXD on 16/05/2017 - 23:35

    I had a similar incident but on my own motorbike so I can relate. I had 3rd party insurance though, so I paid the excess which was around $900. $500 for normal excess and $400 for under 25 yo.

    I totally understand where you're coming from and that it doesn't seem very reasonable, especially where you know the fix could have been much cheaper. You could literally use boiling water to mend a panel and touch up paint to have it look brand new.

    Unfortunately I don't think you'd get the sympathy you might expect, especially from OzB where I'd presume most people on the forum are non-motorbike riders and would side with the victim. It's also unfortunate, but I don't think people care if strangers need to pay more for something. When it happened to me, I considered going to the effort of finding a panel beater, but the person I was dealing with was unpleasant and only wanted their car at an authorised dealership. If you go through a dealership, you know they markup and charge ridiculous amounts for labour.

    I also studied law and was thinking about the best way to get around it - ie i'm sure there are situations where people wouldn't be able to afford these payments - imagine if that car was a ferrari and you ran into it on your pushbike (following that logic if the repair was $10k you'd still have to pay it) - but in the end I thought I'd just pay the $900 to avoid the hassle, even though it was painful.

    • blawler05 on 17/05/2017 - 09:26
      +5

      I am a motorbike rider, and I side with the victim.

      The bike rider hit the guys car. The guy went through his insurance and got the repair done by an authorized repairer. It is not up to the guy who got smashed into to try and save money. It is his responsibility to get the car fixed to the best standard he can.

      It is the person who caused the accidents responsibility to compensate that person for the damaged they caused. And in order to do that they can
      1. pay for the repairs
      2. Have their insurance pay for the repairs

      That is the limit of their input in this.

    • Love a bargain on 17/05/2017 - 12:18
      +1

      It's got absolutely nothing to do with motorcycles vs cars.

      If it was a car that hit the Volvo, I'd still "side with the victim" so to speak.

      The amount that you might potentially be asked to pay if you cause some damage to a Ferrari is exactly the reason why you're an idiot to drive without any third party property insurance (at a minimum).

    • JiGaXD on 19/05/2017 - 22:09

      I never said that it was to do with motorcycles vs cars. I just said that I had a similar incident with the OP. I would agree that generally one would side with the victim, but if you caused the accident, you would feel like the OP too.

      I agree that generally it is a good idea to drive with third party property insurance. But you're covered by third party property everytime you drive a car - say someone else's car.

      Thinking about it now, I'm quite sure that equitable principles limits the amount of liability you'd have to pay if you hit a ferrari in the example I brought up.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2017 - 23:53
    +7

    Someone crashed into me once. I went through my insurance to get it fixed as it doesn't cost a cent if not at fault. I'm not going to settle out of insurance where I personally have to shop around, take time off work, then justify the price with the person at fault, let alone if they refuse to pay because they think I'm ripping them off.
    This is why I let my insurance handle it.

  • Strahany on 17/05/2017 - 01:01
    +2

    Having seen how insurance processes work, I'd never drive uninsured.

    I've seen how panel damage costing ~1.5K to fix on a car that was bought for 4.5K managed to receive 7.8K of funds after the people involved somehow argued valuation at 8K. The damage was fixed, as was a number of other bits and pieces (resprayed panels, body work etc) still with room for the panel beater to take a little cut.

    Without insurance, that situation would have been massively unfair on the individual that caused the accident, regardless of the fact it was their fault. Thankfully, for them, they had insurance so their excess is just their excess (although, I'm not sure if the size of a claim matters when determining their new premium?)

  • iratepirate on 17/05/2017 - 09:36
    +1

    You are not entitled to ask for three quotes like some people think. If you think you are being ripped off ask for an itemized bill from the insurance company. You may be able to get them to reduce some items if they aren't reasonable.

    You are entitled to a payment plan to pay it off if you can't afford to pay it outright.

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