A small dent - ,aybe

My neighbour has clipped the offside rear bumper moulding on my 2 rear old
(and thus still under warranty) Astra Estate.

Bumper is badly scuffed on the offside from the wheelarch back to the rear
of the car.

His front bumper ("n" reg escort" ) is scuffed from the front O/S wheel all
the way forward and around the front corner of the car (i.e. the strong
bit!).

So maybe my panel was badly bent inwards and popped out again - who can
tell?

But I presumably need a VX approved repairer so I do not invalidate my anti
corrosion warranty.

Neighbour not happy with this because he thinks they overcharge. (No mention
that I'm not happy abut his carelessness!)

VX bodyshops are thin on the ground in south Birmingham - I have the Lookers
group (Central brum and selly oak) and Cresser (miles away in Alcester!) so
it's difficult to get a second opinion on the £500 quote and comment that
the underlying panels are bent.

Ouch - any advice? (Or location of a VX approved repairer in / near south
Brum other than those I've listed)

 

Tell him he has 2 choices

VX repair and he can pay

or VX repair and his insurance company can pay


dont forget you ARE entitled to a courtesy car if VX does not supply one, If
there is the slightest thought that he may back out, report the accident to
the police

 

<snip>
If as clear cut as you describe (witnesses??), then it's his fault. He
or his insurance pays up. Simple.
There's always a small claims court but you'll probably need a witness.
How heavy you get depends on what sort of war you want with your neighbour.
Dave

 

Slight misunderstanding - I have his insco details and there is no problem
in that respect, yet. He's already admitted it to me and his insco. ( I
won't go into his attitude, it's irrelevant albeit teeth-grindingly
annoying)

But I am also not happy about the size of the estimate, and have so far been
unsuccessful in prising-out a list of approved repairers from VX - and I
might need this for future reference. And everyone is shut at present so
getting info could be time-consuming.

Any ideas?

 

OK, you have his details he has admitted liability. The actual price of
the repair is not realy your or his concern. It costs what it costs. The
insurance company pays. He pays your excess and thats all. End of story.
Bodywork repairs can be astonisingly expensive. The last repair that
resulted from "Rover" being stamped in the boot lid of my Vectra cost
£3000 to fix. Labour was nearly 75% of that. Cheap jobs are just that,
pay peanuts get monkeys fixing your car.
These days the insurance companies want to control costs and to them
that means keeping the punter out of the loop and taking charge of the
repair.
There are plenty or repairers listed in the Yellow Pages.
dave

 

But I am also not happy about the size of the estimate, and have so far

You're going about this all wrong.

The first thing you need to know is that you NEVER save money on paint. Get
it done cheaply and it will look cheap. You might not be able to spot the
difference but I would (along with most of my trade colleagues) and that
will affect the value of your car and its paint warranty. NEVER fall for
the old line: "I've got a mate who does cheap paintwork, he's really good."
These guys always do second-rate work - I see it every day.

It's not your responsibility to run around looking for quotes. You should
just tell your insurance company about the accident (I'm assuming you're
insured fully comp). They will arrange for the work to be done by a
reliable local bodyshop then go to your neighbour's insurers to get their
money back.

As for your warranty, I'm sure it will be fine - so long as the job is done
to a professional standard. Indeed, when it comes time for your car's
annual paint inspection (part of the annual service and a requirement of the
warranty) if the job's been done professionally they shouldn't even be able
to tell you've had a knock.

You should have a booklet all about the warranty in your car's book pack.
Read it and it may answer your question. You can insist your insurers get
it repaired by a Vauxhall dealer but you may not get a courtesy car and,
even then, it may be outsourced to an independent bodyshop.

As for your neighbour:

a) His insurer's paying for it not him, so he doesn't need to worry about
how much it costs.

b) Sod him.

 

Agree 100%. You pay insurance for them to have all the hassle, all the
running around and to organise everything. You dont even need to talk to
your neiubour aboout the excess, they will do that, especially if you
have the legal protection insurance. Having had to use it, worth every
penny.
Dave

 

I agree. Get it done properly.

You don't need a Vauxhall approved bodyshop for the paint warranty
though. Any local respectable bodyshop will do. Your insurance company
will recommend one.

Alan

 

Might be a wise move to check with Vx first anyhow, rather than after the
fact. If they approve the repairer, try to get it in writing that it doesnt
affect the warranty rather than relying on "...oh, some bloke in the parts
department said it was ok...."

Mike

 

You don't need a Vauxhall approved bodyshop for the paint warranty

Well Alan's a Vauxhall main dealer so we can probably take his word for it!

 

Thank you all for your advice and comments, its much appreciated.

I had a chat with my neighbours insco this am - they've also written to me
accepting liability on their client's behalf, and offering the full services
of their Approved Repairer Service, inc courtesy car etc. if necessary which
is good.

So - the quote from my Local VX dealer is on it's way to them, and I have,
thanks to your good selves, some very useful background.

 

I had a chat with my neighbours insco this am - they've also written to me

Result!

 

If I may Steve, I'd liked to tag a question onto this thread.

What is the difference between a Vauxhall Warranty and
Vauxhall Dealers warranty ?

When first got my 2003 Astra I got it scratched three quarters
of the length of the car (usual jealousy). I had it repaired at the
Vauxhall Dealer from which I bought the car.

Upon receiving the invoice I was supprised to read the following

quote:
Please note, any Items Identified with a 'P' suffix are not Vauxhall
Suplied and do not carry any Vauxhall Warranty. These parts are
supplied subject to XXXXXXXXX Garage Ltd normal warranty
terms.
unquote.

Further inspectionn of the invoice indicated that the Primer Paint
and Top Coat Paint had the 'P' suffix and therefor had not been
supplied by Vauxhall.

At the time I was a little annoyed that the dealer had sourced
the paint from non approved paint supplier, but as the repair
was a 100% perfect match I did not pursue it. However since
then, there has always been that element of doubt as to whether
the dealer invalidated the Vauxhall Warranty without first telling
me it would do so by spraying the affected panels.

**NB**
At this late stage I'm not about to march into the dealer of the basis
of what anyone says. I'm just curious. I'm also curious as to
whether Vauxhall will supply paint in order to facilitate a minor
repair.


Phew !! sorry it was a long one.

 

What is the difference between a Vauxhall Warranty and

First, there is a difference between the New Vehicle Warranty and the
Anti-Perforation Warranty.

New Vehicle Warranty is for 12 months (manufacturer warranty) backed up by a
further two years 'no-fee customer option warranty' (dealer warranty).

The manufacturer's warranty is more comprehensive. The dealer warranty is
still good but is underwritten by a third party warranty supplier. In the
majority of cases, the dealer warranty will prove as good as the
manufacturer's.

Under EU law, the manufacturer cannot insist you have your car serviced at a
dealer to keep the first year warranty intact, but the terms of the dealer
warranty do insist on this for years 2 and 3 and they are legally entitled
to do so.

The 6 year Anti-Perforation Warranty is really just that: it covers you
should rust get so bad that it perforates a panel - i.e. a rust hole. This
is very unlikely nowadays unless you really neglect the car and is why
Vauxhall insist on an annual inspection to make sure the car's being looked
after.

Because the paint on the car is a significant part of what's going to stop
perforation happening, they will also pay out should the paint start to
fail. This is pretty rare nowadays although a few years ago when they
started using environmentally friendly water-based paints for the first
time, the paint wasn't as hard as regular car paint so chipped easily and
many affected cars had bonnets re-sprayed under warranty.

As far as I know, bodyshops don't use water-based paints which is why
nowadays you sometimes get a better finish from a bodyshop than from the
factory! Water-based paints are more prone to the 'orange peel' effect you
get with poor quality paint jobs. Even decent factory finishes can have a
very slight 'orange peel' effect in the paint.

As for your repair, well, no manufacturer makes paint for re-sale - apart
from touch-up sticks.

When a bodyshop paints your car they don't go to Vauxhall for a few litres
of 79L Flame Red, they make up the paint themselves from the primary colours
in the same way an artist mixes their paint. They have books detailing the
formulae for all manufacturer's paint colours so they can mix the exact
quantities of each of the primary colours to get the right match. This is a
very skilled job, especially on metallic and pearlescent finishes - and
that's before they start to paint the car!

As far as the paint warranty goes, so long as the work is done to a
professional standard by a proper bodyshop, you'll never have any problem.
It's also worth remembering that the bodyshop will guarantee their work so
you would also have redress with them in the unlikely event of a problem.
Many main dealers don't have their own bodyshops, so outsource the work - in
my experience, they usually choose good quality repairers.

 

Thanks Steve, for taking the time to write such an in depth explanation.
It is very much apreciated. In my reasoning I had focused too much on the
Quality Assurance aspect of Vauxhall, and it's approved supplier chain.

I know see why I was wrong to think this way.

Yes I told today during a breaktime conversion at work today, that, and no
doubt your aware allready that, paint technology has spiralled through the
roof and these days it's not just the primary colours they use to colour
match.
They also add various chemical additives to actually age the paint in order
to
creative the perfect match. ( I learn something everyday )