IwannaMini i was very lucky. The corner of the tray of his ute, as it took out the mirror, passed right by my head. 20cm closer and I hate to think of the consequences. I was so fortunate.

leave it all in the hands of your insurance company that is what byou pay them for .just hope you have a good one,some of them can be a little

wow you were very lucky. a few inches inwards and that would have turned out very nasty. but yeah i hope you get it all sorted asap and get that fool to cough up for all the repairs. will hopefully teach him a lesson about actually paying attention when driving.

bugger dude..
hope things go smoothly for repairs for you...looked like a ripper van and paintjob...LOVE the flames

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00' Forester GT

I'm shocked that this turkey thinks that he doesn't have to give way to you when he's coming out of a private driveway. Its not the T intersection rules you need its those referring to entering the highway from a private entrance. Marcellin College driveway is a private entrance.
Don't let this DH con you. He knows he/she??? is in the poo and is trying to avoid responsibility.

Hope this helps
RonR

You're right MiniRon. I did some further research and found that the T-intersection stuff doesn't apply. Rather it's considered entering from a 'road related area'.

I've emailed through my statement to the consultant assessing my claim. He won't receive it till Wednesday due to the long weekend and their 24hr processing time.

Also, I inquired as to the possibility of getting copies of both my witness' statement and the other party. I was told that I'm allowed to receive that information. I'm looking forward to reading what he wrote in his statement. Should make for an interesting read!

I ended up deciding to go with A Grade Panels in Heidelberg to do the repairs. This of course was on the proviso that I was found to be not at fault. After working on my submission to the insurance company and getting in touch with the witness I emailed through my statement to the insurance company. As part of doing that, I asked the consultant if I was allowed to receive copies of both the witness and other party's statement. Emailed it to them before the long weekend and on Tueday called up to find out what their decision was regarding fault.

Thankfully, but not surprisingly, they found the other party at fault. Problem was though, they had to get him to accept that he was at fault before they could agree to cover the cost of my repairs under the uninsured motorists damage clause in my policy. Because I knew that the other party was reluctant to accept fault, having read his statement which I'm bound by confidentiality not to repeat, he was nevertheless adamant that I was partly to blame for the accident.

However, approximately 20 minutes after being told this, I received a phone call from the consultant asking me to go and get quotes for my vehicle. I can only assume that in the intervening period the other party had received a phone call outlining their decision regarding fault and, having accepted that, had admitted blame.

Receiving this information was a relief as it meant that I could get the ball rolling to get my car repaired. I immediately telephoned A Grade and inquired as to how much longer it was going to take for them to finalise a quote. I was told that it had been sent through on the previous Thursday (10/4). Yet I didn't have an email from them. Upon checking Geoff realised that he hadn't in fact sent it through. I inquired as to an approximate figure for the repairs and was told it was going to be expensive.

First thing this Wednesday I checked my email to find the complete quote. Opened it up and saw that the figure, including GST, was $4071.10!! (That was an incomplete quote, was revised to just under $4800) That was more than 1/2 of what I paid for the car. The quote broke down the various work that needed to be done and, not surprisingly, the refinishing/repainting amounted to just under $2500. The paint alone, came to $750.00.

Then called RACV letting them know I had received a quote. As A Grade is not a 'preferred smash repairer' I was instructed to get a comparative quote. After being given addresses of local repair shops I decided to give them a visit.

Pulled into the driveway of the first place, walked in the office, only to be told, in no uncertain terms, that my car was not welcome in their yard. The assessor took one look at my car sitting in the driveway before turning to me shaking his head saying 'nah sorry mate, we don't do those cars.'

So I thought I'd try my luck at the next shop that I had been referred to. I walked in and booked an appointment for Thursday morning. After going in and explaining that I needed a comparative quote he told me that his shop doesn't specialise Minis. I let him know that I had already found a repairer who I wanted to do the job with. Upon receiving this information and after taking a few photos he asked me for a copy of the quote that I had received from A Grade. (I'm not sure whether that is normal procedure as I had thought that it was for the insurer and assessor to decide the merit/accuracy of the quotes.) Is it appropriate for him to ask of this information? He said that it was because, given the fact that his shop doesn't specialise in Minis, he needed the quote in order to write up his own. The effect of this, he assured me, would be reaffirm the original quote thus giving me the opportunity to repair my car with my chosen repairer.

I guess my questions/concerns are:
- When insurance companies have 'preferred repairers' that they deal with, is it at the expense of the person who requires their car to be repaired, ie me?
- Do the actions of the preferred repairer sound legitimate?
- Has anybody ever had to accept that their car was going to be repaired by someone other than their intended repairer and what were the results like?

I just want my car to be returned to the condition it was in before the accident.

Thanks for reading,

Perrin

don't know about this one - although I would expect ANY insurer to show some common sense and flexibility when it comes to "specialised" repairs. I know nothing of RACV but I have both my mini's with Shannons and they include a "choice of repairer" condition.



No no and NO! These guys can be dodgy as and this sounds VERY dodgy to me. There should be no legitimate reason this guy should see A-grades quote. This by it's very nature would be a breach of confidentiality and would seriously compromise any chance A-Grade has of getting this job. I personally would report this request to your insurer ASAP. It just doesn't sound right.

Just my two bobs worth - hope it helps.

It hurts to see the pics of the car with that damage pez. I had a similar experience with my very 1st mini (77 Sunshine) which was collected by a tram on Mt Alexander Rd....except that was MY fault. Damn "lift and pull" reverse!!!!


Good luck mate.
BC.

I would be concerned if the other repairer was cheaper than A gradepanels, but if the other repairers are not a mini specialist and do not really want the work then maybe they will be a more expensive quote? If you want A gradepanels to do the work then it is obviously in your interest that the other repairer or another repairer is more expensive.

_________________
1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

As far as I am aware (and I have unfortunately had to deal with a number of collisions to my various vehicles) you do not have to use the insurer's preferred repairer if they are not able to provide the same level of work. They can insist on you getting a minimum of two quotes, to ensure your first quote is legitimate.

You also have a legal right to not accept any work done on your car if it is not up to standard.

We had a situation some years ago (long story - got caught in the middle of a police high-speed chase and got cleaned up by both the stolen vehicle and the police car chasing him!) and the insurer decided to repair the car and pay the $9,000 repair quote (on a car that cost $15,000 three months previously). I told the insurer that I would not accept the car unless it was 100% as good as new - not 99% or 98%. The result was that the car went back to the repairer three times, and the final total cost was over $12,000.

You do have very specific rights with the repair of your car, and most insurance companies will do what they can to reduce the cost (understandably) and will often give you incorrect or misleading information.

Many companies will claim that you must pay a percentage of the costs, as you were at least partially responsible by virtue of the fact you were there. This is simply incorrect, and if you are not at fault, they have no legal right to force you to pay any portion of the repair costs.

Check with them to make sure that they are not going to charge you any amount for part responsibility for being there. Also, check that your rating remains unchanged and that your excess remains the same.

If you have any complaints with the insurance company or are concerned about any information they are giving you, you can contact the Insurance Industry Ombudsman (phone number in the white pages under government).

So far it looks like the insurance company has done the right thing by you, but make sure they do not force you to use a repairer that you will not be happy with, and if they insist on this, then check with the Ombudsman to see if this is legal or legitimate - I think not.

Good luck with it.

Cheers,
Watto.

Before approaching the financial ombudsman service (FOS, they cover the insurance industry) you must exhaust any internal dispute resolution services that RACV has. Only then will they take your case.

Their website is http://www.fos.org.au/centric/home_page.jsp


pez88:
From what you have said here I believe you have third party property or third party fire & theft insurance and not comprehensive (correct me if i'm wrong here). If that is the case RACV is only going to pay up to the maximum amount of $5k according to my read of their PDS available on RACV's website. It also states that you can choose your own repairer, they may ask you to get a few quotes just to ensure it's a fair repair price as people have already said.

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OK, it has been a while since I had to contact them, and like all government agencies, it seems, with any change of government comes a new name for every department.

Things may have changed, but back when I had the dispute over my insurance company wanting to make me pay for some of my own damage when I was cleaned up by a stolen car and a police car, I was able to ring the Insurance Industries Ombudsman (as it was called then) and get advice from their advice line. They were able to tell me what the insurance company was allowed and not allowed to say and do, and what my rights were, without me having to lodge a formal complaint.

I was then able to go back to the insurance company and say "The Ombudsman's department has told me...." and they immediately backed down - as they were telling me porky pies.

I guess in these days of reduced customer service and fear of accountability for anything said over the phone, that service may no longer be available.

However, your rights are still the same, I'm sure.

Cheers,
Watto.

Believe me when I say that every word you utter to an insurance company over the phone is recorded.

When was the last time anyone actually signed a contract for insurance?

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Watto and NAV, thanks for the advice. To clear things up, I have third party property damage insurance with an uninsured motorists clause up to $5000. I haven't had any trouble thus far from my insurer. I'm still waiting on quotes to be finalised before I can send them off with my car getting assessed at that point. I'm hopeful that the car can be completely repaired for less than $5000. Anything beyond that, and I would have to make an additional claim against the other party, which is something I would not want to do.

Watto, that was an incredible story! Sounds like an absolute saga to resolve. I will certainly be pushing to have the car repaired at my preferred repairer.

Michealb, I'm hoping, as you pointed out, that the other repairer's final quote is more expensive.

Hey,

Its been almost a month since my last post and a few things have happened since that time. It's frustrating how long everything takes!

I ended up receiving the quote from RACV's preferred repairer which came to approximately $1800 - 3 grand below what my preferred repairer was quoting! The quote itself wasn't even a complete quote, as when it came to repainting the bonnet they had written, 'refer to paint specialist'. After emailing RACV both quotes I told them that I would like to have the car repaired with my repairer. Given that they're not a 'preferred repairer', RACV said the car would have to be assessed. Then organised the assessment which was bookedon a monday with the car not being viewed till the Friday.

Since then RACV have called me offering $4100 to get repair my car. I haven't accepted the money yet as my repairer told me that he was able to arrange for the car to be viewed a second time. He said that the assessor had cut out the paint and the repairs to the roof. I'm expecting to know by Monday or Tuesday of this week whether the assessor has revised his figure. I'm hopeful that the assessor will revise his figure.

What I'm unsure about is RACV's offer. Do I have any rights to argue that they are cutting out key parts of the repair work? The paint is very important and I don't want to settle for anything less. Also, as I was told by one of their consultants, that they want to restore the car back to the condition it was in before the crash occurred. Can I use that as grounds to argue that I want my car repaired without any corners being cut?

Has anyone had a similar experience with insurance companies?

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Perrin