Your opinion

[g.ta]

Hey guys, so anyway, i got into a decent accident in the beggining of jan 2011. i was hit in the rear which caused me to rear end another car. i took my car to a repair shop and my car has been sitting there for close to 4 weeks now. i am going thru the insurance of the guy who smashed into, his with GIO and apparently it took GIO 4 weeks to get an assessor down to inspect my vehicle on 2 separate occasions because they had some problem i dont remember what. i do know that my car has been driven around in because the smash repairs told me that they'd have to take it to certian places and what not. another reason why it took so long apparently was also becuz they said damages came to nearly 20k (with a bit of off the books work so i could get extra parts etc front n rear headlights, ap2 bumpers instead of ap1, and respray front n rear guards)

the parts that im gettin are ap2 front n rear bumpers, bonnet, ap2 head and rear tails and the laguna blue pearl respray (with a bit of off the books work obviously cuz the car was no where near that bad with the damage, it was only front and rear bumper damage and boot was popped up a lil but) but the insurance didn't cover the full respray. the shop told me that we'd work something out, maybe couple hundred bux for the doors. i was told yesterday that i had to pay 250 each door so thats 500, plus the mirrors werent covered which is fine. the exhaust was damaged to, so in which from honda they qouted 1600 for a brand new one, but i found an exhaust that im going to purchase for 900, so i still have 700 (from the 1600 qouted from honda) to put towards the doors/mirrors but the guy said oh i duno if the exhaust will be a straight fit and might need some cutting and what not. so he told me to have $1K to put on top for everything to be done. im pretty sure it cost alot less then 700 to fit an exhaust.

just before i left the shop, he told "oh btw, ur diff is making noise, i know pretty sure it wasnt the diff when i handed the car in, he told me there was a clicking noise, which i know would prob be the rear axle nut from reading up on search. he said that the diff is gonna go pretty soon from that noise, but i haven't noticed anything wrong with it from when i handed the car in. He also mentioned a howling noise. and offered his mechanic to check it up and get a qoute.

some of my mates have said wtf, they taking too long to repair the car etc. take it elsewhere blah blah blah, they prolly doing something to your car. Now i was just wanted to hear your opinion on this, i duno i might be paraniod but who knows, they coulve been taking spins in the car whatever, cuz i know another person was in the car cuz they were both kinda backing each other up like yeah theres a noise here and this and that. so if i could hear what you guys have to say it would be much appreciated. Cheers

[ncmx5]

why didn't you go through your own insurance first then get your insurance company to chase up the other party's insurance company for costs.

well, depends on how reputable the mechanic/smash repairs are... I've heard of people swapping out gearboxes etc so they can help a mate's damaged one out1 etc. but hopefully, it's legit.

i usually go to a repairer with a solid history, specialising in fixing that particular car. if the crash wasn't your fault, why didn't you choose your own repairer?

[asps91]

Welcome to the world of dodgy Repairers, i once took my Supra to a mechanic in Castle hill (Cant name them as they threated legal action to supraforums.com.au as it was bad for their business ) for an engine conversion and when i got the car back it came free with axle tramp!

[g.ta]

hmm.. thats pretty scary man, yeah i dont think i should name them out just yet, they seem to be a relatively decent shop. i was referred by a friend. i spoke to the guy yesterday, and told him that look im really strapped for cash, i duno if i can fork out the extra 1g, shouldn't the 700 difference from the exhuast cover some of the respray, he said to me to get my mate to call his business partner and say look man, your making plenty of money from this so maybe we should work something out with the 1k and to say that i didn't hear it from him.

reason why i didn't go thru my own insurance is because as i said b4 im strapped for cash, i had to pay my premium first b4 they were willing to take the claim, this is NRMA btw, so the panel shop said well u know what, go thru the guy who hit you insurance instead.

hopefully i get my car back the perfect. prolly gonna sell it too if any1 is interested, i've got pictures of the damage from accident, not too bad at all. see how it goes anyway.

[g.ta]

Also, he said he'll have a car for me to use while my car is being fixed, i haven't had a car for 4 weeks now. he told me i could get it on monday didn't get it, same on tues and on weds. then on thurs he told me definately day because the car his fixing is done and just waiting for the guy to come pick it up, i called him throughout the day and he said not yet he'll call when the guy returns the car. he said he'd be at the shop till 7-8 so i trained it out to city to wait. called him at 5:45 and no answer, kept calling untill say 7:30, n he never picked up. could've atleast told me that the car wasn't there before he left or something like that so i wasn't just sitting around waiting for him.

[ncmx5]

i think you're repairer is unreliable and in the long run, will f*&k you over.

[g.ta]

So anyway, i called the insurance company and asked if i could change shops, and they said well i can, but i will have to then get it reassessed by the shop, then by insurance again and get approval b4 anything will go ahead, and they did confirm that insurance covered cost for close to $20K, so im guess like 18K or 17K, but they said they cant change shops because it was approved for THAT SPECIFIC shop to fix, but i beg to differ, why is it any different? same job, same cost (for insurance) just different shop cuz one of them is dicking me around.

so i didn't end up get a courtesy car, and i called him this morning, he told me he picked up car on weekend and it had a flat batt and altenator was screwed so some1 is fixing it 2day and he'll give me a call this arvo to pick up car. i aint counting on it. so whats your thoughts? change shops? how should i go up to him and say gimme my key back? and drive off?

[ncmx5]

CHANGE SHOPS! Say, look dwag... gimme mah matha fkn keys bak yo!

The costs would be different as different places charge differently for labour.

If I were you, I would call your insurance company and put the claim through them. You shouldn't need to pay the excess as the other party's insurance should cover it. This way you could choose your own repairer etc.

[g.ta]

the current repairer i chose, just going thru the other guys rather then my own because at the time of the accident, i had not paid my premium, in which NRMA said to me, we'll cover you, u just need to pay your premium first. in which the smash shop guy said to me dw we'll go thru his insurance. i understand shop for shop is different in price, but since they allocated a certian amount to fix the car, cant they just use that? if u know what i mean.