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Hi
I would welcome some advice about an issue I have with repairs recently done on my vehicle after an accident.
A few weeks ago someone reversed into my Motability car whilst I was parked up in a car park waiting for my wife. A quick call to RSA saw them pass the job to The Motor Repair Network and when I did eventually manage to speak to them, (It took multiple calls and several hours in total on hold before I managed to get through) as it was only light damage to the rear bumper and tailgate they passed the job on to a mobile repair company called Rapid Repair Network.
They made an appointment for earlier this week and a lad turned up, put a big tent up on the drive and repaired the vehicle. To be fair, the paintwork looks good on the repair, but when I was inspecting the work after he had finished, I noticed that a dent in the bumper was still there. It’s not a bad dent and if you stand l0oking straight on at the back of the vehicle you don’t really see it, but it becomes obvious if you stand looking sideways on, especially if the sun is shining. I immediately pointed this out to the repairer and he said he had tried to push it out but had been unsuccessful. He said the whole bumper would have needed to have been changed to get rid of the dent but Motability were not that fussy about their vehicles so he hadn’t bothered. He assured me that it would be fine, but I said I was concerned that I may lose my good condition bonus when handing the car back because of the dent, to which he replied that he had seen much worse that Motability had let go so it would be fine.
After he had left I was still concerned, partly because I have always looked after my vehicle but now it has a dink in the bumper that should have been repaired, especially as RSA and Motability would surely just claim the cost from the other driver’s insurers as he admitted full liability, and also just in case it did effect my good condition bonus, so I first tried to contact Motability but kept getting re-directed, both online and by telephone to RSA, who didn’t answer the telephone, so in the end I did an online chat with them. The person I spoke to just said the repair should have been done properly but was also unable to speak to the Motor Repair Network so said he would email them to contact me urgently.
The only contact I have had since is an email and a text message from MRN this morning, saying that they hope I was happy with my recent repair and asking me to rate them out of 10. I have called them three times this afternoon and been on hold for 30 minutes each time but again just can’t get anyone to answer.
Should I just accept the repair as it is and hope that it isn’t noticed/mentioned when I do eventually swap my vehicle or should I keep pushing this?
Sorry for the rambling post, I just wanted to give some detail as well as asking for advice.
Cheers
Will
- Replies
It shouldn’t affect your good condition bonus, we’ve handed cars back with bumper scuffs and scrapes and had no issues with GCB, bumpers by their nature get scuffs and dents. If you can live with it and you’ve made Motability aware, I personally wouldn’t be bothered about it. Others on here may have differing opinions, but ultimately it’s up to you how far you take it.
Enyaq EV
If you have gone through insurance as you suggest it will go down as a non fault accident. I have previously watched these small dent companies that come to your home, paint several area’s of a neighbours deceased fathers picanto, where they didn’t even bother to tint the paint to make it suit the aged standard red of the car. Needless to say it looked idiotic.
I’ll cut to the chase. If your car had gone into a “proper” body repair shop, they would have filled the bumber if it couldn’t be pushed out and put a special adhesion primer on the bumper first, so it would adhere to the bumper and the normal topcoat paint colour to that. If the adhesion primer atage has been missed, the paint won’t adhere properly and be on long.
Motabilty car or not, if RSA were involved the finish of the bumper repair should have been flawless “as good as new” I woulddn’t be happy as my eye would always draw to it regardless who’s car it was.
I suggest you fill the review of the work done with the lowest score possible, fill in your comment says if it went to a body shop, there would no dent after the repair has been carried out and your totally unhappy with their workmanship.
Let RSA and motability know your not happy with the workmanship, requesting it be redone properly!
If you have gone through insurance as you suggest it will go down as a non fault accident. I have previously watched these small dent companies that come to your home, paint several area’s of a neighbours deceased fathers picanto, where they didn’t even bother to tint the paint to make it suit the aged standard red of the car. Needless to say it looked idiotic.
I wasn’t given a choice about where the car was repaired but if I had been then I probably would have chosen the mobile option anyway, as I have modifications to my vehicle and trying to get a suitable hire vehicle whilst mine was away would have been difficult. I just assumed that you would get the same quality of repair wherever the vehicle was.
If you have gone through insurance as you suggest it will go down as a non fault accident. I have previously watched these small dent companies that come to your home, paint several area’s of a neighbours deceased fathers picanto, where they didn’t even bother to tint the paint to make it suit the aged standard red of the car. Needless to say it looked idiotic.
I wasn’t given a choice about where the car was repaired but if I had been then I probably would have chosen the mobile option anyway, as I have modifications to my vehicle and trying to get a suitable hire vehicle whilst mine was away would have been difficult. I just assumed that you would get the same quality of repair wherever the vehicle was.
There is no reason you can’t get just as good repair from these types of companies. However it appears the technician that came to fix you was too lazy to remove the bumper and too lazy to use a bit of filler at the bare minimum, so he could complete the job to a high standard. Getting the company back out to complete the work to the required standard is the least they can do.
It seems he was either running behind that day or after an early finish!
Its unlikely the shoddy workmanship will effect you getting the good condition bonus/payment at end of your lease. What you d next depends on whether you can live with the repair or not. At the very least you should do is rate them negatively on the questionaire they sent you.
When the vehicle repair doesn’t go well it is a difficult position to be in. I was hit from behind in MB just before Christmas in 2019. The rear boot was stoved in and with gaps down the side. When we went to get some items from the car four weeks later, it was outside without a cover it over it.
I picked the car up and everything looked fine at first. Then I noticed all my fuel had gone, literally all of it. I drove out of the garage and my car broke down due to lack of fuel.
Then as I started driving the display fogged up and the rear window was streaming with water but several of the heater elements were broken. Then noticed and could feel my trousers getting damp. Then I realised where my fuel had gone – running the engine to dry the car out!
Driving home, I thought the car had more road noise than before but since I had been in hire cars, maybe they were quieter
Parked the car and noticed – no reversing camera! But then worse to come, I lifted a rear passenger back that had been left down and noticed this :
They had folded the seat down to hide the mold and that it was still wet.
I had a check around the car and there were pools of water where due to the motion of the car, it was now seeping out. I opened the boot expecting to see the tyre well full of water. However, it was bone dry ! For only 1 reason :
The garage had removed the plugs from the boot well to let the water out and had not replaced them.
We then had a big stand off between the Recovery firm, Repair garage, RSA and Motability and myself. The garage claimed it was me that had been driving around with mouldy seats! Then the garage refused to pay for a hire car because it they had to do remedial work and their loan cars are all they have – economy sized run arounds which are all manual and no automatics big enough for a scooter.
Eventually, Motability caved in and cancelled the lease allowing me to get a replacement car. Which was a SEAT Terrace that then gave me 2 1/2 years of breakdowns and other problems
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