Looking for advice and bodyshop recomendations in/near Glasgow

[kennyr]

Hello chaps,

I was walking back to my car when a van came down the street and decided to try and parallel park in the space behind mine. I witness this epic parking failure in slow motion as the guy dragged the front of his van across the rear bumper and rear panel (beside the lights). The result of this is shown in the attached pics. The other driver (is perhaps understandably) keen to avoid involving his insurance but I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Either way I'll need a few quotes so I'd appreciate any recommendations for places in the Glasgow area. I'm not so worried about the bumper but how easy is it to get a good localised repair to the damage on the rear panel?


Cheers,

Kenny

 

[mjheathcote]

How good is a localised repair going to be?
I have a similar area that requires attention and the body shop says to do a proper job both rear wings and roof with windows out is necessary as no join point all one panel!

 

[Phil the Brit]

Good job you saw him do it. Go for his insurance company straight away, there is no way he'll pay up for a proper repair, they just say that to stall.

 

[conaero]

Are you sure the quarter damage wont polish out, it looks like just paint from the other car?

I would try that first before you go blending panels as OEM paint is so important to keep original if you can.

If you dont fancy T'cutting it yourself, take it to your local body shop and wave a twenty under their nose.

 

[Contigo]

In before someone else says it

"That'll T'Cut out"

 

[kennyr]

Thanks for the replies. I waited for more information before replying. Unfortunately the damage on the quarter is a little beyond even the most optimistic T'cut. Yes it's mostly paint transfer but at the edge of the light it's through to the metal and (like me) a little depressed. I've had a few quotes ranging from £600 (localised repair) to £3000 (Pretty much a full respray of the car). Each place had a different opinion of what would be needed regarding colour match. The more expensive ones were working on the basis it would be impossible to get a decent match on a local repair and so the whole rear + roof would need to be done. On the plus side they would deal with the couple of small rust bubbles under the rear lights.

The worse news is that the guy has somewhat revised his opinion (after hearing how much it would cost) and now claims that he didn't hit my car. The insurance company is not making the most optimistic noises either. So looks like I might have to go for the cheapest option (bumper respray + local repair) and hope for the best.

 

[adam01]

Yep, rear, 2 rear qrt panels and back to the front roof line (as per JMH post) - same thing if u were to do a proper job of removing the rust bubbles under the rear lights (common problem due to a bronze weld fault) If u go down this path, ensure they cut out the rust area and reweld - if u req. pics, let me know

 

[CatmanV2]

Sorry to hear about the issues. Full respray seems the best route, but I guess you have not witnesses
BTW love the avatar and the applicable nickname

C

 

[kennyr]

@adam yes the guy said pretty much exactly that, cut out and replace. He also recommended doing something preventative (can't remember what exactly) to the rear wheel arches as there is a weak spot there as well. Seemed to know his stuff and had done a few masers over the years with the same set of rust problems.

@Catman, Nope no witnesses, no CCTV. I do have a poor quality voicemail recording from where he called me to give me his number and I (accidently) didn't answer. In that he asks me to get quotes and says he will "obviously settle up with me so we don't need to use insurance". Unfortunately my insurance company don't seem to be that interested in that.

Glad you like the avatar, at least I know I have R2 to go home to Although buying stuff like 1/2 scale fully motorised R2-D2 projectors is possibly the reason why I don't have the cash to pay for a respray....

 

[CatmanV2]

Kenny, I'd have thought that recording was tantamount to an admission of liability. Have you talked to a solicitor or similar?

C

 

[Contigo]

Indeed the mere fact that he wants to settle outside the insurance is an admission on his part.

 

[kennyr]

Unfortunately, since the recording does not have him explicitly saying his name and that he hit my parked car in his van and assumes all liability, the insurance bods aren't that interested at this stage. Apparently it would be useful if it goes to court. Which is something to look forward to.... Now just got to decide if I want to go ahead with the work and hope it gets resolved on a no fault basis. Alternatively I could just wait until the parking scars on the rest of the car hit critical mass and get a full respray then.

 

[hodroyd]

Personally, I would go after this guy and get a solicitor to drop him a line. Police and Insurers are not usually interested, but solicitors are. The recording is from his number and he implies guilt, there is no getting away from that. Go for a free solicitors case review with all the details, they usually offer half an hour and see what happens. The other guy will more than likely give in at that point if court is mentioned, but you never know, it's worth a try..!!

 

[CatmanV2]

Personally, I would go after this guy and get a solicitor to drop him a line. Police and Insurers are not usually interested, but solicitors are. The recording is from his number and he implies guilt, there is no getting away from that. Go for a free solicitors case review with all the details, they usually offer half an hour and see what happens. The other guy will more than likely give in at that point if court is mentioned, but you never know, it's worth a try..!!

This. Also the suggestion that he will be perjuring himself in court, which you are, obviously, more than happy to go to, may well engender a change in view.

C

 

[dem maser]

Run this past the Mrs.....all of the above she tells me...go for it

 

[outrun]

Kenny

I'm in Glasgow too and use William at Touch Ups in Polmadie. You can get him on 07922 632 329. He's really excellent and very unassuming. You will find a very small paint shop that does very high quality work and are likely to find Ferrari, Porsche or Bentley in his place. He has been known to prep for Bentley Glasgow and last time I took the Maser down he was painting the front of an F430.

He's done my previous 996 c4s bumpers, daily driver (ex) Audi A3 and my wife's Touareg R50 for me in the last couple of years. Has a nice r8 that he drives to work and keeps immaculate too.

Prices are always good and cash is king.

 

[outrun]

Oh, and stay away from Mitchell Inglis. They are overpriced and I (and others) have had bad experiences. Graypaul use Eastern Western in Edinburgh these days. Good but expensive.

 

[Needamaser]

Kenny sounds as if you are not using a broker that would keep you right.

If you are expecting sensible answers or assistance from your own company if you are not wanting to claim on your own policy then you will wait for a very long time.

If you are going after the van man to recover your outlays you have a couple of options but whatever you do you are going to have to quantify the loss/damage.
First thing is get a quote (or two) to do a proper repair. Without a firm quote you are wasting time.
I am not in Glasgow but Buchan Automotive in Rutherglen is headed up by a guy who has Italian exotica and if nothing else will give you good advice on repair options.

Next step is formally lodge your claim with van man's insurance. If you don't know who that is get your Insurer to run a MID check on his registration number and that will give you all you need.

You can either then get a solicitor to pursue for the repairs (assuming you don't have legal expenses on your own policy?) or do it yourself.

If you need a name and number of specialist solicitor in Glasgow drop me a pm and I will give you their details.

Reality is even specialist solicitors can take weeks or months to get a result so be prepared to wait.

However my advice is get your quote(s) to his Insurers and tell them 14 days to instruct repairs or you are raising an action in your sheriff court for this amount plus interest.
They won't do it in that timescale (they never do) and will prattle on about waiting to hear from their Insured etc.
At this point you have to play hard ball. The insurance companies hear threats of being sued dozens of times a day but for various reasons people don't and therefore ignore the "threat".
Go into your local sheriff court (or onto interweb thingy) and obtain/download forms to raise a small claims court action. Think cost is about £70 now but you claim that back as well.
Fill in yourself ( or if you are lucky a sympathetic sheriff clerk will give you advice as to what to do...it does come with notes on how to do it) or get your tame solicitor to assist.
Lodge the papers in the court and they then serve this on Mr van man. It is HIM you are pursuing and the brown envelope and summons lands on his door mat.
You won't believe how quickly Mr Van man suddenly recalls the incident and is telling his Insurance company to deal with it. ;-)

Don't worry about having to go to court (£20 says it never will anyway!) because the sheriff listens to both sides and makes his/her decision on evidence and credibility of that evidence.
As it is civil it is on balance of probability not proof beyond all reasonable doubt. Assuming it is a small claims court you can attend yourself (you don't need legal representation) but it won't get that far for several reasons unless
your van man has no insurance which is unlikely.
Drop me a pm if you need any more info but any other course other than above and you are going to be on here in 6 months time saying you still haven't had the car fixed.

 

[hodroyd]

Kenny, make sure you have a top bodyshop quote, DON'T accept any insurers approved repairer, insist on your own bodyshop to do any repair, then you have control over quality. Good advice from Needamaser..!! At worst you have a no fault claim, but your premium would more than likely still go up if you went through your insurers to get the work done..!!

 

[kennyr]

@all Once thanks for the replies. They've given me a bit of fresh motivation!

@Needamaser, thanks for the advice. Is the username accurate? If so I have a 4200 with light (probably T-Cut out) accident damage for sale ;-) Yes, regretting not going through a broker. Used to for years but then a few years of incident free motoring and I was seduced by the on-line cheapness.

So, called Admiral (my insurance company) again and got someone who seemed a little more optimistic. The situation is:

• I'm currently not claiming unless third party admits liability.
• Third Party has not made a claim.
• The chap seemed very surprised that the previous person I spoke to thought it unlikely liability would be settled. He seemed to think it should be pretty straightforward given the circumstances.
• Admiral have made the “allegations†to the third party insurers last week. They have until Friday to respond.
• If the third party insurers deny liability then Admiral will pursue them using my photos and voicemail.

I have legal expenses cover and Admiral instructed Lyons Davidson to act for me. After speaking to them, they suggested I fill in their questionnaire (which I've done) so they were ready to initiate action should the third party deny responsibility. They have the photos etc as well.

My thoughts are I'll give them a couple of weeks to sort it out before I take things on myself.

Does this sound reasonable?