It'll buff out right?

sofasurfer

Junior Member
Messages
398
So last day of school for my daughter and the GTS goes in for it's MOT tomorrow so I thought I would pick her up in the Maser and give the GTS a run out so no warning lights come on tomorrow and scare the tester as I haven't used the car for about 10 day. Sat in the car and a Qashqai next to me get close and then scrapes all down my side. The mum was very apologetic but left me with a nice bit of damage

IMG_7524-1.jpg

The worst bit was she initially hit my car and rather than pulling slowly forward kept on going backwards and so maybe a small scuff was replaced with a proper crumple over the wheel arch. Thankfully I was in the car as I would bet she would have driven off and claimed not to have noticed.

She wants to keep it from her insurer but I don't think she realises how much it's going to be to sort out. I'm guessing it's going to be a bit more than her excess. We've only just moved this year to the are and I don't know of any good bodyshops within the Watford/Slough area. I know the insurers would I would rather use their preferred bodyshop but I would rather use one that someone on here could recommend. Any advice gratefully received on where to send the Maser.
 

sofasurfer

Junior Member
Messages
398
And yes that should be buff in the title, cannot seem to edit it. Oh and the picture is rotated, really not my day! May just go back to bed.
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
Painful, a body shop will put it right no problem, but yes perhaps the person who hit you does not realise how much it might cost, or is hoping to talk you into a lower cost repair? You have my sympathy, as i have also had a few car park scrapes and my local body shop is getting to know me and my car quite well!
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Take it to your local Maserati dealer and get a loan car of the same standard...and she will claim of her insurance as you are looking at a few grand to fix it.
 

redsonnylee

Member
Messages
1,540
Get two quotes and show her these, I had a similar scrape once on an M5 it was £2.5 to fix. As you can imagine the offender decided to go via their insurance.
 

Mattp

Member
Messages
501
if it does go through the insurance, the sod will be that you will then have to disclose that to your insurer next time...

One of my friends keeps being in the wrong place at the wrong time and has been the victim of 3 or 4 non-fault claims, its not done anything good to his insurance....
 

sofasurfer

Junior Member
Messages
398
Cheers guys, she has contacted me to say her husband has advised her to go through the insurance route which is how I would want it. Her insurer has already contacted me to offer their own bodyshop and courtesy car!. Good idea taking it to the local Maserati dealer. At least I know it should be repaired to a higher standard than some random bodyshop.

I'm pretty much between HR Owen in St Albans and Maranello in Egham. Anyone have a preference over these two?
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
I still cant work out how " a no fault claim" affects your own insurance,

Its a bit like saying, the bank got robbed, and although you had no money in, your share is xxxx which you have to pay to cover the loss....
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Their body shop and car.... ha ha ha.

That will be one of those quick as you can shops with lots of masking and overspray... and will knock £1000 of the resale value of your car.

I was offered the same some decades back when I had a new Volvo V70 estate which I declined. And the car they brought was a Vauxhall Agilla for me and the family and two dogs...again I rented a similar car and billed them for the hassle.
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,512
Sorry to see all that damage - amazing how careless or useless people can be.
HR owne St Albans don’t have anything on site the workshop and Bodyshop’s are in just off Scubbs Lane so they may drive be driving the car around a bit.
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,796
I still cant work out how " a no fault claim" affects your own insurance

I suppose an underwriter could claim that it was an indication that you are a 'wrong place at wrong time' sort of person.

I had a no fault claim (similar situation) a few years ago, and it is a massive pain when getting a quote, as they do an extra ten minutes of faffing around, but I don't think it has affected my premiums.

The bigger problem was that the insurance company bodyshop took four weeks to do a crappy job, when my local guy would have done it in 3 days for £400.
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
Their body shop and car.... ha ha ha.

That will be one of those quick as you can shops with lots of masking and overspray... and will knock £1000 of the resale value of your car.

I was offered the same some decades back when I had a new Volvo V70 estate which I declined. And the car they brought was a Vauxhall Agilla for me and the family and two dogs...again I rented a similar car and billed them for the hassle.

^^^This

Its your car and her fault so take it where ever you want....and that would be the route with the least filler so you could demand and new rear quarter but to be fair, a skilled panel beater will have that right in no time.

Your next issue is how much to paint. Grigio is incredible difficult to blend. My Strad had a similar crunch before I got it and they painted the entire site and over the roof. Luckily there is a seam on the roof that you can spray too. You might also want to take advantage and have any stone chipping to the front end worked into the deal.
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,932
I still cant work out how " a no fault claim" affects your own insurance,

Its a bit like saying, the bank got robbed, and although you had no money in, your share is xxxx which you have to pay to cover the loss....

The best one i had was in the 90s i was living and working in Nottingham. My car got nicked never to be seen again but they insisted on waiting 8 weeks before they would pay out. Unfortunately it coincided with me moving back to Manchester. I couldnt replace the car until they had paid out so when i phoned them to give them my new address they wanted to charge me an increased premium for a car that i didnt have and hadnt for 6 weeks at that point.

Aparently my mk1 Astra 1.3 was going to cost me more to insure in Manchester than Nottingham as "its a higher risk area sir" you mean the Astra that has been nicked and im waiting for you to pay out for still and that im still paying insurance on until the claim is settled ? Yes

After 20 minutes on the phone they agreed in the end that charging me to move a car based on it type group and new postcode when it had already been nicked wasnt really on considering they were holding up the claim even though they had agreed at that point that it would be a total loss claim. Funny after the event. I wasnt amused at the time.
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
I always say " Insurance is only re-assurance at the point of sale, after that its a bun fight "
Thing is, If you drop paint on your carpet, you get an equivalent carpet based on the £/sqm of the old carpet (i know), If you need a new Double glazed window, you get one,

However if your car gets written of you can have less than 50% of the value and be bloody thankful, now go and buy another and pay us more to insure it....
 

Devonboy

Member
Messages
1,289
Have a look at Bowron Motorcare they did a great job on my Maser and they are near to Watford
 

sofasurfer

Junior Member
Messages
398
Take it to Bodytechnics.
Had a conversation with Admiral last night and told them I wanted to go to either HR Owen or Maranello in Egham and was told they have a contract with HR Owen and the car would be repaired at BodyTechnics in Slough so all good as I'm concerned. If you recommend it then it must be good voicey.
Have a look at Bowron Motorcare they did a great job on my Maser and they are near to Watford
Will keep them in my contacts if I need any more work done. Thanks for the recommendation.
 

voicey

Member
Messages
660
Had a conversation with Admiral last night and told them I wanted to go to either HR Owen or Maranello in Egham and was told they have a contract with HR Owen and the car would be repaired at BodyTechnics in Slough so all good as I'm concerned. If you recommend it then it must be good voicey.

HR Owen bought bodytechnics a few years ago. It is one of only two approved Ferrari/Maserati repairers in the UK. If someone else is picking up the tab I always recommend them!
 

sofasurfer

Junior Member
Messages
398
So finally picking up the GTS this afternoon and hopefully it's all looking good. However....

I have a BMW 5 series courtesy car from Enterprise and last night and stone hit the windscreen and chipped it. The chip was right in the driver's view and now it's caused a crack about a foot long going across the screen. No chance it can be repaired so it looks like full windscreen repair job. Having never had damage to a windscreen before I guess I'm coughing up for a new windscreen for them. My own insurance policy has windscreen cover but seeing as I'm driving on their insurance effectively I'll be out of pocket. Will be glad to get the car back at this rate.