Insurance claim – non fault accident

[Glasgow_S1]

Sparky,

I had to deal with this Insurance company last October. I still don't have my Lotus back

I was rear-ended and it was claimed under a non-fault basis.

Couple of things to note:

1. They usually try to claim off of your insurance as 'it's normal practice arrangement between insurance companies, and doesn't really matter' - If you do this then you may have to pay the excess up front and claim it back as part of the settlement.
2. My clam was damaged, and I elected to get a new one rather than a repair. The waiting time for a new clam is horrendous. I waited 3 months for my Elise clam, but have heard horror stories of up to 1 year.
3. My insurance company refused top pay for a hire car for the duration the replacement part took to arrive. They pay for the time taken for the repair, once the clam arrived at the garage. I even got legal advice on this and lost.
4. I tried getting a whole new respray, as I didn't want it to look like 2 cars - shiny half and an old dull half. This was rejected after months of arguing between lawyers and insurance companies.
5. If you want a new clam, order it yourself right away. The bodyshop took 2 months to even look at my car - so it turned into 5 months before they even got the new part in.

6. It will be a lengthy repair - SORN it.

[Sparky]

Sparky,

I had to deal with this Insurance company last October. I still don't have my Lotus back

I was rear-ended and it was claimed under a non-fault basis.

Couple of things to note:

1. They usually try to claim off of your insurance as 'it's normal practice arrangement between insurance companies, and doesn't really matter' - If you do this then you may have to pay the excess up front and claim it back as part of the settlement.
2. My clam was damaged, and I elected to get a new one rather than a repair. The waiting time for a new clam is horrendous. I waited 3 months for my Elise clam, but have heard horror stories of up to 1 year.
3. My insurance company refused top pay for a hire car for the duration the replacement part took to arrive. They pay for the time taken for the repair, once the clam arrived at the garage. I even got legal advice on this and lost.
4. I tried getting a whole new respray, as I didn't want it to look like 2 cars - shiny half and an old dull half. This was rejected after months of arguing between lawyers and insurance companies.
5. If you want a new clam, order it yourself right away. The bodyshop took 2 months to even look at my car - so it turned into 5 months before they even got the new part in.

6. It will be a lengthy repair - SORN it.

Nightmare mate – hope you get things sorted out.

Yeah I expect this will be a lengthy process so may get a few other things sorted on the car while its off the road.

The clam may be fixable as it looks like it’s just the gel top coat that is damaged but from what I have been told the insurance company might not be happy with that as there is a risk of the repair cracking a few weeks\months down the line. If I had to bet money I think they will go with the repair as the structure of the clam looks ok. A few other things were noted as the grill next to the back reg plate was dented so looks like that needs replaced as well.
I was concerned about the courtesy car as well so I’ve decided to get my winter shed back on the road early so getting a MOT sorted just now.

All this drama for a 5MPH shunt – not even a proper crash!

[Dominic]

Although the clam make look structurally intact, if the gel coat is broken there is every possibility that the clam flexed, so a repair might result in cracking anyway. You may also have issues with moisture in the clam now too, resulting in bubbling paint in months / years to come.

Sorry to hear about your woes and here's hoping it gets sorted quickly.

[Sparky]

Update on the Exige – unfortunately still not got it back yet. Handed it over to Willowbrae on the 3rd of August and no closer to getting it back is seems.

Stumbled across this thread which has concerned me:

http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... 20&t=41489

Anyone else got their car in for repair just now or am I just unlucky? One call back the whole time the car has been in and every promise of the car being ready on whatever date has been missed.
Hotels booked for various Euro trips shortly but I think the chances of getting the car back are zero so I’ll be using the works van.

Anyone got any words of wisdom?

[tut]

Go along with a baseball bat, that is beyond unacceptable.

tut

[tenkfeet]

I was rear ended last month. Luckily the sticky out diffuser took the brunt. The problem is getting parts from Lotus as my car would of been repaired by now if the diffuser was in stock.

My insurer has a 5 year warranty on repairs which is better than the one year from Lotus so happy for the clam to be repaired and it's out of view.

If the car is safe to drive can they temp repair it. Speed tape is great stuff. Feeling your pain.

[hendeg]

Anyone else got their car in for repair just now or am I just unlucky?

I put my car in in November 2015 and I'm still waiting. The grills for the Exige are my problem. The supplier to Lotus has gone out of business. I've had to push all the way and eventually tried to sort them out myself.

My experience is that not much will happen unless you're on their case all the time.

[campbell]

Starting to feel like car insurance is simply a Government scam

[pshanks76]

Sparky, sorry to hear about your accident and sorry to be the bearer of more bad news but, further to my thread you linked earlier, it was not a great experience with Willowbrae.

I still have to do a full write up on my experience... It still hasn't technically ended since I've only had 99% of my car back - rear wheel arch liner was missing. After several months of trying to get Martin to replace I've finally given up and actually bought one yesterday off eBay.

My advice would be, call for updates every week and ask on progress, timescales and if possible photos of work done. I found Martin to be dreadful at communicating and I had to constantly chase him. He also consistently broke virtually every timescale he set , so keep reminding him of what he said he'd have done by when.

On the plus side, the work that was done was done well, but there were things missed and some problems, so check very thoroughly before taking the car away.

Paul

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Sparky]

Ok so not just me then

Few things happening in the background now so hopefully some good news in the next couple of weeks.

[timmsky]

Anyone else got their car in for repair just now or am I just unlucky?

I put my car in in November 2015 and I'm still waiting. The grills for the Exige are my problem. The supplier to Lotus has gone out of business. I've had to push all the way and eventually tried to sort them out myself.

My experience is that not much will happen unless you're on their case all the time.

Try Expanded Metal Company (Expamet) in Hartlepool. They make most of the stuff you see anyway. There must be plans and dimensions of the grilles that they could use as a template.

Nov 15 until now?? I hope there's some serious compensation for that length of time!!

[Glasgow_S1]

I got my Lotus back from Willowbrae last September. They had it for around 7 or 8 months.

Every deadline missed.
Every promise of a phonecall conveniently forgotten about.
They also 'forgot' my email address, my phonenumber....
The finish on the repair is also very poor.

Very poor communication. No effort made to convey any info on the repair or the status of the repair, or expected completion date.

They really have no interest in repairing a Lotus. Their yard is full of them, but they seem to go out of their way to basically piss you off and lie about expectations.

Avoid this bodyshop.

[Sparky]

Update: car has been moved to another garage and I have been sent a picture. Can confirm the car is still red and has four wheels. Progress

[Sparky]

Finally got the Exige back today.

To cut a long story short Craig got involved and everything went to plan from there – got some extra bits tidied up on the car as well as an added bonus.

Time to go for a drive!

[j2 lot]

Wow nearly a year! At least you have the car back for the summer. Enjoy.