Not to use Toyota garage but to use Toyota approved garage

[sleepwouldbenice]

Details changed but in essence...

My DH bumped neighbours' visitors car. Totally his fault. Idiot.. ideally not to go through insurance but will if we need to

They've gone to Toyota garage for a quote. £5k including panel removal etc. We've gone to Toyota approved local garage, with guarantees etc its linked from Toyota website, quote is £1k, they say panels are fine not to be replaced

Car owners are insisting on Toyota garage, always used them, etc

What's reasonable here? What are our rights?

You have no rights, you should go through insurance. If I was your neighbour I'd be doing that now.

Go through your insurance. You have to notify them of the accident anyway

You don't get to tell someone where they can repair their car that you damaged

You need to go through insurance, they will pick the garage not your neighbours then it's all sort.

I had this once though it was a small dent so not worth going through insurance. They came back with a stupid bill so rang insurance anyway and they sorted it all out.

Why would you have rights? Go through insurance (which you should be doing anyway) or be prepared to pay the charge of the place they have chosen.

What do you pay your insurance company for?

They will see you as wide boys trying to use a cheap repairer.
If I were them I'd just report it to my insurance and yours would take the matter up.
Don't try to get involved, it will just cause trouble.
It's not your choice anyway- you hit them. You don't dictate anything here.

Once had a dopey cow drive into back of me and try to insist on not going through insurance - at one point she suggest that the 7 year old car I'd had from new and until she drove into the back of it hadn't had a single prang or dent wasn't worth repairing.

She was driving something at least twice as old.

I understand the comments it's just these rip off places doing unnecessary work are costing us all a fortune.

If you go through your insurance it won't cost you £5k.

And its you that caused the accident so its not your decision to do repair on the cheap.

I’d also suggest going through the insurance. The neighbour will never be happy.

Depending on what company it is they may have a damage repair centre they use rather than Toyota so the guy won’t get his local place anyway!

If you don’t have a protected no claims bonus, perhaps a good question to ask on here is how much to expect your insurance to rise by next year if your insurer has to pay out £5k worth of damage?

You are expecting to pay £1k. Presumably plus vat so that’s like the same as a £100 per month rise if you went through insurance? Obv that’s just one year but just a thought.

Actually I think part of the problem is cars are more easily damaged now days and prices of everything have gone up.

But we don't normally use deal garages anyway as.they are normally more expensive.

Your insurance Will tell them where to get it repaired and it maybe not be the dealship, this will not give them the choice as they normally insist on more then one quote. It's after all why you pay your insurance.

Absolutely go through insurance. That's what it's for. If I were your neighbour I would insist on it.

It costs everyone more money in insurance if costs are going up for unnecessary repairs. We have to pay one way or another of course but it's the profiteering that's the thing that annoys me

The garage we were suggesting is Toyota recommended and guaranteed so not some shoddy alternative.

Will probably be insurance job!

The Toyota garage will not have an inhouse paint shop, they will subcontract the work.

It costs everyone more money in insurance if costs are going up for unnecessary repairs.

The repairs are necessary. The insurance company will not authorise a £5k repair if it's not reasonable. You are not in a bargaining position here.

Stop trying to be a cheapskate CF and do what your idiot husband should have done in the first place - inform your insurer and let them sort it.

I know we aren't
But I doubt the insurance company will argue they will just pay
We now have 2 approved garages saying panel replacement not needed, it's just the Toyota garage saying its needed. Total rip off

But I doubt the insurance company will argue they will just pay
We now have 2 approved garages saying panel replacement not needed, it's just the Toyota garage saying its needed. Total rip off

Of course they won't just pay. They will make the decision based on what they find to be the best price for the work needed. They won't just send it to the dealer on the say so of the owner any more then they will put it to the approved garage based on your information.

What is more realistic is that it will be taken to an approved body shop.

This is absolutely out of your hands.

If the car has always been serviced in Toyota garage, the owner isn't unreasonable to wish to continue with that.

Maybe it doesn't need replacing to work for now, but from long time point of view it would need replacing sooner than normally.

You don't agree with each other about an informal solution, so let the insurance sort it.

Wow
Again the repair would be guaranteed and the garages are recommended by Toyota
It will also take them longer to repair it which is worse for the driver
Again the Toyota own garage are suggesting unnecessary work. That's what's annoying

OP, again, it is not up to you.

Thing is when you’ve hit someone’s car, you don’t really get to decide what garage they are allowed to use to fix the issue that you caused. If the owner has always used the same garage they are not unreasonable to what to use them this time too.

You can however say that you would rather do it via the insurance. Sounds like that will be your best option here

I understand it is annoying. There is nothing you can do about it.

The default solution is, that you go through insurance. In that case someone else will decide what's appropriate repair and deal with any disagreement or potential lawsuit.

You would prefer to go around insurance. They told you they always do Toyota's own garage, and are willing to settle the same way.

I would agree with you if they always did the cheapest repair and wanted you to pay for the most expensive form, but this isn't the case here.

And are the garage you're suggesting fully authorised and set-up to carry out assessments and repairs e.g., a jig to check chassis / bumper alignment or that the crumble zones haven't warped even a fraction?

If they're not going to check that and just assume it's safe are they going to accept liability should something happen in future?

Will they carry out all work for your quote or if they remove the panel and find there is some damage they couldn't see from the initial inspection will they charge more?

If they can't blend they paint to match exactly and end up having to replace the panel will they expect you to cough up the difference?

If the neighbours friend decides to put in a spurious personal injury claim will you personally be able to defend it?

Insurance is expensive becuase it protects you from all those risks and you should always go through your insurance for any and all accidents.