Panel Beating / Car Repair help

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sep11guy

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#175866 14-Jul-2015 12:47

Hi Team !

I backed into something last week and now its coming to kinda bite me - lessons learnt the hard way. The dent is small and if you were to stand at a distance or an angle, you cant even see it.

Because its not that old model car (2011) , the repair is expensive.

I need to fix it so i have done my homework, and have got 3 quotes.

2 quotes got similar price range, 50$ out of each other . Both of these company's have allowed to get a 2nd hand part , paint and fix.

The 3rd company has given a "dent fix" quote, which means they will literally work on existing damage and smoothen it out, to make it look new and is about $440 cheaper.

Now some additional info to consider, the top 2 quotes , company's have been around for more than 10yrs so i assume they know whats best. Both of them seem very professional

The 3rd and last company which has been around for more than 20 years, but then management changed hands just this year, so its only few months old if you may want to view it this way.

So I want to know whats the best thing to do in this case. What would be the best solution for the car. What would you do if you were in my shoes ( and you dont have to break the bank )

The car is not mine.

:)

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#1342969 14-Jul-2015 12:56

have it done properly and go through insurance.

You were insured when driving the car?

jonathan18

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#1342971 14-Jul-2015 12:57

And insurance isn't an option here, ie the owner making a claim on their insurance, and you pay the excess and any impact on their no-claims bonus?

I feel for you, having just paid a visit to the panel beaters this morning. This trip was to arrange repairs to my car for damage caused when I backed into a brick fence at my house (despite a reversing camera!). This was a day after knocking the front side of the same car into a ute's bumper bar (which was parked over the line of its park), and has since been followed by my wife rear-ending a car in front of her at very slow speed at an intersection (her car this time, not mine). But, then again, this is why we pay insurance...

Inphinity

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#1342972 14-Jul-2015 12:58

It's up to you, really, but if it is a non-creasing non-breaking 'dent' it's quite possible it can be repaired. Many 'panelbeaters' these days are parts replacers, not repairers, and won't even consider fixing a panel, they just want to pull it off and put a replacement on. In some cases it may lead to a better finish, especially on awkwardly-shaped panels, but often it's just that's the way they do things now. We recently had a repair done and ended up with a ~$1000 difference in cost between the highest and lowest estimate, as a combination of replace vs repair and differing labour costs.

sep11guy

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#1342973 14-Jul-2015 12:59

yeah , i did have insurance, but when i called them , they said " xx % discount " on no claims bonus .

now what does that even mean . i dont get it.

there is a excess of $500

the repair cost is little over approx 3 times the cost of excess. So i want to know , if i should claim it thru insurance, or do i pay from my pocket ?

What do you think.

Inphinity

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#1342978 14-Jul-2015 13:15

If it's three times the cost of the excess, I would claim it. If it was +/- 20% of the excess, I probably wouldn't.

sep11guy

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#1342980 14-Jul-2015 13:21

Inphinity: If it's three times the cost of the excess, I would claim it. If it was +/- 20% of the excess, I probably wouldn't.

I am kinda leaning towards insurance but then i want to exactly know what are the consequences of the reduction of discount of no claims bonus ?

the premium wont go up ( as far as i know ) but i want to know side effects ( like above ) if i make claim through insurance.

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ubergeeknz

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#1342984 14-Jul-2015 13:25

sep11guy: the premium wont go up ( as far as i know ) but i want to know side effects ( like above ) if i make claim through insurance.

I think you'll find if they're reducing your no claims bonus, your premiums WILL go up.

bazzer

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#1342986 14-Jul-2015 13:27

sep11guy:
Inphinity: If it's three times the cost of the excess, I would claim it. If it was +/- 20% of the excess, I probably wouldn't.

I am kinda leaning towards insurance but then i want to exactly know what are the consequences of the reduction of discount of no claims bonus ?

the premium wont go up ( as far as i know ) but i want to know side effects ( like above ) if i make claim through insurance.

The premium will go up at the next renewal, I think. Something like Base Premium x (1 - No Claims Bonus%).

sep11guy

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#1342989 14-Jul-2015 13:29

yeah , so lets assume premiums do go up, so i want to know that if its worth going thru the insurance , claim and pay the extra monthly fee or am i better of bite the bullet, doing it on my own, and keeping my record clean .

ubergeeknz

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#1342990 14-Jul-2015 13:30

sep11guy: yeah , so lets assume premiums do go up, so i want to know that if its worth going thru the insurance , claim and pay the extra monthly fee or am i better of bite the bullet, doing it on my own, and keeping my record clean .

You just need to ask what your premium will go up to, and then do the math. There's no magic answer.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1343025 14-Jul-2015 14:03

ubergeeknz:
sep11guy: yeah , so lets assume premiums do go up, so i want to know that if its worth going thru the insurance , claim and pay the extra monthly fee or am i better of bite the bullet, doing it on my own, and keeping my record clean .

You just need to ask what your premium will go up to, and then do the math. There's no magic answer.

On the contrary, I believe the above IS the magic answer.....

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jonathan18

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#1343029 14-Jul-2015 14:08

ubergeeknz:
sep11guy: yeah , so lets assume premiums do go up, so i want to know that if its worth going thru the insurance , claim and pay the extra monthly fee or am i better of bite the bullet, doing it on my own, and keeping my record clean .

You just need to ask what your premium will go up to, and then do the math. There's no magic answer.

Exactly. Previously I've been in this situation, and the insurance company was able to to tell me the approximate impact the loss of the no claims bonus would have on my next premium; I could then calculate the total cost of the claim (excess plus increase in the following year's premium), and assess whether it was worth claiming.

I reckon the whole no claims bonus thing is partly set up to place the fear factor in policy holders' minds, namely that put them off claiming in situations where it still would be financially advantageous. Eg, some people won't use their car insurance policy just because they don't want to lose their no claims bonus, whether or not the overall cost will be less than paying for the repairs themselves.

Geektastic

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#1343040 14-Jul-2015 14:19

jonathan18:
ubergeeknz:
sep11guy: yeah , so lets assume premiums do go up, so i want to know that if its worth going thru the insurance , claim and pay the extra monthly fee or am i better of bite the bullet, doing it on my own, and keeping my record clean .

You just need to ask what your premium will go up to, and then do the math. There's no magic answer.

Exactly. Previously I've been in this situation, and the insurance company was able to to tell me the approximate impact the loss of the no claims bonus would have on my next premium; I could then calculate the total cost of the claim (excess plus increase in the following year's premium), and assess whether it was worth claiming.

I reckon the whole no claims bonus thing is partly set up to place the fear factor in policy holders' minds, namely that put them off claiming in situations where it still would be financially advantageous. Eg, some people won't use their car insurance policy just because they don't want to lose their no claims bonus, whether or not the overall cost will be less than paying for the repairs themselves.

Poppycock. NCB is there to reward careful drivers. Excess is there to stop piffling claims.

The AA offer guaranteed NCB for life.

sep11guy

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#1343043 14-Jul-2015 14:21

hmmmmm.

its kind of a tough decision. how about if i approach this from another angle.

at what % cost of repair of the car, do you think it would be wise to fix your self and above that %, you would claim.

say for eg, if car cost $20, you can say if its above x$, i would repair thru insurance, and if its below x$, i would do it myself.

would this be a good way of looking at this ?

jonathan18

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#1343044 14-Jul-2015 14:28

Geektastic: The AA offer guaranteed NCB for life.

And you really don't think such a policy is also partly designed to put people off making claims so as to retain their no claims bonus, with the aim to having it in place long enough to retain it for 'life'? Of course it will be, and such a discouragement to claim would also help fund the additional cost to the AA of offering the 'for life' policy.

OP - don't you think you're over-thinking this??

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