(The first 2 of) Five Common Mistakes When Choosing a Repairer

In an ongoing effort to help you choose the very best repairer for you and your car, we put together a little consumer guide – available to view by clicking here. It’s very comprehensive, but we know you can get busy and quickly, so we decided to share some of the 13 page guide with you in little bit sized morsels. We hope you can avoid the 5 most commonly made mistakes for the first two keep reading…
Being Directed By Your Insurance Company

As mentioned in “Car Repair Misconceptions” your insurance company isn’t always going to recommend the best repairer for your car, often they just send you to whichever repairer can limit their expenses as much as possible. As we are all aware insurance companies make their money by charging us a premium, and when we damage our car or someone else’s they help us out by paying for repairs, or at least part of them. So, as they already have your money, they obviously want to limit the money they pay back. As such, they are looking for the best deal for themselves.

So does this mean I can use any repairer I CHOOSE?

Absolutely, as long as you have “Freedom of choice” as part of your policy. If you don’t have this option it may end up being very costly. Be sure to check carefully when renewing your policy.

When you contact your insurance company and let them know exactly what happened it’s important to make it clear that you have a repairer that you wish to use, and will be going in to get a quote from them to get yourself back on the road as soon as possible. They will try and convince you to stay with their repairers; generally, this will be a repairer that you’re unfamiliar with. Why should you have to go with someone you don’t trust, to save your insurance company a few bucks?

REMEMBER: It’s YOUR Car and YOUR decision. Don’t let them pressure you into doing what is most profitable for THEM.
Choosing the cheapest option
We see all sorts of problems from people choosing the lowest bidder when it comes to having their cars repaired. More often than not we are called in to pick up the pieces!

You should NEVER choose a car repairer that offers an unbelievably low price to fix your car. The two most common problems are:

The company does not have the correct equipment or expertise to repair your car properly and only ends up doing half the job, leaving all sorts of imperfections that will slowly destroy the metal work, paintwork and possibly the overall integrity of your car’s structure and stability.

The advertised price is just their “get you in the door” price. Once you walk through the door and have them look at your car it suddenly turns out that there are all sorts of other fees and charges required if you want your car repaired properly.
To ensure neither of these things happens to you, be sure to fully investigate what the price includes and what methods the company will be using to repair your car.

Balhannah:

Woodside, Woodside North, Lobethal, Birdwood, Mount Torrens, Lenswood, Charleston, Cherryville, Oakbank, Balhannah, Harrogate, Brukunga, Bridgewater, Hahndorf, Mount Barker, Nairne, Littlehampton, Gumeracha, Cudlee Creek, Uraidla, Adelaide Hills, Mount Pleasant, Mannum, Kanmantoo, Wistow, Stirling, Aldgate, Crafers.

Contact us at Woodside today to discuss your crash repair needs.

Stepney:

Stepney, Magill, Norwood, St. Morris, College Park, Maylands, Kent town, Adelaide, Trinity Gardens, Kensington, Kensington Gardens, Kensington Park, Rostrevor, North Adelaide, Hackney, Evandale, Gilberton, Walkerville, Rose Park, Toorak Gardens, Leabrook, Rosslyn Park, Burnside, Wattle Park, Beulah Park, Payneham, Payneham South, Newton, Marden, Royston Park, Walkerville, Eastwood, Dulwich, Glenside, Tusmore, Heathpool, Vale Park, Parkside, Eastwood.

Contact us at Stepney today to discuss your crash repair needs.