Can you choose who repairs your car after a bump?

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A friend of ours has an Audi A4, someone has driven into the back of him,so he is not to blame. The third parties insurance company has informed that he should take his car to Natiowide crash repairs, he told them that he wants to take it to Audi to be repaired,they have told him that they only use Nationwide. Surely as the innocent party he can dictate where his car is repaired?
 
As the innocent party yes he can take the car where ever he likes. Best advice I can give is tell your friend to contact their own insurance company, inform them where the car will be taken for repair, to tell them a courtesy car will be required and they will take care of everything.
 
I was under the impression that the paying party can dictate where the repairs take place, and that if the non-fault party wish the work to be done elsewhere then it's they who pays any difference in cost.
 
The answer is emphatically yes! It is your [in this case your friend's] car to be repaired by whomsoever you choose to your chosen standard!

However insurance companies are such s*** that these days they have their own repairers who are so tied down that they pay less and because of that they will often play hardball to put you under pressure to accede to their unfair terms.

Since 'you' are the innocent party, you are quite entitled to play hardball back and demand a satisfactory repair. Ultimately you will win the battle but they may fight you before you win!
 
Wow what a difference to my experience. Someone hit my car and admitted liability. They informed their insurers (directline). I informed mine merely for notification purposes. Third party's insurer (directline) then rang me and wrote to me admitting liability and offering to repair my car and provide a courtesy car. I told them I didn't want to use their approved repairer and wanted to use my own bodyshop. Courtesy car company rang me to arrange a car and I dropped my car off at bodyshop and picked it up a couple of weeks later.

Downside is that my premium will probably go up despite non-fault.

Just tell them you have the right to choose your own bodyshop. If they mess around too much, go trough your own insurers but you may end up havin to pay excess and reclaim from the other side.
 
I had a similar experience - guy in a Merc , standing beside his car as I drove past [ leaving I thought lots of room ] threw open his door.

He had a replacement car there in less than 30 mins !! When I got home having taken quick photos of his car and my front wing , I phoned my insurance - [ Ford ] and was asked if I wanted a replacement [ I did ] and was I happy for them to arrange repair .

Other guy was saying I'd driven into his open door!

Informed my elder daughter in London and she advised me to take a good set of pics with my Pentax and let her see them immediately. Having seen them she agreed with the fact that he had opened his door into my car - the front wing was bent BUT the Nearside front corner was without a single blemish - not even a scratch.

My Freelander went to the main dealer for repair the next morning, and a Jaguar estate was delivered to me - with apologies it was the only diesel automatic that was available [ horrible car to drive BTW :( ]

I paid nothing - and my premium didn't go up either - the other side caved in after being told we would take it to Court - the photos were regarded as supporting my account.

I think my Insurers were rather surprised at his replacement car being there so speedily
 
I got rear ended (ooh matron) last year, 2 months after having bought the car. My insurance lot wanted to me to use their repairer but I wanted to take mine to an Audi approved repairer. This was agreed fairly quickly.

Its a right royal pain though even though its not your fault. Over a year on and my case is still dragging on even thought the other party admitted liability almost straight away. So my premium renewals still come up as me at fault purely because the case is not yet closed.
Also I had a warning light come on straight after the prang, something to do awith a water pump. I assume the rear end bang travelled throught the car and damaged something. I ended up having to pay for this out of my own pocket as the insurance assessors said there was no way the accident could have caused the fault. Great.
 
I tried this but the problem was insurance of the courtesy car - my insurance would only insure the courtesy car if it was provided by their pet repairer. Otherwise I had to pay extra for insurance of the courtesy car provided by my preferred repairer. Ways and means!
 
Mel_P said:
I tried this but the problem was insurance of the courtesy car - my insurance would only insure the courtesy car if it was provided by their pet repairer. Otherwise I had to pay extra for insurance of the courtesy car provided by my preferred repairer. Ways and means!
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Interesting, not sure what mine did.
The ongoing hassle though is to do with the hire costs of the courtesy car which I had for nearly a month whilst waiting for repairs. Im thanking my lucky stars that I added on legal assistance for the £25 or so on the policy as it is all being taken care of by the legal team. (I hope)
 
Yves Geza said:
The answer is emphatically yes! It is your [in this case your friend's] car to be repaired by whomsoever you choose to your chosen standard!

However insurance companies are such s*** that these days they have their own repairers who are so tied down that they pay less and because of that they will often play hardball to put you under pressure to accede to their unfair terms.

Since 'you' are the innocent party, you are quite entitled to play hardball back and demand a satisfactory repair. Ultimately you will win the battle but they may fight you before you win!
Click to expand...
oi, We are lovely. We'll probably give you a Wraith!
 
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