Accident Repair Centres - Waiting Times

[Big Boy]

I mentioned elsewhere that a kind young lady reversed into the back of my truck yesterday, whilst it was parked outside my house. Fortunately damage to my car was fairly superficial, but the the other car was quire poorly. She was fully insured.

Insurance agents came, sorted everything very quickly, and I was handed a bit of paper, and told to report to a named body shop (it would have been my choice of body shop anyway).

I turned up at about 09:30 this morning, and was quite shocked at the waiting time. They will fit my car in on 1 Feb, and the superficial damage will take 4 days to repair. What would have happened if the damage was more serious? I'd have been without a car for best part of a month.

I'm assuming the delay is due to the incident happening at the end of Thailand's 7 deadliest days.

The repair shop has several notices up, claiming they can repair all cars within 1 to 3 days - I guess that's Thai time.

[PeteC]

My twisted thinking tells me the insurance company is paying them directly, and probably at a reduced rate. Perhaps they're putting other higher paying jobs in front of lower paying insurance jobs? If you offered them a "tip" the schedule may change overnight? Pete

[migrant]

Had someone back into us a while back. Took it to a recommended shop and was also told 4 days.

Got a call the next day saying all was done.

Hope the same for you!

[Nereus]

I have no idea what they may be up to here, but the shop in Bangkok that quoted me recently told me that the insurance company supplies any needed parts, and he just has to order from them. In my case, the rear bumper would have to be imported from the UK, so there would have been a big delay. For cars made in Thailand the supply should not be a problem, but maybe the cost is!

[Big Boy]

They did point to a huge work board on the wall, which detailed all of their work day by day, and they looked to be pretty busy.

[buksida]

Its an insurance scam, we had a similar problem years ago, they have deals with specific garages, the wait was 2 months, and they didn't use genuine parts.

[Big Boy]

May be they have deals, but this would have been my repair shop of choice anyway. Regarding genuine parts, I don't know, but certainly with my insurance I'd have to pay extra to be guaranteed genuine parts, so I guess you gets what you pays for. This was made quite clear by my insurance broker when I purchased the insurance. In the event my bumper does need replacing (I'm thinking it's the mounts that have been damaged, and the bumper is still in tact - appears twisted because the mounts have taken the impact), it should be fairly obvious if it isn't genuine - I'll report back when it's done.

[Big Boy]

All's well that ends well - car back looking like new. As far as I can see, it is still 100% Ford.