missing bolt & insurance claim...what can i do?

[jo5ephedward5]

Hello,

 

This is a bit of a strange one as its not relating to my policy.

 

My brother has (been an idiot) and lost his licence for drink driving.

 

He basically hit the rear of a motorbike at around 20mph whilst still under the influence from the night before [everyone is fine thank god] – note to everyone, if you’ve been on a bender do not assume you are safe to drive when you get up the next day!

 

anyway due to him now being on a 12 month ban and having a fairly new car on finance, I said I’ll have his car for 12months and pay the tax and insurance and he can pay the finance, after all no point in paying £3000 insurance next year for it to sit on the drive, when I can insure it for £400 a year and have use of the car – [a condition of the finance is it must be insured fully comp whilst finance is outstanding so parking it up and forgetting about it is not an option – [not to mention bad for the car].

 

He called Direct Line (his insures) and said he’d been banned with a DR10 and asked if he could add me to the policy for the rest of this year – they said sure here’s a refund of £19 for adding an older driver.

 

Anyway the car was sent to a Direct Line approved garage in Telford for repair – it had a scuff on the NSF wing but there was a much bigger problem with the steering – handling awful, steering wheel pointing down when the wheels were forward, traction control lights coming on and an odd noise.

 

The garage fitted a new wing and most of the suspension parts to the driver side. The manager of the Direct Line approved garage drove the car 10miles to my brothers address once the work was complete.

 

I went to pickup the car last weekend as I needed to use it for a couple of days in London – I got about 10 miles and the traction control light came on and the steering was all over the place…I parked up for the night and nipped it to the local Vauxhall garage – they said there were no mechanics working as it was Sunday and I should call the AA.

 

£119.50 later and I’m a fully paid up member of the AA – the guy arrived in 20 mins and I can’t rate them enough (as much as I’ve always thought they were a waste of money!) – he jacked up the car and noted that when the steering is set to straight the wheels were actually pointing out (away from each other) – he spotted that the OSF lower pinch bolt was missing – this basically holds the lower aspect of the suspension to the car. This meant the wheel was actually flapping around only held to the car at the top! He had a suitable bolt but had to create a sleeve from scratch to fit it – what a hero!

 

He advised that it would get me to London but I had to take it to a professional to be checked over and have the temporary bolt replaced.

 

I called Direct Line and explained the situation – they seemed concerned and said they would call the original garage – 10mins later and the original garage called me back, they said the bolt was in when they worked on it and there was nothing wrong with it – however he said take it to the nearest Vauxhall garage and get them to replace the bolt and he would pay them direct.

 

Off I go to Vauxhall and tell them what’s happened – they get the car up on the ramp and say they are not happy to just change the bolt as they believe the whole ‘arm’ could be bent but there is no way of telling – they said they called the original garage and they wont pay it and tell me its nearly £300 if I want it done – I said obviously I don’t want to pay for it as its not my fault - they have said if that’s the case they will just do the bolt and I will have to sign a disclaimer before they will let the car go and state it could give way in the future…this will all be in their report when I collect it later today.

 

I have told the original garage this and they said when Vauxhall have done the work and as soon as I get an opportunity to go to Telford I should make an appointment and they will give it a once over – hey assure me there is nothing to be concerned about as the arm can’t be bent [bold words from someone who can’t see the car!]

 

Now I’m a little concerned that A] the first garage either didn’t fit this bolt, or indeed did but didn’t check it was secure as it had done under 30miles from when the works were completed to the AA being called, and B] now I have to sign a disclaimer at Vauxhall before I make a 200mile trip back to the original garage!

 

Direct Line are uninterested in assessing it independently as the garage they chose has offered to fix the bolt via the Vauxhall garage and then give it a once over at a later date…

 

…what can I do – I have to deal with this all in my brother’s absence as he’s in Holland on business for a few weeks – direct line don’t like dealing with me and not he policy holder despite him giving them the nod to deal with me whilst he’s away with work

 

I also want to claim back the AA membership as I wouldn’t have needed it if there was no problem in the first place – can I do this and can I make it part of the claim for the works carried out already following the crash? – after all I don’t want to make an additional claim in my name just for £119.50 (the excess would be more than that and my brother has already paid £550 in excess for the initial claim)

 

Long one I know but all advice gratefully received.

[jo5ephedward5]

Update:

 

i have just picked up the car - the original garage had 'gone home' so no payment from them! £54 off melater and i'm back on the road...however i had to sign a disclaimer and i have been told by the Vauxhall mechanic that i should not plan on doing any distance in the car without Direct Line sending an independant mechanic look at it - they say the lower arm and ball joint is burred and they had to remove a small section to fit the bolt - now i'm not happy with this and in hindsight i probably should have refused to sign the disclaimer - i will be calling Direct Line first thing.

[blipvert]

I would have thought that all this expense and aggravation would not have been incurred had the nut and bolt not disappeared in the first place, so that begs the question, what happened to it. If a job such as this is entrusted to a garage then I would have thought any repair must be roadworthy and if the repair were to fail after 30 miles down the road then it is not, period. I would also suggest had the vehicle caused a fatal accident, it would have been towed away to the police pound for a forensic examination with grave consequences.

[jo5ephedward5]

Well I have just come off the phone to direct Line who were very helpful tbh.

They apologized for any confusion – they didn’t appreciate that the damage was so extensive – they have said they will get their assessor to call me on Monday and they will arrange for it to be taken to Vauxhall and independently assessed by the Direct Line guy – if he deems works are needed they will commission Vauxhall to do the work and the cost will be taken off what Direct Line have yet to pay the original garage – they said they will open an official internal investigation to try and work out how this happened.

They also said I can send the invoice that I have paid today to them and they will refund me out of what they are holding back from the original garage

We also have legal cover with this policy which means we can claim the AA membership back in the form of compensation under that.

Hopefully it will all be sorted soon – I would kick up a fuss about not having a car for ages but tbh I’m only the named driver and I will hardly use it – I Live in zone 1 in London and by complete chance the flat I rent has a secure cap parking spot.

I’ll be happy to get it all checked and back on the road plus my costs back…lets hope Direct Line can walk the walk as well as they talk the talk!

[blipvert]

that sounds like the proper outcome for this (at least for now).