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[joshwyatt]

If you do require assistance, do PM me or give me a call 

[Entwood]

Just remember .. Swinton are NOT, and never have been Insurers... they are brokers .. nothing more, nothing less, and they refer you to their "claims line" which is actually a third party claims handler who makes money by charging the insurers a fortune for hire cars IF you are entitled to one. If you are not they are simply not interested and will close the case as fast as they can, often telling the third party to write the vehicle off without your permission, as once the vehicle is written off you have far fewer options ... read the clause "total loss" in your policy 

Also .. as brokers and NOT insurers .. Swinton - and their third party claims handlers - do not come under the umbrella of the Insurance Ombudsman - believe you me .. I know having spent 12 months fighting them.

I would not touch Swinton with a 50 foot bargepole, in fact, if they were the only way of getting insurance I would go without a car first.

[biggriffin]

You claim excesses with your uninsured loss cover, if you do not have this, you need to get a claims management company,
 Also at the bottom of your policy, is the name of the insurance company who covered you e.g., avviva,prudential,ageas, etc contact them. Don't give in. No is not the answer,.

[BazaJT]

In fairness to them I've been insured through Swinton for quite a few years now,and when my Senator was wrecked in 2010 they couldn't have been more helpful!

[TheBoy]

Swinton are simply brokers. In the event of any claims, nobody should be talking to them, beyond the initial reporting??

[Entwood]

Swinton are simply brokers. In the event of any claims, nobody should be talking to them, beyond the initial reporting??

There is no need to even tell Swinton .. as long as you inform your actual insurers.

Swinton WANT you to go through their claims handlers as they make more money that way. In the case of Chris's car .. the claims handler instantly started trying to get money out of the third party insurers and never even informed her insurers .. it wasn't until the "write off" entered the insurers database that her insurers even knew about the accident !!

In theory she was, potentially, driving uninsured as she was in breach of the insurers conditions ... ie  to inform them of any accident or claim .. we assumed - bad thing to do - that Swintons Claims Line (claims handlers) had done so .. wrongly as it happens.

The Insurance Ombudsman totally agreed with us but Swinton are outside the scheme as they are Brokers NOT insurers.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Well, page 2 looks optimistic reading! My only choice may be whether to get out the razor blades or the rope. 

Just as another update, just had a call from Aviva (so it seems I'm insured by the Aviva side of The Insurance Line, then) who have said this i basically an introductory call, as they've been informed I'm not happy with the settlement, so they're going to pass it on to an engineer for review, which may be today, but within 5 working days. I imagine he will promptly refuse any increase in the offer, however it does keep things 'moving' and now being able to speak to a reasonable person I have now been able to made it clear I simply want...

a to keep the car
b to have a sum of money to help me repair her
c to know that the 3rd party is accepting liability, as I am in limbo at present with a theoretical £90 in my pocket, should I not get my excess back

I've said I'm not after thousands, I'm not after the total repair bill (£1900) I just want to be given a sum, and I'll repair her myself, shut up and leave them alone, simple. I'm really not asking for much. 

[05omegav6]

Where did the £1900 come from

You'll be bloody lucky to get close to my suggested figure tbh...

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Being honest that £1900 was an artificially high quote from the guy who did my roof, using all brand new parts etc. (approx £900 in parts  ) and for the whole NS to be stripped down and resprayed with brand new door and wing, indicators lenses, rubbing strips etc.

Of course in the real world you could buy a whole Omega donor in the right colour for £450 (...which I have, of course!  )

I've been on to them again, they've got back to me, as they were looking at wanting to see my car as a total loss/scrapped  .

If I can produce a quote for £590 for the repairs, using second hand parts etc. send them a copy of that, then they'll send me a check for the £590. To be honest I'm happy at that. Being philosophical maybe it could have been more, but it could have been a lot less. That's a genuine cheque, no faffing about with excess to claim back at a later date etc.

I've got a donor car, which I can get a few other bits off, swap the worst bits of my car over with the best bits of that, alls I need to sort is the back arch/arches a PFL outer door trim/rubbing strip and a CDX badge.

It's not over until that checque is cashed but I feel a bit of relief. And also distaste for insurers!

[Nick W]

Being honest that £1900 was an artificially high quote from the guy who did my roof, using all brand new parts etc. (approx £900 in parts  ) and for the whole NS to be stripped down and resprayed with brand new door and wing, indicators lenses, rubbing strips etc.

Using all brand new parts is what your insurance policy contracts for. Of course, that does still allow for repairs to things like doors, bumpers etc.

[05omegav6]

Being honest that £1900 was an artificially high quote from the guy who did my roof, using all brand new parts etc. (approx £900 in parts  ) and for the whole NS to be stripped down and resprayed with brand new door and wing, indicators lenses, rubbing strips etc.

Using all brand new parts is what your insurance policy contracts for. Of course, that does still allow for repairs to things like doors, bumpers etc.

As did my estimate using industry agreed repair times, £850 or thereabouts off the top of my head, including parts iirc

[05omegav6]

Ok, the repair times for your damage as you proposed are as follows:

Total repair time of 24.6 decimal hours presuming that neither wing or door was the correct colour and required prep/paint.

This consists of the following:

12 decimal hours to remove, refit and paint NS front wing and NS front door. 12.6 decimal hours to repaint NS rear door and NS wing.

However, if you replace the front wing and BOTH doors with Diamond Black items, then paint just the rear wing then the total repair time would be reduced to 14.1 decimal hours.

This consists of the following:

6.7 decimal hours to remove and refit the NS front wing, NS front door and NS rear door. 7.4 decimal hours to repaint NS rear wing.

In short, assuming an insurance body shop labour rate of £25+vat, so £30 inc per hour...

Option 1. 24.6 hours @ £25 gives a total cost of £615 + vat or £738 inc.

Option 2. 14.1 hours @ £25 gives a total of £352.50 + vat or £423 inc.

Obviously these are the Thatcham TTS times, not a fixed amount, and don't include the cost of parts or materials.

It should however allow you to build a reasoned estimate if you can price the wing/doors and add £75 for paint/materials.

Hth

Edit to add following image...

This is where the timings came from

[ronnyd]

Entwood, Swintons "claims line" is run by Quindell. Google them, some of it makes uneasy reading but my claim went through reasonably. The other guys insurer and broker weren,t so keen on their charges though.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Just a word of thanks, again, chaps 

Let you know what happens next in the saga 

[05omegav6]

Option 2 in my post probably falls within the scope of your £590 assuming you paid buttons for the donor...

I wouldn't be holding out for much more tbh