Review our list of primary FAQs below to help aid you further, these include knowing your legal rights to more details on our lifetime guarantee. If a question is not listed please reach out to us here.
Following an accident, it’s your legal right to have your car repaired at any bodyshop of your choice. Your insurance company, may try to dictate your repair process; they’ll attempt to have this done at the lowest possible price without caring as much about the quality of the repair as you do.
Accidents can be very stressful. At Prestige Paintwork we will help and guide you through the process of getting your vehicle repaired with a lifetime guarantee and the minimum of fuss, delays and/or inconvenience.
Sometimes it sounds like a good idea to help a fellow driver out by avoiding making an insurance claim. Usually the drivers who opt for this are unaware of actual repair and courtesy car hire costs. They can get upset and try to dictate where your vehicle is repaired and at what cost.
Finding further damages or receiving a failed/fault repair could not only be dangerous for you but could also be costly for you in the future, especially if these repairs have little or no guarantee.
Vehicle repairs these days are not as simple as bolt on panels and filler repairs; especially with electric vehicles or vehicles with ADAS or Lane Assist technology. The costs for recalibrating this technology after taking certain parts off could cost thousands alone. When a third party is liable we usually advise that you’re always safer to use one of our claim management teams to help ensure you receive the level of repair you’re entitled too.
When deciding the most economic repair method for our customers we usually consider three things; their agreed excess payment amount, whether their No Claims Discount is protected and their yearly insurance premium amount.
Depending on your insurer and the severity/liability of a claim, you can expect your premium to be increased by 20-50% the following year. If your no claims bonus is protect, your yearly premiums and excess payments are low I.E £400.00/annum and £250.00 excess, but your repair cost was £1500.00. Then it’s probably safe to say you’ll be better off making a claim against your insurer. However, if you’re no claims bonus is not protected, your yearly premium is £1800/annum and your excess is £1000.00 then it’d probably be more economic for you to cover a £1500.00 repair cost yourself.
If the other party has accepted liability then you are entitled to a like for like courtesy vehicle at their expense with no questions asked.
If the claim is for an accident where you’re at fault then, depending on your insurance company, it may be written in your contract that you’re only entitled to a courtesy car when using their own repairers. In this instance it’s unlikely the insurer will cover the cost. In this instance, when a courtesy vehicle is required by our customers, we will either offer one of our own courtesy vehicles or a hire vehicle through our partnership with Enterprise.
Repairers in the industry as a whole have had an increasing level of insurance companies attempting this now. It is actually a breach of your contract. When this is the case it can usually be fought against even if it’s later down the line. We always advise not to worry about this one; as a repairer we collect your excess payment upon repair completion and we would only ever take your contractually agreed amount. We have email templates that will counter this issue and remind insurers of their rights and obligations. Leave this to us to sort for you!
Your fully entitled to have your vehicle put back to its pre-accident condition and to be put in a like-for-like vehicle during the time whilst your vehicle is being repaired and/or during any time it may be classed as unroadworthy. Your best chance of receiving the best service in this instance is to use one of our claims management companies. They’ll ensure a like-for-like courtesy vehicle is dropped to you and that the repair of your vehicle is authorised, at a garage of your choice, and paid for in full, without any delay or hassle. You will not be liable for any cost or excess payment in this instance.
If you’re not happy with the repairs on your vehicle, the first thing to do is make your insurance company aware.
Legally you have to allow the original repairer the opportunity to rectify any issues that have arisen and that you are not happy with.
If the areas of concern are slight, we would suggest raising the concerns with the bodyshop manager, detailing them, putting in writing what they are.
If they are more serious, ie mis-alignment of body panels, or miss match of colour etc. then we can help you arrange for an independent engineer to inspect your vehicle.
Obtain a copy of the original estimate and pass this on to the inspecting engineer, be present when they inspect to discuss your concerns with them and the bodyshop manager.
If after allowing the repairer the opportunity of rectifying the vehicle, you are still not happy with the repairs, and your concerns are valid. We can arrange another inspection to validate, and you then have the right to have another repairer rectify the issues raised.
Your insurer and the original repairer are liable for this, and they have to re-imburse you the cost of the inspections and rectify the vehicle.
We’ve had it a few times where customers have asked us for a quote on a vehicle that is still within paint warranty! Some manufacturers will give 1-3 years, some will provide up to 7+ years paint warranty. If you’ve got any issues with your cars original paintwork, that’s not damage, environmental damage or usual wear and tear, then it’s always worth checking your handbook to see if you can recover the costs. Sometimes they’ll allow us to carry out these repairs for you but they can demand you use a repairer of their choice.
If you are a VAT registered business and you’re making a claim against an insurance policy in your business’s name then it’s very likely you’ll be asked to settle both your excess payment and any VAT from your vehicles repair cost. This is due to the fact that insurance companies are not VAT registered. Businesses that are not VAT registered will only be liable for any agreed excess payment.
We definitely can!
All we’ll require to get an insurance approved estimate networked to your insurer for you is your contact details, vehicle registration, photos of the damages, the current mileage, the VIN plate and one at each corner of the vehicle and a claim reference and Audatex code from your insurer (Don’t sweat, We always send across samples of the photos required in advance!).
We collaborate with two great teams of estimators who are fully certified, qualified and have good relationships with most insurers. Their insurance estimates are usually carried out on either Audatex or GT Motive depending on insurer preference.