FAQ’s
Frequently Asked Questions
Please find below some common questions we get asked about our vehicle accident repair services in Chessington. If you cant find what you are looking for, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
The excess on your policy is the first amount liable as part of the cost of vehicle repairs. The insurance companies ask us to collect this excess and deduct it from our invoice to them. We require this payment before we can arrange re-delivery of your repaired vehicle. We accept payment via BACS and debit card. We can accept cash but would prefer the other methods of payment.
Yes.
If you are VAT registered, you do have to pay the VAT and any applicable excess on the repairs. You will be invoiced for this and can claim the VAT back on your next VAT return.
We will advise you of the VAT amount and any applicable excess once the repairs have been completed and the invoice finalised.
Payment is required prior to arranging re-delivery of the repaired vehicle.
If the at fault insurer has agreed liability, then usually your excess will have been waived and you will not have to pay your excess. If liability is in dispute at the time of the repairs, you will still have to pay your excess. Your insurer may reimburse this to you at a later date should the liability be settled. We will provide you with a receipt as proof of payment so you may claim it back should the liability be settled at a later date.
If you are paying for repairs yourself, we will of course discuss the costs with you beforehand and update you to any changes during the repair process (should extra parts be required etc)
For most of our insurance partners, we are approved to start repairs and send the fully costed assessment at the end of the repair. Some insurance partners stipulate that we are not to give costs to policy holders and ask us to keep this data private under GDPR and that the vehicle owner should contact them directly with this query. Please bear this in mind if our staff cannot give you the cost. We are not being difficult, merely following contract requirements.
Yes we are happy to provide you with private quotation for any additional damage. Please ask when we book your vehicle in or you have you pre assessment carried out and we can discuss your requirements with you.
We will email you a quotation and ask for you to confirm in writing that you wish to accept the quotation and have the work carried out. We do ask that you decide to accept or decline the quote as soon as possible to ensure minimal delays to your vehicle repairs.
Many times, we need to access panels internally on a vehicle to facilitate repairs. Our technicians need to be able to get to these panels without having to remove a boot or back seat full of belongings. Emptying the vehicle allows our technicians to get on with the work at hand. The workshop is also a dusty environment, we need to ensure we protect your belongings but cannot be responsible from multiple items that should have been removed before the vehicle came onsite. We are also not responsible from any belongings left in the vehicle. Removing your belongs protects both you and us.
We require you to remove where possible or switch off any dash cam / recording equipment in your vehicle whilst it is onsite with us. This is to comply with GDPR. You are not permitted to record our staff or our workshop and therefore we ask you to remove these items. For our insurance purposes and our staff’s safety, we have 24hr CCTV onsite.
Once your vehicle is onsite we will be able to provide you with an Estimated Completion Date (ECD) specific to your repairs, this will take into account any additional parts or labour we might require so that your vehicle is repaired as quickly as possible within the estimated time.
The repair process for insurance claims usually follows the following steps:
1. Initial Claim
2. Bodyshop Deployed Customer Details
3. Face to Face Assessment / Images Received
4. Estimated by our Vehicle Damage Assessors
5. Estimate sent via Electronic System to the Insurer
6. Authorised by Insurer
7. Booking in Date Arranged
8. Parts Ordered
9. Vehicle Arrives onsite
10. Vehicle re-assessed and ECD Set
11. Vehicle will now go through repair process, Strip, Panel, Paint, Refit, ADAS / Geometry Resets where required, Cleaning and Quality Control. This is the general process but some repairs will move between departments. We may pre paint a bumper for example and so the process would start in paint and then go to Strip and Refit in the same day. Every repair is different and we assess the best way to repair each vehicle based on the damage, Manufacturer Methods and Technical staff availability.
12. Vehicle Signed off and Front of House Contact Customer
13. Excess / VAT Paid if applicable
14. Handover Arranged
You will be updated through the repair process by either SMS, email or telephone, dependant on your preference.
We will always select the best method of repair for each individual vehicle. In certain cases repairing is indeed the best solution to maintain the structural integrity of the vehicle. All our panel repairs are carried out to high metal finish standard and with plastic repairs, for example bumpers, we repair both inside and outside so that even if the bumper is removed no repair is visible.
If new parts are required – we shall use genuine manufacturer (OE) parts where applicable.
If your vehicle is under 3 years old or has come to us via a Manufacturer, all new parts are genuine OE parts.
If your vehicle is older than 3 years old then the parts used are either genuine OE parts or Thatcham approved gold standard parts depending on availability. All parts used are subject to the manufacturer’s warranty.
Unfortunately, we do not carry out MOTs or servicing. We are a vehicle damage repairer only.
The majority of our courtesy cars are A or B class manual or automatic vehicles as required by our insurance partners.
These include Hyundai I10s, Kia Picanto’s and Citroen C3’s
Automatic vehicles are prioritised for customers with an Automatic licence.
All of our courtesy vehicles are under 3 years old.
Unfortunately, we do not currently have diesel courtesy car’s.
We currently only have 2 hybrid Toyota Yaris’ which are available to Automatic licence holders. We do not currently have any fully electric courtesy cars.
The majority of our vehicles are A or B class small vehicles, and in most cases that is what you will be entitled to. If you have paid an uplift on your insurance policy specifically for a like for like replacement, this would be provided by your insurance company. If you have had a non fault accident where liability has been established, the insurer should provide a like for like replacement.