2005 lotus Elise
- This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by .
- Posts
This is why I hate insurance companies, I’ve had this 2005 lotus in my shop for over 3 weeks waiting on an asspaier to write a complete estimate. First one was far from complete half ass written. So called them told them to come out and rewrite, they then told me to write it I said sure put you’ll be charged admin fees so they said they’ll be out to write it up.
Damage- car fall off a lift damaged both rockers and rear bumper, first they tried to write it up to repair, the rockers which are fiberglass and are vacuumed moldes from factory. I said no the need replaced which they agreed on one side to but other said they said no because of previous damage which doesn’t matter since the damage this time can’t be repaired. Also these cars are not in any estimating program (mine or the asspaier) so he said he called the dealer to get repair times which are extremely low.
I’ve done some research on these cars one there hand build, second the rockers are first thing to go on the frame which are glued on Along with every other panel, three the colors are almost impossible to match and very few panel breaks in such a small car would make sense just to respray the whole thing.
My question is how do I get the insurance company to pay for the right times and right procedures, and were else cold I get some info to present the ins. Company with to back my bill.
This is a good customer has many toys ( 1985 grand natinal all original bought new, 99 wrangler with ls1 super charged 4wheel drive couple others ) that I’ve worked on for last couple years and is very picky so I know this car has to be 100% and I know is going to take a lot of time and detail work since pretty much have to take the whole car apart and rebuild it. So I wanna get payed for every step that is needed t make it right.
well you could tell the INS peeps to take it to lotus to have it fixed if your price is to high lol
Getting complete times for all the procedures from the dealer is a good start. Keep in mind, the dealer times may be split up into more sub procedures, so the repair time for 1 individual task may seem low. Their times also factor in any specialty equipment…which you may not have.
Another option (sort of a crap out) is to tell the customer you will have to charge him the difference between what the insurance is paying and what you are charging. Chances are he won’t like that and he can complain to his insurance company. Then there is a chance the insurance company may pay better to satisfy their customer. But you won’t make any friends with that insurance company…
We’ve told them to take them elsewhere or they’re ‘preffered’ repairer.
Usually they cannot be bothered with the hassle and give you most of the hours you want.
You’re probably aware of the procedures I thought I,d post it just in case.
http://www.lotusforum.be/TO-DOWNLOAD/Elise%20MKII/Elise%20s2%20Bodycare%20&%20Repair%20-%20BO.pdf
Why not try emailing lotus for repair times?
[quote=”Ben” post=31272]Getting complete times for all the procedures from the dealer is a good start. Keep in mind, the dealer times may be split up into more sub procedures, so the repair time for 1 individual task may seem low. Their times also factor in any specialty equipment…which you may not have.
[/quote]This is very true.
Apart from the risk that there are sub-procedures and the use of special tools there is also the fact that you simply may not be all that familiar with the car and regardless of your skill it just takes longer. Somehow you have to build a bit of a layer of “fat” to cover this. I sometimes try for a higher labour rate, maybe 5-8% above the true shop rate to give me a little room for these kinds of things. Some insurance companies will agree, others will argue, but, if nothing else they may argue down to your shop rate whereas if that had been your starting point you’d be below it.
I’m not familiar with the term “asspaier” – is that someone who writes the job list and times and then you just price it? Our system is different – we have to do that ourselves so if you miss something then you could be out of pocket if the insurance co. don’t agree to a variation. Means that you have to really make sure that you cover every possible thing.
I think that, in your position, I’d be basically writing up the list myself. At least you have the vehicle there to be able to check things against. Problem is that that’s another couple of hours work that you don’t get paid for, but better than accepting someone else’s mistake.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.