Accident repair completed but all parts not repaired.

[skrules]

I own a Maruti Swift Vxi 2006 model. I had bought the car from Bimal Auto in Indiranagar. About a month back I met with an accident and the front part of the car was damaged. Since Adarsha Automobiles in Brookfield is close to my house I took the car there are the car was repaired and the car was returned in three weeks. I claimed for insurance from and got the insurance money from National Insurance. Three days after receiving the car the Air conditioning stopped working. When I went back to them they said that the ac pipe in front had a leak and they never noticed it. Later they found out that the compressor was also damaged. Now they are telling me to get these two parts repaired without insurance, which will cost me another 15 to 20 thousand rupees. The insurance company said that I cannot claim for insurance for that again since the amount has been settled. Now due to a fault of Adarsha Automobiles I did not get insurance from the company and they are not ready to help me out. They said that I need to pay the whole amount and get it repaired. They are not ready to take responsibility for the fact that although they are expertised in cars, still they didn't see the damage and didnt put it as a part of the estimate. I called MUL and asked them for advice but they said that it is difficult and will talk to the insurance company. Is there any way out of this mess or will i have to pay for the parts myself and get it repaired. Please advice.

[Jaggu]

What is the "damage" on the compressor?

This is going to be a tough one since its a mistake from the workshop side, you need to check if there is any clause of reopening an insurance claim. Am not sure if it exist here in India.

[Nitin]

Since its a mistake on the dealership's part, is there no way to file an appeal with the insurance Co? even if the month has passed by and dues been paid, there should be some way to get back and have everything taken care of.
Did you try contacting someone who works with an suto insurance firm? I believe a fellow BHPian has a thread on 'insurance questions'.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ce-ask-me.html (Insurance - Ask me)

Good luck!

[skrules]

The service station guys said that the oil seal in the compressor is leaking and since only that part cannot be replaced, the whole compressor needs to be replaced.

I am trying to get i touch with the insurance company to see if they can reopen the claim but I do not think there is any clause in India which allows us to reopen a claim.

[Jaggu]

So double the chance that insurance will disown it since they will say the problem was there before the accident. I would advice you to take a second opinion from another competent mech on AC issue before you proceed further.

[CrackedHead]

Do you have a copy of the initial estimate prepared by Adarsha Automobiles ?

I ask because the initial estimate usually includes a lot of parts that may later prove to be unnecessary (i.e. not needing repair/replacement) - if the initial estimate included the AC compressor and it got ignored later, then you might have a chance at getting it done under insurance.

As for appeals with insurance co's. - Tata AIG insurance policy's talk about a warranty period on repair work carried out under an insurance claim. Not sure about National insurance.

[aka_iitd]

Is there any document given by the dealer saying that the car is being repaired fully by them so that insurance claim can be processed.
Or owner should drive the car for some KM's and then decide everything is fine and then the insurance claim can be closed.
There are fair chances that dealer may diagnose things which are not good after survey is done

[rkbharat]

Something similar happened to me, while MASS repaired my SX4, they never cared to check the bearing and after driving 100km I started getting humming noise.

But they agreed to change it under warranty. Just that they took 2 weeks to get the part

[iceman91]

warranty period on an insurance claim would be for items repaired and since this was ignored/missed and not repaired you cannot claim it.

other option have another "accident" make another claim for the damaged parts, or find a surveyor/inspector who takes suggestions in the right way.

[CrackedHead]

If the AC compressor was included in the initial estimate (and then forgotten) it might be possible to make some noise about "deficiency in service" - but it may or may not get you any results.

@aka_iitd - Yes, a long test drive is recommended before signing on the dotted line (the bill). The receipt that you're made to sign before taking delivery says something to the effect of "I agree that my car has been repaired satisfactorily".

[skrules]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

So double the chance that insurance will disown it since they will say the problem was there before the accident. I would advice you to take a second opinion from another competent mech on AC issue before you proceed further.

I got it checked at Bimal Motors again to confirm the problem and even they said that the compressor needs to be replaced.

Originally Posted by CrackedHead

Do you have a copy of the initial estimate prepared by Adarsha Automobiles ?

I ask because the initial estimate usually includes a lot of parts that may later prove to be unnecessary (i.e. not needing repair/replacement) - if the initial estimate included the AC compressor and it got ignored later, then you might have a chance at getting it done under insurance.

As for appeals with insurance co's. - Tata AIG insurance policy's talk about a warranty period on repair work carried out under an insurance claim. Not sure about National insurance.

The initial estimate was never given to me but I guess Adarsha automobiles will have have a copy of it. But the way the ower said that how would he know that the compressor isnt working i guess they never knew of this problem in the first place.

I do not know of the warrenty period for any claim with National Insurance, but as pointed out i guess warrenty is for the parts that have been replaced.

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

Is there any document given by the dealer saying that the car is being repaired fully by them so that insurance claim can be processed.
Or owner should drive the car for some KM's and then decide everything is fine and then the insurance claim can be closed.
There are fair chances that dealer may diagnose things which are not good after survey is done

No such document was given to me which said that the car has been repaired properly and no problems exist.

Originally Posted by iceman91

warranty period on an insurance claim would be for items repaired and since this was ignored/missed and not repaired you cannot claim it.

other option have another "accident" make another claim for the damaged parts, or find a surveyor/inspector who takes suggestions in the right way.

Well the owner also suggested the same thing to me, but i guess it would be silly to go thru with it since my car is two and a half year old so even with an insurance claim i am not getting the full claim amount back. So each time i will have to shell out more money for my pocket. There is a possibility that it just might come up to 15 thousand for the new accident. So I'd rather get the repair done without the claim and save myself the trouble of running from pillar to post for a new claim and wait for three more weeks for my car to come back.