Firstly please nobody reply with vague fluff regarding this topic, its got to be good solid info, not assumptions or guesswork.




A tree at my parents was torched by an arsonist last month, it did the above to my car.

So far the quote I have had for repairs is £1650 (Im doing this myself via Toyota not through insurers dodgy just car something or other) , this is without spoiler damage that you cant really pick up from that picture, so total is likely to run nearer £2000 when the re-quote comes back through.

Now, my issue is its clearly going to need a lot of new panels and spraywork this is in theory happy days, but in practise the paint at the front of the car is 10 years old, this paint will be brand new, the chances of them matching are slim to none. I raised this with toyota whilst talking to the guy about the spoiler that hadnt been quoted for and he said Im right, and that although the paint technicians are very good theres a good chance it wont match, (at this time I asked how much a full spray would be on top of the work, he said 4/5k all in, ie a write off)

Toyota suggest that I go ahead and get the work done, and if I have issues take it up with my insurers. He gave the example that someone did the same with a K reg landcruiser (or something of that ilk) and when they sprayed it he asked toyota if they sprayed it the right colour it looked that different! the insurance company eventually agreed to get some more panels sprayed.

This all sounds pretty sh*t to me and unless the car is as it was, Im not interested in owning it anymore, I dont want to drive round in a volkswagen harlequin  

edit - further info, the car is insured at a value of £8000, I can back this up with sales of similar models around that figure to the insurance company if required.

Help.

tbh i doubt the insurers would touch it, cat D and pay out the market value of the car

sorry

edit: must have missed the edit, agreed value of £8k? how the hell? i thought they were selling for 4k tops? am i missing something?

anyway that aside, insurance co will insist you used an approved shop and they will very unlikely spray panels that arent damaged, got to remember its their job to do things as cheaply as possible

edit: assuming you do go through your insurance youll of course lose some NCD dont forget

Quote from: Binary Shadowedit: must have missed the edit, agreed value of £8k? how the hell? i thought they were selling for 4k tops? am i missing something?

REV5 turbos go for more than 4k even in this recession, Im sure the insurance company will argue the toss, I have yet to submit this claim so will have to see what they say.

Quote from: Binary Shadowanyway that aside, insurance co will insist you used an approved shop and they will very unlikely spray panels that arent damaged, got to remember its their job to do things as cheaply as possible

edit: assuming you do go through your insurance youll of course lose some NCD dont forget

Insurance company have no right to insist anything, I have already spoke to my insurers and they know full well I can get the work done where I want, they just dont like it! NCD is protected and guaranteed fortunately, but insurance premium will still go up obviously.

Essentially them doing it on the cheap is where my problem lies, if they just spray/replace the damaged bits I think anyone with a bit of common sense is going to realise the car is going to look a ridiculous two tone effort, I wont be happy with that and frankly if thats all they are willing to do I would rather them just write it off, but how do I go about specifiying that  

Phone the insurance company and explain the situation that the car is insured for £8k, and if the respray happens and the colours dont match itll effect the value of the car more than the cost of just spraying the extra panels, so will they cover the cost of spraying the other panels if they dont match well, and if so, get it in writing?

When I had my claim (other party at fault though) Admiral was happy for me to use a garage of my choice so long as I could provide 2 independent quotes for the repairs. I ended up going with the insurers choice though for the least hassle, which ultimately was more hassle

you never know it might not even be visible once they run a mop over the car

going to Mr. Toyota is probably a waste of time anyway i suspect they farm out their bodyshop stuff to a 3rd party shop anyway, seems a lot of dealers do

Buy the panels second hand - there are plenty of them about. Toyota dealers will rip the ass out of the panel prices.

The rear end is more or less the same as a rev 3 apart from the spoiler. You might luck out and get white ones as well.

Painting them wont be that dear, unless the body shop thinks it is an insurance job, in which case they will do a 300-500% quote. Thats not a figure pulled out of my ass, thats what most body shops I know do.

For comparison, I had my spoiler, both rear wings and front right wing sprayed for £300.

BTW - you can change all those panels in about 90 minutes.

Quote from: Binary Shadowgoing to Mr. Toyota is probably a waste of time anyway i suspect they farm out their bodyshop stuff to a 3rd party shop anyway, seems a lot of dealers do

Oh yes, its blatantly going to be dumped on someone else to do, but at least I know they will use toyota parts.



Mark,

That is good advice, but honestly I cannot afford to get it done on the cheap and have the car look like a two tone piece of crap, I know the quote is taking the pis$tols and I could get it done reasonably cheap, but the work wont be guaranteed and my cars going to be massively de-valued from doing so.

I have taken it the insurance route as I can get my car hopefully looking spot on again, something a DIY job wont do


edit -> I got my front lip done a couple of years back, I think it was about £120 or something, paint lasted about 8 months then flaked in places

You wont get a good job from Toyota. Thats for double sure.

A proper body shop will do a good job, and if you get the panels yourself, you will save about £1k.

Any proper body shop will also guarantee work. The problem is, the car is now over 10 years old (At a guess). Massive devaluation is going to be of the order of £3-500 tops.

Id only be concerned about that if you have less than 40k miles on it though.

Quote from: MarkYou wont get a good job from Toyota. Thats for double sure.

A proper body shop will do a good job, and if you get the panels yourself, you will save about £1k.

Any proper body shop will also guarantee work. The problem is, the car is now over 10 years old (At a guess). Massive devaluation is going to be of the order of £3-500 tops.

Id only be concerned about that if you have less than 40k miles on it though.

It will be outsourced and the work is guaranteed for 5 years.

Getting the panels etc myself is fine, but this is the insurance policy money not mine, Im not doing this myself

10 years is pretty much on the nose, I did some reading and essentially you can put what you like down on your cars value but its not a guaranteed sum, so they may just turn round and say its a write off, whats the normal point at which they do this?

Regardless of who does the work, I dont want to be left with a car that looks like its been painted 2 colours, by the sounds of it whatever the case Im going to get the shaft on this one way or another

Ah - I read it that you werent going through insurance.

My experience of dealer outsourced work is that it is usually top class crap! Might be different there though.

if the insurance co want to write it off theyll tell you pretty much as soon as they get the estimates for the repair, unless they are playing silly buggers, never had agreed value before tho

a good body shop WILL be able to match the color of the rest of the car perfectly.

If they are telling you they cant, then they are just being too lazy to mix the paint themselves and will just use the standard color paint straight out of the tin.

Find an independant body shop that has built its rep on quality and not a being related to a big name manufacturer.

You can tell any shop to use genuine Toyota parts.

I know of a few Ill see what I can find.

With that amount of work, I would have thought the insurance company would write it off?

Quote from: DEViANCEa good body shop WILL be able to match the color of the rest of the car perfectly.

If they are telling you they cant, then they are just being too lazy to mix the paint themselves and will just use the standard color paint straight out of the tin.

Find an independant body shop that has built its rep on quality and not a being related to a big name manufacturer.

You can tell any shop to use genuine Toyota parts.

I know of a few Ill see what I can find.

Im going to agree with this 100% and be the voice of reassurance. Hell, even some indipendent mobile spray guy recommended by the chap from Chips Away sprayed my Mazda rear bumper so well I couldnt tell where the work had started and stopped! The car looked in better condition than when I left it, but not two tone.

Also, when my front bumper from my Audi came off on the M1 causing a bit of chaos, the insurers recommended bodyshop did a spot on replacement and the paint matches perfectly. Ill say again: The car looked in better condition than when I left it, but not two tone.

Insurers often get discounts on work with the recommended shops because they are pulling through the business, its a joint backscratching scenario. It doesnt always mean they are going to be a barrel of sh*te. I guess you just have to be careful and see if you can find reviews - thankfully I can so far say my experience has been good.

Thinking about it, they cant all be bad or the insurers wouldnt use them if everyone came back to complain and want to be recompensated for shoddy workmanship.

As a side, Im really sorry to see this happen, I know how hard you worked to get that car, Id be furious and gutted