03 9743 3400The Repair & Claim Process
After an accident, the last thing you want to do is deal with is your insurance company. It’s a stressful time, and tends to be quite emotional. Luckily, any decent panel beater will have enough experience to handle the claims process for you. Melton Body Works is fully experienced in navigating the claims process, and we will happily do so for you. If that’s good enough for you, contact us today! If you’d like to learn more, read on!
Inspection
As your car arrives in the workshop, the smash repairer first carries out a detailed and thorough inspection. Without a proper inspection, there is no way of being certain how much damage the vehicle has actually suffered.
Without a proper inspection you could have your vehicle repaired, the cost covered by your insurer, and then several weeks pass before the underlying issues rear their ugly head – at which point, your insurer may not be willing to cover the cost of repairs!
You shouldn’t have to pay for damage that you should be covered for, so it’s important that the inspection is carried out. Make sure you are issued with a copy of the report before any repairs start, for your own records.
Insurance Company Report
After the inspection, the insurance company is contacted and issued with a copy of the damage report. Some insurance companies will push for used parts to be used, to drive down costs. Sometimes used parts will work fine, and other times it will cause issues for your vehicle.
Any decent smash repairers work with your insurance company to get the best result possible. Melton Body Works’ claims team can handle this for you so you don’t have to worry about it.
Write-offs
If a vehicle is extremely damaged, it may cost more than its current value to have it repaired. In these cases, the insurer tends to simply write you a cheque for the current market value of your vehicle (not how much it cost to buy originally). Sometimes, the insurance company will attempt to bring the cost down by instructing the smash repairer to utilise used parts, to avoid having to write this check. If you can, don’t let this happen!
Trust between yourself and your repairer is important here, as if an experienced panel beater believes the vehicle is a write-off, they’re probably correct.
