mktchin

hi all

coming back from work today, a blue hyundai hit me. i was in the left lane and he pulled out from the right without looking and my right side. happened in kensington, near newmarket safeway. the front right door, rear door, rear wheel and rear bumper all damaged.
i'm quite upset to put it mildly. hope aami use a good repairer.

here are the pictures.

hope you had a better day :-(

mike

kiwimeat

Mike,

First off commiserations. I know how you feel. I've had my '8 in the body shop twice in 9 months I have owned her. No matter how defensive your driving **** like this will happen.

Hope you got some witnesses and admittance of the other party being at fault.

Don't settle for AAMI's default repairer (unless it is a good one). Call your local dealership(s) and ask who they use or recommend. Then call, or even better visit in person and find out if they do AAMI work. Look at the type of cars in the yard, if there are expensive cars getting repairs there, then usually they can be relied on to be doing a better job than some.

I lucked out with my repairer in Brisbane - Weatherall Prestige Autobody - as not only were they a Suncorp Metway Premium repairer but their yard is full of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche and the odd Mazda RX-8. On my first visit, they already had another Winning Blue RX-8 in so they didn't even need to make up the paint for me.

I've had previous cars insured with AAMI. When needed the repairs have been done well but it did require some chasing round on my part.

When the car is repaired make sure the paint work is up to scratch and the blending done well. I am reliably informed by my repairer that the Velocity Red is a bugger of a paint to match well (all the different metallic flecks) and often is takes more than one attempt to get right.

Remember if you are not happy get it done again.

Last time (only a month ago) I got the Bodyshop to do a full detail on the car as well and fix up a few other dents and scratches.

Finally, in answer to your last question my day has been fairly average, but the AB's downing the Wallabies 30-13 even whilst playing terrible touch rugby has brightened my mood.

EZZY

sorry to hear that, hope it get sorted out soon.

as with AAMI, you wont get to pick your repairer, they will get 2 or 3 their preferred repairers to quote on the car and usually the cheapest one gets. they will have to replace unrepairable items with geniune mazda parts.
in most cases, they have 7 working days to have the car repaired and back to the assessment centre for yout o pick up.
they have lifetime warranty, but do check the repair/colour blend yourself when pick it up (the assessors will do a QC anyway).

Tigster

My wife got hit a year ago by a drunk lady driving a hyundai. She was driving my Miata I needed a new bumper, the hyundai was almost totaled.. Mazda makes good cars.

RXP33D

Mike, don't bet on this.

The 1st time my baby got hit, I took it to a lexus recommended dealer.
I hopped in there seeing S class Mercs and other fancy moblies.

Got my car back and had to come back 3 times to ask them to rebuff the thing
as the paint looked irregular. And i can assure you I ain't picky.

My 2nd more major accident i took to a panel beater that fixed your general
cars including HYUNDAI's! They did a 10 times better job than the "lexus" place.

So be careful, don't bet that your car's repair will outgun the hyundai's!
Scary thought ain't it.

Till this day I'm still not happy with the 1st repairer. Thankgod the rest
of the car looks good and makes up for little blemishes like that.

kiwimeat

I guess it could be true that presence of prestige cars does not equal good repairs, you'll always get the odd one out - but in general I have found that it has - both here in Australia and in the UK.

I'm curious as to why you went to a Lexus recommended place?

I asked my local Mazda dealer, and a couple of mates with prestige cars, and they all mentioned my choice. A visit in person and a chat with the manager confirmed what I had been told. Fortunately, my insurer is willing to work with me when choosing repairers.

The issue with the first repairer may have been the paint. Many modern metallic paints are difficult to match (especially the Velocity Red). My first repair took 2 days longer than originally estimated as they were not happy with the first paint job and redid it before the Insurance assessor even got a look it and rang me to tell me so.

RXP33D

As I stated, this Lexus recommended place was loaded

with S Class Mercs which are their range topping luxo spec cars.

Same case as yours loaded with audi's bmws and so on...

Thats why i went here thinking what you were thinking...Except I got jipped,

You fortunately didnt!

mktchin

thanks for the information.

i guess i'll take it to aami and see the results of the repair. if it doesn't look right, i don't have to accept the repair.

i'll report back the results when it is finished.

cheers

mike

takahashi

Sorry that it happened.

But beware of AAMI

Do you go to AAMI in North Melbourne? I know which one they like most...

I had 2 cars that has work done on mine. The red car will be awful when they tired to match the paint - they are colour blind. My old white integra was a off white (cream white) and they painted it TOO white!

Getting the colour match is the key Mike. It is known to be tricky since I have been talking too a guy who had painted a red RX-8's red on a bodykit. It took him 3 coats to get it exactly right.

mktchin

i am taking it to the north melbourne aami centre.

taka, you make me feel nervous about the outcome. i'll keep hassling them until it is right.

i know velocity red is going to be hard to match. aami reassure me that they have an obligation to return the car to the original state before the accident. they have a life time warranty if that means anything.

can you let me know the repairer they prefer to use?

finally, were you happy with the final results on your cars?

cheers

mike

takahashi

Mike,

They do have a satisfaction guarantee and they will personally ring you to see if you are happy with the repair.

I cannot remember :o where they did the repair. They will inform you of course. A handy number to have in AAMI North Melb 99338205. Yes I was happy with their repair, there was some mismatching of colour because the rest of the car is slight off yellow but I thought that was due to my car had been sitting under the sun. :o

They fixed my wife's black Barina no trouble at all. Look like new.

mktchin

hi taka

thanks for the info and reassurance.

will let the forum know of the results with pictures.

cheers

mike

PS car goes in wednesday.

EZZY

good luck with the process mike.
it should be okay considering all the insurance company have picked up the customer service game, to ensure they get your next business.
be firm and let them know exactly what you are after. let them know if the car isnt repaired within 7 working days (which is the normal time frame AAMI gives to the repairer), the you will be asking for a hire car.

by the looks of it, the whole side will have to be re-painted with blending to the front bar/bonnet/rear bar and boot and half way up the A & C pillars.
check for rattles after you have pick it up, the door handle will have to come off, which means the door trims will be removed, class taken off to get to the door handle from inside. check damages to the waste mould, the black piece runs across the door at the bottom of the window glass, and there is a good chance of getting a new front door skin (pic too small to be sure) and the rear door can be repaired.

dont worry too much about it, the repairer will do their best to have it done properly, as it is now very difficult to get insurance works now plue you get life time warranty.

also... did you get paint protection/underbody rust proofing from mazda? if so, let the insurance company know, cos you'd want them to re-apply that after the repair

DAZ-13B

I have come to the conclusion that if a car is repaired under insurance then it will be a crap job !
As some of you are aware my Mazda 6 was badly damaged in the hailstorm of Feb 05.
Working as a parts interpreter for Mazda I have a pretty good idea who does a good job and who doesn't.
Naturaly it went to a good company however when i got it back I noticed little things like sratch marks on the black tape on the doors and on the paint work on the inside of the doors and now four months after the repairs im now getting sanding marks coming through the paint (sink back right Ezzy) I told them to take there time with it but still the dreaded sink back has reared its ugly head.I think 7 days is way to quick to have your car repaired the insurance companies dont give the repairers enough time and money to repair our cars properly its not there fault.
I have learn't my lesson, chuck in some extra cash and have a good job made into a purfect job.

Hope this helps

Regards Daz

DAZ-13B

I have come to the conclusion that if a car is repaired under insurance then it will be a crap job !
As some of you are aware my Mazda 6 was badly damaged in the hailstorm of Feb 05.
Working as a parts interpreter for Mazda I have a pretty good idea who does a good job and who doesn't.
Naturaly it went to a good company however when i got it back I noticed little things like sratch marks on the black tape on the doors and on the paint work on the inside of the doors and now four months after the repairs im now getting sanding marks coming through the paint (sink back right Ezzy) I told them to take there time with it but still the dreaded sink back has reared its ugly head.I think 7 days is way to quick to have your car repaired the insurance companies dont give the repairers enough time and money to repair our cars properly its not their fault.
I have learn't my lesson, chuck in some extra cash and have a good job made into a purfect job.

Hope this helps

Regards Daz

mktchin

hi all

aami got back to me.

it will cost $2000 to repair.
it should be completed by 2/9/2005.
the repairers will be:
Action Bodyworks Pty Ltd
29 York St Airport West 3042
(03) 9338 9023 Mobile Service 0418 549 228

has anyone had experience with them before.

nervously waiting.

mike

takahashi

I did not use that!

So I cannot comment. I was thinking of the guy in South Melbourne.

takahashi

Good luck mate...

Get a sunny day to pick up the car and look at the paint job carefully and what people had commented.

mktchin

hi all

i got my car back. it is a good repair. the paint match is excellent. l feel good again. i would highly recommend action body works in airport west!

cheers

mike

takahashi

Nice - well done.

Love to see a happy man. I am sure you will look try at another Hyandai again.

DMRH

Crappy cars breed crappy driving habits.......

Revolver

Anyone who buys a car solely on price has no soul.

If they do not value their car any higher than an appliance, you cannot expect them to respect your pride and joy.