Esure-Cowboys from Hell

[Rockabilly Spike]

Hi All

my dad is 64 and owns a Vauxhall Omega Estate 2.5GLS TDI Auto from 1996.
Done less than 100,000 miles and was in almost perfect nick apart from a bit of rust on one of the back wings just above the tire.

End of last month, this daft kid hit him from behind while me dad was stationary at a traffic island. kid was driving a knacky old Micra
squished the back bumper and one of the struts.

After a few conversations with the kids father who wanted me dad to take the car to a garage of HIS choice, not me dads and have the car mended and foot the bill, me dad declined saying that if he couldnt specify the garage himself, he wasnt interested and would claim thru his insurance.

he rang esure, got all the paperwork and filled it in and sent it off.
Esure arrange for a courtesy car to be sent (a nice Mondeo Titanium X model cos it was the only auto they had and with me dads arthritis, he said it wasnt unreasonable to request and auto)
Trewick auto repair came and took the Omega away on a transporter.
11 days later, after me dad phoned Esure to enquire what was going on, they returned the car to him and the hire car was taken away too,
When it left, the omega ran perfectly fine, as it always had done, just needed the bumper sorting.
its had a new bumper, silencer, towbar and bumper strut fitted.
but its leaking diesel from somewhere now, and the mile-ometer said it had done 1 mile but it had no fuel left in it, despite it leaving with a 1/2 full tank of diesel.
the battery was completely dead and had to be charged for 24hrs after it was dropped off before it would even start
the sill at the bottom of the right rear door was hanging off and like i say, it was throwing diesel on the road from underneath.
esure were called and they sent Trewicks out again.
they had no tools on their van at all and medad had to let them use some of his.
they re-attached the sill and tried to say the liquid leaking was diff oil, not diesel.
me dad stuck his finger in the pool of it and actually wiped it across the guys face and asked what kind of mechanic couldnt tell the difference between the smell of diff oil and diesel???
they said they couldnt help and would have to get someone to come back and pick the car up again on a transporter.
Esure called again, me dad passed from person to person. an 'Engineer' spoke to him and told me dad he 'knows nothing', despite me dad being a band 5 craftsman, a qualified electrical engineer and in his younger days, built motorbikes and also a whole land rover, from the ground up as projects.
unfortunately ill health prevents him from being able to carry out repairs on cars anymore.
today, me dad starts the car with the intention of going to the corner shop, it starts, then theres a thud from under the bonnet and water and coolant liquid are p*ssing out of the engine.
he reckons its probably blown a core-plug.
back onto Esure, who want HIM to now take it to a garage, despite the fact it can't be moved cos its leaking all sorts of fluids and wont start now.
plus its the weekend and everywhere it closed.
they just kept apologising and saying that this service was unacceptable and they understood that me dad was stressed out.
he told them that without a car he cant even get to the corner shop cos of his arthritis and the car was in a worse state now than when it left.
All they said they were able to do over a weekend was take his complaints and have a senior member of staff phone him on monday morning.
Me dad was very reluctant to have the car go back to Trewicks again but Esure say its their only repair place in our region, which i don't believe.

So friday/sat/sun and probs mon, me dad is stuck in the house.
he's 64 and suffers with poly arthritis in his knees, ankles, elbows, and fingers, has type II diabetes and problems with his neck and back.
caused by working for Northern electric as a contracter for over 40 years.
he's retired on ill health grounds.
the stress is sending his blood pressure all over the place and all esure and the garage wanna do is have him wait around on phone calls.
he cannot go anywhere until they supply him with another courtesy car, whenever that is.
they've basically revoked the mans freedom due to their lack of care when doing this job.
the engine was fine and nothing has ever leaked from the car, it flew through it last MOT, needing only 1 brake pipe replacing as 'good measure'.
its been well looked after and before Trewick got their hands on it, it just needed a new bumper, all just cosmetic.
now its p*ssing fuel and coolant and it wont start.

Me dad threatened that I was gonna come on here and make everyone aware of this and they basically said "go on then".

this is the only time he's ever claimed on Esure and indeed any car insurance in over 30 years of driving.
the policy was only taken out in May. he has been with them for about 4 years i think now.
Just making you guys aware of their amazingly good service.
Scott

How can you blame the engine going bang on the garage, as the crash damage was actually to the rear of the vehicle and therefore has not been touched by the garage during any repair work.

I understand and agree with you over the the level of service and the perceived incompetence on behalf of the garage over the repairs and and standard of workmanship.

[Rockabilly Spike]

it certainly didnt leak before it was away and it had only just gone thru its MOT, if anything was on its way out it woulda been spotted.
whos to say whats been touched by the garage, it could been damaged when it was taken on or off the transporter, they admitted that the sill hanging off was probably due to it being jacked up.

also why was the battery flat when it arrived back.
it'd only done 1 mile.
its all a bit too suspicious

They may have drained the tank if the was any welding work to be done, only guessing here.

I do hope they play fair though and get the car working for your dad due to the poor service you have received from them.

[Rockabilly Spike]

still makes no sense as to why its now leaking fluids and the battery was flat.
it was still being driven around for 2 weeks before they actually had it taken away and nothing was leaking then.

it woulda shown up by now.

Originally Posted by Rockabilly Spike

still makes no sense as to why its now leaking fluids and the battery was flat.
it was still being driven around for 2 weeks before they actually had it taken away and nothing was leaking then.

it woulda shown up by now.

Have a look at the fuel tank drain plug if it has one to see if it has been disturbed or even the tank drilled, it was in the news earlier this week about tanks being drained by thieves.

[Rockabilly Spike]

will do.
apparently it had about 10litres in when it left and now its reading just above 0 and has been driven aprox 20feet.

[Bulky]

think it really strange that it has only done one mile , i find it highly unlikely in this day and age that a garage would be bothered enough to take a 12 year old car out and then clock it (i think this is what your implying , correct me if i'm wrong) i can't understand why you find it wierd that only 1 mile was on the clock , it will have only been driven around the garage ? maybe something hapened in the crash to rupture some hose or something ?

[Rockabilly Spike]

what i meant was that it had 10 litres in the tank and its done 1 mile and its all gone.
how long where they running the engine in the garage after they replaced the silencer?
i know they wouldnt be interested in running around in an old tdi auto.

if they've ruptured something when replacing the silencer, why hasnt it been picked up on.
if it happened during the crash, why hasnt it been picked up on.

this isnt the kind of service you'd expect, if the car was this bad, it woulda just been written off, considering the age etc, but they've spent 500 quid replacing parts and now it doesnt go, full stop.

[WHISTLED]

Doesnt sound like its E-sures fault.

Quite likely the bump has given the whole car and its workings a good knock, and things have started going wrong. Its 12 years old so not surprising really.

[Rockabilly Spike]

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

Doesnt sound like its E-sures fault.

Quite likely the bump has given the whole car and its workings a good knock, and things have started going wrong. Its 12 years old so not surprising really.

well even if it is accident damage, it should've been spotted or should be fixed or the car written off which i think is probs what they're gonna do now depending on whats gone wrong.

its esure's service thru their garage thats bad and the fact that things like the door sill was hanging off and its leaking diesel and they didnt notice before returning it.

their quality control is terrible and they need to take the car away again, and either fix it or compensate me dad for the car so he can put it towards buying a new one. thats why you pay insurance. if the car cant be fixed or will be too expensive to fix, it should be sorted, not delivered back and then the customer argued with, claiming he knows nothing.

[WHISTLED]

Yep garage seems shoddy and you should complian through E-sure but its the garage at possible fault.

[Rockabilly Spike]

thank you, someone seems to understand, rather than (no offence intended here) those who just couldnt comprehend that that car was in amazingly good nick bar the damage to the bumper before the garage took it away.

it was driven every day for 2 weeks after the accident, normal town driving, 2 or 3 times a day and nothing went wrong.
its NEVER leaked.
when it went for its MOT, the garage was instructed to replace anything that looked remotely iffy, an open invitation to spend the customers money, they only replaced 1 brake pipe.

before he agreed to have Esure sort it, Sunderland Coach works who are an accident repair shop, did an independant quote with the hope of securing the job of repairing it should me dad decide to have it done without involving his insurance.
they spotted nothing else and quoted him for the replacement of the bumper and internal bumper strut.
nothing else even mentioned.

gonna have to wait till monday now tho.

[SMG]

Most older cars register empty whilst still having about a gallon of fuel left so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that. I cant see the garage touching the engine or indeed the front of the vehicle if it was a rear end shunt.

Milking the tank is possible, but to milk an almost empty tank would be stupid. A 12 year old car, no matter what its condition, is still 12 years old, & parts do fail. Its possible the fuel pipe leaked as a result of loading on the transporter, but virtually unprovable.

Remember, E-sure put their trust in their own approved garages, & will normally conclude the garage`s version will be correct. Thats not to say the garage is correct though. The garage will estimate the damage & an independent engineer will be involved. For a repair under a grand they may just take the garages estimate.

The battery shouldn't be flat, providing its in good condition. If a car is driven daily, a faulty battery will still perform. Its at times like this (stood for a while) that faults show. The obvious damage, & subsequent proven damage, is down to your insurers. They nominated the repair shop, not you.

The garage should book your car in ASAP, & issue a loan car. No questions asked. A blown core plug can happen anytime, especially on older cars. Rust corrodes the inner rim, & when the system reaches its pressure, it pops out. An MoT will not cover core plugs unless they are leaking at the time, even then it may not fail. S*it happens m8, thats not down to anyone.

I`m 57 & insure with Saga. Last year my car was damaged. It took 4 return visits to the repairers before I was satisfied. Each time I phoned Saga & within 10 minutes arrangements had been made for a loan car. The repairers even delivered the loan car, & took my car.

Overall, I looks like a bit of bad luck m8, as whistled said, a good knock can have an effect on other parts, although no amount of a bump would knock a core plug out. I certainly understand your dads situation & understand your annoyed, but you do need to keep things in perspective.

Annoy the hell out of E-sure. Any company who tells you to "go ahead" & make things public arn`t worth a carrot.

Good luck m8.

If the car was running perfectly before the accident then it's the garages fault end of story, they have done something to the car for it to act up like it's doing.

Get back onto them and give them hell, tell them you want a loan car while your dads in in for repair, he needs his car to get around, failing that get in touch with the good garage people I'm sure they'll help you out.

Sounds like the repairs were carried out by a trainee.