Minor prang leads to £75k repair bill

A job that should have taken days took nearly a year to sort

Damage to car paintwork
© Bigstock

A driver has been left feeling ”slightly guilty” after a minor collision sent an insurance bill spiralling out of control.

Jo Alexander expected the repairs to take a few weeks to sort out after her Audi A4 was struck by a learner driver. But delays caused by trying to decide who was at fault for the incident, along with where the repairs should be carried out, led to Jo being without her A4 for 325 days.

Worse still, the final bill came to £75,320 – more than four times the value of her Audi.

The mother of one told the Daily Mail: ”Every time I phoned or emailed the insurance company, I was told there were hold-ups and that I would have to be patient. The insurance companies didn’t seem to be speaking to each other. 

”They just kept leaving messages and sending emails but not following them up for weeks on end. It was just a dent and a few scratches. It was clearly the other driver’s fault, so I assumed it would take a couple of weeks, a month at most. 

”I feel slightly guilty about the costs that were racked up, but I dread to think how often this happens. I can’t be the only person, and it all makes premiums more expensive for everyone else.”

On top of the £9040 repair bill, the invoice included the cost of a Jaguar XF courtesy car (£53,809.80) and £2,612.30 for an Audi A4 when the Jaguar was recalled for its MOT. The remaining £9858 was the cost of storage while the dented A4 was awaiting repair.

A spokesperson for the bodyshop told the Daily Mail the waiting time was ”ludicrous”, before saying it took just a few days to repair the paintwork.

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