Non-Fault Accident Repairs - How it Works

Start the claim form online, send us a message on WhatsApp or call us. All we need to begin is your vehicle registration and a postcode. You do not need your claim number, your policy documents or the other driver’s details to hand at this point.

The form and the WhatsApp line are open 24 hours a day. If you get in touch during opening hours we will call you back within two working hours. If you contact us overnight or at the weekend, we will call you by 9am on the next working day.

On that first call we will ask you what happened, in your own words. We will tell you whether it looks like a non-fault claim, and we will be straight with you if it does not.

If your vehicle is not drivable, we will arrange recovery. If it is drivable, you can bring it in or we can collect it, whichever suits you better.

If the vehicle has already been recovered somewhere else, tell us where it is and we will deal with getting it released. This happens often and it is not a problem, but the sooner you tell us the easier it is.

An estimate written from photographs is a guess. Once your vehicle is with us we strip and inspect the damaged areas so we can see what is actually there, including anything hidden behind the panels. Modern vehicles absorb impact in ways that are not visible from outside, and it is common to find more damage than the initial pictures suggested.

You get a full report of what we find and what it will take to put right. If anything changes later in the repair, you hear about it from us at the time, not on the invoice at the end.

This is the part most people dread, and it is the part we take off you.

We record the details of your accident, deal with the claim process on your behalf and provide the estimate, evidence and documentation in the form the insurers require. If they need more information, they come to us rather than to you.

You get one point of contact throughout. If you want to know where things stand, you ask us and you get a straight answer, rather than sitting in a queue and explaining your accident to somebody new every time.

An accident that was not your fault should not leave you without a vehicle. Where you are entitled to one, we will arrange a like-for-like replacement vehicle for the period your own car is off the road, matched as closely as we can to what you normally drive.

Tell us at the first call if you need a particular size of vehicle, if you carry tools or equipment, or if you have child seats to move across. It is much easier to arrange the right vehicle at the start than to swap it later.

Your vehicle is repaired here in Lingfield by our own technicians. Nothing is subcontracted out to whoever has space that week.

We work to manufacturer repair methods using approved paint systems, and we colour match to your vehicle’s original finish rather than to the nearest available shade. Structural work, panel work, paint and refinishing are all carried out on our own site, which means we control both the quality and the timescale.

We will give you a realistic completion date rather than an optimistic one, and if a part is delayed or we find something unexpected, you will hear it from us as soon as we know.

Before we tell you the vehicle is ready it is inspected, road tested where appropriate, and cleaned inside and out. Where your vehicle has driver assistance systems that have been disturbed by the damage or the repair, calibration is carried out at our workshop by a specialist before the vehicle goes back to you, so that they work as they should.

We will walk you round the vehicle and show you the work before you take it away. If anything is not right, tell us there and then, and we will put it right.

Our repairs and paintwork are guaranteed for as long as you own the vehicle, and parts are covered by the manufacturer’s own parts warranty. Full terms are on our Our Guarantee page.

It depends entirely on the damage. A bumper and a wing is a different job from structural repair to a vehicle that has been hit hard, and parts availability varies by make and model.

What we will not do is give you a date we cannot meet in order to win the work. You will get an honest estimate at Step 3 once we have seen what is actually there, and we will tell you promptly if it changes.