I would mate, there is no harm in doing some leg work yourself so long as you don't prejudice yourself. All you really need are the insurer details, I assume you have the driver details etc.
I made numerous phone calls to Albany insurance in order to do some of the leg work, but unfortunately I was either cut-off, put on hold or told that they would call me back about 5 times. I have been told by my insurers that I will probably not get any of the excess back, but they will try their best to do so. So I am afraid I have now accepted losing the cash and I will wait to hear the outcome
Well I got my car back today and I must say I am really pleased wth the end result
The guys at Brooklands said that they would be repairing the front bumper and replacing the front wing. They said that the bumper didn't justify a new bumper and that it just needed a bit of work and a respray. I was a bit p'd off because I thought at least I would get rid of all the stone chips on the bumper, but they then told me that only the damaged half of the bumper would be resprayed.
I popped in to Brooklands on Monday and they told me the car would be ready for Wednesday dinner time. So today I was set to pick the car up when I received a text message from Brooklands, saying that the car was not ready and that they were waiting for parts.
I resisted phoning them (I knew I would end up arguing) and instead I went down at 5pm. I pulled into the car park and a guy had just got out of my car. I had a quick look before I went into the building and it looked finished to me.
I saw the main man and he told me the work had just been done. Apparently, the washer bottle was damaged in the bump so they ordered a new one. The washer bottle that came was one for the Xenon headlights and so had an extra 2 outlets. Apparently they only make this new type bottle now, and if fitted to a car without xenons, it requires 2 plugs for the outlets. These 2 plugs were the parts they needed to order this morning. They arrived this afternoon and so the job was finished.
Good news is.... the car is mint! It also has a BRAND new bumper and wing, so no more stone chips
(they said the bumper had broken on the inside, so needed to be replaced)
It made the £800 excess that I had to pay them, a little easier to swallow
Now all I need to do is get the bonnet sorted and the car will be stone chip free
