The dealer has told me they would want my car for up to 10 days..... in my book that's £100 out of my pocket....!!!!
.....Whaaaat!!? That's taking the piss! It's a job which can easily be prep'd and painted within a day and then just needs 24hrs max to cure. Something is wrong there.
It's quite possible, that the actual dealership don't do the repair, and send it elsewhere. My local VW dealer sends all their body repairs 30 miles away to Bognor Regis to their own Peter Cooper Body shop well away from the dealers. I would except a least a week in any case of body repairs.
....I see your point, Steve, and I forget that not all VW dealers have their bodyshop on the same site, as mine do. But allow half a day to transport to bodyshop or even for owner to deliver it at the bodyshop himself... Plus a full day for the work... Be generous and even allow the whole of another day to cure the paint... Plus another half day for return to dealer ready for customer collection. That only totals 4 days, nowhere near 10!
IMO, 10 days and consequently 10x£10 loan car insurance simply doesn't strike me as acceptable. As the work itself is FOC it's just a matter of temporary loss of use of your favourite car, but the £100 extra is hard to stomach. Perhaps it's worth the risk of the £1,000 excess. Btw, my dealer charges £250 excess on an otherwise free loaner.