Margot complained to us after her breakdown cover provider didn’t agree that they’d caused damage to her car.
What happened
Margot’s car broke down whilst on the way to the shops. She called her breakdown cover provider, who sent a patrol mechanic. The mechanic was unable to fix the problem at the roadside and so the car was recovered to Margot’s preferred location, her local garage.
After her car had been repaired, Margot noticed some scratches on the front bumper which hadn’t been there before she broke down. Unhappy with the damages, Margot made a complaint to her breakdown cover provider. In their final response, they said they hadn’t caused the damage and won’t cover the cost of the repairs.
Unhappy with the outcome, Margot bought her complaint to us.
What we said
We first had to check that Margot’s provider was one that we could look into the complaint against, which they were.
We checked the sign in sheet from the garage, which included photos. This confirmed that Margot’s car arrived with the scratches on it. Margot also provided us with a photo of the car from a few months before it broke down and a report from an independent engineer. In the photo the car wasn’t scratched, and the report stated that the scratches were consistent with the car being scraped along the floor when going on to/off a low loader.
We agreed that it was most likely that the damage had been caused by Margot’s breakdown cover provider.
We told Margot’s provider to cover the cost of the repairs. We also told them to pay some compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused to Margot.