DANGEROUS COLLISION REPAIRS

There is now substantiating laboratory evidence available confirming that your personal safety is very much at risk if you are the driver or occupant of a post collision repaired motor vehicle, particularly a vehicle having previously sustained structural collision damage.

This alarming situation needs also to be embraced by Company Directors and Fleet Managers who have legislative responsibilities pursuant to the Occupational Health and Safety legislation making it obligatory to provide a safe working environment for their drivers, particularly in collision repaired corporate vehicles. (See OHS link for more)

Approximately one third of all motor vehicle collisions in Australia (500,000 vehicles) involve some degree of structural damage. Structurally compromised collision repaired vehicles are deemed defective vehicles and until remedially repaired they cannot be classified as ‘roadworthy’.

It may be surprising to learn that collision repaired vehicles are not repaired to the manufacturer’s recommended specifications or to the lesser standard as promised by insurance companies. Conventional collision repairs are conducted in accordance with an inadequate repair budget and vehicles are repaired on non manufacturer approved equipment with antiquated repair practices.

Interestingly the use of this equipment does not accurately repair structural damage instead leaves dangerous integrity compromises which adversely affect vehicle handling, performance and personal safety.

In addition to the diminishing personal safety, inferior collision repairs can create further potential exacerbating financial problems for vehicle owners particularly with their insurer where Duty of Disclosure responsibilities apply.

Insurance companies require their insured customers to disclose everything which is considered relevant that might affect the insurer’s position concerning the insurance cover. An insured defective vehicle qualifies under such disclosure responsibilities. Any current insurance cover is likely to be cancelled or void without the defects first being rectified however please note: failure to disclose such defects provides your insurer with a lawful exit to disclaim any intended claim under your policy.

Massive numbers of collision repaired motor vehicles have lost their structural integrity through inferior collision repairs and without the knowledge owners are driving defective and dangerous vehicles. This has been conclusively evidenced from results obtained from over five hundred (500) randomly inspected collision repaired vehicles where alarmingly, nine (9) in every ten (10) or 90% failed collision repair integrity or crashworthiness.

Whilst this is undeniably an extremely high percentage of failure, what is more disturbing is that every vehicle after repair was presented to its owner without the remedial repairs being completed, or was the owner advised how inferior or defective was their vehicle when it was returned.

Also disturbing was that nearly all fleet managed vehicles inspected failed structural tolerance integrity. This supports the theory that collision repaired corporate vehicles have a lesser quality and standard of repair and have more inferior aftermarket components fitted than do privately owned collision repaired vehicles.

This can be in part is attributable to the designated corporate driver having a lesser ‘emotional attachment’ to his company vehicle than what a driver of a privately owned vehicle might have for their private vehicle. However it is not understandable or excusable when this attitude has been adopted by the smash repairer where ‘it’s only a company car’ attitude is apparent.

Smash repairers have a Duty of Care responsibility to uphold when they repair collision damage, it is alarmingly apparent that the majority of the industry do not uphold their responsibilities.