Not been on here in a while as i have a t4 now, but the mrs has a 2012 6R. went into the local garage to have some simple cosmetic repairs to the wing and bumper, and weve had a phone call to say the "ramp collapsed" while working on it. what would you do in this position. weve not seen the car yet or know the extent of the damage, but to me not happy with this. all well and good with tem making the repairs but do we have to acceot it back repaired on both sides? it may look all straight after they repair it but it may never even drive right again?? what would you do here? I think were gonna call them up in the morning and ask them not to touch it until we see it and take photos at least for now! absolutely gutted!!

Defo get down there and get pics of all the damage. Make sure it's repaired correctly with any damaged panels replaced rather than repaired ect.

Also question how it happened "the ramp collapsed" could be code for some monkey didn't use the 2 poster properly. I'm not really sure how a ramp can collapse, especially in a garage where they would need regular inspections to make sure they are safe.

Worked at a service garage with a 2 post ramp and they require services themselves and undergo regular maintenance...I've never heard of them collapsing..heard of them sticking and the controls sometimes start working intermittently. Sounds like a dick has placed the "cups" in a shit place and the car has dropped on lifting or something

It's a weird one. I can only imagine it was 'user error' and as Guy says, some goon is not used to the complexity of the modern day car ramp.

Yeah totally get pictures and find out exactly what has been damaged. They should have insurance for this and in my mind it's just like if someone drives into you, you can chose to take it somewhere else to have the work completed and then its down to the garage if they pay for the work themselves or claim on their own insurance.

Obviously its down to you if you trust them doing the repair work but they will be keen for them to do it as it will be cheaper for them and they prob won't have to get the insurance company involved.

Cheers chaps gonna get down there at 4 o'clock to take pictures. I was thinking the ramps don't just collapse so it's obviously human error. Apparently a mechanic was injured too so health and safety are all over it as it's a big repair centre. Hopefully the damage isn't too bad and we can negotiate not paying the original damage excess or something like that. I'll update later.

So it went to this garage to have some insurance bodywork done? And was it the one they said to use? In which case they may also be liable.

Good luck! :)

Its easy and reasonably cheap to confirm the car is straight but it seems unlikey to sustained that sort of damage falling over at zero speed.

My concern would be the quality of the paint job. All paint ages differently and if the garage is responsibly, they may try to control costs by respraying just the areas of damage when spraying a much larger area is necessary to keep the paint looking matched (in 2-3 years). The garage may also fill rather than replace panels as that can be done with there own labor.

I'd make them aware that (depending on the amount of damage) you require the entire car (or all of one side - if appropriate) resprayed and that you will be referring the final job to an independant assesor (RAC/AA perhaps). Let them know you cannot sign off on the job until you have the assesors approval.

Was this a two poster lift? They are far from fool proof and scare the **** out of fools like me!

Best of luck.

Obviously you won't know the full story but it would be interesting to find out how the ramp managed to collapse in such a way that the car was damaged.

My experience of ramps is limited but the ones I have used it seems unlikely that much damage could happen to the car if the ramp does fail. The cable operated ones have safety locks all the way up so it can only ever drop a few inches. The screw ones are even better because there is nowhere for them to go really.

As said referring the repair to an independent assessor once the work has been carried out would be a good idea and probably in the best interests of you and the garage should anything happen further down the line.

So, the ramp did not fail and this was human error. There was heavy damage to both door and rear 1/4 from the arms of the 2 poster ramp, so I've got them to agree to replace the full door rather than a skin, and genuine rear 1/4 panel. Oh and as compensation we've got them to cover the original excess of 250. Think we may come out OK as long as the repairs are up to scratch.!

I would have disagreed on the two post ramps being far from fool proof, I was using them at 16 years old over and over again and I can't see how you could really muck it up tbf, it's common sense to put cups on jacking points and then it's a button up and a button for down which needs to be held lol

Anyway hopefully the repairs are up to scratch and all goes smoothly for you, Atleast they are doing the excess and paying for proper parts instead of bodging

EDIT: Before you take your car back check your sills because it's likely it may have fell due to a knob end putting the cups on the sills and not jacking points, if they are bent in I would want those replaced too

Edited 28 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

I would have disagreed on the two post ramps being far from fool proof, I was using them at 16 years old over and over again and I can't see how you could really muck it up tbf, it's common sense to put cups on jacking points and then it's a button up and a button for down which needs to be held lol

I would say your main mistake there is assuming that everyone has common sense