Smash Repairs in Woolloongabba

What a supplementary claim is and why it happens

An initial assessment is done on a car that is still assembled. Panels are inspected, measurements are taken, and photographs are made of everything visible. What is behind the skin — subframe mounts, radiator supports, cooling lines, steering and suspension components — can only be inferred from what the external damage pattern suggests.

Once the car is stripped and those components are accessible, the extent of the damage becomes clear. Items that the initial quote could not include because they were not visible are documented into a supplementary itemisation and submitted to the insurer for a second authority.

This is not something unusual or suspicious. It is how structural repairs work. A car that has taken a significant front-end impact will almost always have supplementary items once it is apart. The insurer knows this, and the assessor who reviews the supplementary is doing the same job they did with the original quote.

Who pays and how

A supplementary claim does not change your excess. The additional authorised amount goes to the repairer from the insurer the same way the original amount does. You pay the excess once, at collection.

Where the insurer declines a supplementary item, we tell you and explain why. Occasionally items are declined because the assessor does not accept the causal link to the accident, and those need to be discussed. We handle that conversation directly with the assessor rather than having you do it.

Collecting the car — what to check

When you come to collect, check the panels in natural daylight rather than in the workshop. Paint matching and panel fit are both much easier to assess outside under natural light. Look at the surfaces and also at the gaps around each repaired panel. A door gap that is wider on one side than the other can indicate a panel that is not quite in its correct position.

Test the functions that were repaired or reinstated: the boot or bonnet release, the door handles, any sensors or cameras that were removed during panel work, and the windscreen washers if hoses were disturbed. Ask about anything that seems different from how it was before the accident.

If something is not right, say so there and then rather than driving away and ringing two days later. We fix what needs fixing rather than debating whether it was there when you collected.

Woolloongabba and Ipswich Road access

Woolloongabba sits between the CBD and the inner south, close to the Gabba, Buranda and Annerley. Ipswich Road runs from the suburb directly to Moorooka, and 2 Baldock St is a short distance off it. The trip is five minutes or less from most of the suburb.

We are open Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm and Saturday 8am to 3pm, with an after-hours key drop for arrivals outside those hours. The full smash repair range we handle for the suburb is on the Woolloongabba service area page.