I sympathise with your situation. Anything to do with insurance companies is always going to be painful.

Maybe it's a peculiarity in the UK but I didn't know BMW appointed any certified repairers. You learn something new every day.

X5's are very complex machines and require expert knowledge when working on them. If three lights come on immediately after an accident then it was as a result of the accident. It's likely that garage will ask you to sign a document saying they did the work before they can get paid by the insurer. I wouldn't sign the document until the lights are off and you are satisfied with the explanation they give as to why they were on. Challenge them, and the engineer, and the insurer. The garage and engineer just want to get paid and don't care about you. The insurer just wants the case closed so they can call it settled and they don't care about you either.

If you get no satisfaction then take it to whatever public organisation over there that stands up for consumer rights, called the Director for Consumer Affairs over here. Also if there is a motor industry body over there send them a letter, it's called the Society for the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) over here. I once had an ongoing dispute with a Lexus dealer over a broken door lock and SIMI had it sorted in a week.

Make a big noise about it. It's the only way unfortunately.

Thank you Patrick for your kind advice.

I agree with you, I am not going to sign the document straight away, so that the case is kept open until I get a satisfactory explanation. I will wait and see what the other dealer say after they inspect my car. Hopefully the car just needs some simple fixes.

I will keep you guys updated.

It doesn't sound like a trained technician with the correct specialized tooling has yet read the codes and done a fault analysis. It sounds rather like they are all just guessing. As an example, the 4x4 light can be related to the transfer case oil, but that doesn't explain the ABS light. Simultaneous failures of unrelated components is unlikely.

While it may not be related to the accident, and the insurer may be correct, if all the lights came on immediately after the repair, then it is highly likely that it is related.

Those lights have at least one common link, namely the wheel speed sensors. It may in fact not have been caused by the accident, it may have been caused by the repair shop damaging the wire when they hoisted the vehicle. They would be liable in that case as well.

Insist on a BMW dealer diagnosis. If they don't agree, don't sign any waiver or release, have the dealer diagnosis done yourself, and if it is found to be related, pursue them in the courts for remedy.

Thank you for the suggestions, JCL.

I am not going to sign any document at the moment and will try to push them for a BMW dealer diagnosis.

I will keep you guys updated.

My car was drove to my home (from Glasgow to Edinburgh) by a guy from their repair shop. Not very happy because I actually expected it to be delivered by a flatbed, with all the warning lights on, which may cause further damage. First thing I noticed I now get a new error message "check rear froglight".

Their front court service department gives me a list of works need to be done:
Transfer box oil change, £549
Rear brake pads £281
Glow plugs £274
Suspension bush £188
CV boot leaking £505
dashboard light bulb (minor) £133
I guess I need add fix rear frog light for £xx, hopefully not £xxx?

The bill in total is just short of £2000.

Your first mistake was allowing the insurance company to choose who fixes the damage . You should have insisted the repairs were done by BMW. I did this when my 1 series was rear ended . It was only a year old and they wanted some repair station to do it . I told my insurance company to deal with them and took it to fawdington BMW to get the repair done . They were not to pleased but my response was I didnt cause the accident there insured driver did so take it up with him . I would tell them that you are not happy with the repair and that you were taking it to the insurance ombudsman . They wont want you to involve them so tell them the lights were not on before the accident so shouldnt be on after the repair. If you dont get a response speak to your own insurance company and tell them you are going to speak to the ombudsman, thats what hes there for, Im pretty sure they will change there minds.

I suppose the repair shop which my insurance company recommended is BMW certified. The shop is affiliated to a big car dealing group, which has a front court BMW dealer service department. I serviced my car with them before.

Anyway, I sent my car to another BMW dealer. I told them my car is soon due a service and the rear brake pads and dashboard light need to be changed . They carried out an Insp1 service, and interestingly, they only reported the transfer box fault. I've used both dealers before to service my car, and this is the second time that the first dealer reported some "problems" which the second dealer didn't. They quoted brake pads change for £160 and transfer oil change for about £100 but later realized it's the control unit of the gear box that needs to be replaced.

They quoted £900 inc labour for the control unit and said the breakdown of control unit could be due to the accident and driving back from Glasgow to Edinburgh with the 4x4 light on could have caused further damage to the gear box. I contacted my insurance company and they asked me to get a report from the BMW dealer.

I will keep you guys updated, but am wondering what is my stance on dealing with the insurance company. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.