Ok not a happy bunny - Van TBoned me whilst exiting a roundabout yesterday morning and the nearside wheel (at almostfull right lock took) the full impact leaving only very light scratches on the arch plastic. Drove it slowly to the nearest car park to wait for recovery. Tierod is obviously bent to bits and likely the wheel. From what I could tell the wishbone was actually ok but at worst the driveshaft, wishbone, ARB and drop-link will need replaced. Thankfully already have a tierod and spare BBS and got a man on wishones and driveshaft for me as we speak. Insurance co has waived my excess and looks like (at present anyway) it will be hopefully an open and shut case no-blame-on-me claim. I phoned the garage that the car is in and they have quoted 654+VAT for repair for tierod, bent shock (or 'looks bent' WTF!?), and replacing the arch trim... Anyway couldn't believe it and made it clear that I'd be buying it back if it's written off and I've already organised a trailer ready to go at short notice. Anyway car is 3 door Fjord Blue MK3 16V, has done 172000 miles, minted condition, air con, heated leather recaros, BBS and I have a stack of receipts for the last 4 years probably totalling 3-4K. In short it's been rebuilt and drives like a new car (I get -or got - 48 MPG out her to work) . Whats should I be looking for as far as book value as no doubt the insurance will try and stuff me over and offer me peanuts and how do I go about at least trying to get what I'm due out them?
654+VAT AND to keep the car. Negotiate downwards from there. In secondhand parts to remedy it is -trivial, to keep your 3-4k 'investment'.
Yup thats my thinking Chris - fix her up and save for a MK2 shell Apologies - just realised I should have posted in the insurance section... How do I move the post?
Thread moved. That is unlucky getting the your car hit after so much work that you have put in. It does not sound like a terrible disaster of a situation though. As mentioned you have a figure to aim for now and it sounds like it should be repairable with new or used bits, so you can possibly come down from that figure a little, but not by much as you still have to factor in alignment adjustment and your own labour. Got a subframe here if it is needed.
Sweet Dan - Thanks for moving Bent wishbone bolts have crossed my mind as they are never fun - just a logistics issue of getting it to sunny Buckie but if I can arrange it I may be passing a 'shopping list' of sorts your way.
they'll only CAT D it if they consider the estimate of repairs to be in excess of 70% of its current market value id be inclined to say you want to have it repaired somewhere else, and then go get a couple of quotes from friendly garage - insurance company then agree to the repair cost & send you a cheque to the value of the repair - then repair it yourself with that money & hopefully still have some left over
If you need any help transporting parts I`m up for a visit to `the shed` as Danny does have some bits for me ...
Many thanks Andrew. Early days yet but I'll make my shopping list as soon as I get the car back to the house.
654 + VAT must be over 70% of its book value surely? Just done some sums: If its value is less than around 1121 then its CAT D
Ring up and ask them what the current value of the car is, you might be surprised! gf's 02 clio got wrote off end of last year and they had it valued at 1600, even though she only paid 1200 for 2yrs ago! went through the whole write off saga, buying car back etc, cost me 250 to repair it - so she got some money left over towards her increased premium this year! whole saga was a long drawn out complete pain in the whole though
If its not your fault, and the other insurer is paying, then the car value and repair costs are irrelevant. You can demand that the car is fixed. The other guys insurance cannot "write it off"
Repair authorised - Bumped up the car value no doubt by ensuring they knew about leather int, heated seats, Air con. blah blah. :O) Just a waiting game now.
happy days, just make sure you go over everything with a fine tooth comb before leaving the repair shop!
