My Poor Little 2 Got Side Swiped!!!

[je72]

So this happened 



The freelander that was blinded to my approach by the sun! In the parking space he lurched out from into the side of my lovely little 2! 



The damage which the insurer's claims handlers are saying will be a write off but have agreed to let an approved repairer look at it. Probably only did that because I stressed how much I didn't want to have the car written off, I suspect the worse when the garage actually get hold of it.   



Bloody SUV's and Off Road vehicles are the worst when it comes to our little cars.

[shnazzle]

Absolute crap.
It's got nothing to do with the visibility of the roadster and more to do with people just speeding around, pulling out of roads without looking etc.

With a bit of luck you have no structural damage at all, seeing as the land rover hit above the wheel.
So, off-the-record fix job if possible to save insurance hassle

[Topdownman]

Bloody freeloaders!

Hope it is sorted out with the minimum of hassle.

[wotugonado]

What a sad sight.....
Hope it gets sorted

[Carolyn]

A wing, a light and a bumper.  Less than £200 from one of our breakers.

Probably only another £100 to have them put on.

[Chilli Girl]

Who does he think he is Prince Phillip!  Bloody 4x4's, I can't stand them!  So sorry to see this, as Carolyn says, very fixable but just so unnecessary cr#p for you to sort out!  I am sorry. 

[1979scotte]

@BahnStormer had similar recently and @TonyleFrog perhaps they have some advice to offer to avoid write off.

[Joesson]

Sorry to hear your news Jay. Total agreement with all comments and advice.
No wonder " Phillip" didn't see you with that soppy white mask on his face.

[Joesson]

Jay, there is a whole new blue 2 with hardtop for sale on face book £750! see the shout box.
Better luck matey.

[delhusband]

Sorry to see that chap, hope you get  sorted, without too much cost or hassle

[Newbie57]

Bad news.

By the way were you doing through Damocles a couple of weeks ago?

[BahnStormer]

@BahnStormer had similar recently and @TonyleFrog perhaps they have some advice to offer to avoid write off.

Sorry to hear about it mate - agree - people just not looking at junctions.... "must have been hiding behind A-Pillar" was the excuse on mine... I didn't feel like escalating an already emotional day by pointing our that her visibility being obscured by her A pillar was unlikely to be seen as my fault / problem - I think she was just saying sorry without actually saying sorry. I had a voicemail, SMS and e-mail within the hour from her insurer saying their client would be admitting full liability... which didn't stop them from trying to write it off.

Mine was front-end, but almost entirely cosmetic damage (bumper, 2 panels and headlight)... only thing "internal" that got toasted was the water bottle... dig out my accident thread for the exact numbers, but the summary was ~£3300 to fix all damage using new parts from Toyota... and £3500 max valuation on the car (they went on MY05, not first reg date of July 2007). They said that even if we got the valuation up to ~£4500, the damage was still over two thirds of the car's value, so it would still be written off (this ratio varies from one insurer to the next).

Back to your side-swipe: see what the insurer will agree in terms of "cash in lieu of repair"... it's an option that is a recognition that 10yr old cars don't need to be repaired with new parts... but that the insurers don't want to get involved with buy parts from wreckers and hoping they'll be okay... so they agree to pay out the maximum repair level, but they then leave it entirely to you to sort out the repair... I think I could have got a couple of hundred more if I'd agreed to write it off and buy it back as salvage... or even more if I fought the valuation more (and agreed the write off). The option I preferred was where they paid out exactly what it eventually cost me to repair it in the end (happy coincidence) and the car has NOT been given a Cat rating.

Repair was done by Patrick (Headcase) and parts from Rutland.

[BahnStormer]

Did you see my post on the chat y'day:

[13|Mar 02:37 PM] BahnStormer: Guys - if anybody wants a project: there's a blue hardtop for sale on FB for £750 - comes with 147k mile project underneath it [link]

That's a very late, but 147k PFL car in the right colour... engine and clutch sound like they're pretty rotten and the rest of car seems pretty neglected (window motor, dents, etc)... but if the dents aren't in those rear three-quarter panels, you could basically end up paying £750 for a hardtop, the required lights and panels and a leather seat upgrade... and before I get panned for suggesting you scrap the eBay Spyder, just to be clear this way you could go from having your car (likely write-off) and another rotter... to having your car restored to a good, clean road car with a few upgrades AND another project (for yourself / somebody else): you could still drop the cloth seats in that and flog what's left over for a couple of hundred quid, for somebody to slap on some mismatched panels and build a track rat.... fact is that an engine rebuild and new clutch probably would be within a track rat rebuild scope anyway...

[frogger]

This happened to mine a few years ago.  Cost less than 100 quid in then end to swap the parts off, just a pain in the bumbum spending time on dealing with it!

EDIT:  love that the forum censored the post to 'bumbum' 

[BahnStormer]

EDIT:  love that the forum censored the post to 'bumbum' 

Not as heavily redacted as if the swear word you used started with MX....

[Joesson]

"MX"! One does not expect to hear such profanity on this forum , certainly not before lunch!

[stewart@boro]

Sorry to hear about the bump, I know from experience how it hurts.
Good plan suggested here on how to get back on the road, might be a bit of a "cash flow' problem but you could end up even(or better) at the end of the day.

[Carolyn]

If the car is driveable...

You might just get in touch with Dean at Rutland MR2.  Take the car to him and he can install the bits for a very modest price, assuming he has the parts (which I think he does).

I know it's quite a drive for you, but it would be a quick result??

[je72]

Thanks so much for all the input folks. It was really useful. Sorry for the lack of updates, this really "got" to me, It was all I could do to deal with the "machine" that is the claims/insurance/repairs industry. I'm sure you've all got your own stories. I didn't have the energy to keep the thread updated given how P***ed off I was about the whole situation. Especially as it was non-fault.

All the "professionals" want to talk about these little cars (because they are clueless) is that they would be a write off. This included my own insurers, the third parties claims agents, the engineers, the 3 garages that were involved in doing estimates. But I knew (luckily for me) that wasn't the only resolution available. But if you were a bit less clued up, they'd have you car whipped away and getting abused in a salvage yard before you could say "cash in lieu"!

The good news is that I seem to be treading a similar path to @BahnStormer in that we have now "almost" agreed a cash in lieu of settlement based on the estimate for repair. I will be able to get the car repaired without it having to have the indignity of having a completely unnecessary write off.

I have a few irons in the fire about how best to proceed, thanks (as usual) to @carolyn for the tip about Dean, I've been chatting to him and found that not only is a fantastic fella and very much not medically retired as some rumours were suggesting, he's also positive that he can supply AND FIT the parts for me. As soon as, my insurers pay out and he's back from holiday, I'll be over there.

So it looks like you'll be stuck with me at ding day and the wales camping tour after all 

PS even though I had several years experience in a former life as an Insurance Broker, I still learned a HEAP more at this awesome website https://www.motorclaimguru.co.uk/ I thoroughly recommend giving it a read if you find yourself in a similar situation. Especially the bit where the insurer will try to wriggle out of paying the VAT element of repair estimates if you go down the cash in lieu settlement route. They are incorrect and negligent of they try that on. The above website explains it all well with cases adjudicated by the ombudsman to back up his advice.

[Joesson]

More good news on the day that @Richard41 's 2 has returned to the road after almost being written off but wasn't.

[stewart@boro]

Really great news, especially after seeing one on its way to the scrappy the other day.