Shunted In The Rear. Is This Repairable?
#16
Posted 15 March 2017 - 01:08 PM
Back when I was rammed up the back the insurance company paid up without any problem. While waiting to go in for repair a young lad in a Cavalier stopped too abruptly at a T junction on a wet day and stuck his (the car's!) nose out. Unable to take avoiding action as traffic was coming the other way and overtaking a stationary vehicle, I could only brake hard, which exposed the fundamental weakness of the fixed limiter in the rear brake circuit, as they locked. Fortunately that had little to do with the outcome as I did remain on the carriageway and his nose was out at least 500mm as I belted it with my front wing, pushing the remains of the headlight well in and slightly bending the scuttle end but most of the wing was still not far from its normal shape. His girlfriend was raging at me, accusing me of being drunk (I don't drink), and trying to bend the Laws of Physics by claiming that the impact pulled his car forwards into the main road, etc. He was ok about it and knew he was in the wrong. Not intentionally reckless or even stupid. The Cavalier probably needed only a bolt-on wing. I hope he changed his girlfriend! She would be a real nightmare...
No problem again, both repairs done together, no loss of no claims discount. Insurance companies used to be better behaved than they are now! I surmise that the difference is the very high cost of repairing most modern cars. Here was a 4 or 5 year old 998 Mini repaired without question, while now....
I haven't thought about that mishap for a long while.
I wish you every success. Maybe help to have the car valued, as it would be without the damage?
#17
Posted 15 March 2017 - 05:24 PM
They do like to write off classics as it draws a line under the claim, no comebacks about the quality of the repair. The important thing here is that the OP wasn't at fault, so the other driver's insurer is under an obligation to repair it or cough up the full cost of replacing it. There's no quibbling over the insured value. That said many will offer you the salvage at a decent rate*, you keep your car and they can close the claim saving admin costs.
*Eventually, don't accept a first offer.
#18
Posted 15 March 2017 - 05:38 PM
Very similar happened to me a couple of weeks after a full retro. The repair estimate was around £1700 and i fought for months but they still wrote it off even though my mini had a value of around £7k (i eventually agreed but only because it had already been a cat C in the past).
Unless you have agreed value insurance companies simply do not want to know about the true value of your car and simply go off the book value. I provided invoices for over £5k worth of mods and they simply claimed i could bolt those onto a replacement car instead.
Needless to say the car is now repaired and has an agreed value of 7k.
That was around 5 years ago now so if you are lucky the book value should have gone up a bit.
Edited by DannyTip, 15 March 2017 - 05:38 PM.
#19
Posted 20 March 2017 - 07:04 PM
#20
Posted 20 March 2017 - 07:05 PM
#21
Posted 20 March 2017 - 08:20 PM
My niece had exactly that. A truck ran into her whilst she was parked outside her home. The damage was a door skin and a groove in the rear quarter panel and a slight dent in the A-panel. She got paid out as a write off and we bought it back for a nominal sum. It cost us about £50 to make it like new and the V5 did not get stamped, because she never gave it to the ins. co. Result!!
#22
Posted 21 March 2017 - 06:33 PM
My advice is don’t let it out of your sight. Insurance companies take damaged cars away and then sell them to salvage companies as write offs and offer you book value. If the car is desirable you can have all sorts of issues getting the car back and could be charged storage costs etc.
I scraped the NS doors of a very clean A2 against a low security post. Apparently a write off but I made the insurance company come to me. They had a salvage buyer but I wouldn’t hand over the keys. In the end they gave me £1400 and there was no write off status attached to the car. I simply drive it dented although I did buy all the bits, just not fitted them yet.
That Mini is very repairable.
#23
Posted 02 April 2017 - 09:31 AM
If I was you I would get the money for he cost of the repair (think I got just over a £1000 which isn't enough if you want it done properly) then do it yourself the panel beating way. You will be surprised how well an adustible spanner, hammer and dolly works. Then try match the paint up, but you could take it to a lot of places to match the paint up, if you do it this way and you get it right it will look good and you would of made a lot of money out of the insurance company ;) you will need a new boot lid though. Hope this helps...
#24
Posted 08 May 2017 - 12:22 PM
If people want an update, I managed to get the insurance company to agree to our repairer (a body shop who work with minis). Surprisingly, it was very hassle free and no issues really considering the repair was over 2k. Shows it can be an easier process they you think.
The fresh paint does look fresher than the old but I guess thats just age and what the sun does.
#25
Posted 08 May 2017 - 05:23 PM
Excellent result! It may inspire others to not give in easily when the insurers want to write it off.
#26
Posted 08 May 2017 - 09:19 PM
well done
Edited by minidaves, 08 May 2017 - 09:22 PM.
#27
Posted 08 May 2017 - 10:36 PM
If people want an update, I managed to get the insurance company to agree to our repairer (a body shop who work with minis). Surprisingly, it was very hassle free and no issues really considering the repair was over 2k. Shows it can be an easier process they you think.
The fresh paint does look fresher than the old but I guess thats just age and what the sun does.
If not done already give the old paint a go with a machine mop and farecla g3 compound - it should buff up a treat and better match the new paint.
Best
matt
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