33 replies to this topic

[greggy50]

Hello have had a small shunt in my mini and now at a loss what to do. A taxi slammed brakes on in front of me to let a women out from a petrol station i was not speeding at the time and had left a decent gap but i skidded into the back of him at about 5 - 10mph and fact he had a tow car has not gave a nice outcome. Just wondered how much you recon repair costs would be as i dont know whether to go through insurance or not as my excess is £500. I had a ambulance behind me who agreed was not my fault and gave details but I still think as i shunted into him I will get blamed either way :/
Opinions?
Oh and will upload piccies in a minute wanted an idea of repair costs?
Will need a new bonnet and gril and indicator still drives fine but main bill will most certainly be the spraying as arches will need smoothing back in and a front end repray which may cost rather a lot I am not sure of total costs myself
Thanks
Greg

[leaky]

Well did you damage the Taxi? IF so then I would go through the insurance as paying for that and your car will cost quite a bit. If its only your car that was damaged then I would just buy the bits you need. You can get all the bits you need second had for less then £500. And if push comes to shove you can just do with spray cans.

[greggy50]

Taxi is fine as was a mini bus he just had a mild chip on his tow bar as it stuck out a lot and caused all the damage to mine :/
and yeah bits i mean is literally a bonnet and a front indicator car still drives fine just spraying that will be expensive

[lindy119]

^^^^agreed -- with Mini-jon^^^^

Even a statement from the Paramedic won't get you out I don't think, its always the 'shunters' who get blamed, even if its outrageously clear that its not their fault!

Also, have you claimed before?

Edited by lindy119, 03 January 2010 - 12:46 AM.

[greggy50]

Never claimed before only been passed for 4 months so only drove like 3,000 miles in the thing had a scooter for 2 years before claim free as well.
And yeah no chance claiming through theres always the person at the back who is blamed still running drums all round ffs :/

[greggy50]

Pictures of damage as can see just a grill and bonnet really and arches cracked it just the spraying bill that is going to be rather pricey :/

[roofless]

not meaning to be pessimistic - but - chances are they'll take the taxi off duty, seek pro repair and then they'll be looking to recoup repair costs - and loss of revenue - licence to print money - they'll think of a number and treble it
edit: blended arches never good to repair.
edit 2 - take those illegal plates off pronto - if plod come to take report you're stuffed from the off.

Edited by roofless, 03 January 2010 - 12:57 AM.

[greggy50]

Got a picture of the taxi will upload has not damage he pushed his trim back in and went back on duty he tried to drive off anways but the ambulance stopped him
The company is renound for speeding anways another driver there wrote a car off and i was in back of one doing 70 in a 30 zone lool :/
Edit - Image of mini bus he pushed that trim back in and it looked good as new 2bh :/.

Edited by greggy50, 03 January 2010 - 01:01 AM.

[leaky]

Im running drums all round on mine as well. Not fun. Especially when its icey out. Saying that my drums probably saved my life the other day. Was following a que of cars then one car saw a petrol station and at last minute so came to a quick stop. The car in front of me screeched to a stop just behind it. I braked and my drums just locked up. So instead of hitting the car I swerved and crashed in to one of those plastic bollard things. The sainsburys lorry behind me then stopped about a foot behind the car I swerved round. I was bloody lucky even if I had stopped in time behind the lorry would have hit me and probably killed me. Thankfully the only thing damaged was the bollard I hit.

[roofless]

take nothing for granted - expect the worst - and celebrate if it doesn't happen

[greggy50]

Im running drums all round on mine as well. Not fun. Especially when its icey out. Saying that my drums probably saved my life the other day. Was following a que of cars then one car saw a petrol station and at last minute so came to a quick stop. The car in front of me screeched to a stop just behind it. I braked and my drums just locked up. So instead of hitting the car I swerved and crashed in to one of those plastic bollard things. The sainsburys lorry behind me then stopped about a foot behind the car I swerved round. I was bloody lucky even if I had stopped in time behind the lorry would have hit me and probably killed me. Thankfully the only thing damaged was the bollard I hit.

Yeah well i was going to swerve around it but a lorry was comming so decided was best not to 2bh
I knew was not going to hit it very fast at all if it has been a few metres further forward I would have never have even hit it as crash literally felt like normal breaking i hit it that slow
If it has not been for the tow bar damage would have been a lot less damage :/

[greggy50]

Any idea of repair bills then?
I could sort bonnet out and arches as dads mate is very good at that sort of thing and would do for nothing
Just the spraying costs that worry me :/
Dont know whether to just stick a black bonnet and a new grill on for not or something untill get it sorted

[steble]

for now mate get a new grill and take a hammer to that bonnet i reckon you could straighten that out quite well. i dont think the damage is that bad and probably wont cost you more than 500 to fix. as you said it will be the spraying that cost more than anything.

just leave it for a bit see if the taxi company involve insurance, if they dont leave the insurance out of it and fix it yourself mate

[greggy50]

I may as well get a new bonnet for the cost of one
£50 or something I would imagine
Grill is like a £40 job
Arches I can get reblended pretty easily
Then just need it to be sprayed
Might be able to get away with a carbon bonnet and having the arches touched back in but doubt that is possible 2bh loool

[greggy50]

Oh and roofless thanks for the plate hint
They did come briefly as taxi driver rang but went as soona s found out no one was injured as had more important issues to attend to
I think I may as well not bother with the insurance doubt the taxi firm going to bother by how keen they were to leave did not even seem to want my details I had to give mine to them lool
As my excess is like £500 odd and being 17 cant see it being worth going through insurance to be honest myself
As front will need to be sprayed can look for any nasty rust at the same time lool