Fantom

I'm so annoyed. a few days after I post about my scooby annoying me, and now some idiot hit me.
I was stationary in a queue of traffic on a roundabout and boom the guy must have hit me about 40. nearly snapped my neck, it bloody hurt, sent me into the van infront which had ladders on the back which bent my bonnet. Luckily the van isnt damaged and the man doesnt reckon his company will claim. However, I am left to deal with this mess now. I cant believe it.
I need a new bonnet, new front and rear bumpers, new bootlid, cant believe how bent it is. dont know if it will open. Luckily he only lives round the corner. he must have jumped the red light to have hit me that hard though, and he seemed real dodgy, like he was drunk, or extremely scared or something. very weird. he didnt know what to do. If someone wants to host pictures I'll send them to someone so you can see what this git has done.
Question is, its a 93 wrx. must be worth about £4k at most? will the insurance bother to pay top dollar to fix it? its gonna cost a few grand surely.
If they write it off they better give me enough money to get another one. I'm so gutted. I just spend £250 on a decat downpipe 2 weeks ago. infact he may have bent up my exhaust system, not really sure.
God, the things life throws at you. also van man wants to make sure I get the claim so I dont think I can fail here. Going round the dicks house in a minute to make sure he lives there.

Steve

wrxmania

Hello Fantom,

Horrible - I hope he did live there? What are you going to do now? I have been hit a few times in previous cars and, aside from the horror of the damage - it is the inconvenience of it that seems worst, then of course getting it back and it is NEVER the same aftrewards.

Let us know how you get on - we feel for your Scooby suffering!!

Brian.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Really sorry to hear this, at least you're OK.


Two points, and they are important:

1. Get medical help with the neck. I mean it. It could turn out serious, and if you haven't, you won't be able to claim anything afterwards.

2. Don't do, or say anything stupid with matey. Let insurance sort it, that's what you pay for.

Hope everything turns out OK for you.

Alcazar

wrxtankie

surely if he hit u up the **** its his fault. thats usually the way it works. sorry to hear bout ur drama tho m8.

corradoboy

Don't worry too much about the write off value of the car, it'll be nothing compared to what you'll get for the whiplash and neck/back trouble you're obviously going through. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a month or two off work and might even need counselling for the trauma. Also, if you think he was popped up, get down to the station and report it ASAP. It will add weight to any claim, but the horse might have bolted as you should have called plod immediately you suspected.

Sorry it happened, but he sounds like a d!ck, so shaft him and his insurers. I know we all end up paying for 5h!t like this, but at least it'll be going to a decent sort.

wrxmania

Hello again,

MAJOR tip I picked from several problems in the past and a friend who is an insurance broker -

Go DIRECT to his insurance company asking them to repair your car before you claim on your insurance - mention your neck and that he has admitted liability to you and you have a witness. The will want the easy way out in the end so it is MUCH cheaper for them to repair your car for you in the end.

Try that first.

Fantom

isnt it illegal to go direct to his insurers or something???
Anyone ever heard of Broker Direct? I have his policy number.
Gimme phone numbers if anyone hsa them please.
I will go to doctors about my neck, he proper bent it when he hit me, my head hit the back of the seat pretty hard too and its been aching since.
Anyone know if they wil write my car off or not? will they be able to get cheap parts from uk cars? or will they really source parts from japan as its an import?!
Im so annoyed I just wanna ring the insurance now but I have to wait til tomorrow, now I gotta spend all night running it thru my mind over and over.
This guy knows he was over the speed limit and ran the red light, no wonder he was a bit shifty.
i did call the police and said he was acting real dodgy like he was drunk but the woman said as no one was hurt and no road blockage they didnt need to send someone out. I wish I had insisted on it now. I will go to local police tomorrow though.

Thanks for your support guys

DEC14N

sorry to hear about this.
PLEASE get your neck checked out! I suffered a whiplash injury 18months ago and I'm still having treatment. It is costing me £30 each time I see the osteopath. At first i went every week, then once every two weeks, then once a month, now i go when it starts to play up, point being it is a VERY EXPENSIVE injury to treat. If you can claim these sort of cost from the insurance you best get it checked now so you can start to claim for treatment.

donutman

sorry to here about this m8.
take care with the neck it will be sore

SUBTYPER

You should be able to get scooby clinic to quote to repair your car mate. Its not illegal to go straight to another insurance company and ask for them to repair your car although if its his fault and you pay for your insurance get them to do it for you. I have to admit I have been in the position of a freshly rain soaked road with a car that didnt have ABS and one stopping immediately infront before i could resulting in a smashed headlight and bumper on mine and 5 scratches on her cars rear bumper.(Lucky it was a focus and her lights were up high). I got out and swapped details and also offered her money to fix her car. She said she wanted to go through insurance and I said ok went direct to her insurance company and offered them the money i offered her and they said they would accept it when she claimed and all was done and dusted. Saved myself some NCB. Cant blame anybody else but myself my but at the time didnt realise the car I was driving didnt have ABS working and also didnt realise how slippy the road was. No excuse.
He sounded like a right swine so make sure you get your injuries sorted first and dont worry about the car. If they do write it off you can always buy it back at a cheaper price and get it repaired yourself.

Fantom

Right! Been round to his house, you wont believe how close he lives to me. I'd estimate about 40 metres. His car is parked in the road around the corner from his house and his drive is empty! wonder if he didnt want the missus to know!
Took some photos of his car and the damage. Its hardly a lot considering what he's done to mine.
Opened my boot but it wouldnt shut again, had to keep slamming it and force and eventually got it shut. Same with bonnet. I'm not happy driving me car around like this so I think I'll go for a courtesty car etc.
Not only has he bent the bootlid and bumper but also the metal behind the bumper that the bootlid shuts into, how do they repaid stuff like that?!
To be honest I actually hope they write off the car and give me a decent amount for me to get another scooby. Maybe I can get one with loads of mods done then.
If they write it off, do you reckon I would get time to get my brand new decat downpipe off and put the standard back? Also what else could I take off it? Do they let me strip it if they are scraping it anyway? Or do they try and get money back by selling the parts?
Will have to get my scoobyecu out of there as well.
I'll let you know what insurance etc say tomorrow

Steve

ThrustSSC

Steve,

A few pointers for you, based on similar experiences (and the advice at the time of a brother in the motor trade, and a father who's a retired solicitor ):

1) I'm going to assume he's totally liable - so obviously that needs to be agreed, but it sounds cut and dried
2) Get down the doc's tomorrow (ask for an 'emergency appointment' if you have to). This gets it recorded in your patient's notes, and his insurers will want details before offering compensation for the injury (I got £750 for a stiff neck for one day, so you're up for plenty, I'd say)
3) Decide where you want your car to go for repair if it's repairable - you can pick anywhere within reason (don't be pushed to an 'approved' repairer - they are 'approved' on price only, so workmanship can be dreadful and the courtesy car a 1-litre Ford Ka). His insurers just have to pay up for all this. If a decent courtesy car isn't offered (and I don't mean a Ford Ka is a decent courtesy car - my local BMW bodyshop do any marque and they do BMW courtesy cars), tell his insurers you want an equivalent to your Scooby - they have to pay for that: why should you have a 1 litre heap while yours is fixed?
4) If they write it off, they own the remains which go for scrap, so make sure all your mods are factored in to the amount they give you. If you want them, offer them a small sum (say 10-25% of the original cost of parts only) for them - they'll take anything they can get and strip them off before you hand over the logbook. They still have to pay the fair market value of the car - so you can haggle with them over having to pay for new mod parts and labour on your replacement vehicle.
5) Do tell your insurers. They can take much of the hassle out of this for you, and as you've been injured they won't just settle with his insurers, they'll appoint solicitors to deal with your case. If there's any hassle agreeing he is totally liable, your car will still be dealt with immediately.
6) Keep all receipts for taxis and any other costs. These will be recovered by the solicitors your insurers appoint. A decent solicitor will even add in a bit for postage and telephone costs while liaising with them (mine added £50).

Blobster

Hi Fantom. Sorry for you mate.

On the subject of repairs. I also need a rear bumper and have very, and mean VERY lightly damaged the metal behind the bumper, under the boot lid as yours is. The best quote I have is £1200.

Scoobs are V. expensive to repair and given the value of yours I guess you're looking at a right off.

As per other posts - get your neck seen to. Whiplash is no fun and can still be felt years down the line!

Good luck with everything.

Blobster.

Si of Sheff

Sorry to hear about your smash, I know how gutting it is.

Firstly, Scooby clinic will surprise you with a quote if you ask! They use second hand parts if asked, if money is a factor (ie stopping it being written off!). I was sceptical about this but it will still be a similar age to or newer than the rest of your car and of original equipment quality- what's wrong with that?

Secondly, I think you'll find you've got a legal obligation to mitigate your losses on the courtesy car front, contrary to ThrustSSC's post. This means you can't claim a nice/fast courtesy car cos that's what you normally drive, that's an unnecessary expense we'd all end up covering. The only exception would be if you need a big boot for work etc thus having a valid reason. Also, a small engined sh*t box makes your scooby feel even better when it's back!

Finally, I don't mean to be presumptious, but have you had chance to tell your insurance company about your recent down pipe mod? They don't need extra excuses to get out of paying!

Good luck with it all.

Si

little_idiot

If it's any help i had an accident that was exactly the same last november

I was stationary in a queue of traffic when some tit drove into me at 30mph and i hit the car infront. My car was written off and i sustained whiplash. car infront was damaged aswell. My insurance company (Admiral, and a very good service from them too ) claimed from the person that hit me and the woman i hit also claimed from the person that hit me as it was all caused by him.

The result was no effect to my no claims discount (which was unprotected) but my premiums have increased by all of about £20 just cos i have to mention it on my policy.

Make sure you see your GP and if your neck is giving you jip now, go to casualty. once the claim is sorted you can't alaim whiplash if it causes you problems in later life, you need to be assessed properly, especialy in a rear end shunt. I now have a click in my neck as a result of the accident and have had 2 sets of x-rays and have to be assessed again in another 4 months .

Good thing is though, saved me having to sell my escort so now i pick up my first scoob in just over a week

James

Fantom

Going to doctors tomorrow about my neck. been really hurting today and its getting worse. giving me a bit of a migraine too. I only just went to the osteopath recently cos of back & neck trouble.
The guy rang today and seemed a little more normal. he wants me to get a quote where ever I like and he wants to pay them in cash rather than go thru insurance, which kind of suits me.
Rang my insurance company today but they wont let me claim cos im not the policy holder, so I have to wait til my dad is back anyhow.
I think I'll get a quote and see if he'll pay cash to sort it. That way I dont have to worry about all this insurance business. Alternatively, if my neck stays the way it is, I will have to go thru insurance and get some compensation or something, that also means I will get a car while mine is being repaired, something I wont get if I let the guy pay for the repairs.
Went to the police station this morning but they didnt want to write it down cos no one was injured so they said I dont have to report it.
If the guy above need £1200 to replace rear bumper and sort the bent bit behind it out, then I guess its gonna be a good amount more for front bumper, bonnet and whole bootlid!!!!
I think the best thing that can happen is if they write the car off, I rip off all me nice mods etc, they give me about £5k and then I can buy another scooby. I'm dreading however that they may value my car at less than £4k or something.
Still, I will keep you all informed anyhow.

Steve

Fantom

Unfortunately, scooby clinic which sounds the best place to go, is quite far away from me, I dont really wanna have to go that far.

Carl2

I'd go through the insurance, it might affect your whiplash claim in some way.


I got rear ended in june 2002, (6 weeks after I bought my car) I was stationary at the traffic lights too. His insurance company refused to admit liability, but eventually coughed up, even tho "they weren't admitting liability"....go figure. I got paid out in Dec 2002 cos I saw him coming and wasn't too bad. The wife got paid 2 weeks ago cos she was alot worse. (You're looking at around £4000 minimum for the neck, if you're anywhere near as bad as the wifes neck was) He didn't want to go through the insurance either.
Did you report it to the police as there were injuries? He could get done.

Suresh

Unless he's like a really good mate or something do not accept the cash route. He could string you along and not pay up or years and there's little you could do about it. He was in the wrong so you don't owe him any favours. Use the insurance claim route for your own protection.

Got 'whiplashed' by some American **** whilst stationary in a jam on a German autobahn. Haven't played squash since and that was 7 years ago. Hope you are going to be ok.

Suresh

little_idiot

Best thing to remember with your insurance company is that if they offer you a crap settlement figure, dispute it and be patient, I disputed mine for two months and eventually got what i valued the car at, just remember that they claim it all back from the other insurer so they aint out of pocket

keep fighting the good fight

James

spufus

iTrader: (2)

Surely YOU were injured.

Chris L

What a mess Steve

To give you some idea of repair costs: My MY01 was hit at a petrol staion back in July 03. I was stationary and this guy went into me at about 10 mph (thought I'd pulled out...). The amount of damage was quite surprising. Exhaust was OK, but the boot floor had been pushed in (so the boot would not close), a new bumper was needed and when they straightened out the car, the paint cracked around the lamp clusters. So there was quite an extensive paint matching job to be done (very well done as it happens).

Total bill wasn't far short of £2000 by the time everything had been done. So on the basis of what you've described, I think you could be looking at a right-off (or very close to it). I hope it doesn't come to that.

Chris

owbow

if they do write it off as uneconomical repair they may let you buy her back disgustingly cheap...

know it's not necessarily what you wanna hear but you never know... Scooby for £500 anyone?

Owain

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

nice and mature attitude that eh

I mean, who can object to a bogus claim (assuming it is, to be fair to the original poster), whether you are a good sort or not.
I cannot believe this.

nicko13uk

Steve,
Sorry to hear about this mate. I got hit from behind about 20mph stopped at a roundabout in June last year. It needed a new backbox, bumper, pulling out the underside of the boot etc.. All came to around 1800 quid.
If you have done the front of the car too, its probably going to be a fair few quid more.

Nick

RussBoy

Steve,

Sorry also to hear this. Like ChrisL, I had a whack whilst stationary at traffic lights at about 10mph. Caused a fair bit of damage as well (boot wouldn't open, then shut, boot floor pushed in etc.) and my neck and back did ache for a few days as well (so god knows how your's must feel!) I didn't claim for my back though as I've a documented history of back problems and I didn't want/think I could wing it...

Good news is that this happened on 27th November and despite Christmas the car was back on the road in the first week of Jan and final settlement to me was paid this week (mine was a Type R and the parts was sourced within days...)

It was a pain to sort out (no pun intended) and arrange hire cars etc. but it did give me an excuse to get the bodyshop to make some additional mods whilst it was in there (new big rear wing etc...)! These things do happen but you did at least get away without major injury which is the important thing - now just make sure the insurance company (especially the legal team) do their job and don't feel shy of calling them now and again to check on claim progress!

Good luck.

scoobybitch

Be very wary of the cash option mate. As someone else said before he might not show with the money and this is usually a way of getting out of the s**t if your insurance is dodgy. Happened to a mate of mine and the other bloke had invalidated his insurance by putting modifications on the car and not declaring to the insurance. Go back to the doctors a couple of times complaining about your neck, I did this a couple of years ago and he sent me to a specialist, ended up getting £4500.

Fantom

Well today the doctor said that theres nothing serious, shes put it in my notes and says that it will die down shortly. I hope shes right.
I can't claim on my insurance yet as I'm only the name driver on my dads policy, so they wont listen to me without his authority. I will ask their advice on my neck when I call them however. Dad gets back from New Zealand tomorrow afternoon.
I was looking at auto trader today and although you can get some standard wrx's for as cheap as £4500, most of the private sales were £5k-£5.5k which is good news I suppose. I will at least be able to argue that I cant replace it for less than £5k.
I wish I had broadband and could figure how to use terrapin and remember my website settings, then I would post some pictures of the damage.
My insurance company said I have 90 days to make a claim, and theres no way this guy can deny the accident happened, so i dont mind getting a quote just for my own information. I really dont think he will stump up £2-3-4 grand in cash, i think he just doesnt realise how much damage hes done. Its not like he really had a look!
Other good news is that van man hasnt contacted me, so I dont think they will be trying to get new ladders so thats one less complication. Well happy about that.
Might pop down to Supreme bodyworks in Basildon tomorrow for a quick quote if they can do one. At least I can scare the geezer with it.
I'd rather go thru insurance so I can get a courtesy car.
Anyway, I'll let you guys know how I get on.
Thanks for your support

Steve

Fantom

Ok, went to Supreme Bodyworks in Basildon yesterday, he had a good look round. More damage than I thought, the air con radiator is bent and half the boot floor is crumpled. He said I'm looking at around £4k-£5k, basilcally a write off job. Also went to Garretts who are a main insurance repair centre and they didnt even need to look round it, said it will be write off without a doubt, and said Supreme were pretty acurate with their quote.
Gotta go tell they guy now that I'll be going thru the insurance now, my dads gonna call them tomorrow.
So, hopefully I can squeeze over £5k for a new car and buy back my one for some stupid price and then I should be able to replace it quite easily.
Been looking on auto trader so far but not many modified examples. I really wanna get one with loads of stuff done rather than standard, but we'll see whats available.

Steve

Fantom

ok, so its been a while since i last posted, and things have been going really well until today!
Car went to be viewed by the insurance companys own guy, who said it is beyond economic repair, which is what i was hoping for. Then I've managed to get a payout of £5750! for a 93 WRX, so im pretty happy about that. I dont think i would have got even £5k if i sold it.
Cheque went out yesterday so should get that soon and the insurance co dont pick up my car for a bit yet so I have some time to drive it to work while i buy a new car. Found the perfect replacement, just waiting for the cash to arrive now.
So things are perfect, I'm swapping my 93wrx with not many mods, for a 95 wrx better spec with lots of stuff. (providing someone doesnt buy it before me!)
And then today, I get a letter from the solicitors saying that the guy that hit me wasnt insured by the company he gave me at the time of the crash!
they have written to him for alternative details. I'm guessing here that he doesnt have any. So not really sure of the process now, I guess they will take him to court and get the money that way as he is a houseowner. but i wasnt very happy.
If i lose my NCD I will never be able to afford to insure an impreza!!!

Lets hope things go smoothly
Steve