Hi all, hoping some of you will be able to give me some advice on an accident I had today. A Corsa driven by a 17 year old went into the back of my 03 Scooby WRX. My wife was waiting at the lights which were red. The Corsa driver didn't stop in time and went into the back of our Scooby. The speed was only around 5 - 10 mph but it was enough to bend the rear bumper in and crack some of the paintwork. What's worse is the exhaust is now bent under the car and looks to be hanging lower than normal. The car also makes a loudish whistle when the revs reach a certain level. The car is also sounding a bit different. Not sure what other damage if any is done to the underneath of the car.

I am assuming the insurance will get a new exhaust fitted and replace what needs replacing. However, the exhaust is an aftermarket backbox which is declared on the policy but came fitted to the car when I purchased it. I think its called a Tiptop who are in Birmingham. I am based in Surrey so nowhere near them and also not sure they even do them any more.

How will the insurance company try and deal with this? Will they just replace with the standard Scooby OEM exhaust or will I be able to demand a suitable aftermarket exhaust to replace the existing aftermarket exhaust?

My insurance company is Keith Michael's and they deal with Winn Assist for claims. I have asked if they would send the car to a Subaru dealer for repair but not sure if they will allow that.

Thanks for any advice.

 

you're best bet is to actually speak to keith michaels, I've never heard a bad word about them and at least that way you will have a definitive answer. they may replace the exhaust with an aftermarket system worth up to £x

 

i'm with keith michaels and winns. i had my car assessed and i said i could sort the repairs cheaper then the estimate and they paid me the same and i sorted it out myself.

if the car sounds different, the turbo could be damaged. part of turbo is bolted to the engine, other part is bolted to the exhaust, so if the exhaust has taken a good whack, the turbo will take the full force and could twist/deform/damage the housing.

i wouldn't risk driving it until someone has had a good look at it

hope you get it sorted soon

 

Oh bugger. Thank you for the advice. I had no idea the turbo could be affected

 

if the exhaust is bent, i'd put money on the turbo being damaged.
one thing that could happen is if one of the turbo vanes (fan blades) is cracked/fractured/damaged, when the turbo is running, hot, under pressure and spinning a 60k rpm a little piece of the vane detaches and enters the engine, causing engine failure.

 

Has the person who hit you admitted fault? If so it should be going through their insurance, not yours. And as the third party, everything should be replaced for you whether modified or not, or you should be correctly reimbursed, even if your mods are not declared. This is only if it goes through their insurance though of course. If you're going through your own insurance it will depend on your policy.

 

Yes going through their insurance.

 

Demand that the car goes to a repairer of your choice, as this is your right. The insurance will send it to their own garage & try to have it repaired as cheaply as possible. I'd choose a reputable Subaru specialist with their own bodyshop.

 

I did this recently after the wife's JCW Mini was in exactly the same sort of accident as yours!

The repair garage they tried to send me to, I wouldn't have repair a wheel barrow! However, the benefit of using this garage, even though I was going through the other driver's insurance, was that as it was recommended/authorised, I didn't have to pay my excess.
Anyhow, as they looked like some **** backstreet garage, I drove straight to the BMW main dealer & had them repair it. All it meant for me was that I had to pay my excess & recovered it off his insurance.

 

Bugger, and we were going to use it tomorrow. Looks like we better not. The exhaust is very bent and it looks like the pipe is pushed back and has buckled downwards as its looking a lot lower than I remember. in fact the whole exhaust is looking a lot lower. The exhaust is pretty flush with the bent in bodywork where as before it was sticking out about an inch to an inch and a half. Its also moved to the right by at least a couple of inches

Here is a picture of it before. You can how far its stuck out and what angle it was pointing in.



Here is a couple of picture after the accident. You can see how pushed back the exhaust is. The body work is also pushed back so it gone back a fair bit. The hangers are also bent and pushed at an angle and you can see that the exhaust is now pointing over to the right. Also, in the last picture, I don't remember that pipe behind the back box hanging that low.

 

I said on the phone that I would like the car to go to the Subaru main dealer to be repaired and they said this should be ok as long as they agree with their terms and conditions. Can I fight this still?

 

I've just heard from the other persons insurance company who have said they accept fully responsibilty. I need to get an estimate for the price of getting the car fixed but its no problem using the Subaru main dealer if I want. They will also provide a courtesy car for free.

I have contacted my insurance company but as the other persons insurance company is dealing with everything, do I need to use my insurance company for a claim?

 

Do you have legal cover on your policy?

In the same scenario only a couple of months ago, as soon as the other party accepted liability (they failed to stop!!!) my insurance company handed the claim over to my legal cover administrator who sorted out all my costs including hire car for me. They also dealt with the third party insurance company, as thats what we pay for!!

 

You dont need to deal with your insurance company if the other persons company is taking it on, deal with them direct. Dealling with yours aswell usually ends up with a claiming being made against you in someway or another, usually affecting your insurance cost in the future even if the other person admitted fault, although some people like to keep their insurance involved (not always the case, depends on the insurance company).

 

If it were me, I would just let my insurance company know that I was claiming from the third party.

 

Agree with above, if you have informed them already then yes let them know that the third party are now dealing with it.

 

Thanks everyone, has been a big help.

Might need to find out what a good exhaust will be for the car now. Just hope it does not get written off as its only worth about £4k and if it needs a new exhaust, turbo, rear bumper and any thing else that may be damaged then it might be a close call.

 

I'd be very surprised if they replace the turbo just from an inkling that it might be damaged, if anything they while check it all out, test it with diagnostics and road test it, and if its all okay or seems okay they will give you the car back, it will then be down to report back to them if you believe there is damage that hasnt be rectified.
Make sure you mention to them that you want it checked out though, and see what happens.

 

Thanks Barxy. Yes, hopefully Bell & Colvill will be able to check it out. There is a high pitched whistling now when the revs hit around 3.5k which I have mentioned to them. Never did it before and its quite loud but it could just be from the damaged exhaust.

Just spoke to the insurance company and they did say that due to the age of the car, its possible it could be written off but I think that was just a standard comment rather than anything based on fact.

 

as a third party claim they are officially allowed to repair the car up to 100% of its market value, as apposed to the 60% ish of its market value if it was going through your own insurance, so push them repair it!

 

just so you know tiptop are still trading.

 

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Thanks Gazza

 

Have you checked the boot floor? I had a similair accident and it pushed the back panel in and creased the floor on th passenger side. At least the guy who hit you was insured, the one who hit me wasn't and the car still isn't repaired :-(

 

I bet the whistling noise is from the down pipe being force out of position and breaking seal with the gasket, there doesn't seem to be that much damage to the car so you just get it back repaired.

 

Garage had a very quick look today as I dropped it off for assesment and the boot has creased very slightly. Not sure if thats fixable or how costly that will be. The back end has been pushed in quite far also but they won't know how much damage is really done until they get it on the ramp on Monday.

I guess the car being an 03 WRX with 82k on the clock is worth about £4k - £4.5k and the garage said that if the repair costs are anything more than around £2800 then it will probably be written off For sure it looks like a new rear bumper is needed, at least a new rear back box and fixings. After that then it depends what other damage is done underneath but any more and the costs will be rising.

 

If the third party's insurance are paying for it you can demand they repair it up to market value. So it's unlikely they will write it off unless the exhaust is ridiculously expensive.

 

Good luck with that - £3.5k - £4k for me

 

Well, you could be closer to the mark to be honest