Accident help

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,085
Location
Stoke area
Hi all,

Just took my brother home, stopped outside his house and let him out.

Put it into reverse and moved backwards, unaware that a concrete street light was behind the bodywork between the rear window and the rear passenger side window. Saw it at the last minute and hit the brakes, barely touched it and it has gone over and made contact with another car.

It landed on a blokes 05 mondeo, he needs a new windscreen, wing and bonnet. My golf has a very small scuff on the bumper, not even a dent. So it hardly hit it. Peeved it went over so easily.

Told the guy I will pay for the repairs instead of going through the insurance. Question is, does anyone know how much I am looking at?

I could fit the parts myself however I am unaware of the colour of the car. Its like a dark blue and the guy doesn't know himself.

So, going to spend tomorrow getting some quotes done for him.
 
get quotes done especially as you are looking at replacing panels.
paint colour - get the colour code from the car :]
 
There is no way he's going to let you fit bodyparts to his 3 year old car when he's legally entitled to have you pay for it to be done properly..
 
I'm amazed that a lampost can get taken down so easily.

Also, I wouldn't pay for the repairs on an 05 mondey, I'd take it like a man and go through insurance, don't want anything coming back on you afterwards.

InvG
 
[TW]Fox;11688694 said:
There is no way he's going to let you fit bodyparts to his 3 year old car when he's legally entitled to have you pay for it to be done properly..
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I wouldn't just fit them by myself, a mate down the road is a bodyshop technician but is on holiday until the weekend so I can't ask him for advice.

lets face it, a wing and a bonnet are hardly the hardest things to fit. I wouldn't touch the windscreen myself.

Also, anyone know who I would need to contact regarding the lamp post itself? local cop shop shuts at 5pm here.

Skii said:
You barely touched a concrete street light and it fell over ?
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I will try to take some photos tomoz to show you how little damage there is to the golfs bumper
 
You do realise you have (well should) to pay for the light also? So it could be far cheap to go through insurance?

Also you phone the council emergency number for the light or elec company
 
See now, if that had been Newport, the guy with the mondeo would have claimed the streetlamp fell on him while in the car , claiming whiplash and allsorts, while you could have paid him £100 for the hassle.
 
Go through your insurance especially as the council and electricity board are going to get involved. Also consider the possibility of someone getting a shock from the damaged lamp. Personal injury claims can wipe you out.
The Mondeo could be the least of your problems.
 
Skii said:
You barely touched a concrete street light and it fell over ?
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A lot of lamp posts are designed to fall over upon impact; this creates a less impact damage to any cars hitting it e.g. those olongside motorways. The concrete one could be one of them.
 
DB_SamX said:
A lot of lamp posts are designed to fall over upon impact; this creates a less impact damage to any cars hitting it e.g. those olongside motorways. The concrete one could be one of them.
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True, but it won't be made to fall over too easy (i.e. person leans on it and it kills his friend). I find it hard to believe a small brush (one that didnt damage your car) made it fall over. Possible someone has it it before - made it crack and then water / ice has got it into a state where a light impact could push it over.

But yeah - as for paying for it yourself; forget it. A council would easily shell out at least 5k on a lampost - maybe more... when a company knows the council is involved, prices go sky high.
 
With regard to the lighting column, call the police, they will have the emergency call out numbers for whoever maintains the columns and the regional electricity company. The column needs to be made safe/ isolated from the electricity supply.

If its a 5/6 metre column as it would be in a residential area you are looking at around £1000 replacement cost, plus the emergency call out costs to make the one you have just knocked down safe/clear site.
 
Ask yourself this question, if you were the one at the receiving end of the lamp post, would you want to deal with an insurance company , or some bloke who you know through no other reason other than his ability to skittle a lamp post?

As has already been stated, as soon as Councils get involved, forget any likely hood of paying for this yourself, unless you have deep pockets.
 
Right, finished work early in order to get this sorted today.

Firstly, got the cars doc's together and my licence and went to the police station. Spoke the the lady behind the counter and told her what happened, she thanked me for being so honest about it but told me that as long as I told the 3rd party and then contacted the council there is nothing they would do.

Popped round to the accident site and spoke to my brother, he knows the local mayor from when he was barman at the british legion. He told him what happened and he got someone out last night to remove the light and fill the hole. Waiting to find out officially IF I will get charged however the mayor told my brother I wouldn't have to.

However, spoke to the missus (her car and insurance) and we decided to say stuff it and get it done through Churchill as she has 4 years protected NCB and £100 excess.

You wouldn't think that someone that spends 50% of his day driving backwards on a FLT would reverse into a lamppost :) Bloody golfs and their large back ends!

Annoyed the lamp post had gone though as I didn't take any photos. Turns out that the people their know its been hit twice before I hit it. So it was already weak. Will try to get some photos of the little damage to my car.
 
AtreuS said:
I thought you did it not her? when he says "yeah it was a bloke that did it" and you are saying that it was the missus.... i think you may get into a pickle. Also you said you went to the police and said you did it.
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Is the concept of being a named driver lost on you?
 
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