Do I claim or have a bash getting fixed?

mg3091

mg3091

mg3091

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15 Oct 2012
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145
Location
Peterborough
Okay so yesterday morning I got hit by a lorry, long story short I need a pair of passenger doors, a wing mirror and a few bits straightening out here and there.
I wanted to see what you guys would do in my situation?

Have 8 years protected no claims, car is a 55 reg golf, probably not worth that much if I'm honest, it is looking at a Cat C write off.

Do I:-
Go through with the claim, the car would get scrapped and I'd get a payout (probably not enough to get me another half decent car which would suit my needs)

Forget the claim and have a go fixing it myself by replacing doors and whatnot or just letting a bodyshop take care of it?


I'm fairly adamant the insurance companies would keep a record of this, surely? Which would go against me when I need to get insured in the future despite it being a non-fault claim, whether I go through with the claim or not, it isn't like they can just "forget" about it is there?

The other issue being that the other driver was foreign and it's going to be a long process with dealing with foreign solicitors etc.


Bit of a kerfuffle really and I don't know which route to go down as I don't have a crazy amount of money to get things put right again.
 
The issue with insurance being that for the time being I'm stuck without a car and not enough money to get another sorted, I don't have a courtesy car on my insurance so they won't provide me with one either
 
Yes normally you can claim a courtesy car on there insurance if they are clearly to blame just the same as normally you don't pay excess as they claim that aswell
 
As annoying as it would be paying out of your own pocket - i think you probably should in this case and just leave insurance completely out of it. The hassle you will get with insurance will be far more than it's worth IMO.

Having had a quick look on eBay, a pair of doors are £80 and a wing mirror is about £20. If you know someone who can fit them it'll end up costing about £200 all in.
 
Im finding it difficult to see how an impact can damage two doors but not involve damaging any other crash protection unless they were simple grazes, if that was the case the car would be usable though. If anything needs "straightening" its an insurance job as the car isnt fit for the road.
 
Gaygle said:
As annoying as it would be paying out of your own pocket - i think you probably should in this case and just leave insurance completely out of it. The hassle you will get with insurance will be far more than it's worth IMO.

Having had a quick look on eBay, a pair of doors are £80 and a wing mirror is about £20. If you know someone who can fit them it'll end up costing about £200 all in.
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Yeah that's what I'm thinking to be honest, going to ring round a few body shops and see what they say, I've had the car checked over by a local garage who says structurally it's sound, they'd probably change 1 little plate for peace of mind where the impact took place but that's all.
 
I would even leave bodyshops out of it. Anything to do with paint/panels is hugely expensive at bodyshops. If it is a simple graze/scuffing/denting down the doors then I'd simply bolt on some new doors.

Have you got a photo of the damage? It'll be much easier to advise if we can see what the damage looks like.
 
Will probably cost less than your excess to just repair it.

If the frame isn't damaged/bent you can actually just unbolt the door skins from the Golf Mk5 Door and replace, Probably an hours work tops for a complete amateur.
 
Go with the insurance, is always the best thing to do! But as other have it will most likely be written off. Coming from my recently situation when i had someone reverse into my 2007 VW Passat, the car was hit on the front passenger corner, damaged the the wing, bumper headlight, foglight, indicator and all the extra trims. Went through the insurance and the car was written off as a CAT D!
During the time the claim was being dealt with i had a courtesy car for about 2 months whilst they made up there mind. The only issue i had the whole time was the final pay out what was more than i expected, but after paying off the finance i wasn't left with a great deal to buy a replacement car outright.
 
inflames said:
Go with the insurance, is always the best thing to do! But as other have it will most likely be written off. Coming from my recently situation when i had someone reverse into my 2007 VW Passat, the car was hit on the front passenger corner, damaged the the wing, bumper headlight, foglight, indicator and all the extra trims. Went through the insurance and the car was written off as a CAT D!
During the time the claim was being dealt with i had a courtesy car for about 2 months whilst they made up there mind. The only issue i had the whole time was the final pay out what was more than i expected, but after paying off the finance i wasn't left with a great deal to buy a replacement car outright.
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As the other driver is insured with a foreign insurance company everything will likely take absolutely ages, meaning it'll go down as a fault claim until it is resolved. Then they'll write it off, and offer him about 5 pence for his 11 year old Golf. And the OP will be landed with a non-fault claim against his name, which will inflate his premium for the next 3-5years.

And this is if the foreign insurance company accepts full liability! If not, it will become even more complicated and with the prospect that they go 50/50 and the OP ends up with a fault claim against his name inflating his premium even more for the 3-5years, and the OP will have to also pay his excess too.

All of that for the sake of two £40 bolt on doors and a £20 wing mirror.
 
Hammer it roughly back in to shape, carry on. Not worth going through insurance as they will write it off and you won't get much, plus the hasstle of it all and the higher premium etc. Then you'll end up scrapping it anyway because people won't buy a cat C/D unless it's something classic or rare.
 
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Surely you can fit a few things like that with a mates help.. Maybe you can find a matching door from a write off/scrappy or something. I don't know about the dents. If your lacking experience that could be tricky.
 
Teknobry said:
No, it really isn't.

Many situations where not going through the insurance is far better. This being one of them.
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This. My car park bump with a fault payout of £230 has cost me in excess of £1000 of premiums over the last 4.5 years.

Even a non-fault one will end up costing you unfortunately. I'd definitely settle out of insurance personally but as it was a company car I couldn't :(
 
Yep, I've not made a claim for over 10 years so my insurance is pretty cheap. I always fix (or get fixed) minor damage myself. Cheaper in the long run. Just make sure you never mention it to the insurer.
 
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