Me car, noooooo!

Pete19s · 26 Sep 2009 at 20:32

Im going to resist the urge to rant and enhance my calm the best I can. We have had some new drivers employed at work recently and it would appear that one of them is actually none other than frozen cop John Spartan. So far all his incidents have been mocked and joked about light hartedly. That is untill today when he hit my car. Im gutted to say the least, the damage isnt enough to have the car written off but the car was pretty much spotless. It was only slow speed but one of the side steps caught the wing and managed to pull the car (handbrake on) out of its space and into the car park.

Going to need a new wing, new drivers wing mirror unit, bumper sorted, new indicator unit and maybe the headlight if its damaged the mounts. Could have been worse I suppose but Ive now got to deal with our vans insurers who have given me 2 choices. Get the work done myself and have them pay or have them drag there heels and sort it. Help Hire maybe? Any fellow Norwich area OcUKers know any decent body shops round these parts?

Pete19s · 26 Sep 2009 at 23:05

[TW]Fox;14970653 said:
He works for a national PLC not Bobs Builders.

Ha you would be supprised just how much of a bob the builder type outfit it can be. Sending vans out without a valid tax disk anyone? One of the vans has a coolant leak, been like it for over a week and the solution is to take out some water with you and top it up as needed. I dont think they would go as low as the cash in hand option though. Just had a look at the 3rd party incident slip I have got and would appear the vans are insured with "Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Group."

Pete19s · 27 Sep 2009 at 10:05

Flibster said:
Garage at Swardeston, few miles south of Norwich on the B1113.
Does good work - believe he's currently doing a respray on a 6R4. Give them a call and take the car for them to have a look at.

Linky to google streetview

[edit]
And please change the alloys...
[/edit]

Ahh good old P&V Quality cars, my parents have used the sales side of things afew times. Seem sound enough and its only down the road. Im going to be in contact with the works insurance today and find out my options myself and go from there. Also to IainD from what I understand because im the 3rd party the only way my car can be written off is if it is unsafe to do so and not due to cost. As for the wheels, they are fine its the stupid center caps that suck.

Pete19s · 27 Sep 2009 at 20:01

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
Another "Dot COM" driver that can't drive I suppose, I meet them frequently.

A few weeks back I had said van trying to get past my Scania whilst I was sat waiting to enter the stores "service yard" to deliver.

I could see from my mirrors that he CLEARLY had not enough room to get past, what did he do? scraped through literally, he stopped when he popped his side window on a post that was to the right of my trailer....

And then tried to blame me for being in the way!

Thankfully none of our lot are quite as thick as that although I have met similar muppets from both Asda and Sainsburys out and about. Sounds like quite a crap set-up for a yard also. We used to have a shared yard with both .Com and deliveries having to somhow fit at the same time. Thankfully we now have a dedicated area, sadly it was built afew years back when we had a small fleet of Transits and not 9 LWB Sprinters.

djbenjo said:
Sod the wing, I want one of your centre caps

Ha, as much as I dislike them im affraid you cant

Got a Megane yourself? I will swap you a cap for a wing/bumper/wing mirror if you like.

Pete19s · 30 Sep 2009 at 11:29

Good news everyone! Took the car into have the damage inspected this morning and all being well it should be in for the work at the start of next week. Local BMW approved bodyshop is doing the work so hopefully it wont be a shoddy job. On a more worrying note I have fears that the courtesy car Im getting will be a Corsa, there was a gaggle of them in one corner mocking me with there goofy faces. Still no worries as everyone knows that hire & courtesy cars are the fastest cars known to man

Pete19s · 5 Oct 2009 at 14:28

Well just heard from the insurance company and suprise suprise they are trying to write the car off. They have decided its a total loss category D write off and are offering me £915. Now as far as I am aware being the 3rd party in this they have a duty to put my car back on the road in the condition it was before it was driven into and not infact fob me off with a cheque?

Pete19s · 5 Oct 2009 at 14:39

mejinks said:
You have to be absolutely ******* me. Writing it off for that? Am I missing something there? New wing, bit of paint on the bumper?

New wing, new wing mirror assembly, bumper respray. They are indeed having a lol.

Pete19s · 5 Oct 2009 at 15:06

ruffneck said:
Is that the Tescos up by the Marriot?

Its the one just off the A47, Harford store. The insurance company are sending me out a letter explaining all the "details" and then I get to decide if I want the cheque. I just want to make sure they do infact have to fix the car before I call there bluff.

Pete19s · 5 Oct 2009 at 15:17

Dr Who said:
You wont have much luck unless you have an agreed value on the car. However, you may be able to buy the car back for like £25, so could be worth taking the cash, taking the car, getting sorted yourself with second hand parts leaving 6-700 quid for yourself!

From the phone convo I was told that I could keep the car, would be a CAT D write off and take the money. All I would need is to send a copy of the current V5 and also the current MOT certificate. The thought of taking the money has appealed but so far finding parts (locally) hasnt been easy.

Pete19s · 6 Oct 2009 at 10:36

Been having a look around trying to find Meganes of a similar spec, condition and mileage to mine to get a rough idea of the value. So far I have found none that I could buy with £915 and the only one with a similar mileage and condition is a whopping £1995 but it lacks both aircon & passenger airbag.

Pete19s · 6 Oct 2009 at 10:52

Dr Who said:
You need to prove this to the insurance company, they have grossly undervalued your car based on the current 2nd hand car market and its condition if that's the case.

I have the info from the dealers website. Its the only one remotely close which is abit of a supprise. Anyone with spare time on there hands and who would like a challenge try to find me a nice standard Phase 1 Megane Coupe 16v with 74,000 miles on the clock, full service history, with both aircon AND passenger airbag for £915. If you can I have some shortbread you are more than welcome to have.

http://www.kaspians.co.uk/sports/index.html
6th car down, its slightly newer than mine on an S plate.

Pete19s · 10 Oct 2009 at 19:32

Slight update. Have been waiting since Monday to get the paperwork through the post giving me details of the insurance company wanting to write the car off etc. Get home tonight to be greeted with an envelope with a cheque for £915, a request for the log book & current MOT and telling me the car needs to be disposed of within 7 days. To say im ****ed is a understatement. I cant believe the cheek of it, on the phone I made myself clear I didnt want the cheque and that I wanted the paper work before I made any agreement. Add into that I was told they would only authorise a cheque AFTER I had sent a copy of the V5 and MOT to them. Why do I get the feeling im now in for a tough ride? Can they un-write off my car?

Pete19s · 10 Oct 2009 at 21:07

mejinks said:
You did not authorise them to do it. This is standard practise to get you to bend over and accept what they want to happen. Tell them that you haven't accepted their offer and that you want the car repaired. If you don't send them the v5c they can't write it off.

This is what I suspected, basically most people will roll over and not realise they are trying to pull a fast one. Info on the net seems abit vague regarding where I stand as to having my car repaired regardless of if its going to cost the 3rd parties insurance company more that the car is worth. Ive been trawling the forums and have only found this:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14723512&postcount=6
from this thread
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18045639&highlight=write

Pete19s · 12 Oct 2009 at 09:37

Another update. Rang the offending insurance company again to get them to budge. No luck, they are still adament that they are not obliged to fix the car due to it being uneconomical to do so. I made it clear to them I was aware that I was obliged to have the car repaired UNLESS the damage was unsafe to fix but the good old "put him on hold and ask somone" was used. I also mentioned that I was told to contact an accident management company (helphire) and was told that there is no point as they have already marked the car as a total loss and that they wouldnt pay out. Bunch of monkeys dont half move quick when it suits them.

*RAGE GUY*