Drive-by write-off

At least I think so.

I was happily parked (or at least Marge was), when a little old lady in
a Fiat Punto decided she didn't like its shape (the Punto's, I mean),
and used Marge's o/s rear corner to do a bit of that
Peugeot-elephant-advert stuff to hers.

So now we have "England: nil Punto." Or at least one less, since, once
the damage to its A pillar, B pillar, C pillar, wing, both doors and
rear quarter is accounted for, I think it's not economic, etc.

But that still left a nasty crease in Marge's back quarter panel, a
missing light, and 'light protector' which, although it gave of its very
self, died in vain, as a new indicator is needed, oh and a rear door
that doesn't fit too well any more (but I think it's just the hinges out
of alignment). It looks, well, a bit remodelled, but the crossmember I'm
supposed to be replacing (yes, I know Richard, but I was only paid this
week after six months!), is actually straight (but there's no ally on
top of it!).

So my question is this: Marge has long been a teenager, and is not in
the finest fettle at the moment, although she's definitely roadworthy
and MOTed. I don't want to rip anyone off, but OTOH I do want her put
straight, and I do NOT want my NCB messed with.

So can anyone share any similar experiences - how they got on with
insurers, 'engineers' etc.? Is there anything I ought to be doing/saying
to make sure she actually gets mended, rather than <whisper>written
off</whisper> or whatever? The other insurer is Provident BTW, mine is
NFU Mutual.

Any thoughts appreciated, but bear in mind I'm trying to be absolutely
straight (but firm) about this with t'other party's insurers.

Many thanks.

Simonm.

--
simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK www.ukip.org
EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU www.members.aol.com/eurofaq
GT250A'76 R80/RT'86 110CSW TD'88 www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/

When some moron ploughed into my series, I figure it was not worth involving
the insurance company as they would want more putting right than I was
prepared to countenance pushing the cost closer to write off value.

In the end it cost about £250 to put right, a quarter of the insured value,
basically welding on a new dumb iron, straightening out the
steering/suspension and bashing the wing roughly into shape.

Since then I have spent far more than that on an MOT


--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes


"SpamTrapSeeSig" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At least I think so.
>
> I was happily parked (or at least Marge was), when a little old lady in
> a Fiat Punto decided she didn't like its shape (the Punto's, I mean),
> and used Marge's o/s rear corner to do a bit of that
> Peugeot-elephant-advert stuff to hers.
>
> So now we have "England: nil Punto." Or at least one less, since, once
> the damage to its A pillar, B pillar, C pillar, wing, both doors and
> rear quarter is accounted for, I think it's not economic, etc.
>
> But that still left a nasty crease in Marge's back quarter panel, a
> missing light, and 'light protector' which, although it gave of its very
> self, died in vain, as a new indicator is needed, oh and a rear door
> that doesn't fit too well any more (but I think it's just the hinges out
> of alignment). It looks, well, a bit remodelled, but the crossmember I'm
> supposed to be replacing (yes, I know Richard, but I was only paid this
> week after six months!), is actually straight (but there's no ally on
> top of it!).
>
> So my question is this: Marge has long been a teenager, and is not in
> the finest fettle at the moment, although she's definitely roadworthy
> and MOTed. I don't want to rip anyone off, but OTOH I do want her put
> straight, and I do NOT want my NCB messed with.
>
> So can anyone share any similar experiences - how they got on with
> insurers, 'engineers' etc.? Is there anything I ought to be doing/saying
> to make sure she actually gets mended, rather than <whisper>written
> off</whisper> or whatever? The other insurer is Provident BTW, mine is
> NFU Mutual.
>
> Any thoughts appreciated, but bear in mind I'm trying to be absolutely
> straight (but firm) about this with t'other party's insurers.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Simonm.
>
> --
> simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
> SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK www.ukip.org
> EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU www.members.aol.com/eurofaq
> GT250A'76 R80/RT'86 110CSW TD'88 www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/

Larry wrote:
> When some moron ploughed into my series, I figure it was not worth involving
> the insurance company as they would want more putting right than I was
> prepared to countenance pushing the cost closer to write off value.

Having your car written off by the 3rd parties insurance company is a
good thing. They pay you the vehicle value minus the salvage value and
you decide if and how you fix it. I've had it happen to me 3 times now,
twice to the same car ;-)

John

On or around Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:15:29 +0100, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Since then I have spent far more than that on an MOT

tell me about it...

was putting the bumper back onto Edward II yesterday, and noticed a crack in
the sealed beam headlight. uh-oh... turned it on and sure enough it started
to fill with fog. Bugger.

so, out with the posidrive and take the headlamp apart, to find the shell is
buggered by rust. may as well look at the other side, yep, ditto.

so 2 replacement shells and 2 replacement headlamp units are, I hope, on
their way from Beamends this morning and will, if the carriers live up to
their promise, be here wednesday morning. MOT rescheduled from 10:30
wednesday to 4:30, so provided the headlamps actually DO arrive...
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so."
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:36:40 GMT, John Greystrong wrote:

> Having your car written off by the 3rd parties insurance company is a
> good thing.

I was under the impression that if a vehicle was written off by an
insurance co they also told the DVLA etc so keeping the thing legally on
the road was tricky... Either that or they insist that the remains are
disposed of via their tame "wrecker" who charges silly money if you want
the reamins. Cartel?

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On or around Tue, 15 Aug 2006 10:49:04 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:36:40 GMT, John Greystrong wrote:
>
>> Having your car written off by the 3rd parties insurance company is a
>> good thing.
>
>I was under the impression that if a vehicle was written off by an
>insurance co they also told the DVLA etc so keeping the thing legally on
>the road was tricky... Either that or they insist that the remains are
>disposed of via their tame "wrecker" who charges silly money if you want
>the reamins. Cartel?

there are various grades of write off, though.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
In Touch: Get in touch with yourself by touching yourself.
If somebody is watching, stop touching yourself.
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:36:40 GMT, John Greystrong wrote:
>
>
>>Having your car written off by the 3rd parties insurance company is a
>>good thing.
>
> I was under the impression that if a vehicle was written off by an
> insurance co they also told the DVLA etc so keeping the thing legally on
> the road was tricky...

Ah, I'd forgotten all about the Cat A,B,C,D stuff, my write offs were
all in my mispent youth. I still think Cat C and D stuff is fairly easy
to get back on the road and it'll only be an issue when you sell the
vehicle.

> Either that or they insist that the remains are
> disposed of via their tame "wrecker" who charges silly money if you want
> the reamins. Cartel?

I'm fairly sure that's only going to apply when you're claiming off your
own insurance but yes, I agree, there is something very dodgy going on
there.

John

On 15/08/2006 13:48, John Greystrong wrote:
> Dave Liquorice wrote:
>> On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:36:40 GMT, John Greystrong wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Having your car written off by the 3rd parties insurance company is a
>>> good thing.
>>
>> I was under the impression that if a vehicle was written off by an
>> insurance co they also told the DVLA etc so keeping the thing legally
>> on the road was tricky...
>
> Ah, I'd forgotten all about the Cat A,B,C,D stuff, my write offs were
> all in my mispent youth. I still think Cat C and D stuff is fairly easy
> to get back on the road and it'll only be an issue when you sell the
> vehicle.
>
>> Either that or they insist that the remains are disposed of via their
>> tame "wrecker" who charges silly money if you want the reamins. Cartel?
>
> I'm fairly sure that's only going to apply when you're claiming off your
> own insurance but yes, I agree, there is something very dodgy going on
> there.
>
> John

I'm and expert at this now, having just wirtten my defender off....

I put it in a ditch.
Elephant.co.uk sent it to a Ford Garage who wrote it off as a Cat D
(Uneconomical to repair.)
I instructed them that i wanted to keep the vehicle.
They made me an offer - I refused
They made me another offer - I refused
They made me another offer - I accepted.
They sent me a cheque for the offer, less my excess, less the salvage
value (~£500)
Once repaired, got it MOT'd and re insured it with someone else who
would let me choose the repairer.
Sent new insurer a copy of the MOT and some pics.

Jobs a good'n.

--
Mark
90 90 200tdi - Fixed
87 RR V8 EFI - Sorn'd

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ - Firefox Rules!
http://fireftp.mozdev.org/ - FTP Plugin for Firefox

In article <[email protected]>, SpamTrapSeeSig
<[email protected]> writes
>At least I think so.
>
>I was happily parked (or at least Marge was), when a little old lady in
>a Fiat Punto decided she didn't like its shape (the Punto's, I mean),
>and used Marge's o/s rear corner to do a bit of that
>Peugeot-elephant-advert stuff to hers.

[update]

The other party's insurer's engineer called late yesterday afternoon.

Very nice chap, apparently knows Landys well and understands my concern
about 'book value' issues. He's coming to have a look on Thursday, so
we'll see what he says.

I'm off to the wilds at the end of the week, so may not be able to write
the next instalment until later...


Regards,

Simonm.

--
simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK www.ukip.org
EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU www.members.aol.com/eurofaq
GT250A'76 R80/RT'86 110CSW TD'88 www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/