hi folks,

Unfortunately someone decided to remodel the back bumper of my car recently by crashing into me.

Now I have to say that it was a fair whack when he hit me, my glove box burst open, top storage compartment on the dash poped up, along with satnav falling off the windscreen and my mobile phone flying into the passenger footwell. My car took the hit very well, and there was mimimal damage to it thanks the the fact theres a nice solid metal protector bar that runs along the full rear of the car behind the bumper.

So one new bumper later I had my car back, but I was not happy with the bumper alignment, and also the rear lights and the plastic spacers between the lights and the bumper, so back it went to the bodyshop. Unfortunately I don't have a garage near me that sels Skoda's and I don't really want to get done for attempted car theft by having a close look at someones in the street :-) So I would be really gratefull if someone could post up some closeup pictures of their Octy up close and personal.

I havent got pictures of the car side on so I can compare the gap between the bumper and the rear wing, so sould appreiate it of you could also post some pictures of these as well please.

Here's mine and the areas i'm interested in:

Now you might think that i'm being picky but my car was brand new when I got it and only has 11k on the clock! Sob.

Thanks in advance.

Scott

Whoever has done that, has done a shocking job in fitting that. The 2 bits that are wrong, are the sections under the light clusters, the rest looks ok to me.

Whoever has done that, has done a shocking job in fitting that. The 2 bits that are wrong, are the sections under the light clusters, the rest looks ok to me.

Sorry should have said that these were the pre-repair pictures! however the gaps aren't that much better once it was repaired, espacially the LHS ligh and cluster areas.

Have you checked the spare wheel well is still round - if the impact was that strong there's a chance the cars structure has been damaged. I saw it before in my mother's Avensis after a very mild crash - the car looked perfect, but the spare wheel couldn't be removed. I'd be especially worried if the only assurance you've got that the car is OK is from a body shop that can't put the car back together correctly. Part of the reason the panels don't line up may be down to the steelwork they're fitted to not being the shape it should be.

Have you checked the spare wheel well is still round - if the impact was that strong there's a chance the cars structure has been damaged. I saw it before in my mother's Avensis after a very mild crash - the car looked perfect, but the spare wheel couldn't be removed. I'd be especially worried if the only assurance you've got that the car is OK is from a body shop that can't put the car back together correctly. Part of the reason the panels don't line up may be down to the steelwork they're fitted to not being the shape it should be.

Yeah, that was where I started before the car went away to the bodyshop, I had a good check for even hairline cracks in any of the sealed areas as. My last car was a Honda Accord, and I had someone hit me at the back - I'd say it was a comparable hit, but the back of the Accord was destroyed, it was as if it was made of chocolate! Couldn't remove the spare wheel at all, it was crushed into the well!

Yeah, that was where I started before the car went away to the bodyshop, I had a good check for even hairline cracks in any of the sealed areas as. My last car was a Honda Accord, and I had someone hit me at the back - I'd say it was a comparable hit, but the back of the Accord was destroyed, it was as if it was made of chocolate! Couldn't remove the spare wheel at all, it was crushed into the well!

...and that's why I prefer the way those wacky Germans show those wackier Czechs how to make cars .

Check the panel gaps of the rear doors too.

And any imperfections in the C pillars when looking at the light bouncing off them. Do they look creased or damaged?

Most rear impacts reported by members affect the C pillars and or wheel well almost all the time.

I'll make sure I have a close look at the C pillars and door gaos tomorrow, thats the garage just off the phone to say its fixed!

Anyone got any pitures of their pride and joy for me to compare?

Cheers

Scott

A couple of photos (hopefully). It's wet and dark, so they could be better:-)

Having trouble uploading files - I'll try again later.

Edited 16 December, 200916 yr by jrp

Ok, try http://photobucket.com/rearlight

The photos are of an estate. It seems a bit slow to load, but gets there in the end.

JRP and Big W, you are a stars indeed, thank you!

Been back to the bodyshop this morning and they still havent got it right, so they still have my car.

I did laugh the first time when they said it would be pre-accident condition, but it wasn't that funny when I want back today.

Edited 17 December, 200916 yr by Scottyb0y

Happy to help. If you need any more, let me know.

Jon

Happy to help. If you need any more, let me know.

Jon

Jon, thanks for your pics.

Got my car back today at last, after 3 trips to the bodyshop they managed to finally get it right. Just for the record it might be a good idea to take some pictures of thing like bumpers and gaps if you have a spare 5 minutes, it would have saved me a lot of time if i'd had these from the start, and the thing is you would never normally photograph stuff like that until some idiot runs into you!

I took a trip to a Skoda garage just to have a look, and the rear of the estate is actually different from the hatchback, you have no gap at all under your lights however on the hatch there is a gap by design.

Cheers

Scott

After I took the pics I did wonder if a hatchback would be noticeably different. Good to hear that they fixed it properly (eventually).