Attached picture shows what £7k worth of damage to a 1 month old Elegance looks like. Been without it for 2 months now and hopefully get it back next week. I have a feeling though that it will never be the same again. Other picture shows what happens to a Suzuki Swift that rear ends you at 30mph.

OOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHH!!!! hope you get compo for loss of use as well, I would have been tempted to give them a swift backhander!

Insurance company gave me a replacement car which in their eyes was a 'like for like' replacement. What ever way you look at it a 1.8 base spec focus is not the same as a 1.8 Elegance. Evidently 'like for like' goes on engine size. The hire car bill will be nearly £4k so it has turned out quite expensive for the 3rd party insurance company. I was quite calm after the event (she was too ugly to ge given a slap)

Hope the repairer is top notch as the repair looks quite complex. If it is not bang on I would get rid of it asap.. (For another Superb of course).

I believe that the repairer is pretty good though it didn't start off that way. My insurance company said that the vehicle should be taken to Nationwide accident repair. Nationwide left it for about 2 weeks whilst they worked out how to get in to the boot and then started removing parts that they didn't need to remove. Nationwide then said that repairs were about to commence and that it would be back in a week. Insurance guy at work was never happy that it was there and asked me to call Skoda re the warranty. Skoda said that unless the repairs were carried out at an approved VW body shop then any panals replaced (I was obviously concerned about the twin door) would not be covered under warranty.

The dealership where I got the car from gave me details of their approved body shop and inside 2 hours the car had been removed from Nationwide to Summers body shop in Biddenden. They produced a 7 page repiar list and an estimated 3 week repair time, they have so far been excellent but I'll see next week exactly how good they have been. I don't even want to think what kind of work Nationwide were expecting to do in a week that the Skoda approved people said will take 3.

Moral of the story; don't accept the location where your insurance company says the car should be taken to, insist it goes back to the dealer where you got it from.

You should've insisted on a new car mate, that's never going to be the same looking at how the rear wings have deformed, if it comes back just a tad not right, reject it and ask for a new car.

Moving to an approved repairer recommended by your dealer is fortunate for you in the respect that if you are not happy and decide to replace the car with a similar one then they cannot knock down the value because it has been repaired since they insist that it is "as good as new".

I was actually hoping that they would write it off but I'm not sure that I can demand a new car, can I? As far as I was aware it is up to the insurance company to decide if it is a financial w/o? The body shop said that it was classed as medium impact though looking at the list of new body panals it is having (which include a new boot floor) I think I am basically getting a new back half of the car.

In the old days that would be called a "cut and shut"!!!! Granted .,, a legal one!!

My wifes car had 9 miles and one say old when someone drove into it in works car park we insisted it was taken back to the dealer we bought it from.I do hope your car is perfect when finished

Did the Old Bill get involved?

The Suzuki tyres look bald (or at least very well worn)

Sorry to see the pics of your car, we had a similar prang with our car someone ran into the back of us. It was a low impact prang and the chap got stuck on our towbar, more damage to his, that will teach him not to be so close in the future. It goes in to be repaired next week, new rear valance.

Maybe they cant believe that Skoda make such a nice car and want a closer look.

Hope you get it back looking good again.