Engine Mount Following Rear End Shunt - Advice Sought

[gavindjharper]

Hello room,

My car sustained a rear-end shunt on the M1 from a van. He hit me, pushing me forward about 6 foot, into a Passat - however, the car absorbed the impact, and by the time I reached the Passat, the force was only enough to crack my front numberplate. The rear bumper is broken, and the bootlid is dented to give you an idea of the force of impact.

I had been driving the car for quite a number of miles, and noticed a low-speed rattle. I thought, from searching the forum that this might have been a loose heat shield or something age-related.

When I took the car back to my Dad, who has a lot more experience with cars, he said that the noise was serious and warranted further investigation.

We took it to our friendly mechanic - from a drive aorund the block, he thought it might be CV joints... however, he then removed the cover from the engine, and noted that the front engine mounting had broken (the one that also attaches the alternator), the engine had dropped, and the cam belt cover was broken and the cam belt exposed and starting to chafe.

Obviously had I known all of this, I wouldn't have driven the vehicle because I thought it was just cosmetic damage. The independent engineer originally just looked at the outside of the vehicle, didn't take any look at the engine bay.

I sent photos of the engine mounting, which is cast, and has broken in half - you can see the socket for the threaded component split in two and pieces of metal in the engine bay. The noise wasn't happening before the accident - and was afterwards...

The independent engineer, is now trying to say that they don't think the damage to the engine mount is as a result of the accident. The mechanic, who we have known for some time, said that the engine mount is a cast part, and therefore is brittle. It could break with impact stress.

Obviously it was the back of the car hit, not the front - however, I am guessing that as the vehicle was driven forward, with the engine stopped, abnormal forces would have been transmitted through the drivetrain which could cause the damage. As the vehicle was accellerated from a resting position, to whatever speed the vehicle behind was travelling at suddenly, and then again to a stop as it touched the Passat in front.

Has anyone got any experience of this sort of thing, could anyone advise me on how to pursue this? Also, how to I tackle things with my insurer? They are using an external claims management company who seem really slow and pretty rubbish.

[meta55]

Good luck with that one, If you heard the noise strait after the shunt you should have had it looked at then when the insurance came to look at the car.

[gavindjharper]

Well, didn't realise it was a serious problem, just sounded like a little rattle to me, which could have just been age of the car. I dismissed it at the time as one of those things. Inspector only looked at the outside of the vehicle to assess bodywork damage. Would have made more fuss had I thought something was damaged, but as the car went forwards backwards left and right - I assumed it was roadworthy as no obvious reason why it wasn't.

We've had major building work going on and a death in the family, so I suppose my mind has been elsewhere - and just trusting the insurers e.t.c. to do their job. It happened 17th of April, and it's still not been done.

It appears that there are a few people who have experienced catastrophic engine failure after this particular engine mount have broken. I am thinking myself lucky that that hasn't happened. A number have been involved in low-speed shunts, it seems some have been fairly new cars, and there has been to-and-fro between Skoda and the Insurers as to who is liable. The car has done over 110k miles without this mount breaking in service, and it's not a service part so I can't see how it's anything other than the sudden impact of the accident?

I don't drive the car on anything other than the road, it only does long distance motorways e.t.c visiting family and into town for shopping e.t.c. it's not as if it's a rally car or used off road or anywhere it would experience any sort of force to split a cast alloy component in two?

[gavindjharper]

OK, so had a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the insurer. A friend who investigates accidents managed to give me some ideas, and as the car had been serviced not long before the accident I have a record of everything being there in place before the accident.

The new complication, is that they may decide to write the vehicle off if the vehicle was re-assessed by the engineer, and there are complications with going down this route... so...

I'm looking at cash-in-lieu and trying to repair the back damage and also the engine bracket for what they would have repaired the rear for... not an impossible challenge I am hoping..

So - what I'm wondering, the bracket is clearly broken, as is the cam belt cover - but as I drove for a bit without realising would I have knackered any other bits and should I look at these when they replace the bracket on the front? Where would I go to find out part numbers for bits e.t.c. Anyone done this job before, and any advice for my mechanic friend.

[mr_awol]

I don't think anyone on here can answer those kind of questions without seeing the car - the best answers you can expect are:

Probably

Possibly

Probably not

You seem to have a couple of contacts in the insurance and motor trades - what do they think?