Hi folks.

 

Just after a little advice here.

 

We were traveling northbound on the M1.

 

Conditions were good, dry, bright etc.

 

Traffic was crawling and we were in the centre lane with the inside lane merging. Crawling at 10mph with a lorry just behind in the inside lane and about 2-3 car lengths between us and the car in front when suddenly BANG the lorry turned into the back end of the car attempting to merge.

 

It wasn't safe to stop there with no hard shoulder etc so I signalled him to follow me. I started to pull off at the services 1/2 a mile away and he just carried on. I rejoined and pull in front of him and signalled him to follow once again. My other half phoned the police as he had now failed to stop.

 

Pulled off again at the next junction and luckily he followed and we stopped on the hard shoulder on the slip road.

 

Assessed the damage etc, took pictures, got his details and phoned our insurance for advice.

 

 

He was polish and spoke basically no English but he managed to say "sorry" and "didn't see".

 

So now we get down to it. Our insurance (Hastings) want us to use Nationwide Motor Services Repair. I've looked them up and the nearest ones are either Harrogate or Leeds. Do I have to take it here? And should I be given a courtesy car?

 

We are due to go to Germany on Tuesday with the car for a week. The did say we can put it on hold till we get back but what are your thoughts on this? Should I have the car checked out first? There doesn't appear to be any significant damage and only a scrap on the wheel and I checked the tyre over but my concern in unseen damage to the wheel/tyre etc. If something happens o the Autobahn we're not also in big trouble but potentially affect our claim.

 

This is the wheel damage:

 

 

Some more of the damage too. No idea what repair will be involved? Will they straighten the panel out and use filler etc?

 

 

An advice you can offer greatly appreciated as we've never had to deal with any of this before and feel a bit lost!

 

Phil

to the layman, damage looks  superficial, but get it checked out by your local garage for suspension/tyre damage, this will give you peace of mind to continue using it.

I doubt there is any kind of wheel alignment issue there.  Looks just like a rub to me, but a fairly hefty kiss for sure.

 

For peace of mind you can get wheel alignment checked

 

On a small upside, should you kerb that wheel / incur any body damage on that corner whilst abroad, it will be getting fixed anyway,

Damage looks superficial.

You probably want a new wheel as a precaution though.

 

Insurance through companies outside the UK is usually a real PITA unless they have a claims handler in this country.

 

And if you have no witnesses or dash cam evidence you were in your lane the third party will claim you strayed into thier lane so it'll be "knock for knock" or 50:50.

I had a similar incident on the M6 that ended up on my insurance as the details on the Lithuanian lorry where untraceable by my insurance company.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

I had a proper good look at the wheel yesterday. No big chunks or anything which indicates it literally just scraped the wheel. I got under the car and checked everything out and gave everything a good wiggle etc. It seems solid to me.

 

I think they may just want to repair this wheel but I might push for a new one.

 

Insurance company did checks while we were on the phone and it seems fine so far. We took pictures of his passport too should there be any problems.

 

We have dash cam footage which shows the conditions/visibility was good, we didn't stray out of our lane, we didn't suddenly change speed or brake and we were leaving a good gap between us and the car in front (around 2-3 car lengths while doing about 10-15 MPH).

 

I've sent all the pictures to the insurance company. Just keep my fingers crossed!

 

Phil

You should be able to take it to a repairer of your choice but this can delay the payout from the insurance co, they shouldn't but they do.

So. A small update on this.

 

Got the car repaired. Was initially happy with the repair but noticed some issues with the wheel refurb yesterday.

 

We've had a vibration at speed (usually between 65-70mph) so I swapped the spare over to try and eliminate it.

 

In doing so I noticed;

 

Lots of overspray on the spare wheel tyre;

 

 

Damage to mud flap still present;

 

 

Overspray on the repaired wheel's tyre;

 

 

Old wheel weights so the wheel wasn't even re-balanced following the repair;

 

 

An awful "rough" texture on the inside. This picture was taken after cleaning the wheel. No matter how much I scrub this it will not come off!;

 

 

 

 

I have emailed them... awaiting a response!

 

Also the insurance claim remains unresolved. Last we heard was several weeks ago when the third party insurers wanted more details and so we had to fill in a further form and describe it in detail and draw a diagram. I also thought this was a good time to provide a link to the dashcam footage.

 

Phil

Edited 12 October, 201510 yr by Phil-E

That is shocking.

 

Has the over-spray on the spare wheel tyre occurred whilst the spare wheel was in the spare wheel well (i.e. they've sprayed the boot floor) or have they simply tried to swap the tyres around to avoid replacing some damage in the hope you won't notice? I can't understand how they've managed to get paint on the spare wheel?

 

The alloy wheel refurb is a bodge, they have simply blasted over the face of the alloy to cover the scratches. They haven't even bothered to properly clean the inside face of the alloy before applying the laquer so now the dirt is trapped underneath a dried coat of laquer.

 

I suspect the tyre was never removed hence they haven't had the wheel re-balanced and why the original weights are still present.

 

If the vibration is new then this proves that the wheel should have been replaced, or at least re-balanced (i.e. tested) before refitting it.

 

Who have you emailed, the repairer or Hastings? I'd be on the phone!

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I insisted my car went to a repairer of my choice, which at the time was DM Keith in Leeds (the York branch don't do bodywork repairs). I had to do the legwork (obtain three quotes from non-approved repairers and having to go with the cheapest), but DM Keith knew the game and resubmitted their quote to get the job.

I should have clarified.

 

They obviously had the spare wheel on the car while the other was being "refurbished" and carried out the body repair while the spare was fitted.

 

I have emailed the repairer first of all. Hoping to just resolve it direct with them but if it comes to it I will be on the phone to the insurers as they were their recommended garage.

 

I can't fault the paint job they've done! Believe me I've looked for faults there as I was not willing to accept a shoddy job. But it's flawless.

 

Just this wheel and the messy job they've done by not masking off the spare wheel properly.

 

Phil

bit late possibly...

 

The repair shop has first dibs on rectifying any faults.

If they **** up again you can insist on going to another repair shop but the insurer might want to send out an assessor first.

Insurers don't like doing this because they have to fork out first then claim back from their 'approved' shop.

 

I had to do this with my old VRS, ESure ended up forking out £1500 to rectify the mess their approved bodyshop made and they weren't happy about it :moon: