unlucky Saturday :(

[eastbam]

Hi everybody,

 

on Saturday morning I was hit from the left side by a Coke-sipping rookie driver who hasn't noticed the "STOP" sign in front of him. Two things I've noticed with this unlucky occasion: the metal sheets in Rapid are very thin (maybe it helps with the weight of the car and cost saving) and the side airbag deployed perfectly protecting me from any body damage. Now begins the difficult battle for repairing the car (the quilty driver is a foreign citizen and I'm pretty sure this cross-borders insurance stuff is going to be a pain  :( ).  

 

All the best from Romania.

 

 

Edited 11 May, 2015 by eastbam

[mu7]

Not good, but glad to hear no injuries!

[john bamford]

Sorry to hear it .

[chrisgreen]

Bad luck mate.

Hate to say it, but if the airbag fired the insurance company will probably write it off.

[Stormchaser]

Just a side one though ?

I would understand if the dash ones went off. But you never know with insurance companies [emoji57]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eastbam]

Just a side one though ?

I would understand if the dash ones went off. But you never know with insurance companies [emoji57]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you all for the messages. Two airbags went off, the side one (it is called courtain airbag I think, it spans the whole upper side of the left front and back seats) and the one between the driver's seat and the front door, but I don't know if that makes a difference. It is my first accident so I'm not very familiarized with how the insurances work in real-life. The company that handles the case told me that I can bring the car to be repaired in any garage I want. My first though was to bring it to the official Skoda garage from where the car was bought as new. I reckon they are pricey and then the insurer will decide to write it off...we will see.

 

All the best!

[chrisgreen]

Ouch - I can only go by my inside knowledge of the UK car insurance industry, but over here that would usually be a write-off (though it looks perfectly repairable from here). The cost of replacing the seat (the frame of which will have twisted when the airbag in it fired), the interior trim affected by the airbags (plus the airbags themselves), plus any metalwork damage (roof line airbags have a habit of twisting the frame when they fire - force distribution), plus the external damage, would usually add up to "uneconomical to repair" based on the inflated prices our insurers work to these days.

If they do try to write it off, agree a settlement with your insurer that includes buying the car back - then get an independent mechanic to do the repair work at a fraction of the cost.

[bluecar1]

will be listed as a cat D write off (or romainian equiv) beyond economic repair and repaired

 

what is the age of the car? and mileage?

 

before you commit to buy back get an estimate from the person you want to repair it, then look at how much you will have left from the insurance after buying back the car and the estimate for the repair

 

do not spend more than 80% on the repair, as you will always come across unexpected costs

 

you also have to look at value of the car after repair having been listed as a write off

[eastbam]

will be listed as a cat D write off (or romainian equiv) beyond economic repair and repaired

 

what is the age of the car? and mileage?

 

before you commit to buy back get an estimate from the person you want to repair it, then look at how much you will have left from the insurance after buying back the car and the estimate for the repair

 

do not spend more than 80% on the repair, as you will always come across unexpected costs

 

you also have to look at value of the car after repair having been listed as a write off

 

 

Thanks lots for your advices. The car was registered September 2013, so it is 1 year and 8 months old. It has around 20100km on the clock. 

 

All the best

[eastbam]

...

If they do try to write it off, agree a settlement with your insurer that includes buying the car back - then get an independent mechanic to do the repair work at a fraction of the cost.

 

Thanks Chrisgreen for explaining things.

 

All the best.

[DraPat]

Sorry to hear this mate.

By chance, do you have full insurance (Casco)?

[eastbam]

Sorry to hear this mate.

By chance, do you have full insurance (Casco)?

 

No, I don't. I only have the mandatory one, it is called RCA over here. The other driver has the same but issued in Switzerland. 

 

All the best.

[eastbam]

Bad luck mate.

Hate to say it, but if the airbag fired the insurance company will probably write it off.

 

Good news!

 

It wasn't a write off case, so now the car is with the Porsche garage (they are handling all VAG brands) to be repaired. 

Looking forward having it back in a good shape, I'm kind of anxious now   

 

Have a great weekend everybody!

[chrisgreen]

Good news!

 

It wasn't a write off case, so now the car is with the Porsche garage (they are handling all VAG brands) to be repaired. 

Looking forward having it back in a good shape, I'm kind of anxious now   

 

Have a great weekend everybody!

That is great news - really pleased to hear the insurance company didn't take the easy way out.

Have they said how long it will take to do the work?

Chris

[Stormchaser]

That is great news.I hope all goes well

[eastbam]

That is great news - really pleased to hear the insurance company didn't take the easy way out.

Have they said how long it will take to do the work?

Chris

 

Their estimate was around 13 working days and promised me to have it done by the weekend starting with 3th July. I hope there are no major hidden damages that will require more work time,

 

All the best!     

[eastbam]

That is great news.I hope all goes well

Fingers crossed!

 

All the best!

[Elegance75]

Has your car been fixed yet?? Seemed very quick, I had small rear damage on my car back in December got it back end of February I think it was

[eastbam]

Has your car been fixed yet?? Seemed very quick, I had small rear damage on my car back in December got it back end of February I think it was

 

No it hasn't :( . The insurer gave its approval one month after the accident. Seemed quick but it It was too good to be true. When they dismantled the damaged doors and the rear wing (it took them 2 weeks to do it :( ) they discovered another four faulty items, so asked for insurer's approval again. The next deadline is 15th July but they have already warned me that they will check the geometry of the wheels and there is a slim chance to dicover something to replace there too. As the car took a direct hit in the rear wheel I expect the worse, another round of approval. I learned that in garage language "slim chance" means something like "highly likely". All in all, it will take around 3 months. One month ago I was mad for waiting but now I'm beyond, lost every hope, almost relaxed and cool.     

[eastbam]

This is how it looked one week ago:

[The Plumber]

Wow that's some surgery your car is undergoing there, hope you get sorted sooner than later; can imagine its very frustrating.

 

 

 

TP

[SaffronSkoda]

Thank you for the picture, I'm impressed with how neatly they have cut off the damaged panels.  For all of us I am pleased to see how well the inside of the exposed box sections are painted, together with the fact that they galvanise the body it looks like we will not see the rust bug for a good number of years.  As a student I visited the Ford Escort Mexico assembly line and was shocked to see the that inside a painted door waiting to be assembled there was already a sheen of rust where the paint had not reached.

[eastbam]

Wow that's some surgery your car is undergoing there, hope you get sorted sooner than later; can imagine its very frustrating.

 

 

 

TP

 

 

Heya! I'm glad to have my car back, and it is in good shape too. It looks like they did a proper repair. They used only Skoda original parts and offered a 2 years warranty.

Thanks everybody for your messages,

 

All the best from Timisoara!