Evening all,trust your all staying safe in the current mess!

 

My day just got worse. Avoiding a kid on a bike I hit a post in the car park and badly bent my drivers side wing. OMG my smart little car damaged. I'm mortified. New wing and indicator will be needed. Any thoughts on the best way to him fixed? Do Skoda do body repairs, should I pay or call the insurance?

As it always is with a bit of damage.... Get a quote from a body shop or two. Then check with your insurer how a claim of this amount (roughly) will affect your premium over the next five years or so. 

 

You may be surprised how often it turns out to be cheaper not to claim in the the long run, when it's clearly your own fault. For serious costs, you may not have the option, unless you have ample spare cash!

12 hours ago, mickey the vrs said:

Evening all,trust your all staying safe in the current mess!

 

My day just got worse. Avoiding a kid on a bike I hit a post in the car park and badly bent my drivers side wing. OMG my smart little car damaged. I'm mortified. New wing and indicator will be needed. Any thoughts on the best way to him fixed? Do Skoda do body repairs, should I pay or call the insurance?

First of all what was a kid doing out on a bike in the current lock-down? Report it to the police.

Second, if you managed to get some details of said kid, claim off his parents. They are responsible for their little darling's behaviour. If they need to, they can claim from their house insurance for third party liability.

 

Thirdly, commiserations for the dents.

 

Finally, if your car is new (or new-ish) make sure that it is repaired by a VAG approved repairer to maintain the bodywork warranty. This did not occur to me when a neighbour scraped the side of our Citigo - it was his insurer who pointed this out and sent the car to the VW body shop which was much more expensive than our local places.

If you tell your Insurer about the incident but don't use them to fix your car I think it's noted on your policy. I can't remember the term they use but it could effect your policy with a price rise.

Yes, it should still be declared that you have had an accident whether you claim or not. I'm not telling you to do it though as none of my business.

 

Begs the question as to how fast were you going in the car park to hit a post whilst avoiding a child on a bike?

In the real world,a kid and his parents are going to deny all knowledge ..never any impartial witness'es to back you up......

 

Your description of damage suggest a couple of grand for repairs anyway.This is what you pay insuance for,if it were me  I would  claim on it.

Don't know your driving history ,but insurance hike after a claim will still leave you in pocket.....

If you're mechanically minded, you can replace the wing yourself if you find one in the correct colour, they are actually very easy to replace as I've done it myself without any mechanical knowledge at all! (This was back in the day of not having a foggy, I even used the spare scissor jack to jack the car up 😂 (I always use a proper trolley jack these days before anyone says anything))

 

I've attached an image below with a very rough idea of where the locating screws are, we're going back 4 or 5 years when I removed the wing so I could be off, I know there's one at the bottom of the wing near the door, there's one behind the plastic trim in front of the mirror (which by the way I found a PITA to remove!) 

 

You also need to remove the headlight as there's a screw or 2 underneath, again this is fairly easy to remove, there's a metal bracket above the headlight which is 3 screws from memory, there's a screw at the back of the headlight to remove as well, remove all the connectors to the headlight and then wiggle it out (can be a bit tight!)

 

As I said it should be relatively straight forward to remove the wing as I managed it with sheer luck, if it helps I even did a little repair post when I was doing all this which isn't by any means a guide, but might help if you choose to go down that path. 

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/318802-car-repair-progress/page/4/

 

Thanks for the help guys. I've finally stop crying and sulking! 

Did a few calls and web searching and it seems (with times the way they are just now)that my little friend is worth around £3000. A 2013 SE red with sunroof bought new.

Advice from my sisters husband who used to be an insurance assessor is that a new wing and side indicator (+ paint ,time and labour ) at a body shop will push the insurance close to a 50% write off! NO WAY. So I'm going to have a go at replacing it myself.  New indicator £8, new wing Painted £156.52  £32.54 p+p from Germany. I'm not bad with the spanners and You Tube vids + print out from 7zap.com. So why not to try! No way am I letting my little mate go for couple of hundred quid repair.

Thoughts ?

Go for it!

 

On 03/04/2020 at 08:56, Luckypants said:

First of all what was a kid doing out on a bike in the current lock-down? Report it to the police.

 

Their allowable 1 hours worth of exercise?

that seems a lot damage for a car park incident?

but definitely self repairable

You'd have to be going sideways to do that damage by the look of it..................Definitely right hand down full lock imo.

On 03/04/2020 at 00:14, freemansteve said:

As it always is with a bit of damage.... Get a quote from a body shop or two. Then check with your insurer how a claim of this amount (roughly) will affect your premium over the next five years or so. 

 

You may be surprised how often it turns out to be cheaper not to claim in the the long run, when it's clearly your own fault. For serious costs, you may not have the option, unless you have ample spare cash!

Think twice about contacting the insurance company. Any query about damage and they log your call with a claim number. Even though you don't go through the claim procedure you have proven to be a risk. It has happened to me and a friend even though we are with different insurance companies.

Looking at the photo be prepared to replace the part circled, that looks like it's taken a bit of a hit too, given the damaged near the front bumper as well, you may also find you need a new bracket as these are very fragile, this would be the one you need:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164092786595

 

Is there any damage under the bonnet from the force of impact? I.E damaged to the headlight mounts.

 

You'll also probably need a new arch liner too as mine cracked when I hit a deer at 50!

 

 

It's a shame we're on lockdown as I'd be quite willing to travel to you to help! 

Edited 9 April, 20206 yr by Hyphons

Mickey, can you share the source of new painted body panels from Germany please?

 

Am pondering whether to repair minor damage to mine thats on a highly visible area of the wheelarch which could look worse for all my efforts, knowing the price of a plan B would give me the confidence to have a go because if I did screw it up I would not have to look at it forever after, I have the paint & materials, time is unlimited and free at present, I will enjoy the repair if I do a good job but would kick myself if I didnt.

Just to add to my comment earlier, you might also need this

 

https://vwupparts.com/shop?olsPage=products%2F1s0-821-142-wing-to-chassis-bracket-lc9x

 

Not sure if this is the correct side kind, but I do know mine looks like a pancake at the moment as I never got round to replacing it and only saw it was rather squashed almost a year after I replaced the wing 😂

Spent a morning removing the liner which was no big deal but found a fair old collection of mud behind it! Potential for future rust me thinks. Mine will now be removed once a year cleaned and grease sprayed on it from now on.

As for the damage,pleased(if that's the right word) that there is no suspension,steering other bodywork damage.

Loosened and re-tightened all the bolts to ensure they can be removed, so back to ebay and messaged the company in Germany to check I order the right wing. Tornado Red paint code is LY3D a common VAG colour so hopefully no problems will let you know. In for penny!!! 

This is the company in Germany.

You may want to try this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLKSWAGEN-UP-1-0-PETROL-2012-2016-3-DOOR-MODEL-BREAKING-SPARES-CHYA/323922207941?hash=item4b6b44a4c5:g:00MAAOSw9-tazg33 It's an UP! but same colour etc.

30 minutes ago, thebrighton said:

You may want to try this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLKSWAGEN-UP-1-0-PETROL-2012-2016-3-DOOR-MODEL-BREAKING-SPARES-CHYA/323922207941?hash=item4b6b44a4c5:g:00MAAOSw9-tazg33 It's an UP! but same colour etc.

Personally I'd avoid that as they've provided just a generic photo so you've no idea of the condition unless you ask for photos! 

7 minutes ago, Hyphons said:

Personally I'd avoid that as they've provided just a generic photo so you've no idea of the condition unless you ask for photos! 

It's second hand, surely you'd always ask to see photos and they specifically say ask them if you've got any questions. Why just dismiss it? Obviously not your cup of tea but I was only making a suggestion as an alternative.......

Worth a look .Thank you.

 

OK chaps new wing ordered,all car details passed on and hopefully "winging" its way to me soon.

 

I'll let you know how things go! Fingers crossed.

 

Stay safe.

Good on you for having a go at the repair yourself.

 

Just read this thread. Not sure if you took advice of others but if it were me in your position I'd certainly have gone to a couple of body shops - an estimate costs nothing and it can be jaw dropping just how much less they charge when it's cash-in-hand rather than going thru insurance. I'm going back a few years but I required a front wing replaced on a nearly new Mercedes C-Class - whole job cost under £400 and was done to a very high standard.

 

But I have to pass comment on those above who suggested claiming against the child. BIG MISTAKE!  I'm afraid the truth is that if you're travelling in an area where there is the possibility of a child being present, it's the driver who should be reducing their speed accordingly. We're taught in our driving lessons how to perform an emergency stop. If the driver is unable to perform an emergency stop then the likelyhood is the driver was travelling too fast or not paying attention.

 

All the armchair experts above need to familiarise themselves with highway code 205 before advising others to claim against pedestrians.

 

Moreover, if the driver tried to sue the child ( it's nothing to do with the parents but the child maybe covered under their household insurance - assuming they have one! ), what's very likely to happen is the parents contact a no-win-no-fee ambulance chasing solicitor who then advises to claim against the driver for trauma / injury to their child.

 

Edit - just thinking about this a little more and directing this question to all those above who advised sue.

 

You're driving along according to the law, you have slowed down, your being cautious, but despite your best efforts a child runs out in to the road between parked cars and before you can even react, you hit and kill that child. The accident report places no blame whatsoever on you. Now what do you do to repair the car, do you a: claim on your own motor insurance or b: claim against the bereaved parents? 

Edited 15 April, 20206 yr by Guest

15 hours ago, Scot5 said:

All the armchair experts above need to familiarise themselves with highway code 205 before advising others to claim against pedestrians. 

 

You mean the one (singular) armchair expert as you like to call them.