Will this be a write off ?

[Duvessa]

Lorry reversed into me today at low speed, I was reversing too, just not quick enough!   No engine lights on and drives ok so, on the face of it  looks like bonnet, both front lights, minor bummer damage and possibly a wing.  It’s a 63 reg Monte Carlo tech with 48k on the clock.  Thanks 

[Emaharg]

Not an expert but I reckon that maybe written off.

[Ootohere]

I had a vRS maybe 5 years back with a bit less damage but same parts and the Insurance quotes were £3,500 ish. 

Bonnet, hinges, front panel, headlight, front crash bar and bits and pieces. Not a front grill though.

Edited 24 April, 2020 by Roottootemblowinootsoot

[J.R.]

You see the two little paint scuffs on the bumper of the first photograph?

 

My 2015 Yeti had (still has in fact) just one like that but half the size and the vehicle was written off 😯

 

No bonnet damage, a couple of slats in the grille broken and a cracked number plate.

 

It had however deployed all the airbags rupturing the dashboard and set off the seatbelt pyrotechnics.

 

During the rebuild it was found that the inner bumper iron LH longeron had compressed, it is the primary crumple zone, this impact was transmitted into the main chassis without deforming anything but setting off the airbag G sensor, the bumper iron had moved back and kissed the aircon condensor causing a leak.

 

The bumper (with new bumper iron) was refitted with just a cursory T cut over the scuffed area, no paint cracks or anything, I even reused the polystyrene shock pad behind it. Incredibly whatever the collision was transmitted sufficient force through a painted plastic bumper and polystyrene shock pad to collapse a crumple zone and deploy the airbags leaving no more than a tiny spot of scuffed paint and broken plastic grille slats.

 

It would be interesting to see if your car is economically repairable, if written off someone else will surely buy the salvage and repair it, you could have first refusal if it interests you.

Edited 24 April, 2020 by J.R.

[spartacus68]

Sorry to hear that. Remember you should get offer to buy back the car from insurane company, depending what they offer. All these parts are bolt on. Granted, the car will be classed as write off repairable, so something to bear in mind as will undoubtedly effect resale price. Push comes to shove, the bumper will fine once prepped for painting, no cracks. Be interesting to see if any damage behind, such as radiator and fan, it all adds up.

Edited 24 April, 2020 by spartacus68

[J.R.]

You need to be proactive to avail yourself of the right of what to do with your own property.

 

That starts with being very very firm when the towtruck from the insurance company arrives unannounced insisting that they take away your vehicle to process the claim, refuse, resist and be prepared to be on the recieving end of a lot of intimidation, it will be their salvage agent and many of them could moonlight as wheelclampers.

 

Once they have taken away your vehicle you have lost all control of the situation and any personal possessions that you may have in your car.

 

Insist that it is going nowhere, its your vehicle and will remain on your property and they can send their assesor to inspect it there. That is the only way that you might get the salvage rights for a reasonable figure.

[Ootohere]

This was my front crash bars damage even though the impact had been light and a glancing blow across the front from the drivers side.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/433854-monte-carlo-part-different-to-regular-mk2

 

 

Edited 25 April, 2020 by Roottootemblowinootsoot

[Madvlad65]

7 hours ago, J.R. said:

You need to be proactive to avail yourself of the right of what to do with your own property.

 

That starts with being very very firm when the towtruck from the insurance company arrives unannounced insisting that they take away your vehicle to process the claim, refuse, resist and be prepared to be on the recieving end of a lot of intimidation, it will be their salvage agent and many of them could moonlight as wheelclampers.

 

Once they have taken away your vehicle you have lost all control of the situation and any personal possessions that you may have in your car.

 

Insist that it is going nowhere, its your vehicle and will remain on your property and they can send their assesor to inspect it there. That is the only way that you might get the salvage rights for a reasonable figure.

Exactly what happened to me took the car to garage the insurance company told me to .left it with them 1 day later phone call from insurance .car a Wright off money in the post went back to garage to get belongings car already away to salvage .guy in garage said nothing in the car asked to speak to manager suddenly belongings apeard plus the 6 months tax still disc

[Duvessa]

Thanks all, will update with the out come but looks like it might be a write off.  Everything’s already removed from the car so the next battle will be the write off value I guess.  Not exactly a lot of these cars for sale 

[briscaF1]

Shame to hear about the accident recovery incidents. Just for balance, my Focus was written off last year after someone hit me head on but the damage was not dissimilar to what is shown here. Airbags deployed and driver side wing was pushed back slightly so drivers door clipped it.

 

Car was recovered from the scene while I went to hospital for a check up.

 

I rang the recovery company a few days later and they said that my stuff from the car had been bagged up and would be kept FOC for up to three months. I went to collect it about 6 weeks later with no hassles at all.

 

The police sorted the recovery so maybe that's why it was problem free ?

 

In terms of value, I found about 10 comparable vehicles on autoexpress and used this for evidence, citing that it would cost me the prices quoted minus 250 quid for haggling to replace. The insurance company's third and final offer came within 250 of what I wanted so guess I did well.

 

 

 

 

Edited 25 April, 2020 by briscaF1

[adfabia1]

You say that the lorry reversed into you , have you witnesses and or dashcam evidence because if it is 100% the lorry driver's fault then don't involve your insurance but get quotes under the third parties offer for your car then tell them you are going to get the car repaired and will seek redress I.e payment from them, just make sure your repairer can repair for his quote and not find new unexpected damage. I did exactly this, BTW  I insisted that the vehicle was not listed as an uneconomical repair on the insurance data base.

Edited 26 April, 2020 by adfabia1

[Ootohere]

The Lorries operator should be reporting the accident to their insurers and not paying out for repairs.

Their insurers might also have the inspection / quotes and have the car as an 'uneconomic repair'. 

 

It is too easy to get screwed right over when not declaring accidents and doing private deals. 

[Duvessa]

Update all,  doesn’t look this is a write off all the damage is cosmetic nothing structural.  Garage have to do the dance with the insurance company now but looks like it will be back on the road  

[mrgf]

I had my car written off for a broken mirror and a dent in the door! They assessed the mirror as having exposed metal, so wrote it off. If it was just smashed completely off, with no remnants of it left, it would most likely have been ok!

 

They severely underpriced the vehicle but over priced the repair cost too, hence uneconomical to repair. I fixed it, had the wheels resurfaced/painted and had a dent in the bonnet removed and repainted, along with my headlight brows and foglight grilles, which were scruffy, for less then half of what they gave me to fix it! Bear in mind, they were only going to fix the door and mirror. Oh, AND the price included a fresh MOT as after the work, it has this to prove the work to be done properly. This was all payed for by the third party's insurance, along with a fair few weeks of hired vehicle. 

 

I strongly believe that there was also some part to play in my vehicle being a diesel, which would have been an ideal way of removing yet another oil burner from the city's streets!

[Guest BigJase88]

Can still see this being a write off the garage bill may be too steep for the insurance to consider. Borderline

[Duvessa]

Repairs have been authorised.  Should be back in 10 days £4300 was the quoted cost of repair. 

[Guest BigJase88]

No idea how you have managed to get that through, probably 75% of the value of the car maybe more 😲

[UrbanPanzer]

this is why cars are written off, garages / repair centres simply rape the insurance companies......

[Guest BigJase88]

1 minute ago, UrbanPanzer said:

this is why cars are written off, garages / repair centres simply rape the insurance companies......

If you were sourcing all the parts yourself im pretty confident you could fix that for <£1000

Maybe even £500 could scrape it

[UrbanPanzer]

Just now, BigJase88 said:

If you were sourcing all the parts yourself im pretty confident you could fix that for <£1000

 

 

Agreed, and they will not even use genuine parts, those will be massively inflated prices on pattern parts.