Rear Ended in the Swift - Gutted

[skomaz]

Well some nice person drove into the back of me today...   absolutely gutted.

 

Rear hatch and bumper stoved in plus the rear floorpan (spare wheel well / boot floor etc.) all bent.

 

Have spoken to the insurers so just waiting to hear from the bodyshop as to when it can be collected for inspection / estimate...

[MikeTheThinker]

I'd be prepared to be told it's an economic write-off.

 

I hope you got the scrote's details?

 

All-important; are _you_ ok?

Edited 28 October, 2020 by StickyMicky

[mac11irl]

id get a once over from a doc after a shunt like that, swmbo has a torn shoulder ligament that we think is a result of us getting shunted on a r/about 12yrs ago, but it wasnt apparent or even sore at the time. neither of ys made any medical claim or enquiry at the time, felt fine, just raging.

 

on the other note... yup, id be very much getting ready ti be told its being written off. it doesnt look too bad, but between pulling/replacing panels, spraying, etc.. it becomes an expensive accident.

 

 

[skomaz]

Thanks guys.  Yep daughter and I seem OK at the moment but will see what aches in the morning...   Just angry and shook up at the moment.

 

I did get the guys details and fortunately he is insured but his first comment was "why did you stop?"...   Well it was a roundabout give way line...   And at one point he got back in his car to leave the scene suggesting I wasnt being civil with him...   Well I was a bit annoyed...

 

I'm already braced for a potential write off but I reckon it might be economically fixable provided there's no damage to the suspension as the rear door alignment seems OK, the rear wing seem to be undamaged and it looks like the damage is just the rear crash structure and hatch.  If it is my concern would be matching the pearlescent paint.  The rest of the car is immaculate so I'm just hoping the insurers don't get silly about it and undervalue it, but I'll be completely emptying it before it goes just in case

Edited 28 October, 2020 by skomaz

[@Lee]

The best news is you and your daughter are OK. Metal can be replaced. Hope you get a good outcome but shame the scrote thought he could eff off. 

[J.R.]

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

 but I'll be completely emptying it before it goes just in case

 

Very wise.

[robt100]

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

 The rest of the car is immaculate so I'm just hoping the insurers don't get silly about it and undervalue it,

Just dont accept their first offer, if you can prove prices should be higher they will usually budge.

This happened to a friend of mine albeit with an older car (2006ish astra) it was a european car registered in italy at the time. Insurers wanted to give him £500 as thats the uk price...soon changed their mind when he showed them the values in italy for the same vehicle (about £2k). Meant he could get a nice UK-based upgrade from it all
Especially as its the SZ5, rarer, higher-spec, optional extras etc. Depending on age you're probably looking at £10.5-15k

[skomaz]

Non-stop phonecalls this morning from insurance, bodyshop and hire car people so getting there but sooo time consuming.

 

Had a look last night on auto trader and there were 13 similar spec vehicles on there but only two in the same red so definitely not common.  Mine was also in a showroom for the first year of its life so is low miles for something that is only just three years old and it also seems to differ slightly so may have been ordered with a few additions?

 

We'll see what they say...

[MikeTheThinker]

37 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Had a look last night on auto trader

Parkers will give you a free valuation: https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-valuation/

[skomaz]

28 minutes ago, StickyMicky said:

Parkers will give you a free valuation: https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-valuation/

 

Just taken a look - the free version is waaaay out on the mileage and significantly lower than the online prices for anything similar...   but I may use the 'paid' version if needed.

 

Hoping at this stage it's repairable...

[robt100]

The paint was a special order option I think. Try speccing your current car in the new car builder to see what was an optional extra

[cheezemonkhai]

21 hours ago, skomaz said:

Thanks guys.  Yep daughter and I seem OK at the moment but will see what aches in the morning...   Just angry and shook up at the moment.

 

I did get the guys details and fortunately he is insured but his first comment was "why did you stop?"...   Well it was a roundabout give way line...   And at one point he got back in his car to leave the scene suggesting I wasnt being civil with him...   Well I was a bit annoyed...

 

I'm already braced for a potential write off but I reckon it might be economically fixable provided there's no damage to the suspension as the rear door alignment seems OK, the rear wing seem to be undamaged and it looks like the damage is just the rear crash structure and hatch.  If it is my concern would be matching the pearlescent paint.  The rest of the car is immaculate so I'm just hoping the insurers don't get silly about it and undervalue it, but I'll be completely emptying it before it goes just in case

With the floor that bent I’d be certain it’ll be a write off.

 

Did you get pictures of his car into the back of you and the road markings etc?

 

My money will be on him claiming you slammed your brakes on and trying to skip fault.

FWIW... sure he wasn’t on his phone, seen far too many doing that recently.

 

 

[J.R.]

9 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

My money will be on him claiming you slammed your brakes on and trying to skip fault.

 

 

Seems to be peoples default reaction but short of dashcam footage showing that it was a deliberate & repeated brake test it wont get them anywhere.

 

With all of the collision avoidance systems erroneously slamming on peoples brakes its only a question of time before there will be a genuine claim of no fault from the vehicle behind and I sincerely hope the insurers will start a class action against the manufacturers, of course what will happen is a knock for knock so both insurers win and both insured drivers lose.

Edited 29 October, 2020 by J.R.

[skomaz]

4 hours ago, robt100 said:

The paint was a special order option I think. Try speccing your current car in the new car builder to see what was an optional extra

 

Cheers Rob - Have just checked and the paint was a £485 option...   you've also reminded me I downloaded the brochure and accessory catalogue at one stage so can probably check that for what other bits were options that it was supplied from the factory with.

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, cheezemonkhai said:

With the floor that bent I’d be certain it’ll be a write off.

 

Did you get pictures of his car into the back of you and the road markings etc?

 

My money will be on him claiming you slammed your brakes on and trying to skip fault.

FWIW... sure he wasn’t on his phone, seen far too many doing that recently.

 

 

 

you could well be right re the write off - no feedback from the insurers yet though..

 

I did get one picture but he was 'keen' to leave and as soon as we'd exchanged details (and before I got my phone fired up) he was away - so I've only got one shot showing the final position of the Swift...

 

You suggestion re trying to skip fault wouldn't surprise me - I did slow and stop as another vehicle went past me and blocked my view of the roundabout circulatory, but even so it should still be his fault for not leaving sufficient space to stop.

 

I've also just written a 'statement' to send to the insurers and there are a couple of things that, in retrospect, do make me slightly suspicious about how keen he was to get away.

 

Anyway we shall see...

[cheezemonkhai]

Hopefully not the case, but no pictures of the driver? As for driving off... odd that because it’s a legal requirement to stop so I’d be pretty certain there was something to hide.

On the phone, high/drunk, many other options.

 

Heard of people give another persons name as they were not insured on the vehicle.

 

I really think the whole thing is getting out of hand with uninsured drivers.

[Chris]

Swifts seem like crash magnets. The one I won at auction was battered front and rear! See so many around with dents! Glad it did its job and you are ok! 

[skomaz]

Heard from the bodyshop earlier today - it looks like I've been lucky and it will live on and be repaired! (woo hoo - given I've been checking on-line and not seen anything similar to replace it).

 

They believe the damage should be relatively easy to repair as it doesn't appear to have affected suspension etc. and is reasonably limited.

 

Parts have been ordered (new boot floor, hatch, bumper etc.) and should be in later this week with a view to collecting it for repair early next week as they are staying open through the forthcoming 'lockdown'.

[cheezemonkhai]

Good news and lucky car... I had (wrongly) assumed the suspension would have been bent out of shape. 
 

Does the car have a spare wheel? I ask out of curiosity to how the floor is so bent but the suspension survived.

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Good news and lucky car... I had (wrongly) assumed the suspension would have been bent out of shape. 
 

Does the car have a spare wheel? I ask out of curiosity to how the floor is so bent but the suspension survived.

 

Yeah - I had too until I had a closer look in daylight over the weekend.  The picture I posted doesn't show it too well but the rear subframe arrangement is C-shaped such that only the dampers are on/slightly behind the rear wheel axle line and all the other elements, including the cross beam, are forward of the axle line and effectively under the rear seats - so they seem to be intact and unaffected.

 

There's no spare wheel in the wheel well as I never got round to picking one up - if there had been I think it would have been a different story.

 

The spare wheel therefore only contains a polystyrene tray with a tyre pump / foam / tools and a load of my junk that I carry around (floodlight / torch /jump leads / other tools etc.) .  I can't get the hatch open and haven't had time to fold the seats and check but I'm guessing everything that was in the spare wheel well has been well and truly crushed.

 

Image below gives you an idea of where everything is in relation to the spare wheel well...

 

Edited 3 November, 2020 by skomaz

[mac11irl]

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

I'm guessing everything that was in the spare wheel well has been well and truly crushed

 

most likely, but it will all have acted as a nice crumple zone dissipating the energy, which may have also helped.. if it was empty it may have done more damage farther forward into the cross member.

[skomaz]

Which reminds me...   the insurers asked for a list of anything else 'damaged' - so I need to go through what was in there and check / take photos...

[mac11irl]

how did your mobile faberge egg museum get on in the boot?

 

[skomaz]

11 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

how did your mobile faberge egg museum get on in the boot?

 

 

Lightly scrambled??   

 

Seriously though I'm glad it didn't happen a few years ago when we moved house as I was driving around with a boot full of malt whisky that at the time was about £120 a bottle...   It was worth more than the car was!

Edited 3 November, 2020 by skomaz

[cheezemonkhai]

On 03/11/2020 at 10:49, skomaz said:

 

Yeah - I had too until I had a closer look in daylight over the weekend.  The picture I posted doesn't show it too well but the rear subframe arrangement is C-shaped such that only the dampers are on/slightly behind the rear wheel axle line and all the other elements, including the cross beam, are forward of the axle line and effectively under the rear seats - so they seem to be intact and unaffected.

 

There's no spare wheel in the wheel well as I never got round to picking one up - if there had been I think it would have been a different story.

 

The spare wheel therefore only contains a polystyrene tray with a tyre pump / foam / tools and a load of my junk that I carry around (floodlight / torch /jump leads / other tools etc.) .  I can't get the hatch open and haven't had time to fold the seats and check but I'm guessing everything that was in the spare wheel well has been well and truly crushed.

 

Image below gives you an idea of where everything is in relation to the spare wheel well...

 

That’s quite a good arrangement as the expensive bits seem to be out of the typical crash.