TrophyJem Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 My son had an accident last night. A car drew out of a side road without looking. He hit the car that drew out on the drivers door. Unfortunately there was a car waiting to turn right so he hit that as he bounced off the car he first hit. So damage is as follows; Air bags deployed Front bumper cracked Near side headlight broken Near side front wing badly damage Dent and scratches to near side door Crease in offside front wing Scrape on offside door Crease in offside sill Crease in offside rear wing Both front wheels badly scraped The police let me drive it round the corner to our house and the steering is very heavy. The seat belts are stuck in one position and the passengers side belt has broken the seat release mechanism that it must have been hooked on. Car is a 62 plate 2012 Seat Ibiza 1.2 SC (3 door) with 7500 miles on the clock. His insurance General Accident have so far been great and he already has a hire car. My son is not badly damaged. His arm was grazed by the air bag and he's pulled a muscle in his shoulder. So what do we think? Write off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu999 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Difficult to say for sure but I reckon it will be a close call what with airbags, sill and rear quarter damage... At least your son as relatively ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggy the Spyder Man Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Glad he's ok Jem 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrophyJem Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 Glad he's ok JemCheers ClarkHe's more worried about his car than his injuries. I'm happy to say that his injuries are not that bad at all. He's had his car from new and he's worried that if it's written off that he'll have to buy a second hand replacement that won't be as good as what he had. Although I have a feeling that bank of dad will come into play somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrie Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 That's only about 4 grands worth of damage, and the car must be worth more than that, it just won't be a low mileage minter any more. At least he walked away. He'll be more careful in the future too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deako Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Did he have GAP insurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu999 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 That's only about 4 grands worth of damage, and the car must be worth more than that, it just won't be a low mileage minter any more. At least he walked away. He'll be more careful in the future tooYup, but what is it worth when mint? Once the estimate is around a third of the original value, quite often insurance will write-off rather than pay - especially when they are paying for a hire car, storage of the damaged car etc in the meantime, whilst this is all sorted out. And it will be a third party claim, rather than son's own insurance paying, if what happened above is verified, which muddies the water still further... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrophyJem Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 No GAP insurance. I reckon current value (undamaged) is around £7K5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2rrr Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Had a detailed reply typed then my laptop shut down and lost it all. In "brief" pleased to hear your son is basically not too badly hurt but see how his shoulder goes before its sorted. One thing to watch is the insurance companies ways of screwing you. Your son will probably ( almost certainly) have a no blame claim against him now, worth checking. That will mean his no claims discount will remain intact but the overall policy cost may (probably will) go up. So in effect he will pay more, try and get that increase for the coming and future years covered by uninsured losses or by whatever means. Insurance figures have gone down this year by something like 17% so you will expect a reduction in premium on renewal. By someone else's action he doesn't want to be out of pocket next year or coming years. I guess he is reasonably young in which case the increase in insurance costs could prove significant. From my lost message, record and log every communication, you may or may not need it in the future, dates/times/people spoken to. Remember all calls to insurance companies are recorded and that can be handy should you wish to confirm what has been said. You may be very lucky and it all goes great but cynicism is a combination of age and experience, mine haven't been ideal with insurance companies. I do have to say my wifes last little escapade was relatively painless with Sheilas Wheels but I expect the increase in premiums will be coming as it was her fault. I digress. Whether you get your car repaired or not will be down to the assessor and his costing, you may have opportunity to discuss it though. If its written off make sure you negotiate a replacement cost. You are not being paid the bottom book price for a car which may have been low mileage in prime condition. If you have recent photos that would help as a smashed up car can look a bit sad in the repairers yard. If it goes to a repair select where you want it doing, insurance companies have bulk repairers which most do a fair job but they are in place by the insurance companies to save costs, make your own mind up on that. I wanted mine covering by the manufacturers warranty and that had to be done by a VAG bodyshop. If the garage will give you a written warranty for the full repairs as a manufacturers warranty that's one thing as long as they stay in business. My car had to go back after a year and it was done via VW and no issue. I suspect I may have had an issue with an independent bodyshop. Last point is that you will be hounded by ambulance chasers telling you that there is a pot of money available to cover injuries, I guess whiplash etc. So far I have had in excess of 66 calls and it gets annoying and that's after 2 years now with no injuries. Weigh up what you will and will not be compensated for especially future premiums and determine how you may need to claim for your sons shoulder injury should it prove necessary. I am biased against insurance companies as you may have gathered but that is only because they appear to suggest one thing then possibly do another, be very precise about what you want out of this, which I guess is a fully repaired car back as it was and your lad back on the road at no expense to either of you. Good luck, hope it goes well. Bob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Not sure if it's still the same when I dealt with a large(ish) fleet. You complete your insurers claim form and inform them you will be claiming your uninsured losses from the third party. If you are successful in getting the uninsured losses paid by the third parties insurer (or the third party) then your insurer will not penalise you. However, things have changed since insurance was based on trust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2rrr Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Norman even though you pay for a protected NCB some insurers and I suspect all will honour that but as you may now be a higher risk will see to increase the overall premium so your NCB give you say 75% but on a higher figure, thus putting your payable amount up. Another cute move by our insurers. Mine went up over £100 until I changed brokers then it came down again ironically with the same insurers.. If as in this case it probably a youngster who's premiums are mega the increase could be many hundreds for a none event. Stitched up I think they call it. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Bobbleton Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 The main issue is his recovery I got hit from behind 7 weeks ago Car repaired full new rear end floor plan, the lot Since then I've been in agony on a daily basis Doctors, codeine, naproxen, tramadol, physio etc Back and neck still very painful Pre accident I used to swim 6 miles/week and cycle 150km/week Since then I have been unable to train at all, and I can't ride either of my motorbikes, driving the westy on the road is too painful to be honest, very unhappy with it all, my insurer quote me happy we're very good. Advice is first week - ice packs, physio, then after a week or so heat rather than ice. Keep a log of pain, go to the docs, get an x ray if possible. I didn't, and now I have a left shoulder that is torn, and pops in and out. The car and claim will sort itself out. Health and recovery are more important ! Hope all goes well... Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2rrr Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Good advice, hope you get better soon Bob. Bob :d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyonspride Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Get someone to independently estimate the damage, triple that figure (to what insurance repairers charge) and if that's more than half the value of the car then it's likely to be written off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveD Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 im sorry but that's utter rubbish ,approved repairers will only get paid what engineers allow same as independents ,the engineer comes out to inspect the car and tells you what there going to pay you to do the job ,yes ther is some negotiation but not much as everything is on autodata or audatex or other estimating systems ,so the myth of approved insurance repairers getting a shed load more money is just that a myth a very large repairer near me a few years ago was getting £950 per job off one of the major insurers , that was if it was a small dent or a re shell job and that was supposed to even itself out over the year , also when your approved and a larger bodyshop the isurers can dictate to you what they want from you more so its not all good and when you have gone big you are sort of in there pockets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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