Dave Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 I went for a nice long birthday Blat yesterday, decided to stop at the newsagents to collect my copy of the “peoples friend”. Whilst collecting the reading material of my choice, some nice person (aka Bas***d) dove over the back of my beloved Westy then disappeared. Any way Sh*t happens!!! The insurance company wants a ball “park figure” for the repair prior to sending a loss adjuster type person. I intend to do the work myself but don’t want to be ripped off by the insurance man for my labour / time. The car is a 91 seiw x-flow, they may write it off if the costs are prohibative? But I have an agreed value of 5K. Does anybody have fairly recent experience of the costs associated with the following:- 1. Professional replacement of the body tub either by the Factory or a "Westfield friendly" company like Playscool, Procomp etc 2. Cost of a wide body tub section, 3. detachable arches, 4. boot box, 5. spare wheel carrier, 6. rear lights, 7. lower rear wishbone 8, fuel tank, 9. setting up the car to check alignment, camber etc 10, approx painting costs for the scuttle, bonnet and nose The only other costs are rear chassis repair where the spare wheel carrier attaches. Your help / experiances would be appreciated boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itguy Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 Ouch - that sounds nasty.. Good job you were out of the car at the time Can't help with the costs unfortunatly - sorry. You have my condolences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithydar Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 im sorry to hear this.it is my main worry after years of building my car that some jealous b+++++d wrecks my pride and joy.probably best to speak to westfield themselves.they have probably dealt with this many times before.its a shame you didnt actually see it happen as its a definite reason for heads being beaten.not the correct solution,i know,but how could you hold back. darren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 Sorry to hear about your encounter with a complete t*@t and hope you get it sorted quickly, if it any help rough prices for parts from westfield are IIRC 1 no idea 2 £480 3 £135 each 4 about £120 5 about £35 6 £13 each 7 £86 8 about £240 9 Full alignment test and set up about £200 10 god knows, this can vary widely, with it being GRP. All above prices DO NOT include the dreaded VAT! Repairs to chassis brackets shouldn`t add much as the bodies off to start with. Hope these help. Had to price up these parts myself when I undertook the rebuild of an insurance write-off (which is nearly finished). PS If the chassis damaged at the back badly Westfield policy seems to be that the chassis is unrepairable and will need replacement at a cost of £1174+VAT. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stanton Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 For cost of replacement parts - probably best bet is check out the Westfield current price list Painting of scuttle bonnet and nosecone - possibly cheaper to buy complete new body kit if you give Plays Kool ProComp or Westfield a call direct they may be able to offer an estimate for ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy1700 Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 FWIW....theres a chassis on ebay starting at £600 (with no bids)....a full body is C.£950 and the rear wishbones are £100 a piece from the factory.. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 11, 2004 Author Share Posted October 11, 2004 Thanks lad's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbeh Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 See your dilema. Start by getting the chasis checked, although if you can see any bends in the rear then... if thats out even slightly - Westfield are probably your only real option. If only parts and fitting, they are MUCH more widely available. I'm no expert, just been in similar situation recently, but no chassis damage. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perksy Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 If it were the front that was bent then i beleive Westfield can weld-on a new front section of chassis. But if the Rear of the chassis is bent i think it's a new chassis But hopefully it isn't bent and it's GRP and a few suspension components only Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 13, 2004 Author Share Posted October 13, 2004 I have contacted my insurance company they want at least 3 quotes and are not inclined for me to do the work myself at any price? during my visit a nice man from the factory is going to quote from the digital pics I given him and my description of the body, chassis and wishbone damage and a local body shop will take a look. It seems like an easy repair with only the cross chassis rail where the spare wheel carrier bolts on being bent by approx. 6mm. There is no other sign of damage, maybe the rails connected to the damaged part may be drawn together by a couple of mm but will probable spring back int place when the damage is cut out. The wishbone pick-up points seem ok with no sign of damage not even flaking powder coating. Ideally I would like to do the work myself as winter is coming time to make some improvements. But ultimately I am sure the insurance man will have his own way, unless I offer to do it a silly price poss just the cost of the parts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrustyjust Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 How difficult can an insurance company be.It's not your everyday runabout is it.Not many bodyshops will touch a westie.Not the average cup of tea.When I smacked my previous car,the insurance assesor came out and said it will be sent to Westfield for costing and repairs.Explain to them,that if you consider it repairable,you as a customer has a right to send it to wherever you want to get it repaired.My wifes insurance co,after a bump,said it would have to go to a bodyshop 45 miles away which we knew was fine or one which they recommended but a friend in the motoring trade said they were cowboy crooks.We then sent it to someone locally we recommended to do a fab job and he did. The only thing with Westfield doing the job,I lost the car for 3 months as it joins a queue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 You have the right to choose who does the work on your car. Dont let them fob you off with stupid excucses either. Explain to them that doing the repair yourself will work out MUCH cheaper than if they were to send the car to Westfield. Insurance companies. Could you give a hint as to which company it is with or PM me as i`m just about to insure my car and dont want to get a company that doesn`t listen to its customers. Good luck anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 I agree. It's a specialist car. The insurers should know this. They shouldn't be quibbling about the *best* place for assessment and repair of the damage. Remind them of this. Remind them that if it is repaired by some-one who has no expertise in the vehicle, and you later have a failure of part of the repair, you will have something to say about it to the Insurance Ombudsman, to say nothing of their potential liabilities in such a case... In fact, I'd be asking the Ombudsman about what your rights are today. Give 'em a ring/check the FAQ's... If your insurance company continue to be dumb about it, name and shame them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 When my car was reversed into in a petrol station (Sorry, that car is very low and I didn't see it, to which I responded good job it wasn't a child then.) I claimed from the other parties insurance company (Direct Line as it happens) and I had absolutly no problem. I'm amazed you're having such a hard time, especially as it is your insurance company who are presumably kit car specialists... who is it? With Direct Line I explained that I'd built the car myself and was therfore best qualified to repair it. I explained that there was only one place in the country capable of repairing it and that was Westfield factory, I explained the cost of the 300 mile round trip with a 5 litre car and then got Westfield to provide a quote based on my description of the damage. Direct line sent out an assessor and then paid up the amount that Westfield would have charged to fix - a very generous settlement Suggest you stick to your guns, explain the difficulty in terms of both time and cost of getting quotes and assure the insurance company you will be claiming it all back in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 15, 2004 Author Share Posted October 15, 2004 Got the quote from the factory today F**** in h*ll ( but I am sure they will do a good job). The insurers have appointed a loss adjuster who is sending an engineer to look at the damage next week. After a long conversation they have relented and will probably let me do the repair myself “HORRAY” However there is a drawback, they consider cost of parts only to be a “fair” deal? Given that 50% of the total is labour I felt like saying bollo***s and sending it to the factory. If I don’t get satisfaction, I will take great pleasure in naming and shaming the companies involved. But until then my lips are sealed, granny always told me to see the good in people and prepare to be disappointed!!! Thanks for the link, Blatman I will contact them on monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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