Is this can be fixed by body filler?

[Vlady]

4 minutes ago, Malc said:

Vlad, are you telling us that the car is economically repairable and that the insurers will actually repair your car ok ?

Malc

That's what the garage said @Malc, his words were - it is not bad, it's just looks worth than it is.

It might change due course but confirming that the body was not twisted and internal impact absorption beams not damaged the rest is cosmetics.

Fingers crossed it will stay this way! The guy said, the car is really nice and looked after and they will try to fix it! 🙂

[Malc]

if I were you I would ask your insurer their authoritative position on this

Malc

[Vlady]

10 minutes ago, Malc said:

if I were you I would ask your insurer their authoritative position on this

Malc

What does it mean Malc, sorry for asking? 

[Malc]

simply that all you've been told by the potential repair garage really needs to be confirmed by the insurers ? ....  or is the garage just going ahead with the repairs anyway and assuming the insurers are happy with it all ?

If that's the case then fine .  just pay your excess and keep the free car hire until yours is ready to collect ...... if it was mine i think I'd want to know directly from the insurers that all is as you're expecting 

Insurers are a funny bunch and not always turn-out quite as expected you know

Malc

[Vlady]

Thanks @Malc, I will contact them today on overall update.

From what I understood by speaking to them couple of days ago - if the garage thinks the car is worth saving they can go ahead and fix it, all I need to do is to pay garage £700 excess. I might get these money back if insurance agrees that the accident was not my fault.

Anyway, will be calling them today to find out.

Thanks

[paulrnx]

As has been said, it’s normally the insurer who decides whether something is to be repaired or written off based on a detailed quote from the repairer. I agree best to contact your insurer and confirm all is well and that they will be proceeding with the repair.

[Mincey]

16 hours ago, Vlady said:

Quick update from the garage - the car is repairable! I am so glad! She needs a new bonnet, headlamp, bumper and front left wing and may be other small things under the bonnet.

The garage have done a wheel alignment and it is all good, means the body had not been deformed!

Now, lets wait and see what insurance will say wrt to whose fault the accident was.

Excellent news! I'll bet you're feeling relieved.

[paulrnx]

1 hour ago, Vlady said:

Thanks @Malc, I will contact them today on overall update.

From what I understood by speaking to them couple of days ago - if the garage thinks the car is worth saving they can go ahead and fix it, all I need to do is to pay garage £700 excess. I might get these money back if insurance agrees that the accident was not my fault.

Anyway, will be calling them today to find out.

Thanks

Fingers crossed all goes well.

I think you may need additional evidence to prove the other driver was at fault, eg dashcam footage, independent witness corroboration, etc. Generally speaking, if you hit the rear of another vehicle insurers tend to put the blame on the car behind unless it can be proved that the vehicle in front was at fault. Best outcome here might be your insurer pays your costs and the other driver’s insurer pays his/her costs. Hope it works out for you.

[paulrnx]

Insurers sometimes allow second hand parts to be fitted nowadays. Something like this could be the difference between a car being repaired or written off.

[Vlady]

14 minutes ago, paulrnx said:

Insurers sometimes allow second hand parts to be fitted nowadays. Something like this could be the difference between a car being repaired or written off.

I was asked if I am ok with 2nd hand parts, the garage still provides a 5 year warranty but using 2nd hand parts might be quicker to get these parts.

[Vlady]

26 minutes ago, Mincey said:

Excellent news! I'll bet you're feeling relieved.

I am very relieved! 🙂 I do not want to look for another car!

[Vlady]

Phoned insurance, they are very relaxed. 🙂

They said if the garage decided to fix it than they trust it to do it, if the garage thinks it is a write off, then the insurance sends their own team of engineers to examine the damage and to either confirm it is a write off or the car should be fixed!

2 hours ago, paulrnx said:

Fingers crossed all goes well.

I think you may need additional evidence to prove the other driver was at fault, eg dashcam footage, independent witness corroboration, etc. Generally speaking, if you hit the rear of another vehicle insurers tend to put the blame on the car behind unless it can be proved that the vehicle in front was at fault. Best outcome here might be your insurer pays your costs and the other driver’s insurer pays his/her costs. Hope it works out for you.

I know, blindly on paper, it looks like my fault as I hit him from behind, and having a 3rd party evidence would be great,  ideal I would say but, I have none. I believe in people (still) and hope other party is honest and will tell their insurance about what really happened. 

To be honest, I am really surprised - we had a few cars who saw the accident and no one stopped to check if everyone is fine! May be I should not believe in people after all! 🙂

Fingers crossed all goes well @paulrnx!

[Malc]

23 hours ago, Vlady said:

May be I should not believe in people after all! 🙂

Vlad, the world is full of people who don't care a hoot about others and wouldn't spend their time trying to help or assist to any degree ...  have little faith, rather than having even a little faith, and you probably won't be too disappointed at the Outcomes

Best wishes with it all

........... still seems a little odd to me that the insurance company isn't being at all categoric about your Claim tho' ...  seems a little "wishy washy "

Malc

[serbarry]

I have just read this discussion. I hope everything goes well, the other party admits his/her fault and the car will be fixed properly. Best of luck. 

[Malc]

Vlad hi ...  any good points to let us know about ?

Malc

[Vlady]

1 hour ago, Malc said:

Vlad hi ...  any good points to let us know about ?

Malc

Hi @Malc, I have no good points yet, it has been quite, nothing from insurance so far, I had a text another day saying that they still trying to contact other part insurer and that is it.

I was following car repairs via garage link that tells you final day and what percentage the car is complete to, this morning it was 88% as completion date is (was) tomorrow so I called them and they said it won't be happening tomorrow but most likely middle of next week, they will call me Wednesday to update me, the link also says now that completion date is 9th of December.

The garage said that all the parts are new and are coming from Lexus Glasgow, I thought so, as not many cars like ours are on the road and crushed!

On a good note - I received my dash cam today! 🙂 It is a little late but I had a good reason to buy it now and not postpone it forever! 🙂

 

[Vlady]

The latest - the car was supposed to be ready tomorrow but got a text today saying the date shifted again to 14th of December. 

They struggling to get parts on time and some of them being on back order.

Oh well, I have a hire car for now. As long as they do a good job I can wait!

[Malc]

3 hours ago, Vlady said:

They struggling to get parts on time and some of them being on back order.

I'd have thought that might be a big big concern tbh ........  deliveries and parts availability of everything right now is supposedly challenging ..  especially if they're saying " on back order " ............... Evergreen stuck in the Suez and that sort of scenario brings nightmare thoughts to me ............

I'd be checking with them precisely what the parts problems really are .....  and also the insurers being ok continuing with the free hire car !

Being prepared is always good !

Best wishes with it all

Malc

[Vlady]

Thanks @Malc, I will be checking with insurance today, something tells me that I can have a free hire car for 21 days but would be good to check with them on latest anyway.

 

[Vlady]

Should get the car delivered on Saturday morning! Huuuuurah!

But had to pay my excess of £700! 😞

Phoned insurance and the whole thing is very vague, they do not have enough information or accident details from another party and can't tell me whose fault the accident was! They sent another text to insurer which might take at least 2 weeks for answer to come back! It will be a long saga! 

[steve2006]

No consolation I know but makes that dash cam a must, instant not at fault evidence then upload to one of those YouTube dash cam sites for confirmation from 1000s of independent views.

[Vlady]

10 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

No consolation I know but makes that dash cam a must, instant not at fault evidence then upload to one of those YouTube dash cam sites for confirmation from 1000s of independent views.

The camera will be fitted! I will pop in into Halfords on Saturday, as soon as I get the car. I little to late but as you say camera is a must! 

 

[paulrnx]

6 hours ago, Vlady said:

Should get the car delivered on Saturday morning! Huuuuurah!

But had to pay my excess of £700! 😞

Phoned insurance and the whole thing is very vague, they do not have enough information or accident details from another party and can't tell me whose fault the accident was! They sent another text to insurer which might take at least 2 weeks for answer to come back! It will be a long saga! 

Good to hear 👍

[Linas.P]

Sorry to see it and sorry I am late to the thread

So... first thing - if it is non-fault, then DON'T go thought you insurance company, because they will be vague and you will have to pay excess upfront, and it will take 6, 12, 18 months to get it back and whilst your car is fixed you get some rust box Aygo to drive around (unless you paid for upgrade). Instead go for claims management company. If they are convinced it was non-fault they will "pre-approve" your claim, meaning that you will get brand new rental car equivalent to what you had (that would be like BMW 5-series/ MB E-Class), they will do damage estimate and you will be able to negotiate it. In my case I had dash cam and it simplified things a lot! But if case is fairly clear cut, other party agrees it was non-fault, your insurance company and TP insurance accepts it was non-fault, then even without dashcam you could get away.

This puts you in way more advantaged negotiating position  - you driving brand new car which costs TP insurance like £200 a day and they are "on the clock" to agree whatever price you agree with your claims management company, because in 10 days they burn £2000 just in your rental car. So if question is £500 they just accept it right away. You don't need to pay excess at all, and whole shebang is solved in 1-2 months.

Instead when you go through the insurance company they will be in advantaged positions - they know you have your excess locked, they know you in poor car and time is against you, so they will offer bottom of the barrel price and pressure you into accepting it. Obviously, you can hold out, but that delays whole process and prolongs suffering being in sub-standard hire car. In the end of the day, whenever car will be S, N or B-cat depends on your negotiation, if you insist for it to be fixed, they will eventually agree to fix it (if it is at all reasonable), if you insist on pay out and write-off they may even class car as breaker for scrap. I have bought back my old IS250... so they put value on it £3850 and salvage value of £541. Meaning that I kept the car for £541 + compensation of £3309... and then sold the car for £2700, because it was in excellent shape and damage was literally scratch on the bumper. But that was because I went through claim management company - I would have hardly managed to get £3000 from insurance directly. 

The issue may arise if fault is not clear and generally claim management companies won't take such cases. As well it would be fair to note - they are a bit dodgy, so you may get call 6 months later asking if you want to claim for injuries for that accident. As well you MUST always agree everything in writing, never accept any terms over the phone. But as long as you find FCA approved one, they should be working within industry standards. 

No I understand it was couple of weeks and you may have already started the claim with your insurance company, but you have a right to stop it and take your claim elsewhere. However, if you have already paid excess and got hire car, then it may be difficult to reverse it, but you can try to speak with your insurance or those claim management companies as they may be able to advise better if you still could change who is managing your claim.

 

[Vlady]

Got the car back this morning! The repairs seems good but it is raining and pretty dark outside to check the quality properly. I have 5 year warranty though.

The garage installed 33 new parts, that including some labels under the bonnet. But boy how happy i am to have her back!