I Am Absolutely Gutted

stevlee · April 19, 2013

Hi all, I am absolutely gutted, last night my pride and joy IS300 which I spent days/weeks polishing and waxing/servicing and getting pampered like no other car I had before was hit by a stolen car been chased by the police. Luckily the car was parked and I wasn't in the car at the time, but my heart sank to bottom of the ocean when i saw the damage. So I am asking

1) Does anything think it is economically repairable by the insurance company?

2) In the years I have been driving I have never claimed any car insurance in my life before, can anyone please tell what is the process now?

I am still shaking as I type this.... just gutted :(

IHgs300 · April 19, 2013

Very sorry to hear about your car, First step is to ring your insurance and report the accident, try and get a case number or crime number from the police and the number of the station dealing with the crime.

I know you don't want to hear this but looking at the damage most probably will be written off? Sorry.

You could get independant advice and if theres no chassis damage and it's just cosmetic, you could buy it back from insurance company and replace doors, wing ect yourself from a breakers yard.

The wings just bolt on, replace both doors, bit of paint and filler on rear arch.....job done.

noby76 · April 19, 2013

am not sure the way the law works in UK but if the stolen car was being pursued by the Police then sure the Police could be held accountable for your cars damage and you dont have to tell your insurance company about this. I say this because regardless of if it was your fault or not your premuims will go up next time you insure your car so worth getting free advice from citizens advice with regards to where you Legally stand on this matter. you could argue if the police did not pursue this stolen car, your car would have been safe and the damage was caused by a police pursue chase. all though i did contract law in uni, i did not take things further with reagrds to law so wont be of any much help but you seem to have a legal case here against the police which i think you can claim for compensation/damages from the police force dept and could use that money to repair the car if no chasis damage has been done. thereby not writing it off and not telling your insurance company and saving your premiums going up which will be a win win for you but thats only if you have a legal case against the police on this matter. Good luck

ChrisIS200SportTTE · April 19, 2013

Really sorry to hear about your car :(

That is such bad luck!!

As Ian said, if you claim on your insurance I think they'll write it off. Call your insurance and they will walk you through what you need to do.

Please don't hold the police accountable for doing their job. Sorry Noby but this isn't America and we shouldn't be claiming against the police or making a legal case against them for doing their job. So you say the police shouldn't pursue stolen cars? If the police hadn't pursued the stolen vehicle then they wouldn't have been doing their job properly in my opinion. Your argument suggests the police should turn a blind eye to stolen cars and let joy riders joyride! It's awful bad luck that the Lex was hit but it's 100% not the police's fault. If your 300 was stolen Noby would you not want the police to chase it if they spotted it? And what if they hadn't pursued the car and a few hours later it's used in a hit and run or a ram raid? You can't just let criminals go. They spotted the stolen car and they gave chase, they did their job properly!

It wasn't the police that hit the car but rather the stolen vehicle they were chasing. You will need to contact the police for a crime number but again your insurance company will explain all this and how to get it over the phone.

Good luck with getting this sorted. I really do feel for you mate, it's the main reason when we moved house I insisted that our new place had a driveway for the car to avoid being hit/vandalised when parked on the street.

stevlee · April 19, 2013

The tragedy of this is I have been getting quotes for the last 3 weeks getting pavers to lay concrete down in the back garden so I can park the IS300 in the back garden, however the quotes have been between 3-4k just to lay concrete that's why I still umm and arrhh over the cost :( and not acted sooner.

noby76 · April 19, 2013

maybe i didnt come right. I am not saying the police shouldnt do thier job or pursue thieves.. but if thier influence caused harm to a life or damage to someone elses property during the process of them doing thier job then i beleive there is a legal case to be had here. the Police are free to do thier job but not at the expense of putting society in danger or damaging societies property. thats why some Police chases are called off if the chase is getting to the point where a 'by stander' be it human life or property is put at risk. Yes the police did not hit the car but thier influence played a part which LED to this damage and if damages are suffered due to this then i beleive there is a legal case but citizens advice are in the best postion to confirm this.

ChrisIS200SportTTE · April 19, 2013

Yes the police will call off a chase if there is danger to human life...Not a parked Lexus or other parked cars. This is why we have insurance compulsory in the UK. I'm guessing as the pics are at night the chase happened late at night/early hours of the morning. The risk to life of a by stander would be minimal as not many people would be walking the streets then and the police would have made the judgment call that the only danger was to the pursued vehicle, themselves and a few parked cars so they decided to keep perusing. The correct decision in my opinion.

I'm just absolutely fed with this blame culture Noby and people seeking compensation for everything especially blaming the police when doing their job. It's not fair on them and we shouldn't be putting doubt into officers minds. If Stevlee sues the police for compensation, next time the officer involved is put in a similar situation he'll think "sod it let him go, it's too much hassle if it goes wrong"

I strongly believe we cannot let that kind of thinking enter our police officers heads...

It's horrible what's happened and I wouldn't wish it upon anybody but it's just massively bad fortune. Go through your insurance, you may still be able to get your car back on the road.

noby76 · April 19, 2013

I know we have comprehensive cover Insurance in UK. and there is a lot of 'sneeze on me and i will sue you' blame culture here aswell but stevlee shouldnt be left to pick up the damages in terms of his insurance premuims shooting over the roof as a result of police chase. as I confirmed Stevlee you might have a legal case against your local council or the police as to who forks out the bill. you can by all means go through your insurance under your Comprehensive cover and be worse off but there is no harm in seeking advice from Citizens Advice/ solicitor as to where you stand on this matter. at the end of the day, your pride and joy has been damaged due to a police pursue and someone needs to fork the bill as a result of this and not you...

my 2 cents..

panya · April 19, 2013

Sorry to hear that stevlee, but most insurance are now cover that if u hit by uninsure diver , give them a ring , special if u have comprehensive cover. , such a lovely car :(, hope u get it repair.

Bassman · April 19, 2013

Why dont you just take it to a bodyshop and get some idea of the cost of repairs.

The insurance co. may well want to write it off, but you will pay more premiums as a result of the claim, even if you have protected ncb, the premium will increase if the ins. co cannot find the culprit to sue.

When you have a price for repair at least then you can work out if it will be worth you getting the work done yourself, without the ins co. getting involved.

My Merc was keyed and cost 2500 to respray, and the premiums increased by close to 80% over what they had been and that with me having protected NCB.

panya · April 19, 2013

Try speak to your insrance too, maybe they can give u a advice , end of the day that why you have legal assistant for...and this is not really ur faul, I'm sure got to be the way to this, keep us the update.

Pete Shawn · April 19, 2013

sad hearing this godsmack

Aren't the police will back out cause the chase entering the housing zone (might hit pedestrian if not cars). Might as well log a police report maybe they will sort something out (i think the police shud take responsibility but not fully)

Most insurer will defo write-off the cars (saving the hassel from the third party repairer bills) but if the cars have not serious damaged internal (just the body works need to be done) then it's no harm getting a quote see what can be done to the damage body parts.

good luck fella

normski2 · April 19, 2013

What a horrible thing to happen to your pride and joy. My gut feeling is that it would likely be written off. Where you go after that is up to you. Ask yourself if you would really want the car repaired...will you really be happy driving it with the knowledge of what occurred.

You could look for another 300, if you can find one you like enough.

Hope it all works out OK in the end for you.

bluenose1940 · April 19, 2013

Hi all, I am absolutely gutted, last night my pride and joy IS300 which I spent days/weeks polishing and waxing/servicing and getting pampered like no other car I had before was hit by a stolen car been chased by the police. Luckily the car was parked and I wasn't in the car at the time, but my heart sank to bottom of the ocean when i saw the damage. So I am asking

1) Does anything think it is economically repairable by the insurance company?

2) In the years I have been driving I have never claimed any car insurance in my life before, can anyone please tell what is the process now?

I am still shaking as I type this.... just gutted :(

Ask your insurance company what their stance is when you are hit by an uninsured driver and in particular give them the full details of exactly what happened. Don't forget to ask the police for any information relevant to the matter, pass this on to your insurer. Many insurers now operate a no loss of NCD where you are not at fault and the other party is uninsured. Good luck and keep us informed.

sjrainsford · April 19, 2013

Sorry to see the damage to your car mate.

Yes, let the insurers access it first and they will tell you if it's a write off or not. Many insurers now operate a policy where they can use second hand parts to repair a car, this brings costs down and also means less write offs.

RayKhan · April 19, 2013

If you insist, it's hard work, but the insurers have to make sure you are in the same situation as pre-accident. Therefore you can insist that the car is repaired as long as there are no safety implications to the repair.

Also get copies of any adverts of similar cars from all over the country so that if they make you a low offer you have evidence to show that you can replace your car for the monies they have offered.

Sorry it had to happen to you and to a Lexus, what with all the other cars out there it could have been

Lexmanic · April 19, 2013

Fault or not you MUST report this to your insurer. They will then decide to repair or not! Suggest you make a point of having evidence (Autotrader/Ebay etc) of how much your car will cost to replace. Remember their offer MUST be retail although they WILL try to get you to accept a trade value.

If you 'buy' your write-off I suggest the damage is such the chassis will have to be jig checked to ensure its integrity which may add a little to the overall repair costs. Anyway good luck

Lexmanic · April 19, 2013

PS if your or any other insurer attempts to increase your premium because of this non-fault hit & run request they put their reasons in writing then I think you may find they will back-peddle on increasing your premium.

Also unless you can prove negligence of their part the police are NOT liable for what happened. eg If the police rammed the stolen car into yours you might have a claim against them but even then I doubt it By trying to apprehend the thieves they are deemed to be acting in the public good

Koko · April 19, 2013

Sorry to hear that, hope it turns out ok at the end

Let me tell you my experience with insurers.

2 year ago we had high winds for couple of days so i decided to put cover onto car for overnights. I know I shouldn't do it on public roads but didnt bother me at the time. You see on pic below what happened by the time i woke up so rang my insurer to tell the story and they advised me to take car to a body shop to get it repaired. They recommended a place but never took her as it was not serious damage but could have been if I didnt put cover on (been repaired since on my cost).

When my policy came to renewal discovered I`m being charged lot more than before so after lots of phone calls I found out its due to this incident even when there was no money claimed back from insurer. They put a note to my case as "information only" but that does not help at all when trying to get new quotes from different companies. Sometimes they wouldnt insure me because of this

So what I see if you are recorded to the books you`ll be charged more what ever the case is but I could be wrong and this is just my bad luck.

petayV8 · April 20, 2013

Just saw this thread and very sorry to see your damage. Like Ian said if theres no chassis damage you'll be ok. Get it checked out at a respectable repair shop then see about claiming.

Let us know the outcome

Lexmanic · April 20, 2013

Sorry to hear that, hope it turns out ok at the end

Let me tell you my experience with insurers.

2 year ago we had high winds for couple of days so i decided to put cover onto car for overnights. I know I shouldn't do it on public roads but didnt bother me at the time. You see on pic below what happened by the time i woke up so rang my insurer to tell the story and they advised me to take car to a body shop to get it repaired. They recommended a place but never took her as it was not serious damage but could have been if I didnt put cover on (been repaired since on my cost).

When my policy came to renewal discovered I`m being charged lot more than before so after lots of phone calls I found out its due to this incident even when there was no money claimed back from insurer. They put a note to my case as "information only" but that does not help at all when trying to get new quotes from different companies. Sometimes they wouldnt insure me because of this

So what I see if you are recorded to the books you`ll be charged more what ever the case is but I could be wrong and this is just my bad luck.

Sorry but is your bad luck or rather the insurer conning you into thinking that ANY claim will affect your premium, it won't. They also tried that on me (more than once) so I demanded they put their reasons in writing & needless to say they didn't but they did reduce my premium back to what it should have been

Lexmanic · April 20, 2013

PS keep ALL communication with your broker/insurer in writing and if they phone you or you them confirm the discussion with them in writing

Koko · April 21, 2013

Thanks for the advise I`ll see what they come up with price wise next time

Dean1309 · April 22, 2013

Hi mate, I really feel for you having your car damaged like that.

I am going through the same pain at the minute, although it was my fault. My insurance was going to write my car off (Cat D, Uneconomical to repair) but because I got other garages to look at my car and give me quotes before the insurance picked it up. I managed not to have my car written off. My car is now waiting to be booked in and repaired.

The insurance will write it off if they get hold of it. Do your homework and go round to as many local garages to get other opinions on your car. If the car cannot be driven like mine couldnt, get them to come out and have a look at the damage on your car. They will not charge for it.

I wish you luck mate.