Sad Sad Day

[Bluesman]

Stupid driver cant see any further than his/her nose and pulls out from a side turning dispite my horn going and brilliant sunshine. Now the hard fights with the insurance company to get her repaired and not just written off which is what they have already said they will do. Mike

[messi]

Sorry to hear that..As long as you are okay is what really matters

[normski2]

Totally understand your intense annoyance.

But, in all honesty its fairer to say 'stupid driver'. There are tons of bloke drivers who are utter kn*b heads too.

Maybe you meant 'woman' and were not intending to generalise 'women' in your post. Ipads/phones etc have a habit of chucking in the word it wants.

Hope you get it all sorted to your satisfaction. Let us know how you get on.

[ambermarine]

Hi Mike

Do not let them bully you, it easy for them to preside over your pride and joy .Now is the time to test the notion that you can make them repair the car if you are blameless.

I can tell you that fixed by Lexus you are looking at about £4-5k ,I had a new bumper fitted on my Mark 1 15 years ago and that cost £2k then.

Get the gloves on and prepare to start fighting .

Good Luck

[goldtop]

:( Sorry to hear and see this. Hope Ambermarine's right.

If not can you get a settlement and then repair it yourself? Although that would add a Cat D marker, I think.

[Spottedlaurel]

Sorry to see that, but at least you're OK.

I had a similar thing happen to my Camry estate last winter when it got hit up the back by another driver, market value in the hundreds and a repair bill in the thousands, but car still perfactly driveable. I made sure I kept it on my driveway, I knew that if it went off to a yard or repairer elsewhere I'd probably never see it again. In little more than a week the other party's insurers had made me an offer, from which they then deducted their £60 salvage value as I stated I wanted to keep the car.

At present it still sits unrepaired on my driveway but I have all the parts I need to sort it out, after which I'll have to get a VIC done on it before it can see the road again.

Such an approach is only going to work financially if you're going to use secondhand parts, and you'll have to accept that the car may have some sort of 'repaired write-off' tag against it. I imagine you'd need to let your insurance company know this at each renewal time, and it may affect any future value if you wish to sell it on, but if it's a car for keeps then this won't be an issue.

I would get a polite-but-firm letter into the other party's insurers stating that you wish to keep the car and market value is not an entirely fair appraisal of its value to you. Gives you a bit of ammo if it comes to an argument over any figure they offer. Save any ad's you see for others that you think are comparable.

[n4chv]

Most important thing is that you & other people involved are not hurt.

Someone reversed out of a parking space and caught the same side of the car as you although my car was stationary at the time as I was parked at the supermarket. The damage was minor but they had to repair the wing and the 2 parts making up the front.

When I had an incident with my LS400, I was insured with Admiral (part of Direct Line Group) and whilst they have their own network of repairers, they did give me the option of selecting my own repair shop.

Given that their approved repairer was offering a 5 year guarantee on the workmanship, I was happy to go with them so you'll need to check your claims Ts&Cs.

Also some insurance companies will consider using secondhand parts to keep the costs down so hopefully they won't be refusing the repair bill.

Good luck and I hope your car won't be off the road for too long.

[royoftherovers]

If you were not at fault Mike, then surely the onus is on the other driver or his insurance company to put you back into the position you were immediately prior to the other party causing the damage. The market value of your car is irrelevant. The other party is responsible for his/her actions and should be required to make good even if that means using parts from other vehicles if necessary.

If needs be do consult a solicitor.

Good luck

Regards

John

[jpjsavage]

So sorry to hear about this Mike. Some great advice here already and I hope you get it sorted out to your satisfaction and quickly too!

[Bluesman]

Thanks to all of you chaps, some great advice and ways to go about sorting it, be assured I will be exploring every avenue to keep her. If she does have a marker put on her V5 dosent bother me as I was never going to sell her.

Are the wings welded on or bolted?

Thanks again chaps. Mike

[Malc]

Wot a bugger eh !!!

You could be in for a battle of course with the insurers OR as happened to me with my Mazda the other month, with silly minor door damage, the third party's excess together with their likely increased premium for their next year's insurance, gave them just the encouragement they needed to pay me the cash to have the damage repaired privately thru' my indy.

That was only £350 BUT enough to have otherwise probably written the 20 year old Mazda off no doubt.

That might be an avenue to explore ................ BUT your damage looks a bit more than superficial and even using 2ndhand parts I can tot up probably £5 / 600 with wing and bumper and lamps, and then painting too............... maybe £1000 in all.

The insurers would no doubt get a formal job repair quote and as you know, that's likely to be @£4k or so and write the car off.

As you're LPGd I would just buy the write-off from the insurers ( coz that's likely to be so tbh ) and repair thru' an indy with 2ndhand parts and run the car as whatever Cat the insurers then put upon it.

Good luck whichever route you decide to take.

Malc

[black400]

Sad , either get them to fix , of write it off then buy back and repair. I had this happen told , the assessor i would not agree to a write of either would my body shop, fixed up for 300 euros.

[steve2006]

Sorry to see and hear of this unfortunate incident Mike first thing is that you are OK.

You may remember when mine was damaged a few years ago when a BMW failed to stop at traffic lights and caused similar damage to the nearside front.

Unusually I ended up dealing direct with the 3rd party insurance company who not only paid out a fair settlement (initially £1600.00 but upped to £2K on the phone), paid an additional £400.00 in lieu of a "hire"car,another £1200.00 in lieu of a personally injury claim ( which I hadn't even considered) and on top of all this allowed me to keep the car as salvage for free.

The car was initially taken away after the "Accident Management Company" got involved and taken to one of their "Approved Repairers" It was here that the car was deemed in an engineers report to beyond economical repair and cat C'd.

After some trouble getting the car returned I then had a local "olde skool" bodyshop guy take a look and after I provided a new headlight unit, secondhand sidelight and a piece of chrome trim he repaired the panels (not replaced) and did the whole job for £800.00 but this included a full bonnet respray and rear bumper respray as extras.(initial quote was £500.00)

So for just over £1K I had my car fully repaired.

It was my own insurers then that had a funny turn when I wished to put it back on cover insisting it had a VIC,even though the 3rd party insurers were happy to let this go as a cash settlement so the car remains a cat C.

From this I learned 2 things, 3rd party insurance companies seem to offer a better settlement if you do it the old way and deal direct,the reason being I think is that they save money on those ambulance chasers who make more in fees than the actual settlement so are willing to give a higher figure and 2 if you don't need the "hire car" ask for a cash in lieu.

Those of you who have been to the meets have seen my car post repair and it's difficult to tell so a good job done, also the Carribean holiday was a nice bonus from the remaining funds.

Providing there is no underlying structural damage you may be able to source 2nd hand parts and get them fitted and sprayed, not quite the same as the door replacement but do able. Yes the wings do bolt on so no welding required.

[alien1974]

Sorry to see that, such a pity, glad nobody was hurt, unfortunately it looks an insurance write off to me hmmm good luck though.

[The-Acre]

Bad luck Mike,

2 years ago a friend borrowed my Vectra (53 reg) and someone went into the back. The insurance company wrote it off, and offered me whatever the market value was. I accepted that but then bought it back. I bought a bumper from eBay and had a local guy fit it and do the rest (really only superficial damage) I ended up with a cat c but like you don't intend to sell. In the end I had over £1,000 in my pocket after the repairs!

Before and after pics.

[Bluesman]

Well,
great news. I had a phone call first thing this morning from the other parties insurance company (Churchill) and they said their policy holder admitted full liability and that they were going to completely repair Lexie, they asked if I had a choice who should do the work and I asked for Lexus and that was OK. They also offered me a rental car or £27 a day while mine is off the road, I have opted for the money as I always have the wifes car to use. As I have had a rotten night of spinal soreness they will be offering me a sum of money for personal injury subject to doctors report and before anyone shouts that’s why we have such high insurance premiums, I have only recently just got over a slipped disc I also have a problem with the discs in my neck as I have walked crooked for most of my life and the discs in the neck have worn away so when they get shaken up then it becomes sore and painful.

All that said I am happy with the outcome, so should it happen to you bare in mind that you don’t have to accept your car being written off just be polite and calm and you will get your car repaired even if its way past what the car is valued at.

I will post up some pictures when she comes back home.

Thanks to all of you that gave good sound advice and ideas.

The LOC the best car club in the world.

I have also found out why she hit my car, lets see who can be first to guess the reason. Please ring 0999 1236547890987654321.

Phone calls will cost you the price of an LS600 and don’t forget if you use a mobile there will be extra charges from your mobile provider.
Do not ring this number after the Dec 25^th (closing date of competition) but if you do you could, no, will be charged still.
Happy comping. Mike

[goldtop]

I have also found out why she hit my car, lets see who can be first to guess the reason. Please ring 0999 1236547890987654321.

I'm guessing that her name is Pearl, and she still harbours an irrational grudge.

What do I win?

[The-Acre]

Well done that man!

[n4chv]

Good result and I'm really pleased to hear your car will not be written off by an insurance company :-)

[jpjsavage]

Great news. Well done Mike. Really pleased for you.

[bookend]

That's excelent news well done.

I hope your back can recover as much as the car will be looked after.

[steve2006]

Excellent news Mike,all sorted the old fashioned way with no leeching accident management companies taking a share :)

Also with it being repaired no VIC marker on it.

[black400]

Great result ask Lexus will they trow in a service and timming belt change aswell.just to be safe

[royoftherovers]

Very pleased to hear that Mike. So there really is a God?

Congratulations.

Regards

John

[Titch LS]

Yes there is! Well done Mike for a hassle-free settlement and getting the Lexi back . Hope your back/neck pain eases off.