Help! When a Range Rover reverses into your NA!

[keithcollins500]

Minding my own business, Guy in front of me is lost and out of the blue reverses 2 ton of Range Rover into my MX5.
He was not apologetic, said I drove into him, fortunately I have a witness…
Bottom line, big cars sometime don’t see little cars… Pretty devastated that my car has been driven into!
I am getting insurance quotes at the moment, first one come in at £3.5k!
Has anyone had a particularly good experience with a car body repair shop or restorer? I am located in Watford.
Just want to take it to somewhere where the quality is good not a million miles away.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers

[nitrodave]

Unfortunately that's almost certainly a write off... but I would still consider buying it back from insurance and get it repaired as it looks like fixable and to be a good car.

I'm in St Albans and used these guys in Park Street which isn't far from you www.kandrcoachworks.co.uk

Very competitive pricing and I was very pleased with the work I've had done by them. Alternatively you could look for the bits off ebay as it looks like bolt on panels that are damaged.

Good luck.

[geeks]

Given the amount of damage I would expect that to be a write off, might not be what you want to hear and you can of course buy it back and get it repaired!

[keithcollins500]

Gents, the insurance assessor says its repairable...
It looks awful, but it wasn't a high speed impact - more of a low speed, massive weight impact.
So there is no huge shock wave sent through the car bending everything, what you see really is all the damage.
There is no suspension or chassis issues. its wing, bonnet, bumper, headlight, some inner wing straightening and a repaint.
The car has less than 16k on the clock, it was genuinely concourse.

[SCIMMY]

Gutted for you, hope you get it repaired ok

[Narcisus]

How can someone who has just reversed into you look you in the face and say you hit them ?

What did you say to him ? I think I would have told him a few home truths ....

[bmv6197]

Genuinely sorry for you - clearly a spotless low-mile car and always a shame to be the victim of a wrong-place-wrong-time kind of accident.

I hope you can get it repaired to the right standard and that the ar$e in the Range Rover learns to take responsibility for his actions in future.

B.

[drgoatboy]

man that sucks.
You could try these guys
https://www.bowron-motorcare.co.uk/
They are classic specialist and have done some work for me in the past, great results, nice people and reasonable prices. They are a bit out of the way though but not far from Watford as the crow flies.

[J-Tuner]

Thats painful viewing....

I'm in Hemel and i have always said that i would send mine to Finishline over in Hitchin if it ever needs some more bodywork. Their facebook page shows some really good work.

Outside of that - if you want some mechanical stuff done at the same time i can thoroughly recommend MX5 Restorer. I had new sills, rear wings and a full respray and a shedload of mechanical work done there and it was spot on. The paint job was perfect.

I've used Iguana on here to ferry my car about and can recommend him if you want to send it down that way!

Cheers

Steve

[keithcollins500]

Thanks for the repairer recommendations.
I am getting estimates back now - so far all approx £3.5k (gulp!)
Hopefully get it into a shop next week... Keep you posted.
Keith

[geeks]

keithcollins500 said:

Thanks for the repairer recommendations.
I am getting estimates back now - so far all approx £3.5k (gulp!)
Hopefully get it into a shop next week... Keep you posted.
Keith

And the insurance are ok with this?

[drgoatboy]

keithcollins500 said:

Thanks for the repairer recommendations.
I am getting estimates back now - so far all approx £3.5k (gulp!)
Hopefully get it into a shop next week... Keep you posted.
Keith

Wow, that's a lot, I wonder where they are sourcing parts from? a wing is about £100, a bumper about £300. I've never seen a new bonnet for sale though, although they are easy enough to get 2nd hand. I guess its hard to say if there is inner wing damage or not.

But even so that still feels like £2k of labour.... I guess at £100 an hour that only 20 hours. Maybe its not so bad....

[flood1]

mx5 parts sell new mk1 bonnets for £300, not sure of postal cost, but would suggest that dealers can still get

[keithcollins500]

Hi All,
Remember I was telling you that my MX5 NA got reversed into by a Range Rover – the results looked terrible…
I was stationary, he was doing (about) 5-7 mph on impact and the bloody thing came up onto the bonnet!
When he drove off my car and the Mazda looked like it had hit a steam roller. Loads of damage, worse the other driver was an ass!
To the casual eye, the car screamed right-off. However I knew it wasn’t some high speed crash damage, rather it was low speed crush damage…

My insurer was excellent getting the insurance evaluator – assessor guy over in a week, better the guy was a classic car fan and knew his MX5’s.
He quickly determined the car was worth saving and authorised the repair.

I sort advice on where to take it… whether it needed to go to one of the well know marque specialists or whether I should trust to a well-respected (ordinary) car repair firm.
I contacted the specialists and one in particular was hard work – wanting to disassemble the car (at my cost) to then give me a repair quote. Another just didn’t come back to me…
I then looked at well respected, but general car repair firms. I tried to make a decision based on the quality of their work, testimonials, attention to detail and their passion for old cars. I finally chose a family run paint shop and garage in Bushey, nr Watford called Elstree Road Garage. The owner was knowledgeable, the prep guy – seemed to be seeking perfection and the painter was superb…
They told me the repair was extremely straightforward, wing, headlamp, bonnet, bumper were all crushed, but there was no high speed impact shockwave so nothing was bent – everything just unbolted as normal. I am super impressed with the results – the fit and finish is superb, if you need some new paint I would recommend these guys.
So although the accident was horrible there is a happy ending!
Cheers!

[Mafffew]

Wow I did not expect that.

Fantastic result, well done

[keithcollins500]

Thanks - better snap attached !

[Maccles]

Nice to hear a story like this with a happy ending. Your car looks lovely by the way!

[NorthernSky]

Looking good, that. And nice numberplate too!

[bmv6197]

Great result - looks awesome. Hope you're going to hang onto it for a while now (or alternatively, sell it to me!).

Did the Range Rover driver's insurance pay in the end?

B.