Oooooohhh F**K

[andytk]

OH crap

I've just had a slight run in with a bollard. And wrecked the suspension on the Skoda.

Now bearing in mind that this is not my car I'm in real trouble.
And if it wasn't for those pesky road engineers I wouldn've got away with it as well.

The situation is as follows. Approaching a tight bend that goes onto a motorway onramp (so you want to carry at least a bit of speed) I under estimated the lack of grip of the car in the wet. So the skoda does its usual party trick and understeers. Now heading straight towards the run off area (which is quite generous) I turn into the understeer and the car oversteers. No problem I can handle this. Unfortunaltely I've run out of road. Now I would have been able to use the perfectly good chevroned runoff area that the road engineers throughtfully provided for idiots like me BUT some utter utter ARSEHOLE has put up bollards at meter intervals along the white line that separates the road from the runoff area. So the back end of the car twats a few bollards (wrecking one in the process) before I get it going in a straight line again. If those damn bollards hadn't been there I would have gotten clean away with it without hitting anything.

But it gets worse. I pull over onto a side road off the sliproad to survey the damage. A few dents in the panels and a lost hubcap. And a trashed rear wheel, presumably the one that took out the bollard. But it gets worse still. I change the wheel thinking that its OK I can afford 55 quid for a new wheel. Then I drive off down the motorway. It only takes about 200 yards before its obvious that things are not OK. the car has some serious handling issues. I pull off the road and park up at the next junction.

SHIT. It appears that the axle at the back that hit the bollard isn't quite pointing in the right direction. It is definently bent.
I can see the pound signs now.......
so I reckon I've trashed the rear axle and I have no idea how much it'll cost to put right. This is just the worst ending to an already shitty week.

As my mum has to use this car to get to work every day and its clearly not roadworthy I'll have to get a rental car till its fixed. That'll cost.

Arrrggg.
Anyone fancy a guess at the repair cost of a rear axle for a skoda felicia. At a first glance it seems to be of the type that is just a bloody great big tube that has been bent in two places to make a sort of shallow U shape if viewed from above. Same as most low tech cheapo cars. I reckon its this that is bent and I'm hoping that its just this that needs replaced. I'm praying that no other parts, or more seriously the mainframe, hasn't been damaged. Otherwise it could be a writeoff and then I'm a dead man.

Anyone care to comment.

Andy

[PetrolTed]

What's the score with insurance?

[deltaf]

Hi, sorry to hear about your incident. If the rear wheel is pointing at a bad angle, it would appear that maybe if youve been lucky-ish all youll have bent is possibly the stub axle.
Usually just a case of removing the wheel and having a look-see what the problem is.
If it is the stub axle then its not really too much trouble to remove it(usually bolted) and put a new/reclaimed one from a breakers on it.
Hope that helps some.

[HarryW]

I hope the insurance deals with this as I would imagine this kind of damage can get up into the 4 figure mark .
You must have really been going some, with more than enough lock on, to oversteer a FWD motor. Every cloud has a silver lining, at least you've probably learnt the limit of the Skoda in the wet .

Harry

[andytk]

well the car is insured fully comp but its so worthless (its a six year old skoda felicia) that wouldn't be worth my parents losing the (full) NCB for the cost of car. Thats why I was also concerned that if its going to cost a fortune to fix it may not be worth it. But on the flip side there is no way we could afford to replace it so I would have to cough up for the repair.

deltf, hopefully thats all it will be. But the car is making some wierd noises. Hopefully something just rubbing...

I also have the most understanding parents in the world. I told them I'd had a run in with some bollards and Dad just went outside to look at the damage. Strangely they seem more optimistic about this than I am. They seem to think the local garage will fix it in no time??? But I am paying for it all though. Maybe thats why they're not bothered. And its not like this is the first time this has happened. My younger brother has wrecked a wheel(oddly enough in EXACTLY the same place) a while back, doing exactly what I just did.

I'm still pissed with the bollards though. If they hadn't been there then I would simply have put down the power and drifted across the chevrons and straightend up. Damn

Andy

[Byff]

Invent a new story - some numptie must have bumped it when you were in ASDA getting the shopping in.

You were being so kind and considerate aswell and look what happened, not your fault at all.

Sorry mum, i'm sure the insurance will pay for a nice shiney new one

[Getrag]

Nae luck Andy, I rushed out to see how many bollards you had removed, expecting to see carnage I thought those were the flexi type. Why oh why are they there...to protect the grass run-off area?!?

Well, I'm sure your night ended better J and I left A and C. I think they were pissed off at us :whogivesash!t:

Did you pull over because the handling had actually improved?

Hope you get it fixed, Night.

[Jason F]

If the cost of the repairs is into 4 figures then surely it may be worth just buying another skoda?

[joust]

You don't loose NCB's all in one go nowdays - normally if you have a full one it's either protected, or if not you only loose "2 years" worth for a claim.

You can therefore easily do the sums to work out which one costs you less.

J

[andytk]

Well the car is now in the skoda garage and its been up on a ramp.

Its bad. The rear stub axel is bent as is the main cross beam. (big tube) they will both need replaced along with some other odds and sods.
I'm still waiting to hear how much it will cost and how long it will take.

Andy

[andytk]

ok for anyone that cares (nobody I suspect) the bill has come through.

470 quid including VAT. for new wheel, new axle, new stub axle and all labour.
Not bad but still expensive. Due to the 200 quid excess on the insurance and the fact that the car is worth at least a grand it means I have to pay for it.
Ah well there goes the student loan (and I kid you not that is what is paying for it)

Well life goes on.
But I still hate stupidly placed bollards.

Andy

[mattjbatch]

Could have been worse though.

[pistol pete]

Just realised you were "Up Here" so to speak (Scotland)... So, Where did you do it then??

And, Matts right... It could have been worse...

Pete

[Getrag]

andytk said:
But I still hate stupidly placed bollards.

Andy

Well you know how to solve that problem

[andytk]

What? Crash again, taking all the bollards out this time

Alternatively a socket set and a quite evening might see the nasty bollards misteriusly dissapear......

But you didn't hear that from me.

Andy

[andytk]

Just read your reply Pete. The offending onramp connects to the M77 at Newton Mearns. This is near Glasgow if you're not familiar with the West Coast.

Andy

PS. For leagal reasons I would just like to say that any broken bollards near the M77 have nothing to do with me whatsoever. Any broken bollards near here are purely conicedental and you can't prove anything. it was like that when I got there officer.....