Ouch.. clam rear-ended

[duners8o8]

Someone rear-ended my SC tonight, the rear clam is broken... can it be repaired? Shall I insist on replacement with their insurance? What would you do?

Clam Picture

[jondude]

If you have the other person's details and they just want to settle this, then it may be better to keep calm, get a few estimates, and offer him/her the chance to pay you in cash.

If you do involve the insurance, it will be kept on file and possibly held against you at renewal time - you will have to explain the circumstances time and time again if you run quotes with new insurers...for at least 3-5 years, methinks.

It seems like the damage is minor, but even if it costs around 1k to fix, it will still be cheaper for the other party to pay, in all likelihood. ( His/her loss of NCD and hiked premiums on top will be close to, if not more than that + he/she now has an accident record which WILL be used against them )

But if you are settling cash, get a move on - do it all within 72 hours.

If he/she then gets shirty, involve the insurers - they won't care about a 3-5 day delay in reporting such a minor scrape.

[21TonyK]

Difficult to say from the pics but I had a similar amount of dammage in a less obvious place and that ended up being a new rear clam. Go through the insurance and go to a Lotus approved repairer.

[F.C.]

Get an estimate but it looks superficial to me.
D C White in Walthamstow London, GRP repairs, speak to Mick.

[NathanE]

On a brand new car like that you're going to want a new clam. Which cost like £3000 plus paint plus labour.

Definately go through his insurance...

[duners8o8]

Thanks for your replies, although was hoping for a more uniform set of answers ;-), but then, the clam is clearly cracked/broken horizontally for ca 20 cm and vertically for ca 5 cm, plus scratches and paint. It probably doesn't help that the paint is Moonlight Silver (the costliest on offer I think) car is only a few months old. Looking at your posts, I feel like doing things the proper way, new clam and all... which the other person will in all likelyhood not be prepared to pay in cash ie it's only a bumper it cant cost THAT much. - But just guessing here, how do I identify Lotus approved repair shops? Is there a list somewhere? Would prefer somewhere west London or further west on M4/M3/M40 area, any suggestions?

[miro]

Specialised paintwork Reading
http://www.specialisedpaintwork.com/services.htm

Sinclaires Romford
http://www.sinclairebodyshop.co.uk/

both are highly reccomended on SELOC and i have been to Sincs and they are a top outfit and both deal with this sort of thing allthe time. call them and tell them what happened they will offer good honnest advice on what to do

[21TonyK]

Giva Alan or Karl a ring at Specialised Paintwork. If you email them some decent pictures they can usually give you an approx. cost without a visit. Probably looking at £3-4K by the time they've replaced the clam, blended it in etc etc. ISTR mine was £5K+ by the time they were finished.

[mrssumner]

Duners, was it totally the other party's fault? Have they admitted it? If so, I recommend you get in touch with Europa Consultants:

http://www.europaconsultants.co.uk/

They are processing a claim for me at the moment.

[tricky 100]

Insist on a new clam . You didn't own a repaired car before , why should you own one now .

[Gad-Westy]

tricky 100 said:

Insist on a new clam . You didn't own a repaired car before , why should you own one now .

Absolutely agree with this. And I'd involve your insurance company straight away, its what its there for. If the other party is accepting fault (and its hard to wriggle out of rear ending someone) then it should be plain sailing. The other option is involving an accident managment company (see Anniesdad on here) who will take all the hassle away for you and sort you out with a decent courtesy car while your's is repaired.

[Mclovin]

i hate it when they say its just a bumper...and you know when you tell them the real cost they will deny all liability....insurance is so useless these days its like your damned if you do and also if you dont..

some bh crashed into the back of my mates clio v6 whilst he was sat at traffic lights and when he got a quote she tried to wriggle out of it sending her husband round to intimidate him...it had to go through insurance but as there were no witnesses the bh denied everything saying he reversed into her...i dont know what is happening now with it..

[jondude]

Gad-Westy said:

tricky 100 said:

Insist on a new clam . You didn't own a repaired car before , why should you own one now .

Absolutely agree with this. And I'd involve your insurance company straight away, its what its there for. If the other party is accepting fault (and its hard to wriggle out of rear ending someone) then it should be plain sailing. The other option is involving an accident managment company (see Anniesdad on here) who will take all the hassle away for you and sort you out with a decent courtesy car while your's is repaired.

But the problem is no insurance company will accept paying for a new clam if they are told by respected bodyshops that a localised repair is fine and cheaper.

They are not your understanding friend, they are a business. ( Be fair, if this was a hit-and-run and you were quoted £600 for localised repair, or 3-4 k for a new clam, what would you do? You can't demand or expect insurers not to do the same )

If the OP cannot convince his or the other bloke's insurers a new clam is necessary, but still insists, they will allow it BUT only pay the original localised repair quote.

Up to the OP, but I would go to a few respected places and ask for a quote, then take it from there. If the car does need a new clam then yes, it will have to go through the insurance due to the high costs.

Remember too, that if the OP claims on the other bloke's insurers, they may well insist he takes the car to their trusted places for a second and third opinion ( for they will NOT want a new clam on there if at all possible!!) and again, you can't blame them.....some garages smell big money when insurance is involved....at a very recommended dealer on here I was pushed to claim for a new clam.....the car was done elsewhere, excellently, for £300 all in, at no loss of NCD or insurance involvement to me.

You just gotta be careful out there!!!

[miro]

As long as the repair is fair and the price is reasonable the third party cannot MAKE you go to their preferred repairer Europa consultants is a good bet if you are 100% sure its not your fault also Sinclares and Specialised are both old hands at insurance claims and know the system and what to do. They are also very good at repairs and reputable companies who will give you honnest advice and make suer your P&J is repaired to a high standard

[21TonyK]

IME a Lotus approved body shop will always replace rather than repair if the insurance co. is paying for it. Repairs always have the potential to go wrong at a later date so why should you take the risk? Half the reason this little plastic cars are so expensive to insure is the repair cost and insurers know that. In two seperate instances my insurers have sent an assessor round who took one look and agreed to work at a Lotus approved shop (Specialised). One, not more than a bodged stone chip, £3.5K, one a new rear clam, £5K+

[tricky 100]

jondude said:

Gad-Westy said:

tricky 100 said:

Insist on a new clam . You didn't own a repaired car before , why should you own one now .

Absolutely agree with this. And I'd involve your insurance company straight away, its what its there for. If the other party is accepting fault (and its hard to wriggle out of rear ending someone) then it should be plain sailing. The other option is involving an accident managment company (see Anniesdad on here) who will take all the hassle away for you and sort you out with a decent courtesy car while your's is repaired.

But the problem is no insurance company will accept paying for a new clam if they are told by respected bodyshops that a localised repair is fine and cheaper.

They are not your understanding friend, they are a business. ( Be fair, if this was a hit-and-run and you were quoted £600 for localised repair, or 3-4 k for a new clam, what would you do? You can't demand or expect insurers not to do the same )

If the OP cannot convince his or the other bloke's insurers a new clam is necessary, but still insists, they will allow it BUT only pay the original localised repair quote.

Up to the OP, but I would go to a few respected places and ask for a quote, then take it from there. If the car does need a new clam then yes, it will have to go through the insurance due to the high costs.

Remember too, that if the OP claims on the other bloke's insurers, they may well insist he takes the car to their trusted places for a second and third opinion ( for they will NOT want a new clam on there if at all possible!!) and again, you can't blame them.....some garages smell big money when insurance is involved....at a very recommended dealer on here I was pushed to claim for a new clam.....the car was done elsewhere, excellently, for £300 all in, at no loss of NCD or insurance involvement to me.

You just gotta be careful out there!!!

Had the front clam on my old Exige replaced for much less damage than this , cost the insurers £5k . You just have to go to a Lotus specialist like Specialised Paintwork and not use the insurance company repairer , they will handle everything ,negotiating with insurers , assesors, even got a hire car from them .

[Gad-Westy]

jondude said:

Gad-Westy said:

tricky 100 said:

Insist on a new clam . You didn't own a repaired car before , why should you own one now .

Absolutely agree with this. And I'd involve your insurance company straight away, its what its there for. If the other party is accepting fault (and its hard to wriggle out of rear ending someone) then it should be plain sailing. The other option is involving an accident managment company (see Anniesdad on here) who will take all the hassle away for you and sort you out with a decent courtesy car while your's is repaired.

But the problem is no insurance company will accept paying for a new clam if they are told by respected bodyshops that a localised repair is fine and cheaper.

They are not your understanding friend, they are a business. ( Be fair, if this was a hit-and-run and you were quoted £600 for localised repair, or 3-4 k for a new clam, what would you do? You can't demand or expect insurers not to do the same )

If the OP cannot convince his or the other bloke's insurers a new clam is necessary, but still insists, they will allow it BUT only pay the original localised repair quote.

Up to the OP, but I would go to a few respected places and ask for a quote, then take it from there. If the car does need a new clam then yes, it will have to go through the insurance due to the high costs.

Remember too, that if the OP claims on the other bloke's insurers, they may well insist he takes the car to their trusted places for a second and third opinion ( for they will NOT want a new clam on there if at all possible!!) and again, you can't blame them.....some garages smell big money when insurance is involved....at a very recommended dealer on here I was pushed to claim for a new clam.....the car was done elsewhere, excellently, for £300 all in, at no loss of NCD or insurance involvement to me.

You just gotta be careful out there!!!

I see your point but for me, by not involving your insurance you're opening yourself up to all sorts of risk. If the car is repaired and paid for by the other party and the car comes back looking crap, who do you turn to? The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that if the same happens to be, I'd be emailing Anniesdad straight away. I just wouldn't want the hassle.

[21TonyK]

As others have said. if you really don't want the hassle, you want a decent load car and you want a new clam give Europa a buzz, Steve (Anniesdad) will sort everything. I used them for what initially was something minor and resulted in a big, long drawn out affair that they handled for me.

[Jez O]

I used to work for an insurance company and dealt with the Approved repairer network. Most of the decent repairers would be on the phone imediately to refuse the work if the claims dept had tried to send a specialist (ie. fibreglass) vehicle to them. They don't want the hassle if they know they haven't got the skills.

You can't just ask for a new clam- if an Engineer inspects it (almost certainly) he has to decide in conjunction with the repairer if the damage can be repaired, whether the other party is paying or not. Your insurer has to claim their costs back so to present the third party insurer with an invoice for a replacement, they have to be able to justify and possibly prove it.

[And9s]

Had mine repaired about two months ago, £1500, with only slight crazing of the paint.
definately claim on their insurance, people dont seem to understand how much these things cost to repair and or replace.