First ever accident! What do you reckon - write off?
First ever accident! What do you reckon - write off?
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chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Saturday 16th January 2010
quotequote all
Its a company car and of course I'll find out soon enough but there seems to be a bit of a backlog for the assessors to deal with at the moment!
First ever accident in over ten years of driving.
Uphill section of road, 2 lanes up, 1 lane down, I was travelling uphill at the rear of a line of cars in lane 2 passing a car and a lorry in front of it in lane 1.
Car in lane 1 didn't see me and swerved into the side of me spinning me into the back of the lorry. (I think it was a petrol tanker, but it didn't stop!)
Pretty f-ing scary really as for a moment I though I was going head on with the vehicles coming the other way yikes and before I got that car I was doing the journey every day in an MR2! Could have been so much worse

In addition to the major damage from the lorry, both doors are dented where he swerved into me, and I think the rear arch is scuffed too.
It is 14 months old with 36,000 miles on it, WBAC reckon its worth £6,330 parkers say about £7k
The box section behind the wing (blue, with the sticker on it) is kinked and bent down and towards the drivers side slightly, and the gap that has opened up between the drivers headlight and the bonnet would suggest the force has moved something over that side too.

I reckon its borderline whether I'll see it again, which is a shame as I quite like it. On the other hand I would rather have something that hasn't been crashed in case of a further accident.

Oh, and big thanks to the police who turned up and were absolutely brilliant thumbup


ETA these pics were taken after the police had moved it to a local services - there was no snow on the main road!


Edited by chris1roll on Monday 22 March 21:08

Kit80

4,764 posts

218 months

Saturday 16th January 2010
quotequote all
Doesn't look good but least you're ok.

chimera40

7,259 posts

208 months

Saturday 16th January 2010
quotequote all
Yip, it a goner I reckon, as kit said, at least your Ok.

chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Saturday 16th January 2010
quotequote all
I'm absolutely fine - neck and back were a bit sore for a day or two, but all gone now. smile
Just glad I didn't have my wife and baby with me!

soad

34,736 posts

207 months

Saturday 16th January 2010
quotequote all
I reckon that can be repaired - whether insurance company chooses to or not is another matter.

Strong cars those Skodas.

chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
Well this is still ongoing!
After waiting a couple of weeks for it to be assessed by the garage, the quote for repair went in, which by all accounts was "substantial", so then the other drivers insurance co wanted to send their own assessor out. Cue another long wait and I finally get a call on the 15th Feb to say that they had approved the repair, and my car would be ready on the 26th. 26th comes and no further contact, so I call the accident management company myself who call the garage whilst I was on the line.
Apparently they had almost finished the repair but then decided they weren't happy with the "chassis" (I know... but we all know what they mean) and that they were going to need to take it apart again including pulling the engine out, therefore they were submitting a supplementary quote to the insurance co, and then when (if?) this is approved then it will be a further 10 days!

I'm hoping the insurance co will refuse to swallow that and just write the thing off - they should have noticed any twist the first time around.
I could have ordered a new one and had it delivered by now, the hire car and storage charges must be mounting up.
Of course I can't whinge too much as its not actually my car...

I've so far done almost 5k miles in a Kia Ceed - its not doing my back any good.

ZOLLAR

19,920 posts

204 months

Monday 1st March 2010
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Hopefully all be sorted soon! thumbup for following up on your thread!

sleep envy

62,260 posts

280 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
chris1roll said:
I've so far done almost 5k miles in a Kia Ceed - its not doing my back any good.
can't your insurer do something better than that for you, givent that the 3rd party were at fault?

chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
Well I had thought about that, but TBH I'm not sure I can argue it very well. In terms of equipment, its got more kit than my Skoda, the baby seat fits in the back and the pushchair fits in the boot. Sure its a bit smaller, but it is at least the 1.6 Common Rail diesel (unlike when my father got given a 1.2 corsa as replacement for his Volvo 940 Turbo hehe )
Its just the fact that the steering wheel doesn't appear to be centred with respect to the seat and instrument binnacle (I noticed this within about 15 miles of driving, then after coming to this conclusion I looked at the interior shots on the Kia website and it is visible there) means that I personally find the driving position unnatural and uncomfortable - the next person might find it fine, in fact if I just had to do 10 miles each way per day rather that 62 each way, I probably wouldn't have commented on it.
I guess I just tend to put up and shut up more than I perhaps should on occasion...if its just going to be another 10 days or so then I'm sure I can endure it, if they do write my car off I may speak to my group services dept and see if they have anyone else's end-of-lease hanging about I can use for the lead time. Last time was 6 weeks.

@zollar, I do much prefer when threads get concluded for future reference, even if it means I'm just talking to myself!

V

16,118 posts

238 months

Monday 1st March 2010
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IMO its a bit silly that they would even attempt to repair something like that, its clearly going to have some serious structural damage! Is it been done at a VW-Group garage?

Edited by V on Monday 1st March 15:27

chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
Not as far as I am aware - it was taken to the lease company's approved repairer initially, which when I went to retrieve my stuff from it, looked like a fairly large operation. As to whether it is still there now, I'm not sure..

On the one hand, they should have spotted and quoted for the whole job to start with, on the other hand, they have at least pointed it out and "supplementary quoted" as opposed to just trying to pass it back to me and hoping I didn't notice.

RicksAlfas

14,580 posts

275 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
We had a Jetta at work which was comprehensively stuffed and the insurers decided to repair it. It took weeks (and weeks...) and in the end although it was finished to a high standard the repairers admitted that the work should never have been undertaken but apparently the insurers are pretty aggressive in not writing things off these days...

V

16,118 posts

238 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
We had a Jetta at work which was comprehensively stuffed and the insurers decided to repair it. It took weeks (and weeks...) and in the end although it was finished to a high standard the repairers admitted that the work should never have been undertaken but apparently the insurers are pretty aggressive in not writing things off these days...
I think it depends on the insurance company, I still see a lot of Cat Ds come up for sale with only minor damage.

s3fella

10,524 posts

218 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
They'll fix that. Shouldn't be more than bout £2.5k IMO.

Glad you're ok.

Davi

17,153 posts

251 months

Monday 1st March 2010
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Doesn't look bad at all! I've repaired far worse.

farrendahl

1,248 posts

205 months

Monday 1st March 2010
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If it had been 6 years older I think you would have been looking at a gun job but given it's relative young age I'm not surprised that the other parties insurer has pushed for a repair.

chr15b

3,467 posts

221 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
quote for all the cosmetic stuff and worry about what cant be seen later by the sounds of it

JohneeBoy

518 posts

206 months

Monday 1st March 2010
quotequote all
That front tyre looks a bit low on tread. You might want to check that before any insurance rep sees it.

chris1roll

Original Poster:

2,068 posts

275 months

Tuesday 2nd March 2010
quotequote all
JohneeBoy said:
That front tyre looks a bit low on tread. You might want to check that before any insurance rep sees it.
Must be the picture, theres about 4 or 5mm on there!
(I'm very anal about tyres, thankfully the lease co will change them at 2mm, and only fit Michelins. As soon as they hit 2mm measured with my proper tread depth gauge I go get them changed)

Edited by chris1roll on Tuesday 2nd March 17:54

HellDiver

5,708 posts

213 months

Wednesday 3rd March 2010
quotequote all
JohneeBoy said:
That front tyre looks a bit low on tread. You might want to check that before any insurance rep sees it.
Looks like one of those rubbish Michelin Energey Savers. They don't come with any real tread.