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

[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.

[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

[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!

[keithcollins500]

Thanks - better snap attached !