Advice wanted re probable car write-off - should I claim or not?

[Sue]

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

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> red bonnet with the green body would look nice and

> festive ....or maybe you could paint it yourself

> ,add a few swirls and curlicues ?

What, along the lines of "I wish it could be Christmas every day?"

:))

[intexasatthe moment]

I think that would require a bit of glitter wouldn't it ?

[Sue]

:))

[DulwichFox]

Hi Sue

When I first read this thread I did not notice it was you.

I always see your car when I walk down our road and did notice it was missing.

Saw it yesterday.. :(

So sorry for you. Must be a real pain when you must rely on it at times.

I did notice Last month ?? your front number plate was missing.

Poor car really going through the wars.. :(

Hope you get it sorted real soon.

Foxy x

[computedshorty]

Hi Sue.

Very frightening for you, remember if you claim now you will have to pay a far higher premium for several years to come.

My car is a Nissan Micra reg in 2000, it is a metallic purple stands out like a sore thumb.

You can get a paint match from Halfords just take a paint flake to them for the spray can.

Regarding the hinges those on the replacement bonnet should be OK, but those on the car are known to have rust in

this area and it is tricky working in this bulkhead , I would go this way.

I was once following a tipper lorry on the A2 at Tollgate fly over, reading the slogan on the back, was Bishops Demolition.

?Watch it come down?, just then a brick jammed between the back twin tyres was thrown up though my windscreen, shattering and obscuring my view I knew I was above on the fly over above the Gravesend Road, with no hard shoulder I had to rely on my view through my side window, and I knew that there was a road coming up from below to join the Motorway, fortunately no vehicle was coming. I stopped further up and broke out the windscreen, but was worried that my two cats were out of the basket, we were coming back from a weekend holiday my wife held on to them, I drove back to my employers yard in South Norwood parked the van and took another one to get me home without more problems.

Don't worry I did not pinch the van I was the Transport Manager.

I bought my Nissan from the brother of a Soldier killed in Iraq It had been parked at the barracks while he served over seas.

There were three brothers, together one remained, the other was stressed and had to leave the regiment.

If you want to take the pay out, and keep the car and repair it you can, but if it is classed as a write off, it will have to pass a new MOT and the insurers might raise the premium knowing it had been a write off.

Good luck.

[Sue]

Thank you Shorty, I have a protected no claims discount so my premiums should not be affected though I will double check.

The hinges have to be replaced anyway because the force of the bonnet lifting up at speed has moved them above the level they should be at.

I think it will be a Category C write off so I doubt a new MOT will be necessary - hope not anyway as it's only just been MOTed :(

[Sue]

Just in case anybody is interested (OK OK I know you're probably not) an update!

I eventually decided to go with a claim, even though it did turn out my premiums would be affected though not my no claims discount.

As I expected, it was written off as Category C and fast-tracked. They took the car all the way to Sandwich and back and then made the assessment from photos, so what on earth was the point of the journey except putting money in the salvage firm's pockets and probaby upping everybody's insurance premiums, I have no idea.

Long story short they originally offered me ?634 on the basis of similar cars they had seen for sale (so they claimed).

I said I had three examples of almost identical cars on sale for much higher and they upped the offer to ?884. Didn't expect that much so thought it might be counter-productive to try to haggle any further as they said that was their max.

After the excess and the retention charge they sent me a cheque for ?575 and I've got the car back, so on the whole I'm quite pleased.

Now I've just got to get the (expletive deleted) thing repaired in time for pre-Christmas visits :(

Thanks very much for the help and advice above, especially the reminder about Glass's. I got pretty much the Glass value for the dealer retail price.

[DulwichFox]

Hi Sue

I had a car hit me up the rear (as they say) very slow impact as we were in slow moving traffic.

The hatch door was slightly damaged but would not close.

My car was written off ?? But eventually a sum ?? was offered to pay for partial repair to replace hatch door.

Still leaks when it rains heavily but have enjoyed 4-5 years more driving and car still going strong.

Hope you can sort something out and get more mileage out of your car.

Foxy

[Sue]

What I've been given is the estimated resale value of the car prior to the accident, less the excess and retention charge (for keeping the car).

It isn't to pay for repairs. It will hopefully more than pay for the repairs, and cushion any premium increase for a year or so.

I will deffo have to sort something out or I won't have a car! I'm on the case .... :)

[mrcee]

unfortunately your premium will rise,two years ago someone hit my legally parked car and I had protected no-claims & clearly no blame in the accident.

My insurance firm confirmed that it cost them ?0 in terms of the accident, yet my premium was raised by 10% which i challenged.

got the answer 'computer says this policyholder was involved in an accident so the premium has gone up'

its all a racket -- rant over

[Sue]

Yeh it's all a racket, and the insurance company were keen enough to claim it "wasn't an accident" when they thought they would have to pay for the car to be recovered :))

Having said that, whenever I have had to make a claim, luckily very rarely, I have always had very good and efficient service.

10% of my current premium wouldn't be a huge amount.

[Jeremy]

I'd go for the black bonnet you were offered. You could pretend it's carbon fibre... you know, keep the weight down for performance.

[Sue]

:)) :)) :))

[Sue]

The end of the saga (I hope!)

Got a (red! Very seasonal!) bonnet, hinges and bonnet catch/lock delivered to the garage all for ?70 from a scrappie in Bolton specialising in Nissan parts.

They had fifteen Micra bonnets but sadly none in green :( The red one they sent had a few tiny dents but nothing I would have noticed if the garage hadn't pointed them out to me before they sprayed it.

Got it sprayed green and fitted and all the rest of it for ?160, so total cost of parts and repairs was ?230.

Still have a dent in the roof but hey, ho.

Got ?575 from the insurance company, so now have a car with a slightly dented roof plus ?345. Quite a good outcome I think even if my premium goes up a bit :)

I'd like to give a plug to the guys who repaired it, who really went the extra mile with help and advice, matching the paint colour exactly, letting me know what was happening, etc etc..

They are Fisher Auto Repairs in Thornton Heath, the main man is called Tony and their number is 020 3417 8324 or 07930 202 297.

They are trying to build up their business at the moment, are working hard and really deserve to do well in my opinion.

I phoned quite a lot of car repair places (and visited one other), found this place by chance via another mechanic, and it was very refreshing to speak to someone who didn't either patronise me, be totally uninterested, or just be plain rude :(

Or give me an astronomical quote plus VAT :(