The Car Thread

[Fader209]

Less common is definitely true! Would love one of them but their price reflects their rarity. Lets bring it down a notch here lol will most likely be getting the Civic or a Celica VVTI.

[nakamura]

Hehe to be honest I haven't looked at prices for so long!

I would very much like a Celica VVTL-i myself. Would be a perfect compromise between sports handling and size for my little family!

The CTR does have quite a nice aggressive kick in v-tec.

[Fader209]

Got my insurance down to ?170 for the year by going for one of those family multi car deals Got my renewal notice from Aviva last week and they charged ?317 so a decent saving this year for sure.

[spooky]

Hello all, (Yes, Spooky has returned after a year or so of absence!) and yet again I'm back with a problem...

Just thought I'd throw this in here for a quick bit of advice please if possible

Basically, 3 weeks ago, me and my prized 58 plate Toyota Yaris SR D-4D (76K miles strong) came off a motorway thanks to a diesel spill (at a roundabout thankfully, so was only doing about 20mph), went up the small kerb and over and down a steep grass bank to come to rest about 30 feet from the road. I managed to miss a concrete pillar and 2 trees on my adventure so I and the car were very lucky.

The only body damage was that the front bumper had come away slightly and the plastic under skirts had been torn off. When the car was recovered to the road, it started up first time, had no noticeable issues, shifted into reverse fine, and drove up onto the recovery truck fine. There were no issues with the exhaust, engine, no unusual noises etc., it was just as it always was. Anyway, it has taken until today to get an answer from the insurers about the car and they car putting it down as a Cat D write off. The 'mechanic' who checked the vehicle said it needs ?3K of new parts which will be ?2K in labour costs, so ?5K in total. (An independent inspection appointed by the insurers also came up with the same figure). The car is worth about ?6K at the most at private sale and has nearly ?5800 of finance owing on it. I was suspicious of this garage from the off as it took them over a week to look at it and they kept telling me that they were having to do a 'very thorough check given the nature of the accident' and before they'd apparently even looked at it properly told me it would need a full set of new wheels, full set of new tyres, complete new exhaust system, new heat shields, new parts for the suspension and the list goes on. Anyway, further research has revealed the garage is not Toyota approved and is just a bodyshop that the Toyota franchise in that area use for body repairs works! I've explained this to the insurers and also the fact that my car also has an extended warranty and is financed through Toyota who recommend the car be inspected and repaired at a Toyota approved garage with Toyota approved parts. Apparently they'll be calling me in the morning once they've sorted out the 'confusion'.

Anyway, I don't know what to do. I feel I'm being ripped off here and that the garage will be getting a nice 58 plate car to repair cheap and sell on for a nice tidy profit while I have to find myself another car. I just can't believe that that the car took that amount of damage in such a minor incident or am I just being super cynical and suspicious?

The insurers have so far only offered ?5K for the car, (?4600 minus the excess) and tell me if I want to retain the car, they will offer ?3600, (so ?1K for the car plus the excess), but then I'll also have to square things with the finance company pretty much immediately to the tune of ?2200 and then look at getting the car repaired at my own expense.

Do I just bite the bullet and fight for a higher and more respectful payout and say good bye to the car or fight this till the end? If I buy another car it will be a choice between the same age, same model and spec yaris, a Mini Cooper D of around the same age or possibly a slightly bigger car like the Honda Civic, again, around the same age.

Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks, Spooky

[Fader209]

That quote from the garage is insane. Can you get another opinion from someone else?
Would love to see exactly what supposedly needing replacing as the accident doesn't sound THAT bad. Full exhaust system? How could you damage the whole thing? Same with all tyres and wheels

[charlesr]

There's nothing to stop you paying for your own assessment. If it disagrees, you don't even have to make a claim if you don't want to. You might have to pay for the insurer assessment too though. Until works starts it's still yours to do with what you want. I'm not 100% certain of this but....

[vanpeebles]

Don't claim it on the insurance and just fix it yourself. If it's classed as a cat d that would affect resale value too.

[charlesr]

I spun a car over a half-height kerb at 70mph after a blowout and all I needed was wheel refurb. The wheel never trued properly, so could have done with replacing but the wobble was only noticeable above 80mph anyway, so I never bothered.

[charlesr]

Also, remember, these people are your paid servants. They work for you. Get down there and demand to be shown the damage with your 3rd party assessor alongside. I think the AA provide this sort of service.

[CMcK]

You can insist that the car is repair up to the full value of the car not just the usual 75% write off value. Don't let the insurers screw you around. And try somewhere like your nearest Nationwide for a repair quote as well.

[MartyG]

Someone ran into the back of my Civic Type-R earlier this week while I was stationary waiting at a level crossing. Moron. Was only slow speed and I couldn't see any damage, and as the barriers were coming up with no where to park up I let it go without getting any details. Turns out the bumper got scrapped which you could only spot getting at eye level.


He Hit the Car, bang bang. by MartyPGBT, on Flickr

Cost to repair? ?170.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda :/

[spooky]

Hello all again,

Thanks for all your words of advice! Well, the story so far is that the insurers have offered another ?500 bringing the total up to ?5100 because they didn't agree with the assessors report of pre-accident damage to the front left wing (which was just a small scratch that T-Cut would easily fix), which again makes me wonder about the legitimacy of the rest of the report (which I'm still waiting for my copy of).

So, I have until next week to decide whether to take the payout and find another car or withdraw the claim, take the car to someone I trust and have it dealt with myself. Obviously if I do that I have no car for a while and if the damage to the car really is that substantial then I'll be paying for repairs on top of the finance and possibly a hire car too. (I do a 250 mile round trip every day!)

I hate these bloody decisions...

Oh, I forgot to say the insurers have already marked it as a Cat D write off so it will show up on HPI checks etc., not that it bothers me as I intended to keep it and run it until it was dead.

[Shez]

You'd be surprised what damage can happen going rough shod down a bank. The assessment will take into account any damage no matter how slight (a dent in the exhaust for example) factor in full retail prices on the parts and the labour rates that body shops quote and 5k can be arrived at very quickly.

If you think about it, the insurance company and the garage are working to your best interest - I know I wouldn't want a car repaired and parts that have been damaged not being replaced. That is a recipe for disaster at a later date, and is the reason these assessments are so thorough.

The garage don't get to keep your car by the way, it will become the property of the insurance company, who in most cases move it on to a salvage yard for a lot less than the 5k you've been offered. Whoever then buys the car from the salvage yard will buy it with the cat d claim tagged to it.

More the issues for you though is the price they have offered not being enough? - Simply barter with your insurance company, they always start with a lowest offer. They'll move up if you hold your ground, and can hang it our for a few weeks.

[edit] we posted at the same time, there is no way your car is already a cat d write off, because the insurance haven't paid on it yet. Dunno where they are coming from with that line.

[spooky]

Hi Shez,

Thanks for the reply. To be honest, what you say does make sense and to be honest, I think my mindset has been the way it has from the start of this because of watching too much watchdog and rogue traders etc.,! It's kind of saddening to think that myself and many others immediately believe in this kind of situation that we are being ripped off or taken for a ride in some way. Part of my cynical and and suspicious attitude towards this whole event is due to an experience I had with a Toyota dealership in South London. I took the Yaris in because when it dropped from 2nd to 1st it felt like it was hitting a brick wall. They told me it was an ECU corruption so it just needed reprogramming. They had the car for over a week! I convinced the original dealership I bought it from in Wales to give them a call to find out what the issue was with the car. When they got back to me, they told me that the car had developed a known fault that was listed on the Toyota system as having to be dealt with immediately if found on any car. It wasn't a recall but was a priority repair. If I remember correctly, the intercooler was sucking the oil from the engine (not good) and with this the turbo was wrecked, the ECU had corrupted and also the semi auto box was screwed. It was all covered by the warranty but even when pressed, the London dealer was reluctant to reveal all the faults that had been repaired but eventually agreed to do a full print out of the works for me to keep for future reference. So, maybe you can see the reasoning behind my cynical and suspicious brain!

I have some time to think over the weekend, but I think it may be time to let it go. ?5100 is a fair deal I think considering the mileage, condition of the alloys etc., and is only ?200 short of a very similar car to mine. It wasn't in pristine condition but didn't have any dents, just general wear and tear of driving 1500 miles a week!

Anyway, I just want to again thank all of you that jumped in and replied, your words and advice have been a great help, as they have been in the past, hence my return to this forum!

Spooky

[Daragon]

Got my insurance down to ?170 for the year by going for one of those family multi car deals Got my renewal notice from Aviva last week and they charged ?317 so a decent saving this year for sure.

WTF are you insuring for ?170??????

A tank?