My sister in law had a bump in her car last week. Her insurance company gave her an AMG E63 Mercedes as a courtesy car. My brother thought I might like a go.
When the guys gave him the keys he said he had an E Class already so would be familiar with it. What he didn't tell them was that his E Class is a 250,000 diesel estate with duct tape covering rust holes in the wings.
The AMG was something of a culture shock for the retrogrouch McMoonter bros. No gear lever was the first hurdle. Then we worked out how the flappy paddles worked. For a big car it handled like a Mini. We didn't go especially fast but Jeez Louise, the acceleration was fantastic. I wanted to see under the bonnet, but we couldn't find the release catch.
How owners of modern cars can preserve their driving licenses is a mystery. Modern cars are bloody amazing.
I can't be alone seeing CynicAls life in cars thread where folks have gone from Minis to M3s
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just like everyone's "car outside house" pic isn't it? 0)
My Dads got one ,they'll pass anything bar a petrol station !...& rear tyres ... Don't even go there .. Horrific. Great car tho,that exhaust !..
There are modern cars and there are modern cars. A nice 120bhp diesel is a big change from a 250k car.
An E63 is +£85k a +500bhp/500lb/ft 5.5l twin turbo. Not exactly an ordinary modern car!
The bonnet release is in the right hand side of the drivers footwell and the bonnet release to the left of the centre of the grill in the first gap down.
She got that as a courtesy car? What was the bump in?
How owners of modern cars can preserve their driving licenses is a mystery. Modern cars are bloody amazing.
Not all modern cars are bloody amazing, my parents own one of these , Suzuki Alto
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Give me my 30 yr old Golf Gti any day,
I had an E250 as a courtesy car - twin supercharger and all that. Very nice but I didn't dare drive it much as it only 1000 miles on the clock and I was scared of scratching it! Plus the sub 20mpg when you boot it. Oh and I had to get on Google before I even drove it to find out how the handbrake worked!!
She got that as a courtesy car? What was the bump in?
Here's the crazy thing, her car is a Mini Cooper. She has a good job though.
just like everyone's "car outside house" pic isn't it? 0)
My brother lives a door or two down, it was the only parking space I could find.
Who the hell hands out one of those as a courtesy car!
McMoonter brothers earlier.
What'll it do? Dinnae ken, I chickened out at 87. Shall we give her another run?
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My brother lives a door or two down, it was the only parking space I could find.
Cool, your brother lives 2 doors down from Colditz, Boss!
She got that as a courtesy car? What was the bump in?
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Or
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Bregante, have you met my brother?
The garage loaned me a BMW R1200GS when I took my F800GS in the other week - oh my flipping eck that thing was fast!!
Huge amount of torque in any gear. I've driven fast cars before; special Subarus, Porsches, a Lotus but none of them were like that bike...
Rachel
It does seem mad to get something like that as a courtesy car. Surely there must be some kind of Mercedes sponsorship involved, in a bid to get you to buy one? Seems to be working on McMoonter!
I hate to break it to you but I bet £10 that's NOT a courtesy car. Thats a hire car, that someone, the hirer, ie your missus, has signed that she accepts the charges. They will be about £250+ a day.
Thats a car from an Accident management Company, the vultures who add the £kkkk's to all our premiums. They just turned say a £2k claim, to a £5 claim, minimum. Bet it got hired out on a friday too - just to maximise the time in for repairs.
Hopefully, given the age of the vehicle you have in for repair, the insurers will dispute the charges. The supplier hire car company (and as it's a Merc, probably a bunch of pond floating scum called Accident Exchange, will be left well out of pocket. (I think they also have BMW and Mini signed up, in a back handed "you buy the cars from us, we'll pass the referrals, saving us the cost of a courtesey fleet, and gouging the insurance industry for it instead".
I bet it was a "non fault" accident. Had it been fault, you'd have got a Corsa.
Of course, I might be wrong, but almost certainly no insurance company gives these out to fault victims. I'd check your "credit hire" documents carefully. If it's disputed, you may have to go to court to give evidence you were aware of the charges, demanded like for like hire and state your reasons.
But AMC's dont tell people this at the outset - like claims for whiplash from Claims Management companies - "It wont end up in court", as the truth is bad for the business model.
I hope an accident management company is not involved...
Edit: too slow, as above, apart from I believe they can come after the 'hirer' personally for the costs if the insurance company refuses to pay.
And on that positive note.... :-/
I hate to break it to you but I bet £10 that's NOT a courtesy car. Thats a hire car, that someone, the hirer, ie your missus, has signed that she accepts the charges. They will be about £250+ a day.Thats a car from an Accident management Company, the vultures who add the £kkkk's to all our premiums. They just turned say a £2k claim, to a £5 claim, minimum. Bet it got hired out on a friday too - just to maximise the time in for repairs.
Hopefully, given the age of the vehicle you have in for repair, the insurers will dispute the charges. The supplier hire car company (and as it's a Merc, probably a bunch of pond floating scum called Accident Exchange, will be left well out of pocket. (I think they also have BMW and Mini signed up, in a back handed "you buy the cars from us, we'll pass the referrals, saving us the cost of a courtesey fleet, and gouging the insurance industry for it instead".
I bet it was a "non fault" accident. Had it been fault, you'd have got a Corsa.
Of course, I might be wrong, but almost certainly no insurance company gives these out to fault victims. I'd check your "credit hire" documents carefully. If it's disputed, you may have to go to court to give evidence you were aware of the charges, demanded like for like hire and state your reasons.
But AMC's dont tell people this at the outset - like claims for whiplash from Claims Management companies - "It wont end up in court", as the truth is bad for the business model.
Forwards this double quick to my bro. All of the above probably apply.
We were given a Ford Galaxy as a car when a neighbour smashed into our Touran.
When the Touran died this year, we bought a Galaxy on the strength of that week with it.
We only got it as the bump was a Friday and it was the only car available.
I have just had the modern car experience.
After 10 years my Volvo S80 was getting creakier than me and had started leaking (I haven't 🙂 ), so I bought another one this weekend. I've twice nearly rammed the car in front in traffic because the pickup is so much better and it has barely used any fuel in 300 miles.
Only problem, I don't like it as much as the old one. My wife is already laying down rules about putting bikes and/or our enormous slobber hound in the back.
Time for me to go shopping for a van again.
I wonder what the modern van experience is like... 🙂
I recently went from a 12 year old 147 to a 2014 V6 dadwagon.
it' s completely silent. amazing.
I can also send rude text messages to it and it reads them out.
Used to own a Vauxhall Nova in my car driving days. My missus has a 2013 Vauxhall Corsa SE Auto and its so much better than Vauxhalls of old. Comfy and quiet. Probably upgrade. to a 2.0 diesel Astra Next year. I enjoy driving it. Much prefer my motorbike though.
Mate has just bought a brand new Audi A3 and that's lovely to drive, for a 2.0 litre diesel it bloody shifts.
I think Jujuuk68 is right. I had a non-fault accident and got a fancy "courtesy" car, though it was a brand new top-spec Passat estate. My car was worth 1200 quid, the car that crashed into mind worth maybe 500 quid. I had it for nearly a month. Hire bill was 1000's. Also pestered by injury lawyers for aagggeesss. Whole industry is crooked.
for that much cash, if it wasn't good I'd be seriously hacked off.It's not [i]just[/i] a modern car is it? it's a damn expensive shit hot beast of a merc. If that's what you consider a buyable modern car good luck to ya!
I'm currently caught up in a similar situation to that mentioned above, at fault drivers insurance company is refusing to pay up, court summons for non payment etc of hire fees has been issued, and that was for run of the mill cars- I had a Corsa while my Mondeo was in for repair, but needed an estate to get the family away on holiday, so given another Mondeo, so like for like- the insurance company is disputing the length of hire and class of replacement car.
There's no RIGHT to a replacement car apparently, and a duty to mitigate costs, it's a grey area and the insurance companies are (rightly in my view) fighting back at OTT cars hired out at exorbitant daily rates.
Dunno what sort of rarified stratosphere the OP inhabits but an E63 as a courtesy car is just insane.
Normal people seem to get fiestas or Astra's.
Motor Trend (youtube channel) dyno'd an E63 S last year. It was supposed to produce 577bhp and 590lb ft. They weren't exactly sure what it was producing at the crank but they guessed about 620bhp and 650lb ft of tourque. Totally insane. I've love a wagon version in brown.
Might be worth reading some of the other postsDunno what sort of rarified stratosphere the OP inhabits but an E63 as a courtesy car is just insane.
Might be worth reading some of the other posts
What sort of crazy talk is that???
Dunno what sort of rarified stratosphere the OP inhabits
I spent yesterday morning with a drill and some self tappers and pop rivets trying to fix the plastic inner wheel arch on my fourteen year old Citroen. Living the dream.
My sister in law has a good job, I expect that if she put in a whiplash claim her loss of earnings would make the courtesy car fee seem insignificant.
My brother is a lot like me though. As I said in my OP his daily ride is an S reg 250,000 mile E class estate with duct tape covering the rust holes in the wings. He's more practical than me.
His kids wiped their sun screen covered hands on the car a few years ago and it stripped the lacquer off, leaving hand print stencils.
Jon Taylor - Member
Might be worth reading some of the other posts
What sort of crazy talk is that???
Next someone will be posting to suggest we all address one another in a civil manner. And than [i]all[/i] the fun will be gone.
Dunno what sort of rarified stratosphere the OP inhabits but an E63 as a courtesy car is just insane.
Might be worth reading some of the other posts
and a duty to mitigate costs
I think that's the key part. Unfortunately the OP's sis-in-law is not exactly mitigating costs by hiring an E63. I'm afraid these accident management companies are as bent as a banana. J
A couple of years ago some plonka drove into the back of our car at a junction - clearly their fault. As soon as the insurance company heard it was a no-fault claim their accident management co. was on the phone trying to get me to sign up for an expensive replacement hire vehicle - obviously touting it as a valuable perk of my policy. My own car wasn't even off the road at the time, just a scraped rear bumper and damaged parking sensors. I did a bit of research and told them I didn't actually need a replacement car. They pestered a couple more times and then eventually gave up. I'm sure had I taken them up on the offer, I would have been hammered by the other party's insurance company down the line. When the car went in for repair I got a like-for-like courtesy car from the repairing garage, which obviously couldn't be disputed.
No doubt the OP's sis-in-law has been taken for a ride (sorry) here.
How do I get one of these unscrupulous companies to defraud me with a 600hp tyre smoking weapon and how much are they likely to charge? I fancy a trip to the Nurburgring.
Hertz are quoting £4200 a week.
This reminds me of when I bashed my old Clio (rotten, basic spec) when I was in uni back in '01. Accident was entirely my fault - I skidded on oil entering the uni car park and hit a Fiesta. Dropped the car off for repair and was told they had run out of cars in my range so I was stuck in the middle of an industrial estate at 6pm on a Friday evening. Phoned my insurance company as I had paid for a guaranteed car with my policy and was put on hold while they phoned the repairers. Lo and behold a car was suddenly available.
A BMW 5-Series 8)
Sometimes you just get lucky with the rental car!
😆 @ Jamie