MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Had the extremely dubious pleasure of having my* rear end re-arranged by a HGV on the M25 on Monday afternoon. V scary experience.
*Okay, that of my car.
My car is a very old Skoda Octavia VRS estate (natch!). 53-plate. I've owned it for at least ten years, and in that time it's been very good. It's done about 125,000 miles and has full service history and has always been serviced on time, and currently has on four pretty new tyres. I reckon even on a good day it's not going to worth more than £1,000, and the insurance company has already said irrespective of the cost of repair, owing to its age it will be written off. That would also attract an excess of £350.
Anyway I've had the first estimate for the cost of repair, which is £2,600. I'm going to get at least one other estimate, but I doubt it'll be substantially less.
I have seen a similar car up for sale for a little more than a grand from a back street dealer. I could go and buy that cash, which would leave me a bit out of pocket. If that's gone, I could also just buy something around the same price and hope it doesn't go bang.
I could then sell mine for scrap, but one of those online scrappers said it's worth £45. I doubt it'd be more than £250 at a very generous scrappy.
Should I a) repair b) buy a similarly priced car or c) buy a newer car.
As to c), we don't have masses of savings so a cash purchase is out. We'd need either to HP or lease - I don't like the idea of PCP as you seem to end up paying massively more. We can probably stretch to £15k if we really had to, but would prefer not - thinking between £5k and £10/11k. It'd need to be an estate, petrol, and preferably a decent engine. Newer VRSs are under consideration. Our mileage is tiny so a lease would be feasible.
So, c1) buy on HP (any recommendations?) or c2) lease something for a couple of years.
TL;DR - car ****ed and not worth owt, should I buy another one, something else or something more pricey.
this is down to the HGV insurance. Ring them up, get a hire car out of them to tide you over and they'll probably* pay out nice and quickly. No excess involved. You lose the hire car as soon as they pay out, so have some plan for something to drive then.
how badly damaged is the car? It might be that you can keep driving it with the dents etc just fine - get a pay out from the 3rd party insurance co, agree a cost to buy the salvage back (probably ~£100) and carry on as normal. Obviously doesn't apply if its completely knackered 🙂
Expect a bit of a fight over the value of the car - it might be a bit lower than you're expecting. its worth getting the glasses guide cost (if you can) to demonstrate the value you think it has
surely the HGV's insurance will pay so your excess won't featurethe insurance company has already said irrespective of the cost of repair, owing to its age it will be written off. That would also attract an excess of £350
We don't strictly need a hire car as we do have a second little runabout car - it's only for gigs (I need to move a drum kit and PA, hence the estate!), biking, and long distance etc we need the bigger car.
It drives fine (I think), it's just the tailgate which bore the brunt of the impact. Were it not for the fact that it won't shut properly (it wedges into the gap but won't lock, so I can't leave anything in the car) I probably would just get the t-cut out 😀
I'm fully expecting to be told it's worth a pack of chewing gum!
scaredypants - Member
the insurance company has already said irrespective of the cost of repair, owing to its age it will be written off. That would also attract an excess of £350
surely the HGV's insurance will pay so your excess won't feature
Well, if we opt to claim via our insurance first, it would, and they would recover from the HGV.
if it's literally just the tailgate then just get a spare from a breaker?
wwaswas - Member
if it's literally just the tailgate then just get a spare from a breaker?
Sadly it's not - I think the body shell around the rear has been slightly distorted by the impact, hence the lock not working.
If the tailgate won't shut properly, it's not necessarily just the tailgate though - it might be that the hole it fits into is now also a different shape, which is a slightly different matter regarding ease of repair...
Talk to HGV insurance company direct - they may offer you a settlement over the phone - you may be surprised - they will want to avoid any whiplash claim and also the costs from your insurance company making a claim on them.
You should get the cost of replacing your perfectly good car out of them.
ie- cost of similar car at retail from dealer in good condition.
I had a similar incident in February - within 3 hours a cheque was on its way from other insurance company.
if you're happy with driving round in a banger, a cheap option may be to bodge the boot with one of those external van locks - this sort of thing
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total cost to you, ~£150 (cost of salvage + locK) - you get a grand back from the insurer
A mate of mine just got paid £960 for a nail of an Almera so don't lose hope just yet, talk to the trucks insurers they'll sort you out, no excess required so you'll get all the cash to keep. Also, don't accept the first offer without shopping around for something similar as they'll try and pay you as little as possible for yours, but If it was well looked after and you had all the history for it then they should give you enough cash to get another like it.
Replacement wise, leases are very cheap, just been looking at a 330d for £290 pm. To buy one new with a loan you'd be looking at double that.
Getting a hire car and adding the cost to your claim is a good way of speeding up the process ime.
I would have thought you would fare well with it being a totally non fault accident and likely a commercial company looking to settle quietly.
don't forget as well as the replacement value of your car you have also suffered a fair bit of inconvenience.
I'm not saying ham it up over neck ache but certainly don't see your self short with the ball ache of sorting another car and having to bumble about in the spare car
How's your neck? Isn't the usual approach to sue for whiplash and spend the earnings on the M5 estate you always dreamed of?
Joking by the way! Glad you walked away from it, HGVs are heavy things.
I repaired a crash damaged car once, it was never the same again, I spent a fortune re-building it and shouldn't have bothered as it was crap anyway.
Good luck with whichever way you pitch!
I don't suppose you want to swap/sell your VRS wheels for my non VRS wheels??
I'll even drive to you if you're not too far from the south coast...
I want fancier wheels for my Octavia! If yours is going to the scrapper, then no point crushing nice wheels*
DrP
*as long as the tyres are OK and they're not scratched to buggary!
Internet sleuth DrP..you're in Bath*
Hmm..OK...maybe let me know about the wheel condition etc...
DrP
*You may also be IN the bath??
Sneaky DrP! 😉
Rear ended, HGV, boot won't shut
No way on this earth I'd want that car back....
Distortion to rear shell and possibly chassis, massive load absorbed through structural stuff.
Any option that saw it go to the scrappy for me.
Others of an engineering background may disagree but not sure I'd ever feel comfortable with it after that and to me that confidence in the structure and straightness of my car is important.
One other thing newer cars are really good on paper (went from 04 Mondeo to 4year old VW last year) but I'm not convinced that they are always as engaging.
If I didn't need respectable and practical wheels I'd be on B of your options (VRS estate or 3 series maybe).
Your description along with repair quote of £2600 says to me that the shell is fine. You start pricing up all new parts and then put paint and labour on top and it comes to a lot of money very quickly.
Take a peek at the roof, under the load area carpet and at the panel gaps round the back of the rear doors, any shell distortion should show up there.
Personally I'd buy it back and fix it yourself if that's possible. I always look at buying another car as buying a ton of unknown maintenance and new potential problems.
Or, buy a good, clean salvage Octavia the same colour with light front end or side damage and use the bits off yours to fix it..
Off to local backstreet bodyshop today to see what the options are, but not especially hopeful...
nwmlarge - Member
I would have thought you would fare well with it being a totally non fault accident and likely a commercial company looking to settle quietly.
Hmmm, I think that depends on the company, I had my rear quarter panel adjusted by an HGV attempting and failing to turn around in my road, luckily I saw it and ran out and caught him before he could drive off (cheeky **** - 'i was just going to find the owner', yeah chinny reckon fatso, that's why i had to stand in front of you to get you to stop then?)
Anyway long story short third party did everything possible to delay the claim, refusing to answer the phone, pretending letters had been lost, querying the engineers report, refusing to pay hire car costs, etc and this was a 100% fault claim for them. I wasn't even in my ****ing car, it was parked! Had to get an accident management company involved in the end. 😡