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1980 Austin Princess


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Posted

Not the ideal outcome but fair play to you for keeping the old girl alive. Hope it goes well.

Posted

Someone, somewhere, must have a "Portapower" they can lend you....

Posted

Just goes to prove insurance company values for older cars are next to nothing - which in many cases is absolute nonsense,so unless you want a guaranteed valuation,and pay through the nose possibly for a policy,you have to run the risk of being insulted in the event of a claim.

 

At least the old girl will live to see the road once more,and so what if she's a bit wrinkled in a few places;once the panel works sorted,she will look fine again,and even nicer in purple :)

 

If a porta power isn't available,maybe some scissor jacks and poles might be a shite alternative

Posted

They do, Lankytim has already kindly offered and I shall be taking him up on said offer because I'd be a twat not to. With the connections I've been making after this incident I think I'm forming the BL Team.

Posted

I have a hubcap for a princess you can have too!

Posted

Yay! Hubcaps! Little known fact: I've always wanted to collect hubcaps but never have.

Posted
Yay! Hubcaps! Little known fact: I've always wanted to collect hubcaps but never have.

 

My suggestion? Collect some hubcaps.

Posted

If its cat B can you put it back on the road (apologies if this has already been covered).

 

Will it not have to be scrapped? Or can you put it through a test and put it on a new plate etc?

Posted

I have a spare pug 309 hub cap if that's any help at all.

Posted
If its cat B can you put it back on the road (apologies if this has already been covered).

 

Will it not have to be scrapped? Or can you put it through a test and put it on a new plate etc?

Cat B is spares only (Cat A is straight to the fragger, do not even lift the rear seats searching for loose change), Cat C is the first that can go back on the road, IIRC.

Posted

Yep,

Cat A, is do not pass go, do not collect £200, Go directly to Frag. Generally used for vehicles that are burnt out, or have met a very messy end. No parts can be removed, must be destroyed complete.

Cat B, is 'unfit for repair' so breaker only.

Cat C, can go back on road, may have sustained structural damage. Uneconomical to repair by insurer. VIC Check Required

Cat D, As above, but generally minor more cosmetic damage, may be economical to repair but potentially the insurance company wants no involvement. No VIC Required

Cat X, As above, minor damage, subject to an insurance claim. No Vic check, will not be on DVLA database as ever damaged.

 

So if your claim has gone through and it's been branded a CAT B, you can't put it back on the road.

Posted

My old Mk2 Fiesta was a Cat B, the insurance company told me to scrap it and made me return all my documention back to them, which was a right bugger as i had just repaired the car with parts of a scrapper that i had been given.

 

Anyway long and short of it is that you'll wouldn't be allowed to fix the Princess, how much have they offered you again?

Posted

It'll be CAT B if the claim goes through. I guess he won't be claiming, although make sure that you don't get stumped with a load of charges for recovery and storage by the 'repair centre' as they'll want that from someone, and if they can't get it from the insurance company, they'll want it from you!

 

 

Just re-read the thread, and is the chap you hit going to claim off your insurance? If so, I assume you'll have to put a claim in for his repairs, I doubt you'll be able to keep the princess out of the claim, so it will end up on a CAT B Regardless.

Posted

Valuation is bollocks.

 

Cost of repair is bollocks.

 

Insurance these days is an absolute joke. It's meant as protection. Instead it just lines the pockets of the company chairmen.

Posted

^ I don't think there is a way to physically agree with that more.

I'd hang off on the celebration VA, just incase the insurance slap a big fat Cat B on the Princess regardless of actual self claimage.

Fingers crossed they dont.

Posted

Its your car,and if you chose not to make a claim,I can't see how they can do anything to your car ( personal opinion only )

Posted

It kinda pains me to say it, but I'd be seriously thinking of taking the money and walking away. As said before there's still all kinds of unknowns waiting to bite you in the arse (storage fees, getting it home from the repairers, the other guys claim etc...).

 

Personally, I'd be pocketing the £500 and scouring eBay & Autotrader for something which tickles my mojo. If you've resigned yourself to not having the Princess on the road by Christmas and having to call in a bunch of favours to do it, why not look for an undamaged "project car" instead?

Posted

REALLY don't want to piss on your chips, VA, but if you take that car back and withdraw your claim, it is going to bite you on the arse.

 

The recovery agents will want paying for collection and storage. If there is no insurance claim, that responsibility will be yours. Those charges alone will be enough to write the car off. You will still have a claim against you for the third party damage, so your NCB and future premiums will be affected anyway. You will still need to pay for and go to the trouble of, repairing the Princess.

 

Hard hearted as it sounds, I know you like the car, but there are plenty more of them around. Let it go, take the money and use it to fund a Maestro. Then, when things are a bit brighter financially, start looking for another Princess.

Posted
Hard hearted as it sounds, I know you like the car, but there are plenty more of them around. Let it go, take the money and use it to fund a Maestro. Then, when things are a bit brighter financially, start looking for another Princess.

 

I didn't want to say it either, but the quote above makes a great deal of sense.

 

I know you can repair it VA, no worries in my mind about that, but with you working all hours of the day now when will you have the time to do so? Time and money are as valuable as each other.

Posted

I have always had the opinion that if I wreck one of my cars, or maybe even if someone else wrecks one of my cars, that the best thing that I can do is to call out the AA and tell them to recover it back to my house and leave it on the drive, probably with a cover on it to hide the mess. Then I can talk to repairers or whatever and collect quotes and decide whether to claim or not in my own time.

 

Is there a flaw in this plan?

 

Why did the insurance company declare it cat B ? surely that means that it is dangerous to repair. Would they have declared it cat B if it was a new luxury car worth £50000 ? surely the value of the car has no bearing on whether it is safe to repair or not. If it really is unsafe to repair then surely you are better to buy another one. If you can't find another one as nice for £500 then that's an argument for rejecting their £500 offer and demanding more.

 

Years ago I wrote off my 305 estate. The accident was my fault. They offered me way under the fair value for the car. I just collected a load of adds from autotrader and said that I had a right to similar replacement, and that I would take it to the ombudsman if I didn't get it. A couple of weeks later they gave me what I asked for. Then I bought the salvage back and got it repaired my a back street repairer. This car had also sat with an "approved repairer" for a week, whose yard was full of Porshes :roll:

 

This sounds like a very similar scenario to yours, except that this Cat A,B,C thing didn't exist back then. (don't think it did anyway)

Posted

Take the money and walk away from the sorry episode. Storage and recovery costs will be near enough four figures. The car had a good long life, and I think you should now find something else to lavish attention on. At the end of the day, you can go out armed with £1000 and buy a very good Princess - they are out there and they're not worth a lot.

 

Sounds contrite, but this is a fine lesson in why you should never run an interesting old car without an agreed value policy.

Posted
Well fuck.

 

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On the way to the MoT as well. Chap I ran into was an absolute gent about the incident, made sure I was okay, sorted out swapping of details and took photographs at the scene, didn't leave until he was sure I was okay and even let me borrow his 'phone to call my Dad. The woman in the taxi ahead of the chap was less considerate, claimed to have been hit by the van I hit (but no visible damage on the taxi) and even tried to get my policy number out of me after I got home. She also didn't give me any details (had to get them from the van owner) before driving off as quickly as possible.

 

Happily, apart from a bit of back pain around my shoulders, I'm fine. The car still drives just as beautifully as she did before the crash with one exception; there's a grinding noise at one point of lock on the driver's side. It's very likely I've written the Princess off, there's only a slim chance that I haven't if I'm realistic. If she does get written off it's a very sad end to what has been a very enjoyable car.

 

New to the forum, but plenty old enough to have experience in these matters. I am afraid you are right royally stuffed. The above is why. Your insurance company wont cancel the claim, if they do, you will be liable for all of the above, this is because they will already have paid out. That will not just be fixing your own car, but-

 

Fixing the guy you hit car

Fixing the taxi

Loss of earnings for vehicle off road (taxi)

Whiplash for young lady in taxi

Hire cars for all the above

Towing your car

Storing your car

 

Be very wary! An insurance company exists to make money, cancel the claim sir? no problem. THUD Invoice hits the doormat.

 

Tell them you will settle for a grand and then spend happy hours searching for a replacement Princess. For the love of God don't cancel the claim. You car is as good as gone.

Posted

:cry:

 

I don't like giving up. I don't like the thought of giving up on this car. More phone calls must happen I suppose, though getting them to actually understand why the figures offered are bullshit and that I can get the car repaired for much less than they're stating is proving impossible as they won't budge, no matter what I try to tell them.

Posted

I'd be trying to get them to explain why it's a Cat B too, while you're at it. I think they just don't want to have to insure it again, or that someone in charge once threw up in the back of a Princess whilst drunk and getting a lift home off of their mate's dad, who made them clean it up.

Posted

£2500 Isn't that off the mark for that kind of damage to be fair. The repair costs will include recovery, normally around £175 start off if the garage it's stored at picked it up them selves, probaly more if it was an outside firm. storage fees, £12-£15 pounds a day if it's outside, £25 indoors. Yard charge (ie physically moving it around the yard, that could just be the initial unloading and dumping in the corner, £40 min). Then the labour rate itself, if they're an insurance approved shop your looking at £35+ an hour minimum, probaly more if your down south (i'm west Lancashire, Merseyside border). The car Should be mounted and measured on a jig (though they wouldn't have the measurements for a princess, so would probaly just tug it with a dozer). Then factor in MET time: to strip off the gubbins. Panel time; the actual repair of the metal work, plus the repair of any second hand panels that you supply (even if it's not strictly needed they will claim for it) then there's paint prep, actual spraying, polishing after (plus they would undoubtedly need to get a paint rep in to colour match it, bearing in mind your colour won't be on a modern computerised scheme. And factoring in 30+ years of oxidisation) Then MET again, to refit it all and it'll need to be wheel aligned.

Your looking at probaly 30+ hours of labour all in min (that's the minimum they'd claim for).

I know this because we occasionaly do grey inports at work.

I had a friend in a similar situation a few years ago with a mint XR4X4, his solution was to buy back the salvage and use it as a donor for an absolute rotter, if memory serves the rotter was so bad the only thing left of it was the VIN plate and log book..................... :wink:

P.S RINGING CARS IS OBVIOUSLY ILLEGAL (no matter how unlikely you are to get caught).

Posted

Well the HLS donor does need all the bits that are good on mine and I've had another couple of offers from folk wanting to buy the whole car, or bits of it, off me... we shall see what happens I guess.

Posted
Years ago I wrote off my 305 estate. The accident was my fault. They offered me way under the fair value for the car. I just collected a load of adds from autotrader and said that I had a right to similar replacement, and that I would take it to the ombudsman if I didn't get it. A couple of weeks later they gave me what I asked for. Then I bought the salvage back and got it repaired my a back street repairer.

I did exactly the same thing with an MG Metro 20 years ago after it was hit by a Polo full of old ladies.

Posted

I think it is important that your liability to the other vehicles involved in the crash is protected. Those costs could easily be more than the cost to repair your Princess and the protection you have with the insurance policy most be retained.

 

Whether you choose to accept their valuation of the Princess/cost of repairs its crucial that you aren't lumbered with 3rd party costs. Insurance companies will try to limit their costs where they can and your costs are likely to be the ones that they can barter, so you need to demonstrate the realistic cost of buying another Princess on the open market - you may have to do a little research and take some recent historical examples.

 

When I was dealing with the claim on my Polo they can in with a valuation of €400 as a starting point, when I countered that this wasn't a credible offer they rapidly increased this to €800, I was able to direct them to comparable models on sale (age, condition, milage etc.) at this point they said that they would need to look into this further and call me back. Now at this point I did feel that maybe I had pushed it a little too far and perhaps they had been trying to see if I would blink first so unsurprisingly I did begin to squeak a bit! But as it happens they did call back around 15 minutes later and met my valuation.

 

It seems to me that along with ensuring that you retain protection against the 3rd party's costs you also need to be tough (which isn't easy) in negotiations with the assessors.

Posted

I wouldn't give up that easily;you would still have the right to but the 'salvage' back anyway wouldn't you ? PLus you could ask for money instead of repairs - lets face it,they will have to pay its assesment and storage fee's,so getting something back from you is going to actually save them somthing ( not much,but on paper it looks good ).If nothing else,you will get more money breaking it if it came to that sad end,or parts to create another one.

I would phone up the place she is at,and ask if you can take your car,as the insurance should be handling it;another option is to say you dispute the opinion of the assesment,and ask for a second opinion from a independant person/company.Maybe a local garage can put in a estimate for much less than the place who came up with the figures mentioned,and will help keep the Princess alive.

Posted

Tis a moot point at any rate because they've already cancelled my side of the claim and will only be paying out to the person/s I ran into. They're no longer liable for paying me anything, just ensuring I get my car back safely so I can store and then break or fix it. I never actually started a claim proper, I made that clear with them from the off, I just wanted them to assess whether or not the car was able to be repaired for safe use on the road - which they've assured me it is - and to then make a decision on putting a claim through once they gave me numbers, which they did and I rejected... and also requested to cancel the claim on the information they provided me with.

 

I did feel rather like I'd been bullied into scrapping the car which I think made me retaliate by telling them I want it back to fix it myself... in a way I suppose I shot myself in the foot there, but you live and learn and if there's a next time I at least have this experience to go back to as a point of reference. I could offer so many reasons and excuses for me doing things this way and, probably ,cocking up getting the best outcome but in all honesty I just want my car back so I can fix it, that has been my primary goal throughout.

 

I just have to wait on some answers now as I'm having to communicate via e-mail with the insurer and by extension the assessor as I my work hours clash with their work hours. Up until the actual paying out stage of this claim, it's all gone very smoothly and much in my favour, I think it lulled me into a false sense of security about the fate of my car.

 

But as I've said before, the goal now is to get the car home, incur no further costs, avoid a Category anything status on her and then either repair or break as the situation sees fit. I have free, dry, safe storage for an indefinite period thanks to having a garage at home otherwise I think it would have been an insurance pay out and a scrapped car.

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