project 1980 Austin Princess

[vulgalour]

@Trigger: it's been a consideration of mine to do that, it's true. I would far prefer to fix the Princess if at all possible, there's no real logic behind it behind heart ruling head, there's something special about the car that I just haven't had with any other I've driven.

[mouseflakes]

Lust stretch it all back into shape.

 

Yes, it can have that effect.

[vulgalour]

This is, I think, the conclusion to the Insurance episode.

 

Car valued at £500

Cost of repairs estimated at £2,500

Result of a claim going through is a Cat B write off, spares only.

 

So, instead I shan't be making a claim and will instead have to arrange collection of the car to get it back home and repair it myself, footing the bill out of my own rather shallow pockets. This is not ideal but I am not about to see this car scrapped for want of a little love by some people who know what they're doing. I'm not in a particularly great mood, even though I shall be getting my car back, I wish I hadn't gone through the insurance at all now because it's just delayed me getting the car fixed, but I had to be sure for my own peace of mind that it was repairable, which it is.

 

The final verdict on the actual damage is a slightly bent chassis leg and inner wing which can be massaged back into shape and some deformed panels which can be replaced or reshaped accordingly. The car *is* repairable and *is* possible to be made safe again, but it's going to cost time, effort and money which I don't presently have. Thankfully, I have the space to keep her warm and dry in the meantime and the people and means to put it all right again eventually. Won't be sorted this side of Christmas though, that's for sure.

[RedSparrow]

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

[Albert Ross]

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

[Morgan84]

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

[vulgalour]

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.

[Lankytim]

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

[vulgalour]

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

[Guest]

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

 

My suggestion? Collect some hubcaps.

[HillmanImp]

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?

[wackywacerwill]

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

[M'coli]

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.

[Volksy]

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.

[trigger]

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?

[Volksy]

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.

[MikeKnight]

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.

[rml2345]

^ 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.

[Morgan84]

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 )

[Cheggers]

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?

[sporty-shite]

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.

[MikeKnight]

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.

[dieselnutjob]

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

 

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)

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

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.

[crapcarcollector]

Well fuck.

 

 

 

 

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.

[vulgalour]

 

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.

[M'coli]

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.

[ShiteRider]

£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.....................

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

[vulgalour]

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.

[RichardMoss]

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.