FSO raped by Focus updated 22/3/13 Alfa Purchase

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

They wont come to my house to inspect it, "they don't do this", they want me to take it to a garage in Loughborough

 

Just make sure they confirm that "they don't do this" in writing. The FSA/Ombudsman/court are going to be thrilled about it!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

you can request they send an engineer to visit the car at your home, at the end of the day they must respect your wishes i would ask to speak to someone higher and put your point accross

 

Once again, DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM. Only communicate in writing.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Wow its like a tsunami of 'useful' advice, nowts happened yet and we're getting the FSA involved! Might as well send the details of the other driver to Interpol, Mossad etc as well.

[fordperv]

you can request they send an engineer to visit the car at your home, at the end of the day they must respect your wishes i would ask to speak to someone higher and put your point accross

 

Once again, DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM. Only communicate in writing.

 

im intrigued how come? is it the fact you have correspondance logged? ive never had a problem thats the reason i ask

[HillmanImp]

They wont come to my house to inspect it, "they don't do this", they want me to take it to a garage in Loughborough

 

Whilst I can see the car car drive, is it 'roadworthy'? Seems an odd request that. Its just been crashed into? What do they want you to do pay for a trailer etc or just drive it there with no rear lights?

[skattrd]

They wont come to my house to inspect it, "they don't do this", they want me to take it to a garage in Loughborough

 

Whilst I can see the car car drive, is it 'roadworthy'? Seems an odd request that. Its just been crashed into? What do they want you to do pay for a trailer etc or just drive it there with no rear lights?

 

Excellent point, I can't see how they can insist on you taking it somewhere when you're not sure if its safe to drive it.

[Angrydicky]

It would appear Swiftcover have a slightly different policy on viewing damaged vehicles to Admiral, which was the company I dealt with. If they need to see the car, then fair enough, but make it clear to them that the car will be going back on the road so you don't want any CAT markers against the vehicle (and definitely not CAT and they will have to send an engineer out to inspect it, it's not up to you to take it to a garage. I don't understand why they're being awkward, it's definitely in their interest to settle this way as it will be much cheaper for them.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

As far as I'm aware, you take it to a bodyshop for an estimate, but the assessor from the third party comes to you. That's what happened with me.

 

You will need an estimate, tricky because the car is obviously unroadworthy unless it can be lashed together. I can't see many bodyshops wanting to get involved with estimates. They'll see it as a worthless shitter with far less profit than putting wings and bumpers on Vectras.

[nigel bickle]

The Assessor will come to you. He's out on the road- makes no difference to him where the car is.

 

They shouldnt ask you to even consider driving a potyentially dangerous car.

 

Talking to them is fine. They may be sharp -but they wont act improperly over such a 'low value' mota.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

you can request they send an engineer to visit the car at your home, at the end of the day they must respect your wishes i would ask to speak to someone higher and put your point accross

 

Once again, DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM. Only communicate in writing.

 

im intrigued how come? is it the fact you have correspondance logged? ive never had a problem thats the reason i ask

 

Precisely because the conversation is logged, they either avoid coming up with bullshit like 'we don't do that', or, if they are stupid enough to do it, it gives you a clear advantage in future negotiations. "I suggest you refer to your e-mail of DD.MM.YY where you had been refusing my, in my view entirely reasonable, request to inspect the car on my own premises, a refusal which you later reneged on without offering me any form of apology or compensation for my trouble", and so on...

 

It's all about controlling the conversation, something that you are NEVER able to do with a call centre.

[trigger]

As the other have said, they will come to assess the car at a location that convenient to you, you don't go to them.

[Guest]

Thanks chaps, having stood my ground if I go to them I have "the pick of the appointments" if they come to me, they will come when they can.

[FredTransit]

tell them (in writing) the car has broken lights and is therefore unroadworthy, and you are happy to rent a trailer or get it recovered if they will pay the bill. Dont let em collect though in case you never see the car again.....

[RedSparrow]

Wow its like a tsunami of 'useful' advice, nowts happened yet and we're getting the FSA involved! Might as well send the details of the other driver to Interpol, Mossad etc as well.

 

Yeah I was waiting for the usual "go round and smash all the windows in their house and set fire to their kids, that'll teach 'em!!" style of helpful advice that is usually given on here.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Wow its like a tsunami of 'useful' advice, nowts happened yet and we're getting the FSA involved! Might as well send the details of the other driver to Interpol, Mossad etc as well.

 

Yeah I was waiting for the usual "go round and smash all the windows in their house and set fire to their kids, that'll teach 'em!!" style of helpful advice that is usually given on here.

 

The thing is that you do all that so that you don't have to involve the 'authorities'. Most people/organisations always tend to choose the path of least resistence so, by giving hints that you're prepared to invest a bit of time and effort into the matter, you make them more likely to cave in to your demands and look for a juicier target for their credit hire/'approved repairer'/write-it-off-quick practices.

[Guest]

So some good news, the insurance company paid out and I got to keep the Caro which will be getting repaired at some point. This left me with needing a new daily as none of my other cars were close to roadworthiness.

 

I tried to buy this gold beauty but to no avail, I rang the seller and tried to do a deal but no go so I bidded on the auction and was the winning bidder until the auction got pulled. I spoke to the seller and apparently it has issues and has goneback to the garage for more work. No sh*t its an FSO.

 

 

 

 

Therefore I decided to give up on this one, I looked at some more eastern bloc stuff but there wasn't really anything that caught my eye/was in budget/was roadworthy.

 

Then I thought about an Alfa, I had always fancied one and thought it would be nice to cross another off the bucket list. I had a look around on ebay, put on a bid and collected this today. A 1996 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 2.5.

 

I know they are an acquired taste and they aren't a "real" alfa etc but I enjoyed the run home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[skattrd]

I've said it before but I'll say it again .... Alfa 155's are brilliant handling cars. Nice purchase

"The org" is a very friendly and useful forum for any 155 owner - http://www.alfa155.org/forum/index.php

[Guest]

Yeah its a joy drive I've joined the forum thanks for the tip

[skattrd]

3.4 seconds investigation shows that you bought the car from a forum member over there ... http://www.alfa155.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=43843

[Guest]

Yeah AlfaChris, he had at least 5 at his place including a Q4

[RedSparrow]

Lovely Alfa! But are you still going to go for the LUXURY Polonez?

[Guest]

Lovely Alfa! But are you still going to go for the LUXURY Polonez?

 

Perhaps if the seller wants to actually sell

[TagoraSX]

Nice, an Alfa V6 of some sort is deffo on my want list.

[Split_Pin]

That Alfa looks a jolly fine piece of motor.

 

Bet it sounds glorious!

 

The FSO Ghia is lovely too, seller sounds a bit of a penis though.

[HillmanImp]

I do think that 90's Alfas are the 2nd worst looking Alfas after 80's Alfas but I would have any Alfas irrespective of what decade they came from. Sweet.

[dollywobbler]

So, in short "I couldn't buy a hideous gold FSO Caro, so I bought an Alfa Romeo V6." I love it. Same colour and engine (well, a bit smaller) as my 164. The noise is simply to die for. Not literally.

[STUNO]

Unfortunately benno may be cured of FSO, but I hope not !

[skattrd]

Unfortunately benno may be cured of FSO, but I hope not !

I was thinking along the same lines, after driving an Alfa V6 an FSO may lose it's appeal.

[Guest]

To be fair I'm not completely abandoning the cause, this 125p once owned by practical classics and a certain Mr.Bickle is joining the fleet at the end of May

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

Shirley, the FSO and Alfa owning experience won't be too dissimilar? Lots of rust, high likelihood of breakdown, dubious paint quality, panel gaps you can walk through and razor sharp styling. Certainly, they're a car whose ownership is quite singular.