Crashed my classic, and the repairer can't be arsed, apparently.

[vulgalour]

Method developed and fine tuned in Mucking Fental.

[sierraman]

Bodyshops doing crash insurance stuff don't like getting involved with stuff that requires welding up rust ravaged floors to get the car in a suitable state to put right. Where on earth would they even find pattern wings and a bonnet for a Princess?

 

It's sad, I've been in your shoes but if you want to keep on with it you end up sorting out yourself

[captain_70s]

Method developed and fine tuned in Mucking Fental.

Holy Christ... If I tied the rear N/S bumper mount of the 1850 to the rear N/S of the 1300 I could fix BOTH OF THEM AT ONCE!

[richardmorris]

The two times that the 2cv has been involved in incidents ( struck by a Porsche and a hit and run) I have "kidnapped" the car and taken it to the local 2cv specialist and told the insurers where they can find the car and who we want to work on it. It may have taken longer ( according to the insurers) but it's been done properly and at a good cost. Unfortunately we did have to chase the insurers for payment to the specialist on the 2nd occasion - specialist is obviously a friend after twenty years and was reluctant to mention that they hadn't had the £1500 from the insurers after two months.

[Joey spud]

Off subject slightly but my work van (vw T5) got hit earlier....by a cricket ball.

 

I was driving past Sevenoaks cricket club when a fecking loud bang rang out,i pulled over to find a cricket ball sized dent (obviously) in the passenger door,

 

I went back to the ground and was getting ready to seriously cuss someone when the Head Honcho said ''Ah we heard that one hit you from the pavillion,don't worry we are fully insured''.

 

Turns out a fair few motors are hit during a season,if you are driving by your covered if you're parked up watching then you're not.

 

Still going to be a ball ache loosing the van while its fixed.

 

 

Oh and nice Princess by the way.

[forddeliveryboy]

Sad but true about the mentality of insurers and many bodyshops. If you haven't already. chain the car up so nobody can 'recover' it and in the meantime have a couple of real wedge specialists have a look. Don't send a single document anywhere or sign any form. If there's no structural or mechanical damage and the indicators work/can be made to, perhaps drive it to specialists to assess?

 

Insurers are proper bully boys when it comes to this sort of thing, you have to be incredibly strong-minded and resiliant to stand your ground. Once they understand you know what you're on about, they will probably hand over (as little as possible) cash. Remember it's your car, nobody else's.

 

I wonder if this was an 80s BMW 6 series if there would be the same attitude from business? Even if the agreed value was in the same ballpark. I reckon they see 'Austin Princess' and that's it...

[flat4alfa]

Besides, Dawn Porter's arse has sat right there and that makes it priceless

 

 

[oldcars]

Besides, Dawn Porter's arse has sat right there and that makes it priceless

 

 

Nice, are they MG zt seats?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I had two prangs on older cars.

 

One was a 730i where my pissed neighbour ploughed into the recently repaired rear 1/4. The car was insured for £2000 and the repair cost at BMW was £3300. They wrote it off and I retained the salvage for £450 iirc. I had it repaired locally for £350 with some very skilled panel beating and a skim of filler plus a good used tail light. I had a new 320d courtesy car for 4 weeks. I had to send the logbook and MOT to DVLA, and I had to re MOT it before I took it for a VIC test. The V5 is now marked as 'previously total loss' but I don't give a shit as I'm not selling it.

The car was taken to the local BMW dealership body shop - at the time I had no off road storage, and I knew the guys there very well so I knew it was safe and IO had the option of getting it out of there if there was a sniff of a Copart lorry.

 

 

The second was a regular fully comp shunt in my 318Ti where some tit in an old P reg Mondeo pulled out on me. I kept the car in my workshop and the assessor came out and inspected it. Based on this, they wrote it off and offered me £700 on the basis that it would cost me that to replace it. They did not want the salvage - the car was only worth £100 in a Copart auction and not worth collecting, storing and auctioning. The assessor told me I was doing them a favour by keeping it.

 

 

So:

 

- Get an assessor out. he will see the car is a cherished minter and not the usual tatty junk the bloke on thew phone thinks it is.

 

- Do NOT let the car out of your sight.  Put a note in the screen saying that the car is not to be moved without your permission.

 

- Knowing the car will cost $$$$$ to fix, get them to give you a £2-3000 payout and keep the car. They may or may not want the V5 and MOT. 

 

- Then find a GOOD body shop to repair it. Depending on where you are I can suggest a few good places who will take some pride in fixing it.

[rovamota]

Nice, are they MG zt seats?

They're Rover 800 Vitesse Recaro's. I fitted them about 10 years ago. 

 

An engineer is coming to view it on Tuesday and I've already told my insurers I intend to repair it in any case. 

 

Have to laugh at the bullshit in the policy booklet. 'We know your classic car is cherished by you and we will do everything we can to make any claim as smooth and pain free as possible and to get the car returned to you as fast as we can'.

 

What it should say is a simple phone call and we'll get the old nail dragged away for you...

 

Kev.

[trigger]

Oh god I've just had a moment over Dawn Porter in a Princess!.

 

Have you told the insurance company that you want the keep the car and are wiling to carry out the work yourself?, that's what I done when Mrs Trigs Starlet got hit, they asked how much I'd think it would cost me to fix, I gave a price and they agreed to sent a cheque to me the next day for that amount minus my excess.

[rovamota]

I have indicated that to the insurers, yes as I'm sure the engineer  will see it's just a matter of cutting off the wing and front end and welding new ones on. Hopefully that's what they'll do as I'm sure they'd rather give me £1200 to fix it than a £3000 payout. In the old days it would have been a no-brainer fix. 

 

I reckon the panels will cost about £500 (I have most of them already), the welding about £250 (our welder charges £18.00 an hour) and around £300 to paint it.

 

So it'll look something like this...

 

 

[Pillock]

This is looking hopeful, good work. 

It's a shame the insurers are so crap, but every ounce of an insurers being seems to be geared towards making life shit for someone. I've been told they get kickbacks from various bodyshops so that's why they're so eager to get the car there, yet the bodyshop can't be bothered? Madness.

[Squire_Dawson]

Just beat it all out best you can and drive it around as it would've been circa 1992.

[fordperv]

^coat hanger aerial, red oxide wheel archs..... Council estate Classy

[flat4alfa]

Glorious tide-mark required.

[vulgalour]

Excuse me, I'm already doing all of those things.  Rovamota is the guy with the nice looking cars.

[fordperv]

And that's why we love you vulg

[dollywobbler]

I'm going to sort-of stick up for insurers. When my 2CV got thumped up the arse, my insurer immediately covered the recovery to get the car back to my house, the recovery to then get it to a specialist of my choice and provided a courtesy car. Absolutely no hassle at all. 

 

That is until the chap who hit me's insurance company decided to quibble about my £150 excess - which naturally I did want to pay. Two weeks of hire car, £2000 of 2CV repairs and all the recovery costs, no problem. But we ended up in court over my excess! In sodding Derbyshire. There was no case to answer, and I did get my money (and all subsequent costs from going to court) refunded. The stupidity of the various legal teams astounded me. My little prang must have ended up costing a fortune!

[fordperv]

I don't think the grump here is the insurance company, its the trained monkeys that they call repairers who can't be arsed to do their job

[rovamota]

Started work on my bent wedge this evening whilst my insurers decide what they're going to pay for. I pulled out as much as I could with a ratchet strap tied to my other car. 

 

 

Now with the bumper and lights removed I can set about removing the front wing and lower panel, which is well and truly knackered!

 

[purplebargeken]

It's always good to make such a start and be clearer about what is needed. You will get there mate

 

Whereabouts are you?

[rovamota]

Cheers. I'm in Southampton.

[Ben_O]

did you pull with the other car?

[lisbon_road]

Good to see some progress.  I am in Southampton too, and have painting/panel beating contacts if can help - PM me if of interest.

 

I like the attitude.  Just fix it.  I would be doing the same.  

[Taff]

Cheers. I'm in Southampton.

 

I learnt to drive in a wedge.  I can come down and give you a hand if you want

[vulgalour]

I hope you used another Princess with the ratchet strap, that would be satisfying.

[Bren]

Stand in front of it and say "show me".

 

It may straighten itself out.

 

Like Christine.

[Bren]

Besides, Dawn Porter's arse has sat right there and that makes it priceless

 

 

Do you know her? Do you think she'll sit in the back of my SD1?

[jakebullet]

Do you know her? Do you think she'll sit on my face?

 

FTFY