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Insurance: to claim or not to claim?

A driver rear-ended my car while we (me and Mrs Prote) were stationary waiting to pull onto a roundabout  - it was a steady queue and I'd reached the roundabout.

Driver behind admitted she'd stalled and it lurched forward and we took pics, swapped contact details, etc. I told her she was driving too close which she agreed. She indicated we could settle cash. So, I got a smart repair quote for knocking out dent, filler, paint and new badges as the old badges would have to come off for spraying. The repair is £249 as she bent the swage line below the numberplate so isn't a simple pop out.

She's now saying she didn't think she damaged my car and it was already damaged, AND claims I deliberately stopped sharply (I didn't!) to make her hit me. She's also invented two witnesses who weren't there, (e.g. nobody stopped and the traffic whizzed past continually) saying they saw me brake check her! And also saying 'that's what bumpers are for' and that her car couldn't hit me above my bumper. My car was heavily laden and I assume my old car has a much lower ride height anyway than her 2017 Kuga. We have all this on WhatsApp messages.

WTF!!?

My car is low value (2001 Xsara Pigasshole with 76k) so I don't where claiming will get me financially, but I feel like punting in a claim just to see if I she'll lie on paper.

I have had protected no claims for donkey's years so premiums might not be too badly affected next year, and I only buy old cars anyway.

Wondered whether I should let it go, or notify my insurer, and see where it gets me?

Wondered what y'all think? Just push it through to see what happens?

Hmmmmm.....?

 

 

 

 

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Just reply that as it's a legal requirement under the road traffic act to report an accident, does she have the police reports otherwise you'll be expecting her to pay for the damage and your solicitors fees (assuming you did / can bluff that you did report it).

 

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You are probably contractually obliged to report this road accident to your insurer, which would turn into a claim. Time to check the small print and then have a chat with your insusrer.

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The alternative (and IMO better option here) is to make a direct claim against the other person's insurance as a 3rd party.  It's a bit more work, but it has major benefits:

  • You're not making a claim against your own insurance, so your no-claims bonus cannot be affected.
  • You get the full value of the claim back as there is no excess on a claim direct against another person's insurance
  • You'll likely get quicker responses, as the claim doesn't have to go through your insurer where they will only act as a "middle man"
  • Even if you tell your own insurer (which you should, as it's a incident relating to their insured risk) then they shouldn't put up your insurance.  If they try to, go elsewhere at renewal, where you can absolutely state you have not made any claims against your own insurance.

Even just threatening this to the other party might make her cough up the £250, as it will cost her a shittonne more than that over the next 5 years of her insurance.

Also, insurers (to some extent) take the fact that you've bothered to make the effort to make a 3rd party claim as a reasonably strong statement that you are not liable for the accident and it was the other person's fault.  TBH, if you were stationary and she hit you, that's pretty clear as to liability.

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On 2/26/2020 at 10:09 AM, Raff said:

Is it necessary to check new spark plug gaps for a 2008 car? Common wisdom seems to be that the right plugs should come pre-gapped, but every plug suggested for my car on online shiops seems to have a different gap from 0.8-1.35mm and there is conflicting workshop manual data online. Should I just go with whatever my old plugs have or trust whatever my local motorfactor or dealer gives me? I'm only changing them because as far as I know they're 85k miles and 11 years old, and I'm hoping it might improve MPG.

 

For completeness...

What dealer said: We will sell you pre-gapped plugs for £10 each. We can't tell you what the gap is meant to be.

What scruffy local motor factor said: I will sell you NGK plugs for £3 each. You don't need to gap them.

What the internet said: gap is 0.8mm, no wait 0.9mm, no it's 1.35mm, no you don't need to gap plugs in this day and age

What NGK said: gap should be 0.9mm and you will need to adjust the gap out of the box

What the old plugs (which look OEM) gaps were: 1mm

What I did: Bought the NGK plugs which came at .7 or .8mm and gapped them to .9mm. Drove 90 miles at the weekend and think I might be seeing an improvement.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Click your user name at the top right of the screen.
Click the "Account Settings" option in the drop-down list.
Click the "Signature" option on the left-hand side.
Click the right-hand end of the "View signatures?" button to turn signature display on.
Type your desired signature text into the edit box.
Click the "Save" button.
Et voila!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a few questions;

Firstly, what do these red french license plates signify? I heard they were for Diplomatic vehicles but they may have other uses:

timthumb.jpeg.05cab4f2466ef1e7ec216d1c5ece13a6.jpeg

Second of all, what are the differences between the MK2 Cortinas with the Red grill badges and those with the blue ones?

My third question is what differences are there between the Citroen DS and the lower-spec ID variants?

My last question is do the numbers in the DS model names refer to the engine sizes? Par example, the DS 19 has a 1.9L engine and the DS 23 has a 2.3L, etc.

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On 3/22/2020 at 5:53 AM, Austat said:

My last question is do the numbers in the DS model names refer to the engine sizes? Par example, the DS 19 has a 1.9L engine and the DS 23 has a 2.3L, etc.

Generally speaking yes, although some (but not all) cars badged 19 had an engine closer to 2.0 than 1.9 litres and similarly some DS21s had an engine closer to 2.2 than 2.1.

Citroenet is your friend for all things Citroen. 

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Red Cortina badges were on the Mk2 series 1 (1966 till summer 68) and the blue ones for series 2 cars until summer 1970.

Red badges were 2-piece with the top push-in bit being the bonnet release button. Meaning anyone could click open your bonnet. Later blue ones were just a one-piece badge but the style was very similar and the bonnet was opened by cable-pull under the dash (the plastic handle of which was usually broken).

Instead of 'C' badges the Uren Savage 3-litres had badges of their own.

 L5BFpY5.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, what do we think about this then?  BMW i3 being recovered after hitting a deer.  BMW driver not allowed in the recovery truck cab (due to C19) so has to sit in the crashed car while it's strapped to the truck's load deck and they happily zip along the motorway like that.  

https://www.facebook.com/StevenDundee/videos/10158063683810751/

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I assume that a decision has been made to allow that for social distancing reasons.  In some ways it seems risky but how many cars have fallen off the back of AA trucks?  The alternative would be a spate of recovery drivers becoming ill and keeping people at the side of busy roads for longer would probably be riskier.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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