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Not a happy Camper - Car Damage


gadgetgricey

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Been out to the car this morning (parked on the road) and noticed that there is damage to the rear passenger door AND WING........

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Now the problem is that I purchased the car with damage, quite a nice big dent on the drivers door, and a few scabs and nicks on other doors etc, but no damage to wings.

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The issue is that this (to me) is quite a rare spec Dame Edna  9-5 Aero Auto with sunroof and it falls just into the £325 tax bracket, . If it was registered a couple of weeks later its the £500+ bracket which limited the cars that were available somewhat.

I've never actively searched for a car before, and it took a good few months to locate this one and I had every intention of changing doors etc, and making it pristine as car has excellent service history and drives really nicely.

However that's all now gone for a pissing burton as there is damage to the wing.  If it had just been the door I would not even be bothered as is was due to be changed as it has a slight scuff already.

I'll probably take it to a bodyshop to get an idea of repair costs and then continue my search for one with good body panels and a knackered engine, but just so annoyed at the moment. 

Weirdly I almost bid on one from e-bay last night, but price went to high for one with issues with brakes and gearbox. (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/saab-9-5-2-3-turbo-Vector-AUTOMATIC-2006/293391953451)
Just trying to convince myself to keep it as it is and save the money,  but need to let off steam.

Vent over. :)

 

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To be honest I'd just leave it as it is, having a car with a few dents and scrapes means you worry less about new ones, I'm petrified of parking my car anywhere as it genuinely has not got a single scratch/ding/dent on it and its 14 years old, I don't think its possible to have nice things then park them on the road or in car parks without picking up some damage, every single car I've ever owned has been dinged by some careless twat :(

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Yep, I agree.  Non of my cars are perfect, but I normally never know what car I'll buy next. It just appears for sale.
This was from memory only the second car (of waay to many to mention)  that I looked for.

I think that's whats grieved me the most. 

As you say, lets spend the money on a 3" downpipe rather than bodywork :)

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Damn, that sucks - sorry to see that. It especially smarts as you can tell you look after it by how clean you keep it.

The door damage from when you bought it, might have been salvageable by paintless dent removal too. 

Im pretty much resigned to the fact my daily is going to get dinged up, but my nice Sunday driver ‘86 collector (which has one flaw on the front wing but is otherwise perfect bodily) brings me out in a cold sweat for the first few mins I park it and walk away. I can’t stop myself from a walk around it when I get back. Really takes the fun out of it sometimes. 

Good luck at the body shop if you decide to have it fixed. It’s a shame other people can’t own up to their mistakes.

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16 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

What is wrong with people these days? Ok it happens and you have an accident and leave a note under the wiper with phone number on it at least that used to happen.

Both my daughter's cars have been damaged on the road like this and no notes left it really is a total PIA.

 

Because

a) the victim insists on going through his insurance. And b) this puts up the offenders insurance. By more than the cost of a back street repair. For 5 years. And c) the victim has his car written off because he didn't understand that his car was worth fuck all and the repair of a slight scratch would cost the same as a new car. 

So the offender does everyone a favour. 

Right? 

Edited by New POD
Tongue firmly in cheek
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Sorry to hear this. One of our mechanics had his much loved car written off overnight, by his neighbour who ran off, but didn't realise that he might recognise the remains of their car in a nearby bush!  I had the Clio and 2cv vandalised repeatedly vandalised outside my workplace a few years back - residential road, outside flats so not in anyone's space. Clio was keyed end to end, tailgate keyed (separate incident), metal valve caps stolen, multiple punctures.  2cv had multiple punctures, broken n/s/r window and in the final straw - o/s headlight removed, smashed and glass spread under each tyre! All during the daytime, car was there c7:45 to c17:45 each day, so surely didn't affect most people? What really pissed me off, was that my cars were usually the oldest in the road, among a load of brand new cars owned by our dealership - get pissed off with them by all means, but why go for mine? I ended up getting a series of mopeds that I could keep in the grounds.  TLDR - some people are just scum.   

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14 minutes ago, New POD said:

Because

a) the victim insists on going through his insurance. And b) this puts up the offenders insurance. By more than the cost of a back street repair. For 5 years. And c) the victim has his car written off because he didn't understand that his car was worth fuck all and the repair of a slight scratch would cost the same as a new car. 

So the offender does everyone a favour. 

Right? 

Your tongue may be firmly in your cheek but you're right, to be honest. It's shitty to do this and then drive off without leaving a note/owning up, but it's sort of even worse to leave a note/own up and then to only be willing to do it through insurance, which - as you rightly say - would almost certainly have ended up with the Saab being written off, taken away with an inadequate payout, sold to Copart at a profit by the insurer, and sold at another profit in parts. Insurance is nothing more than legal theft IMO. (Possibly excepting specialist agreed value policies.)

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It's annoying, few years ago i had a corsa b.  it was spotless(not even bonnet edge rust) and had only done 40k. Came back to it in a near empty car park and the bumper was hanging down on the floor with a big scrape and crack on that corner. Obviously no note or anything. Found a bumper in the right colour that was almost as clean as mine was, then two months later it got keyed all down the passenger side, (like every car in the street had that night) managed to polish most of it out as mine wasn't as bad as some, then a little bit of touch up pen got it ok from a distance. For then some nob to knock the mirror off, it was electric, so it had dangled down on the wires and bounced off the door. Cracking the casing, smashing the glass and 4 deep scuffs on the door.

Glad i have a drive now!

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That's very frustrating. Whatever happens next, I hope you believe in karma or whatever other phrase it can go by. I do.

All my cars were bought with parking dings down each side and I'm glad as I dont worry about leaving them parked. My previous Astra Coupe was immaculate on the other hand and whilst it was nice, it was a pain in the arse too as I got nervous about leaving it in car parks.

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Aye, I'd just leave it. All my fleet pick up knocks, scuffs and key marks on a fairly regular basis. There is no point in trying to keep a daily car in decent nick these days.

The only car which actually had decent body/paintwork to begin with was my old Corsa D which was only a couple of years old, naturally it got keyed and a rear light smashed within a year. The Doloshite has gained a few door dents since purchase and the Acclaim has been scuffed on the bumpers and rear wing since I bought it.

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Rode my moped, Junior, into work this morning. Probably 20 minutes later one of the drivers comes in and says "Do you know that your moped is on it's side?"  So ,I go and check, is it a bad joke? Did I somehow not put the stand down properly? No, somebody has hit it (in the yard, almost against the building, so REALLY bad driving) and dragged it a few feet. Now reeks of petrol, large scrape all along one side, damaged grip.  It's not mint, and is a bit knackered, but it's not the point. Somebody hit it and didn't bother to say. I know that I wont get anything, there is no point going to insurance, but it was in pretty good condition and now it's not. Will it get me home? Not happy..

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Boils my piss. People just don't give a shit anymore - woe betide anyone I catch damaging my car, once or twice I've caught people opening doors onto mine in car parks and given them a bollocking.

Funny how people that in one breath see a daily driver and say it's just an old car, but they see a MK1 Escort and ooh over a "classic". They were all just old cars once, and it takes people keeping them nice for them to become classics.

Rant also over

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