Project Truck Has Been Bumped

[jims-terrano]

Bad news guys, someone ran into the back of the project truck this afternoon. Nobody has been hurt and we all walked away from it which is the most important thing of course.
The other vehicle looks a bit of a mess but I guess that is as much because of crumple zones.
The rear bumper is quite badly cracked and both rear lights are smashed. Think the tow bar took the worst of the impact but doesn't look damaged. Will have a closer look tomorrow when I remove all my personal belongings. I have had a phone call with the repairer who asked me to take photos and email them in as they are going to arrange to take it to a holding yard as due to it's age it will probably be written off. Obviously I'm going to try my hardest not to have it written off as I want the car and in fairness has just passed it's MOT with no advisories so is quite a respectable car.
Not sure if anyone else has any experience of this type of situation. I am worried if they write it off and I want to purchase it back they may force me to have some kind of VOSA test before insuring it again. A friend has actually advised me to call the insurance company and tell them that I don't want to pursue the claim and repair the vehicle myself.

[don simon]

Good to hear that everyone's OK. That's the main thing.
I have no experience of the workings of the modern write off situation, but would have thought that the majority of the write off cost was made up of labour rather than parts.

[terranosaurusdoug]

Banshee has some experience in this, he bought his old maverick back after that lorry hit it.

[zephyr]

Hi Jim, I'm so sorry to hear the accident. This thread (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4005727) may give you some idea.

[solarman216]

Good news that you are all OK, very bad news about the cherished motor, I cannot give meaningful advice about insurance write off's other than to say fight them all the way and hard, Rick

[emjaybee]

Aah bloke!

Sorry to hear about your motor.

Hope it comes out as you want.

Chin up.

:(

[Blocky10]

Glad you're all ok. Shame about the truck:(
Shirley it's your choice wether you claim or not for the repairs. It shouldn't affect the other claims, if any. I.e. personal injury etc.:nenau

[jims-terrano]

Good link zephyr:thumbs

Have spoken to my wife and we are both of the same opinion that we may simply cancel the claim as the car is far too good to be written off. We couldn't buy another Terrano in as good a condition very easily and certainly not what we would get from the insurance payment. I have a pair of rear lamps in the garage, will have to check but pretty sure I have. All we really need is a rear bumper probably the metal as well as plastic. I'm going to nip down to the garage that MOTd it and see if they'll just nip it up on a ramp and take a quick look for structural damage which I'm not really expecting as it was only low speed and hit square on. If I cancel the claim and take the hit which assuming won't be too much and the vehicle will not be a registered loss and cause future problems which to me is worth a lot.

So if anyone has a rear bumper or has bought one it would be handy to know price. If you would rather pm me instead of open post that'll be fine.

Cheers

[Blocky10]

Good man. If you had reversed into something and caused the same damage, you wouldn't have gave it a second thought. There's plenty of spares about. So out with the spanners :naughty

[Lazy-Ferret]

Sorry to hear that, glad you are all ok though...

When the lady hit our caravan up the rear, smashing it into the rear of my T2, I decided not to make a claim on my insurance, and instead did it via my "Uninsured losses" company... They will be the ones who get into contact with you to make a claim for compensation etc, and while you may not want to do that, you can still use them to recover the car damage costs.

I just let my insurance company know I was going to deal directly, and they were fine with it. I still have to declare it as an accident when I renew my insurance, but it is a no fault, no claim, so does not have a negative impact.

I got a second hand bumper and iron work from a guy breaking an T2 the same colour on Ebay, and I purchased a new towbar and Dixon Bate hitch as I didn't fancy having a second hand one of those with all the towing I do.

The only thing was, I could not charge for labour, but it only took a few hours to sort it all out.

Because you can't charge for labour, you just need to make sure you charge for all the bits... so you need er... "receipts" for all the bits you er... "buy"

I er "found" receipts for..

Plastic bumper cover
Metal bumper and mounts.
Plastic bumper side clips
New Bumper bolts
Number plate bracket
Number plate
Rear Lights
New Bulbs
Towing Sockets
Towing socket fixing screws and grommet
Towing Socket metal bracket
multi core Cable
Towbar Bracket
Towbar Hitch
Stabiliser bracket

You get the idea...

[terranosaurusdoug]

Beware, rear bumpers ain't cheap.

[jims-terrano]

A bit of progress made today. Called the insurance company and told them I'm not continuing the claim which they are ok with and the chap agreed that at least it wont be classed as a write off now either. He did say that I could continue and probably buy it back but I'd rather go down this route. My son has removed the bumper for me today and all looks fine. All being well sourced a rear bumper so fingers crossed.
Once the bumper arrives I could just throw it back together but decided to take this opportunity to give the rear end a good clean and treatment. Was going to remove the bumper to run towbar wires and reverse camera wires too.

[Blocky10]

Great news. :thumbs

[zippy656]

Beware, rear bumpers ain't cheap.

See Rick. He's cheaper than Nissan