Crashed Car (pics added)

[Deany1986]

Hi all,

Spun my car on the way to knockhill today with a bit of damage. Guess i will need both front and rear clams, front passenger light, diffuser.

My insurance company got the car picked up with a low rider and arranged for it to go to Arnold Clark. I have however phoned them and said i dont want arnold clark to do the repairs so they have put a hold on the repairs (depending on cost and not a right off) and i will arrange for it to go to Murray Motors or SLS. Will have to give them a call tommorow.

Any advice from anyone is extremely welcome as i have never had to do anything like this before. Anyone know how much the clams cost?

What are my options, just get the garage to do quotes for the repairs and then let the insurance decide if they go ahead?

Cheers,

Kevin.

[tut]

Sorry to hear that Kevin. Where did it happen?

Clams are around £1500-£200K each plus VAT, so with the damage that you sustained, it could well be a write off.

tut

[Mike Scib]

You can send the car where ever you like its your choice!

I would be using either Steve Walker or Touch Ups in Glasgow!

Sorry to hear the bad news BTW, but at least your okay

[~ ~ Cal ~ ~]

Sorry to hear this......

Get several quotes in advance and dont always go with the suggested repairer. Having said that, you'll find some of these suggested garages are fine....

However, with the the sh*t weather of late these places will be choc-a-bloc with damaged cars ( wet roads, leaves etc) so you might want to play your cards right

Key for me was

a) speaking to the manager and letting the guys in the workshop know that you have a rough idea of what a decent repair job is ( i,e they'll likely up their game if you start talking about orange peel finishes and dogy lacquering) Suggest you say you've been stung in the past and are exceptionally keen to have a good job done.
b) when you collect the car have it chamois'd off and kep inside for inspection if it's wet
c) get agreement in advance for geometry settings by laser alignment ( if required)
d) your car is not silver ( hardest to match) so your paint job should be a little easier
e) if you play garages off one another and they know insurance are paying out you can try and wrangle things in your favour w.r.t your prefered repairer.

The bottom line is that no-one realy cares about the repair other then yourself. Onus on you is to be proactive and do the work that the insurers cannot be arsed doing.

Also take digital pics of the speedo so that you can ascertain if anyone has been raggin' the car

Good luck

Cal

p.s glad your still in one piece

[~ ~ Cal ~ ~]

excuse rank spelling - my wireless keyboard cannot keep up with my typing !

[Deany1986]

Tut, i was literally just 5 minutes from home going up the A719 and came round a corner and back end went, tried to control it and spun down the middle of the road then down the side of a hedge. Completely unexpected


Mike , I take it the people you suggested would be okay for identifying other damaged parts on the car or are they mainly bodywork? have a rough idea of whats damaged and will need replacing but obviously would be good for any other damage to be picked up on.


Cal, my problem with getting quotes would be knowing the extents of the damage without someone actually looking at the car. I mean i could list everything that i think will need replacing and do it that way, but dont want to have missed something that could be of great expense.

Is there a certain approximate cut off point in comparison to car value with insurers to when they will declare the car a write off?

For things like the wheel, and exhaust which i think is damaged i would have no bother sorting these things out.

If the car is not a right off, next concern going to be insuring it as will have lost 5 years no claims... that extra £140 does not seem like much now, though can only blame myself for that.

Also where is the petrol tank in the exige? Had either petrol or oil all over the road where i crashed. Thought it was petrol, though could well have been oil from taking a knock where the oil cooler is.

Was hard to actually get a good look at anything as car was half on one side of the road and it was pouring down, think i will have to take a trip into arnold clark tommorow and have a good look at the car.

Kevin

[Deany1986]

oh and thanks for the replies, much appreciated

[meatball]

Unlucky mate, glad you are okay!

Steve Walker is where I'd send it.....they can do the entire repair there.
B+C or SPS (roadboy on here) down south would be my next port of call if you don't like Steve Walker.
I think Tut is being conservative with his pricings of clams.

I imagine the cut off point is where the cost of repair is more than the value of the car?

Get the car inspected before you take the car away from whoever does the work.

Good luck.

[Deany1986]

Thanks meatball, will give a few places a call tommorow.

[Jacobite]

Hugs sorry to hrere of your accident thankfully your ok and the car can be repaired
Insurance repairs need to use new genuine parts and the price soon mounts up,
Steve Walker was about £3500 for a whole body spray on an S1 last summer ~ although the spray could be a wee bit less if the sills and doors are ok

[Mikie711]

Sorry to hear about your accident,cars can be repaired so long as your OK.

Your petrol tank is right behind you. It's behind the sloping panel directly behind the seats so unlikely it has been punctured. Much more likely to be oil from the oil coolers at the front of the car.
Clams for an S1 are £1400 + vat each so S2 front won't be much different but the Exige rear will be more. Write off price will be based on trade price and they will write it off sooner than you might think due in part to having a labour price to consider. i have in the past forced them to repair a car when we couldn't agree on a settlement figure, but that was fr a 3 day old car.

Good luck.

Mike

[Rich H]

Sucks, but glad you walked away.

[robin]

If you can get a settlement that allows you to buy a similar car in the current market I would take that in preference to the repair every time. With the repair you stand a good chance of getting a bad job and then you're left with the grief of getting it resolved - and in some cases they won't fix stuff that really is caused by the accident but will then fail later, leaving you to pick up the tab for it, or yet more arguments with the insurance company.

If you have a bunch of uninsured mods (trick suspension or engine upgrades), that might make me try harder for a repair.

I would get it to MMC first for a complete inspection of everything that needs replacing - I would guess they'll come up with a comprehensive list that's pretty much guaranteed to get it written off!

Cheers,
Robin

[jen]

Hey Kevin, for pricing up parts, I tend to use the Bell and Colville Website. http://www.bell-colvill.co.uk/LotusShop/Index.asp

Hope that gives you a better idea of what parts cost. Sit down when looking though, the prices can be quite scary!!

Jen

[Gourlay83]

Sorry to hear that I was not the only one to have a mis-hap today.

If it helps i was £2000 for my Paint Job (ONLY A MONTH AGO ) including some repair work. i would highly recomend the Repair Shop.

Anyhoo, not the end of the world. Get it fixed and get back out there , trying to tell myself the same.

Alan