After reading all of your replies we had decided to take the plunge and buy a second hand caravan. We had originally thought having the Toyota AND a caravan was greedy but weighed up pros and cons and it seemed Granvia would be ideal for towing instead of spending money on upgrading the car.
This seemed the most economical way to get started at the moment.
We set off, brochures in hand, to choose and see about prices. We went in the Granvia so we felt "in the zone" and also to get advice and match it up with a suitable weight caravan and sort out a tow bar.
Was just commenting to OH that it could all do with a bit of a clean after our birthday day out for our daughter's 30th birthday last week. We stopped at a crossroads and BANG a Curry's delivery lorry drove straight into the back of us. Broken rear lights, dented rear door and side panel and bit of cosmetic damage to the fiamma box on the back which we had bought from ebay and driven 60 miles to fetch!
The driver was completely indifferent. No apology. Took an hour to sort all the insurance reporting out and we arrived looking for our "new" caravan with our poor dented Granvia. It came all the way from Japan, is 15 years old and in good nick only to be damaged by Curry's delivery van 5 minutes from our house!!
As my brother said, its not the first curry to do damage to a rear end!!
Seriously worried now that the insurance garage will quote something ridiculous for the repairs and our van will be written off because it is 15 years old.......
Everything is on hold now....No good getting a caravan yet because if the camper is written off we have nothing to tow it with...............
I had an older astra and an attempted break in was made outside my house. The door lock was broken and the ignition keyhole but had immobiliser so unable to drive it away. The insurance company wrote it off!! Same baloney about needing complete new door, respray etc and as it was robbery couldn't confirm it was safe to drive if joy riders had been in it!! It hadn't moved of the drive it had an immobiliser!! My dad checked it all out and would have cost£5 for new parts from the scrap yard... I could have lived with the scratches on the door.
The denting in our Granvia has affected the back door and side panel so I hope the garage don't say it needs whole new parts its beyond economical repair.
Grateful no-one was hurt, worse accidents have happened I certainly know believe me.
Its so disappointing but I guess that's life!! As my son used to say S**T happens mum!
How sickening. If it helps, our Zafira was rear end shunted by a BT van. BT's take on it was that this kind of thing happens all the time and they couldn't do enough for us. Our Zafira was much newer than your Granvia tho.
What have your insurance people said? Hope it's the right thing! .
Mmm that's an awkward one to predict and a conversation best had with your insurers.
Some insurance companies use only certain garages for ease of administration, while others will be happy for you to arrange quotes and return details.
I had someone drive into the back of my previous company car and one garage quoted in excess of 2k for repair, while another was able to repair for £600 (and the latter was a reputable nationwide repair centre, not a dodgy bodyshop).
Speak with your insurers to see what their preferred route is and don't just take their only option, negotiate for a repair if it's possible within vehicle costs. This was clearly not your fault too as shunted in the back, so fight any claim to scrap your vehicle.
Incidentally, the body shop I used (and have also had some minor work done throught too and found to be very good) was Nationwide Crash Repairs
Thanks. The insurance company just said they use two garages in our area and it will be collected next week for them to estimate the damage. I think I will do as you suggest and speak with them if possible. As long as it is safe, I have heard that small shunt accidents like this can do damage underneath that we can't see on first inspection??
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We can live with the dent being knocked out, filled and sprayed if possible. Having had a car written off before and know the route for buying it back and getting it re-registered (or whatever jargon they used) I know that's not an easy route.
Will just have to suck it and see and hope for the best possibly negotiated outcome.
we had a toyota hi ace mpv the modle before they turned it into the granvia we had a loon smach into teh side of us as he turned a bend and we thought thatw as it for our hyacinth the insurance did right her off but we bought her back off them at scrap value and took her to our macanic who did all the repars drivers door side pannle lights ect and respry for 1/2 the price the insurnce said it would cost we ended up £1000 bettre of in teh bank Hyacinth fixed and we were shock becoues as we stayed with the same insurers our policy didnt go up on her eather. so if the worst does happen it may be worth looking into its teh sceond time e have got a car that was ours wrighten off and got it back. the fisrt was a granada had a bump only needed new bumper and drivers seat seat as it has snaped in the they cost £110 in the scrap yard for the bits and hubbys mates sorted them. same insurance cost for it nest renwel aswell. its not actuly called a right off you can get the insurace to class it as somthing like non fesabel repar cant remeber the name it bascly means the cars reparabel but not worth the cost. a right off supposed to mean unreparabell. have a chat with them before the classifey it
------------- Dyslexic not stuped
It's nice to be important but its more important to be nice
I've had 4 cars written off by insurance companies each time I bought them back and repaired them for less than the insurance company paid me less the buy-back price, in fact two of them I actually made money on - the first, a Rover SD, cost me £450, the insurance gave me £900 and I bought it back for £50 and had to do no work on it - the second was a Shogun which the insurance paid me £1100 and I bought it back for £100 and had to buy a replacement back bumper.
As you have a Japanese grey import I would expect the insurance to write it off - because the parts have to come all the way from Japan (even though the UK parts will be the same). However the buy-back value is usually between 5% and 10% of what the insurance company think it is worth and what they will offer you, you should be able to get a bit more than their first offer
You will probably find that parts for your Granvia will be readily available on the secondhand market as no doubt breakers will specialise in breaking them so self repair is very feasible and cheap
------------- Caravanning is a way of getting a cheap holiday out of an expensive hobby
accident repair centres are over valuing vehicles so they don't get rite off. so they get the work. my brother as a X reg. ford focus 1.6 petrol that is on its last legs. that as been run into & the cost of repair was £1800. & they valued the car at £3000. So it was repaired.
There off there heads. I could pick 6 focuses up for £3000.
My brother would have been happy if they had give him £1000 & rite the car off. No wonder insurance prices have gone up.
Quote: Originally posted by gazza12345 on 12/9/2010
accident repair centres are over valuing vehicles so they don't get rite off. so they get the work. my brother as a X reg. ford focus 1.6 petrol that is on its last legs. that as been run into & the cost of repair was £1800. & they valued the car at £3000. So it was repaired. There off there heads. I could pick 6 focuses up for £3000. My brother would have been happy if they had give him £1000 & rite the car off. No wonder insurance prices have gone up.
Insurance premiums have "gone up" due to a few factors but mainly injury claims, whiplash etc, just watch the TV adds asking if you have had an accident in the last million years.
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Topic: Will they write it off after accident?
