Hi everyone, i have just joined as i need to call on your knowledge for help.
3 years ago i brought a lunar moonlight 5 berth as a starter van, 1990 but fully serviced and very good condition for £750. Since then ive rewired it, converted it all to led lighting, recarpeted,new decent dorma awning etc.
So my problem is this.... yesterday travelling from solihull to torquay enjoying the M5, 3 hrs in and not even at bristol!(took 9hrd in total) we cut through cheltnam and was rear ended by mr white van man who in fairness we all had to brake hard because of some idiot infront, i took his details. The back number plate section was flapping so.stopped in services to bodge a repair as kids was mortified at the thought of no seaside. Got to destination and then ive seen the extent of the damage, hes broken the rear wall inside i can see the bloody road through a 3 inch gap! The rear seats have been moved forward and the bathroom. I knocked it back into place but its still obviously damaged. He already text me appoligising again for the bump and hopefully has not ruined our holiday, he is also happy to pay for repairs.
Whats my next move??
Do i go through his insurance but what will they pay out if its a write off? As ok its a old van but was mint with a lot of work done to it. Or do i get quotes for repairs from someone?
Oh and it also slighly clunks a bit like the towing dampner is damaged or something?
Thanks
Quite simple, you phone your insurers and give them his details and let them get on with it, that's what you pay them for. Oh sorry, I take you have it insured.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
I am afraid by the description of the damage it will be a write off,even if it was a newer caravan. You should notify your insurance who will pay out the market value and they will then claim from the van driver. Hope you had insured it.
You ask what the next move is but you haven't mentioned whether you have your caravan insured or not which is the most important bit. It's a waste of time giving further information unless we know this so please provide the answer we need first.
I suspect the white van man did not know the extent of damage when he said he would pay!
Keep any evidence of his apology.
I hope it doesn't come to this but a friend of mine wrote his van off ,went over on its side. He advertised it on eBay and got a good price from someone in Poland.i don't know what they intended to do with it!
Quote: Originally posted by misterg on 20/8/2017
I meant to add that if it is written off by insurers you could buy it back from them and do repairs if possible.
Well we don't know yet if the OP did have the caravan insured till they come back with a reply so the advice of buying it back from the insurers is a little premature until we know the facts. If it wasn't insured then there's no case to answer to with regards of a write off or buying it back and the OP will have to fight the case against the third party insurance but like I said previously, until we know the facts we can't offer the correct course of action.
As the OP is a newbie it may be just another one hit wonder!
Thankyou everyone for your replies, been stuck entertaining kids as its raining in torquay lol
Right ok well it does not have its own insurance as with it only costing £750 to start with the premium was over 100quid per yr as the towbar is on the mrs car and so is her points and 2 accidents. Im a named driver so covered in that respect to tow.
The damage im guessing would probably be repairable as i work as a maintenance engineer so if its all looking like its going to screw me over( granted lesson learned about insurance) maybe i should throw a number at him and get what i can?
Maybe i need a caravan shop to take a butchers to give a clear direction to take?
To the OP: Thanks for replying as now we know the facts that your caravan isn't insured then advice can be given on how to proceed. Firstly, I can fully appreciate the reasons why you didn't insure it because there is little value in it and the cost of insurance didn't reflect the value which is quite understandable. Secondly, to make a claim against the third party you would have had to have taken all the neccessary details such as the driver's name and registration of vehicle and who the third party's insurance is. If you had the driver's phone number then that's a bonus providing that they co-operate in due course in order for you to proceed with the claim. You need to contact their insurance company with all the relevant details to which they should send an enginer to assess the damage. The engineer will report back to their claims department and they will decide what the repair damage will cost and if it exceeds the value of your caravan or not. If it does then they should make an offer respectively to settle the claim.
The cost of repairs are likely to far outweigh the vans value.
Sounds like its going to need a lot of work. I think the driver may change his mind when he finds out how much its going to cost to repair or replace.
You need to notify your insurance quickly because your likely going to need to claim. Not sure whether your car insurance will claim for the vans damage? Or whether they will say you need to claim that yourself?
If thats the case you need to claim from the van drivers insurance.
If the van was being towed at the time (which it was) then the car insurers will have an "interest" in this matter. Therefore I would be talking to them urgently.
Great thankyou. I spoke to the van driver earlier, again he was saying sorry for putting my family through this when we are on holiday. He said get someone to look at the damage and if its quite costly we will go through insurance, if not he will pay. Obviously i dont know what kind of figure he has in mind( he owns his own plastering business). I will get someone to look at it asap and quickly find out what route to take. My only gripe is what the market value would be for my van as yes its old but i have lots of history and spent alot time and money upgrading it, i cant find an idea of a price as they vary from 500-1200.
If that a rough figure on value Pete and if you consider the damage self repairable ,rather than scrapping the van then I would try a suck it and see approach tell the van driver it will cost £850 to repair the damage yourself I.e labour,time,materials but if it goes to insurance they will probably write it off and his insurance will probably rise to cover the full cost of the van . He might well consider that a worthwhile investment against his premiums
The car's insurance only covers third party and not damage to the caravan i.e. the caravan turns over or detaches, etc.,and causes damage or injury.
If the van driver decides he isn't going to pay, you will have a fight on your hands to get money out of them or their insurance company.
In addition, have you notified your insurance company of the accident even though the car was not damaged?
if you have legal expenses cover on your car insurance it's possible they might help. Otherwise you will have to attempt to diy claim off van drivers insurance. For insurance purposes your caravan will be a write off. They will want to know market value. This might be difficult as they will want evidence of similar vans being sold at what price. In the end you will need to negotiate. If you can screw £750 out of them you will be doing well.
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Topic: Caravan accident advice
