Crashed! Rear Ended

[Holdfast]

Yesterday, some old lady ran up the rear end of my VL

Crikey! I'm a bit cranky but need some suggestions of what to do.

It's insured but the insurance is less than the cost of the repairs.

Quoted cost for repairs = $4500

Car insured for $2950

I reckon I could fix it for about $350 and do a pretty good job myself.


My question to you guys is what should I do? Take the cash and buy another VL?

Take the cash, and then try to pick the car up at the auctions and then fix it or;

scrape a fe more dollars together for another model?

Any comments, or ideas are very welcome.


I didn't loose my no-claim bonus or have to pay an excess

[Shane1989]

I would try fixing it up enough to were you could scrape by without being defectable. Use the insurance money to fix everything major to get it back on the road, then worry about the little things. But its up to you, your money, your car, your life mate.

[JD]

get her to foot the whole bill!

[Sabby]

would you be able to get a picture?
4500 sounds like it must have been quite a hit
sorry to here

[shaggerz]

if she was in the wrong, you should have the choice of repair or write off as her insurer will cover it (unless she was uninsured... god forbid). If it was me, I would rather avoid the hassle and just get it repaired. But you could possibly make some money by asking them to pay you out and if you could keep the car, or pick it up at auction, as long as its not recorded as a non-repairable write off.

If you are very lucky, you could end up with $2950 cash and still have the car... do the repair yourself and you're laughing.

You'll have to talk with the involved insurers though to work out the best option.

[daron]

if she hit you she is in the rong more % than you and should be paying the full about to repair your car

[Pub247]

When someone rear ended my vk calais i got $3850 payout iand option of buying the car back for $350 which i did and sold it for parts totalling about a $1000. So you should get the option to buy it back

[Holdfast]

Ok, thanks for the great comments

I'll bung up an image soon

[Holdfast]

Crash Images

Here's the URL to the images. The size is about 56kb, just click the image for an enlargement.

I'd really appreciate if you guys could have a look.

I'm keen to have a crack at repairs but I don't want to tackle something that you professionals know is too big or has hidden complexities.

Thanks for taking the time to help me when I'm pretty down

http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Miscellaneous/

[Nobody Actually]

damn, mate, looks like she reamed you good. but depending on if you actually bent the chassis or not will determine how hard it'll be to repair.
it's up to you if you want to go down the same route i went with amy's vl after she wrote it off

[VRFURY]

i crashed my vl. sat her on the front lawn and brought a vt,

my vl is getting fixed by my boy friend lucky me cause every one seems to have vls lying around i got one given 2 me yay.
if it was me id try fix it. only cause i love vl's

[totq]

if she was in the wrong, you should have the choice of repair or write off as her insurer will cover it (unless she was uninsured... god forbid). If it was me, I would rather avoid the hassle and just get it repaired. But you could possibly make some money by asking them to pay you out and if you could keep the car, or pick it up at auction, as long as its not recorded as a non-repairable write off.

If you are very lucky, you could end up with $2950 cash and still have the car... do the repair yourself and you're laughing.

You'll have to talk with the involved insurers though to work out the best option.

I don't think it works that way.
If your car is insured for $2950....that means your "whole car" is worth $2950 to them, so if they write it off, that means they'll pay you $2950.....and they take your car.
In cases like this, they usually opt to write it off and pay you the insured value, $2950, then they chase up the old lady or her insurer for what they paid you.
Once this happens, you can then negotiate and "buy" your wrecked car back off your insurer instead of taking your chances of seeing it again at the auctions.

Insurance makes money out of us, not the other way round.

Holdfast, have you spoken to your insurer to know where you stand yet? Before posting on here?

[Holdfast]

totq

Yes, I've spoken to my Insurance company and asked about how the chain of events works. They said I could make them a written offer for the car; so because it's write off value is $2950 and say I offer them $500 bucks then they give me the car and $2450. I said I'd have to think about that and hence I've written to you guys.

This morning I went around to the person who rear ended me, they gave me the details of their insurance company, the claim number and their policy number. They said to me that they admitted guilt to their insurance company.

As I was leaving their premisses the husband laughed and said to his wife that she'd done a good job on my car. The laughing made me really cranky

Anyway, to cut a long story short these people with their new car and their big new home must of got a guilt complex when I said the damage caused was worth more than the car. Next thing I know there insurance company ring me.

I'm expecting a call at 3pm.

Thanks to you guys I can ask a few more questions but at the moment I feel like breaking heads (there heads) I've never been more insulted by these type of people. I mean why would you laugh at the damage

Here's what I'm thinking of doing? But I'd like your input too. I just need some additional suggestions so I can really make up my mind.

Because they were at fault and have comprehensive insurance surely they should fix the car even if it costs $5000, "right"? probably wrong.

If I didn't have insurance I could take them to the small claims court couldn't I to get my car fixed if say I had 2 or 3 quotes?

If they won't come to the party to fix my car then I'll get $2950 and no car.

If I offer not $500 bucks but $200 bucks my insurance company is still out in front because as you say they are reimbursed from the lady who caused the damage (her insurance company)

The "book value" isn't very much so if the car was repaired I'd still end up with a car worth a grand that's been repaired.

So; now I've even confused me self.

Suggestions??

[totq]

Holdfast, consider my comments...

This morning I went around to the person who rear ended me, they gave me the details of their insurance company, the claim number and their policy number. They said to me that they admitted guilt to their insurance company.
As I was leaving their premisses the husband laughed and said to his wife that she'd done a good job on my car. The laughing made me really cranky
Anyway, to cut a long story short these people with their new car and their big new home must of got a guilt complex when I said the damage caused was worth more than the car. Next thing I know there insurance company ring me. Thanks to you guys I can ask a few more questions but at the moment I feel like breaking heads (there heads) I've never been more insulted by these type of people. I mean why would you laugh at the damage

Try not to take this too hard buddy, i can understand your emotions, but try to resolve this with a cool head, you do so with anger and other people wont be as helpful to you (the couple or insurance people). Being older, their view of cars is different to you so don't get cranky at them, i say this because i have been at your age before and i am in similar position to them now, at the end of the day, its just a piece of metal replacable at any time, whereas you are not. There is no need for you to be in contact with them anyway if you are insured and have their rego and licence details, but if you do, try and be nice as they can make it harder if pssed them off.

Because they were at fault and have comprehensive insurance surely they should fix the car even if it costs $5000, "right"? probably wrong.
If I didn't have insurance I could take them to the small claims court couldn't I to get my car fixed if say I had 2 or 3 quotes?
If they won't come to the party to fix my car then I'll get $2950 and no car.

If you really love your car and want to keep it, and you are not at fault, just tell your insurer in no uncertain terms - you want your car fixed immediately. That means the old lady's insurer foots the bill, not yours.
I think you have the upper hand so stick to it.
You lose more if you take a write off payout.

[Holdfast]

totq

No worries, thanks for your comments and that of the other forum members.

I'm cool as a cucumber now and know exactly what to do.

Cheers

[Nobody Actually]

good luck mate

[Holdfast]

SlapNuts

I know your Luke's father, thanks for your help! That's one full-on hip thrust mate

I think I'm going to take the cash, maybe throw a few more dollars in for another VL.

Last year I rebuilt the gear box which has been a dream since I did, plus fixed the dizzy and replaced bits like the Power Transistor, Crank Angle Sensor and other bits and pieces.

I've also got a stack of very good spare parts which I'd hate to waste so even if I get a car that needs a new box I know how to rip one down and do most of the repairs.

[Sabby]

those pictures look sad
funny thing is, where ur towbar is, that wudda really done a fair bit of damage to the car behind you.
ive seen a crash where someone was hit from behind, was a VT with a tow bar,
VT= not a sratch ( seiorusly)
i think it was a celica and its engine was totaly f***ed
good luck with your car mate

[Nobody Actually]

that's what i was referring to earlier, amy wrote off the vl i gave her, so i kept the car, and bought another shell cheap, rebuilt the entire thing. took a while but she's happy with it. if you've got a good motor and trans, and don't want to loose them, this may be an option for you.

my 2c

[greenfoam]

I got offered a nice really good condition VP V6 at the wreckers today for 600 bucks still had rego almost till the end of this year and it was straight as. I think if you get 3 grand for the VL that's a winner. They wouldn't insure my VP 5 litre for more than 2900 so I just got third party. In the end the drive line is worth almost that much to me so it makes more sense to me to keep the car then I could go get a nice straight V6 VN-VS at the wreckers and I'm cruising again

[Nobody Actually]

^ exactly

[mag]

totq

No worries, thanks for your comments and that of the other forum members.

I'm cool as a cucumber now and know exactly what to do.

Cheers

It's a pain in the arse (no pun intended) had the same years ago with my VB, got hit up the rear hard enough to push me in to the car in front..

They paid me $1850 market value at the time less $500 to keep the car.
The car was in Top Cond except the faded paint on roof, boot and bonnet- Factory 2 tone paint job. Mags + straight gas + mod dizzy and velour interior.

I thought I could sell the wreck 4 $600-700 easy as I just put in a Brand new 3 core H/D rad + only a few months b4 a full reco Auto with trans cooler.
Couldn't sell it and in the end it went 4 $400 after spending $100 on adds

Now to add insult to injury I couldn't get a replacement VB with the same/similar features or condition for anything less than $2800-$3500

So if you have a car you love get it insured 4 an agreed amount or you'll be out of pocket even more 4 something that wasn't your fault + 2 months without a car to find something else

People should be paid 4 inconvenience too when ur just minding ur nose..

[Pub247]

I paid 1200 for my vk calais and spent 1200 on it getting it rwc and 600 on new tyres So $3500 pay out and most of the money i made back was from the brand new tyres seriously on 2 weeks old with mags and the rest someone bought the whole shell (for calais bits). If your gonna take the money buy the car back if it got good parts by a good shell and take all the good bits, if the tyres motor and box were good you'll save alot of money replacing them

[Holdfast]

The running gear is pretty good the motors done about 370, 000K never done hard work. (But you never know when she would die)

The guy I bought it off was my fatherinlaw and he had it from new. I'm no rev head (well sometimes but I'll wack her up through the gears) and replaced all the basic elec stuff as anyone would (CAS etc).

Bit of slop in the diff!

Has a bit of rust around the rear windscreen which leaks a bit of water into the boot.

Tyres are ok but just stock.

Could do with a new muffler.

Drivers seat isn't too flash.

Good radiator.

Maybe it would be wise to just to take the bucks.

I suppose I could take all the good elec items off her and replace with the old as most of them were ok anyway. At one stage I had a problem with the CAS but it was a rusty bearing in the dizzy that caused the problem. Ended up replacing lots of bits for the sake of a 6 buck dizzy bearing.

[Zuicider]

the damaged isnt that bad if u think about it. i had a 4x4 hit the side of my car at speed, the rear left fender light was paraelled to the side of the car, same kinda damaged to yours but from the side. noarrowly missed the mag wheel. and it only cost a grand to fix the body.