Just involved in car accident - Pictures

[CanadaA3wales]

Well I have just written off my much loved golf where a third part came out of a side road in 2019.

As I always wanted a A3 I looked far and wide and got my baby I have now and have put a lot of money into it.

I was driving down a main road in a Tesco car park and some guy just pulled out into my path.

He kept saying I was going way over 5mph, not sure if I was. I always drive slow enough for pedestrians, but unsure about this 5mph law, I think that's just a guide as whilst the car park is private property, it is still covered under the RTA act. I have been working in car claims for 15 years, but never dealt with an argument about car parking speed. He will never be able to prove it either way, as if he knew I was speeding, he seen me, so why did he pull out? Cant prove speed unless I get prosecuted for speed at the same time of the accident, which never happens, or someone has CCTV showing I was doing a stupid speed, but I wasn't. Its not like I was going 50mph in a car park.

I need a new grill which I have just bought, and my insurance will not cover it as its a modification, so will have to go after the third party insurer directly, also I chipped my car, so want the money back for that if my car is a total loss.

I think its a borderline total loss, it needs a new bumper, grill, bonnet and damage to the cross member which I can see due to my grill being shattered into a thousand pieces, I had to clean up Tesco car park as it was everywhere.

I am getting a 2020 Mini Cooper S Convertible as a replacement as my car is not road legal, I have never driven a convertible, so my kids will get a kick out of that, and I live on the beach, so will be very fitting.

Enjoy the pictures.

 

[JohnM100]

Firstly, sorry to hear.

The other car reg OMG is very apt.

You work in claims so would know better then I, but given car prices at the moment it doesn’t look obviously write off level as no fluids leaking out and headlight looks ok. As you point out the cross member may tell a different story as it’s only when they start stripping it down can the real damage be seen.

I’m supposing the other car came out of a “side road” in the car park so should have given way to you. Car parks are still treated as roads from a Highway code / priority perspective. From the direction of the shadows, could the sun have been in the other driver’s eyes limiting their visibility?

Personally I have gone for small courtesy cars as it’s instant response if an insurer tries to reinforce the need to mitigate expenses / value of claim. With the current parts shortage that could extend the duration of repair & hence courtesy car.

 

[CanadaA3wales]

Yes, he came out of a side road and seems to have come off worse than I did.

He had a lot of damage to the door and going into the wheel, I think you may be right about the sun, it was facing towards him.

I know he wont be able to prove speed, but thought, if he knew I was speeding, he clearly saw me, so why pull out?

Yeah I said to him about the OMG on his plates........ He did not find this funny he was mad at me LOL.

I would have waited for a courtesy car from the garage, but they said they are so slammed because everyone decided to go onto the road at once after covid and has caused a delay in vehicles, so I accepted a hire. I do like to mitigate my costs, but as I live in the middle of nowhere, I needed a vehicle asap.

I dont think there is any damage to the light cluster, but find it strange why there is a squeal when I turn left only, its fine when I turn right.

I do think its reparable, we are probably looking at £3000.00 for new bumper, bonnet, grill, paint and labour as the parts do not come in red, so they will need to paint and blend which is expensive,. My car on glasses guide right now is £7500 which I looked on my company guide which all insurers use, so say 25% for salvage on top of that, you are still not near £7500.00. At least I get all those rock chips replaced on my bumper LOL

 

[NHN]

Your right of way, he is at fault regardless for pulling out into open traffic, as you can see the chevrons from his path so speak.

 

[JohnM100]

Yeah I said to him about the OMG on his plates........ He did not find this funny he was mad at me LOL.

Quality. It’s amazing the pithy comments that can come out in the heat of the moment.

When a Peugeot took off the front of my gf’s car years ago (details in the worst/big accident thread somewhere on ASN) and the other driver said something along the lines of ‘what should I do’ (wasn’t in-shock) her response was ‘nothing, I think you’ve done enough damage for one day’

I do think its reparable, we are probably looking at £3000.00 for new bumper, bonnet, grill, paint and labour as the parts do not come in red, so they will need to paint and blend which is expensive,. My car on glasses guide right now is £7500 which I looked on my company guide which all insurers use, so say 25% for salvage on top of that, you are still not near £7500.00. At least I get all those rock chips replaced on my bumper LOL

Without revealing commercial secrets, is there a rule of thumb for insurers classing as write-offs e.g. value vs repair cost + salvage + 20% value? I know some insurers have different rules for cars <1 year old.

His door took a whack and it may just be angle of photo angle but his rear offside wheel looks out of alignment too. At least the Leaf is FWD.

Good luck getting it sorted.

 

[CanadaA3wales]

Quality. It’s amazing the pithy comments that can come out in the heat of the moment.

When a Peugeot took off the front of my gf’s car years ago (details in the worst/big accident thread somewhere on ASN) and the other driver said something along the lines of ‘what should I do’ (wasn’t in-shock) her response was ‘nothing, I think you’ve done enough damage for one day’



Without revealing commercial secrets, is there a rule of thumb for insurers classing as write-offs e.g. value vs repair cost + salvage + 20% value? I know some insurers have different rules for cars <1 year old.

His door took a whack and it may just be angle of photo angle but his rear offside wheel looks out of alignment too. At least the Leaf is FWD.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Hey, yes all insurers have different write off points.

Say if its a CAT N then you will expect higher salvage values of about 20% - 30% and CAT S are about 10-15%

So if your car repair value is say £10,000 and a CAT N then they add on the salvage percentage to work out if its a write off if say your car is nearer to the £15,000 value just for instance.

His insurer has been phoning me all day yesterday and today, its getting annoying, but get why they are phoning.

The Mini Convertible fell through so they are delivering a 2021 Mercedes CLA, I have never driven a new luxury car before.

 

[AlS3BE]

Without a doubt it’s OMG fault.
doesn’t matter if you were doing 5mph or 100mph he should have anticipated that before pulling out.
doesn’t look too bad £2-3k damage maybe a little more if you need headlights.

 

[NHN]

What ****** me of with insurance is this.

Some stupid cow, with reverse camera, rear sensors & actually went to the rear of her vehicle to close the rear lid, admitted she saw my car there, still managed to reverse into my parked car, of which I had anticipated more room needed & had reversed it further back in case she was that stupid.

So the big company she worked for didnt file any insurance claim, neither did I, they paid me out directly, accepted the blame, then my insurer's have now charged me an extra £45 for this non claim, no fault incident, it wasn't even on record ***.

How the **** is that even justified, there answer, oh it is the risk factor your car in that area, it was parked on a very quiet dead end street with hardly any cars with no vandalism risks etc etc & I wasn't even in the damn thing.

That people is a ******* **** take of all **** takes.

Fuming, its not the £45, its the damn principle of the matter.

 

[AlS3BE]

What ****** me of with insurance is this.

Some stupid cow, with reverse camera, rear sensors & actually went to the rear of her vehicle to close the rear lid, admitted she saw my car there, still managed to reverse into my parked car, of which I had anticipated more room needed & had reversed it further back in case she was that stupid.

So the big company she worked for didnt file any insurance claim, neither did I, they paid me out directly, accepted the blame, then my insurer's have now charged me an extra £45 for this non claim, no fault incident, it wasn't even on record ***.

How the **** is that even justified, there answer, oh it is the risk factor your car in that area, it was parked on a very quiet dead end street with hardly any cars with no vandalism risks etc etc & I wasn't even in the damn thing.

That people is a ******* **** take of all **** takes.

Fuming, its not the £45, its the damn principle of the matter.

That was the same with my wife driving home from work on a dual carriageway and some idiot pulled out a junction and clipped her rear end putting her into a spin and into a car park where she hit other parked cars. Not her fault but my insurance went from £200 to £400 the following year cause she was a named driver. Didn’t make sense why she’s a bigger risk when the risk was the other idiot. No claims wasn’t affected and she had no other claims ever driving for well over 10 years. 4 years on it’s still costing more to insure her when non of it was avoidable or her fault.

 

[NHN]

Its truly a rigged system.

Whats ironic is they quoted me £240 renewal, I called them the next morning to renew after it ended at midnight Sunday, they refused to honour the renewal price, quoted me £100 more, so I refused, went on there site direct, got a price of £239, still wasn't happy, so I left it a few more days, went back to the site, got a price of £219, took that out, then they stitch me with a £45 charge for an incident that never was claimed for, nobody lost money on my side, nothing in the system was a risk for them or reported for a claim.

How the fxxx is that even justified.

I believe they put the price up due to I got it cheaper than the 1st renewal, ******* **** take.

 

[CanadaA3wales]

I dont agree with them raising the prices for true non fault claims, but seems most insurers are doing it these days.

There are 2 reasons why they do, and they are:

1. People who are involved in non fault accidents are more likely to go on to make another claim shortly after, I think its around 65% of non fault claimants went onto make more claims after as it caused them to be a more nervous or cautious driver.

2. People were hitting inanimate objects and when they realised their excess was high or the repairs were not that much they decided to withdraw the claim and their policies were not being affected as a result of them technically being involved in a fault accident due to their carelessness.

Since the above most insurers have now decided to rate on all claims regardless of blame.

I have made a fault claim and my insurance went down which was strange, but was not arguing, but this was years ago.