Bad Week for a Little Car and Supplier Woes

[pmcgsmurf]

I think I've read too many of Bruce's posts and his escapades are becoming contagious.

A relative decided to park her little 2008 Twingo car into a small bollard.

Car ended up looking like this


The bumper was broke and crumpled along with the front cross member at the bottom.


Parts damaged were Radiator, cross member, bumper, lower spoiler/deflector/aero part, bumper reinforcer, wheel splash guard & headlight.

Not using insurance at it was an "own fault" accident.
Parts priced at £1,200+ at the dealer so other option was for us to repair.

So after a quick check on prices promptly ordered the cross member and the bumper from the local Renault dealer as they were on par with others online.

Cross member arrives, it's different, original has 4 holes either side with a single captive nut on either side.
New one has no captive nuts and only 3 holes at one side, also has an extra little bar welded to it as if for a small aircon unit or other.
Dealer can't answer, Renault UK can't answer, has to go to France for an answer.

I'm guessing it's a replaced part but want confirmation from them to this effect before we commit to fitting it.

This takes 3 days till almost close of play today when they email to confirm my suspicions and to use the replacement part with only 3 bolts either side instead of 4.
Of course I'm going to take this with a pinch of salt and still fit 4 after drilling one side.

Bumper reinforcer supplied from the dealer was the wrong one!

Needed the aero part at the bottom, dealer says it's not fitted to the car and will have to ask France about this.

In the end I managed to get this part and a few of the other parts from Amazon and another supplier and save a few shillings.

Managed to get the new cross member and new radiator back in as well as the new bumper painted.


Now stuck waiting for a headlight I ordered from a guy on ebay, he was sending it tracked carrier.
Of course he has now ignored my last 3 messages asking for the tracking details.

I'm guessing I'll be going in search of a light in the morning........

 

[grimree]

read the small print on your (her) insurance?

 

[pmcgsmurf]

read the small print on your (her) insurance?

No need, it expires today

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Ha! Years ago I worked as a service receptionist in one of the main dealers, I guess that's why I was such a VAG fan.. anyway, unbeknown to me there was a Polo GT in black pushed into the corner and left. It truly was a mess.. I didn't know why. Anyway the owner was a right stroppy cow of a woman who obviously enjoyed noising us up.. so in she came, and all the other receptionists scarpered leaving me to deal with it. And I never got a word in edge wise, a new AH was torn and I didn't even feel it it was that fast.. she wanted to know:

Where her car was?
What's been done to it?
Why was it sitting in a corner?
Where was the GM?
What's going to Happen next?
When will it be ready?

After much apologizing (Its funny how management disappear in times of need) I set about finding out more about the car and what was to happen. Turns out it was water ingress off the factory sunroof that had started rusting on a new car, ruined the interior and then left out of the way.. So VAG got involved, a new chassis and interior were ordered and the car stripped. It was complete...........................or so I thought, the day had come to hand the car over. In she came and... a second new AH was born.. y'see the car had been painted in two halves, and if you looked at the roof you could still see the masking lines that hadn't buffed out.. back to the bodyshop again...A week later the car was ready, and in pristine condition.. I mean 3 PDI's by separate evaluators and not one could find fault with it.. we even had a guy from another dealership (who was visiting) check the car over it was mint! Finally...We called the woman in.. and she was still stropping.. I was determined not to rise to it.. on and on she went.. I took her to her car which by the way was parked in front of a large canopy steel Pillar. So she went over it with a fine tooth comb and I mean totally inspected it.. she was satisfied, but determine to have the last word as usual.."About Bloody Time...rant rant rant.." So I get her to sign the release papers and all is well, wishing her a pleasant day.
I'm back in the workshop now dealing with the next customer and the door opens..in she comes, and straight to me except something was afoot...looking rather sheepish, quiet even not wanting to cause a scene.. " Could you come and have a look at this please?" she asked.. "Sure (Muttering under my breathe)" we walk out to her car and........SHE'D PLANTED IT SO HARD IN REVERSE, BELTED IT INTO THE PILLAR AND STUCK ONE ALMIGHTY "V" SHAPE into the car!! Now I understood the Sheepishness...what made matters worse was all the mechanics knew her and were howling behind the glass windows.....Exactly like This one...

 

[HITECH]

Front end damage at low speed on a bollard. Wit a nightmare ! I had similar years ago. Bumped a very little car in front of me. Mine was a VW. The front end damage and my wing was unbelievable (and car in front of me didnt even have a towar on lol )! Same carryon apart from radiator. All the silly fittings and mountings etc all bust. Have to say VW were superb giving me all the right parts in 1 trip to the dealer and it was all quite cheap aswell. Did your bonnet survive without getting bent ?

 

[brucemillar]

Looks like you are doing a great job here. Well done.

Parts being superceded is always a pain. I tried to repair the wind deflector on my 124 sun roof deflector. All that was required were two 50p springs available from MB. The original having rotted away over the years.

Not only had the 50p springs been replaced, so had the mounting pins, the entire wind deflector and anything else you could imagine. Total bill rose from £1:00 to £56:00. I think it also coincided with the last time we saw sun shine in the UK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[grober]

In the later half of production life of the Twingo 2 manufacture switched from France to Slovakia-- which might explain a few things?
The TWINGO 3 or Smart ForFour as we might like to call it may also made there I believe?

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[HITECH]

So are you saying the quality went from cardboard paper panels to tracing paper panels lol

In the later half of production life of the Twingo 2 manufacture switched from France to Slovakia-- which might explain a few things?
The TWINGO 3 or Smart ForFour as we might like to call it may also made there I believe?

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[grober]

The old Czechoslovakia has a long history of car manufacture which it retains to this day despite the Czech Republic taking the lions share after they split up. Slovakia's car manufacturing has improved in recent years however with quite a few manufacturers setting up shop [ I would suspect with large EU subsidy ]
Automotive industry in Slovakia - Wikipedia
I was thinking more along the lines of communication where a request for parts information in English would need to be translated into French and then possibly Slovak!

While I might make a feeble stab at the French translation of
"Cross member is different, original has 4 holes either side with a single captive nut on either side.
New one has no captive nuts and only 3 holes at one side, also has an extra little bar welded to it as if for a small aircon unit---- will it fit"
I would draw the line at Slovak!

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Managed to get a headlight on Saturday after a 45 minute drive to a breakers yard.
Got this fitted along with a few other bits while waiting on the lacquer to cure a bit on the bumper.

Built all the trim back onto the bumper today and got this fitted so job finished and car looks a lot happier.



Of course I've still not heard from the ebay chap I bought the other light off.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

That looks grand. A job well done.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

That looks grand. A job well done.

Thanks, not too bad a job considering we are not painters and don't have a paint shop.

In the end the total parts cost was £550 so not too bad a result all things considered.

 

[HITECH]

Looking great m8 !

Managed to get a headlight on Saturday after a 45 minute drive to a breakers yard.
Got this fitted along with a few other bits while waiting on the lacquer to cure a bit on the bumper.

Built all the trim back onto the bumper today and got this fitted so job finished and car looks a lot happier.
View attachment 77498


Of course I've still not heard from the ebay chap I bought the other light off.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Great result. Well done!

 

[Alex225]

Nice work on the repair, looks as good as new.

I think a lot of parts on these kinds of cars are designed to crumble, I guess for pedestrian safety as much as anything. Still a bugger when you have to repair them for a minor knock.

I'm partial to a fun French car though, I've owned this since 2010.

 

[219]

Ha! Years ago I worked as a service receptionist in one of the main dealers, I guess that's why I was such a VAG fan.. anyway, unbeknown to me there was a Polo GT in black pushed into the corner and left. It truly was a mess.. I didn't know why. Anyway the owner was a right stroppy cow of a woman who obviously enjoyed noising us up.. so in she came, and all the other receptionists scarpered leaving me to deal with it. And I never got a word in edge wise, a new AH was torn and I didn't even feel it it was that fast.. she wanted to know:

Where her car was?
What's been done to it?
Why was it sitting in a corner?
Where was the GM?
What's going to Happen next?
When will it be ready?

After much apologizing (Its funny how management disappear in times of need) I set about finding out more about the car and what was to happen. Turns out it was water ingress off the factory sunroof that had started rusting on a new car, ruined the interior and then left out of the way.. So VAG got involved, a new chassis and interior were ordered and the car stripped. It was complete...........................or so I thought, the day had come to hand the car over. In she came and... a second new AH was born.. y'see the car had been painted in two halves, and if you looked at the roof you could still see the masking lines that hadn't buffed out.. back to the bodyshop again...A week later the car was ready, and in pristine condition.. I mean 3 PDI's by separate evaluators and not one could find fault with it.. we even had a guy from another dealership (who was visiting) check the car over it was mint! Finally...We called the woman in.. and she was still stropping.. I was determined not to rise to it.. on and on she went.. I took her to her car which by the way was parked in front of a large canopy steel Pillar. So she went over it with a fine tooth comb and I mean totally inspected it.. she was satisfied, but determine to have the last word as usual.."About Bloody Time...rant rant rant.." So I get her to sign the release papers and all is well, wishing her a pleasant day.
I'm back in the workshop now dealing with the next customer and the door opens..in she comes, and straight to me except something was afoot...looking rather sheepish, quiet even not wanting to cause a scene.. " Could you come and have a look at this please?" she asked.. "Sure (Muttering under my breathe)" we walk out to her car and........SHE'D PLANTED IT SO HARD IN REVERSE, BELTED IT INTO THE PILLAR AND STUCK ONE ALMIGHTY "V" SHAPE into the car!! Now I understood the Sheepishness...what made matters worse was all the mechanics knew her and were howling behind the glass windows.....Exactly like This one...

That puts me in mind of an incident a number of years ago , in my MkII 'breadvan' Polo I was on a country lane just outside Linlithgow with high verges on either side ; it was raining and , although only doing around 20 mph , which in retrospect was still too fast , I met a huge Renault tractor on this unsighted bend , jammed on the brakes ( no time to think about cadence braking ) and hit his OSF wheel , making a huge V shaped dent in the bumper , smashing the grille and knackering the radiator , and I lost all my coolant . Miraculously , the bonnet escaped .

No one was hurt , and no damage to the tractor , so I turned round and got the car to a safer place before it overheated , then I phoned my sister to come and give me a tow . When we got home , I removed the bumper which was beyond repair . I attached a tow rope to the back of my W123 and used it to pull the landing panel back out until the bonnet closed correctly again , went to the scrappy and got a bumper , radiator , plus a Hella 4 headlamp grille ( which was a bonus ) for a total of £25 , and had the car back on the road by the weekend . I had to get a new front number plate as well . That car went on fir several years further and went round at least my other sister and her son before eventually being scrapped ( and my first sister had had it before me ) .

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Thanks folks.

Still no word from the elusive ebay seller.

Might move up to painting Merc bumpers next....

 

[chrisk2010]

The car looks great ! Remind me of when my sister reversed in to a bollard in her volvo 340 ... the car was ok once we pulled the boot out the bollard however was not.

Ha! Years ago I worked as a service receptionist in one of the main dealers, I guess that's why I was such a VAG fan.. anyway, unbeknown to me there was a Polo GT in black pushed into the corner and left. It truly was a mess.. I didn't know why. Anyway the owner was a right stroppy cow of a woman who obviously enjoyed noising us up.. so in she came, and all the other receptionists scarpered leaving me to deal with it. And I never got a word in edge wise, a new AH was torn and I didn't even feel it it was that fast.. she wanted to know:

Where her car was?
What's been done to it?
Why was it sitting in a corner?
Where was the GM?
What's going to Happen next?
When will it be ready?

After much apologizing (Its funny how management disappear in times of need) I set about finding out more about the car and what was to happen. Turns out it was water ingress off the factory sunroof that had started rusting on a new car, ruined the interior and then left out of the way.. So VAG got involved, a new chassis and interior were ordered and the car stripped. It was complete...........................or so I thought, the day had come to hand the car over. In she came and... a second new AH was born.. y'see the car had been painted in two halves, and if you looked at the roof you could still see the masking lines that hadn't buffed out.. back to the bodyshop again...A week later the car was ready, and in pristine condition.. I mean 3 PDI's by separate evaluators and not one could find fault with it.. we even had a guy from another dealership (who was visiting) check the car over it was mint! Finally...We called the woman in.. and she was still stropping.. I was determined not to rise to it.. on and on she went.. I took her to her car which by the way was parked in front of a large canopy steel Pillar. So she went over it with a fine tooth comb and I mean totally inspected it.. she was satisfied, but determine to have the last word as usual.."About Bloody Time...rant rant rant.." So I get her to sign the release papers and all is well, wishing her a pleasant day.
I'm back in the workshop now dealing with the next customer and the door opens..in she comes, and straight to me except something was afoot...looking rather sheepish, quiet even not wanting to cause a scene.. " Could you come and have a look at this please?" she asked.. "Sure (Muttering under my breathe)" we walk out to her car and........SHE'D PLANTED IT SO HARD IN REVERSE, BELTED IT INTO THE PILLAR AND STUCK ONE ALMIGHTY "V" SHAPE into the car!! Now I understood the Sheepishness...what made matters worse was all the mechanics knew her and were howling behind the glass windows.....Exactly like This one...

Completely un car related but reminds me of a customer when i worked in PC World years ago.

I customer was heading towards me and by his eye contact and his stride i knew this wasn't going to be good. He approached me and said he wanted to by a laptop and walked straight over to a £1200 HP and said i want this one. I smiled and went through the usual sales pitch with the extra's and the insurance, accidental damage (spilled liquids on it ect) and so on at which point he cut me of and said it's all a load of ***t and got a little hot tempered about it saying his Barclay card and home insurance will cover it. By now we had the attention of a few member of staff chucking glances and smiling at my pain so i wrapped the sales taking a last chance at offering him 3 months cover free (about £30 worth) but he cut me off again so i politely conceeded and rang through the sale and he smugly smiled at my defeat, took the laptop and left.

Five mintutes later this guy was heading directly back at me, i thought oh here we go he's changed his mind and wants to return it. He "sheepishly looked at me and pulled the box out from under his arm with a great big dent and tyre mark on it!. What he had done was put the laptop on the car roof (detailers cringed then) got in the car and pulled off, instantly realised he wasn't patting his victory purchase on the passenger seat, stopped reversed RIGHT OVER HIS LAPTOP !!

I was genuinly gutted for him but I had the most amazing opportunity to be smug but i took the high road and kept my concerned demeanor and politely said there isn't anything i could because he didn't take out the cover and that he would have to go through his own insurance. I offered him a coffee from Costa next which he declined and i walked him to the door. When i got back in the staff were hiding behind the speakers laughing there heads off.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Got my money back from ebay for the headlight that never turned up.

 

[Deleted member 131833]

I damaged her car by reversing into a wire rope supporting a telegraph pole, oops rear bumper goosed.

Searched online and got an answer from a Birmingham scrap dealer who had a rear bumper. Main dealer price was for correct part in correct colour, had to pay for this second hand bumper to be painted.

Contacted them and asked if it fitted my Honda Jazz model x, yes it is the same.

Bought part on credit card, and surprise it was different to my car, fixing points different but managed to fit


A month later credit card called, have you bought gardening furniture from a company in Chelmsford?

No way, turns out they bought a small item to check card worked using my details including cc number on back, ordered large items and brazenly also ordered transport company for delivery on card.

All refunded off course but been wary of giving out cc details since