Crashed my car - Think its a write off

[Shude]

It is a write off

Will have to wait to see what the insurance company will offer me for it

To maximise the payout the insurance company need to think that the car had a perfect "pre-accident condition" and was well cared for. If you have any pics of the car looking pretty , especially taken at a GTG (owner's club meeting) or with family and friends around then be prepared to send them to the insurance company to assure them of the car's pampered lifestyle. It is unlikely they will offer over the maximum Glasses' value. Good luck with your claim.

Any idea what you are going to replace it with?

 

[KillerHERTZ]

To maximise the payout the insurance company need to think that the car had a perfect "pre-accident condition" and was well cared for. If you have any pics of the car looking pretty , especially taken at a GTG (owner's club meeting) or with family and friends around then be prepared to send them to the insurance company to assure them of the car's pampered lifestyle. It is unlikely they will offer over the maximum Glasses' value. Good luck with your claim.

Any idea what you are going to replace it with?

So when do you think I should I remove the grill, wheels etc to their OEM state?

Most likely other w202, but with no NCB its gonna be a C200 at most

 

[glojo]

I think personally they have perhaps done you a favour. Your pride and joy received heavy impact damage, would you really want it back?
Would you still have taken as much pride in the car?

Would it have developed, rattles, squeaks etc?

Good luck with the new car,

Kind regards,
John

 

[Shude]

So when do you think I should I remove the grill, wheels etc to their OEM state?

ASAP! Whoever is currently storing the car is charging your insurer per day for storage! It will be gone very quickly, I literally had about an hour to swap parts and then the car was taken away on a transporter (with AMG rims, exhaust etc on it ).

If you need any oem parts to swap then let me know.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Cheers for the advice.

Called them up, have agreed to hold it until Tues - Told them it was full of personal possessions.

Gonna hire a van to collect all my mods/wheels.

Went back to the crash site yesterday only to find the bumper vents/grills and the lower facelift 'lip' intact under the bricks!

Will need painting again, but im putting it on eBay!

 

[jeremytaylor]

So what's the insurance cheque going to be spent on?

 

[kensalriser]

Slightly off subject, but this calls in to question the worth of fully comp insurance. If the car is worth only two grand, then the cost of making a claim is likely to work out more than the value of the claim over as little as a couple of years. First you got your excess and then you're going to be paying hand over fist for several years because you've lost your no claims bonus and are getting loaded to boot.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Little advice needed, once I get told how much they are going to pay out, and if its a tiny amount, what is the best course of action?

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Little advice needed, once I get told how much they are going to pay out, and if its a tiny amount, what is the best course of action?

If they phone you with the valuation sound shocked / disturbed and say you need some time to think.

Then write a letter detailing why you think the offer is completely unrealistic, enclose copies of similar cars (ideally ones with higher mileages & lower specs) at a higher price from your local paper, Autor Trader, Exchange & Mart and even cars sold on ebay, this gives an indication of the 'market' price not the trade price. Secondly as Shude mentioned, you need to demonstrate how well looked after the car was. If the mods were declared then this also goes into the pot, e.g. £350 Speaker upgrade, £500 Alarm, Facelift bumpers etc...

They generally always will come in with a low offer. Even if you think the offer is reasonable, think carefully - not how much would you have got if you sold the car - what would it cost you to replace with a similar car. There is generally at least £500 difference in the price of £3 to £4k cars between the sale price offered and the asking price.

 

[Will]

So when do you think I should I remove the grill, wheels etc to their OEM state?

Most likely other w202, but with no NCB its gonna be a C200 at most

Hope they offer you a fair price mate

Regarding the replacement - you'd be surprised at how little there can be sometimes between models - eg a C230K is unlikely to cost loads more than a C200 would, plus you'll be more likely to find one with a decent spec on it.

Good luck,

Will

 

[Carrotchomper]

Slightly off subject, but this calls in to question the worth of fully comp insurance. If the car is worth only two grand, then the cost of making a claim is likely to work out more than the value of the claim over as little as a couple of years. First you got your excess and then you're going to be paying hand over fist for several years because you've lost your no claims bonus and are getting loaded to boot.

I have to say, with respect, I disagree. In any accident, odds on you will have hit something/someone else and they will make a claim of some sort against your insurance.

Regardless of whether you CLAIM or not any accidents have to be disclosed to your insurance company and, whilst you may not lose your NCB, the premium will still go up because of it.

Even if your car is not worth much, a third party claim against you is always likely to exceed your excess amount,even without your losses.

Added to this, most insurance companies now do not give a great deal of discount on TP/TPFT policies over fully comp. And the deal clincher for me is being able to drive other people's vehicles on your insurance.

 

[Shude]

Regardless of whether you CLAIM or not any accidents have to be disclosed to your insurance company and, whilst you may not lose your NCB, the premium will still go up because of it.

You are legally obliged to report any change of status, claim or incident that could LEAD to a claim, even if you didn't claim. You are asked this when you get a new policy. If you just renew your policy and you're not asked about any claims or potential claims then you've certainly not lied about it.

However, I had a car stolen in 2001 and it worked out cheaper to simply not claim and keep quiet about it. The car turned up 2 days later, abandoned in a dodgy estate about 10 minutes from my house so I had it repaired at my own expense. NOT claiming probably left me about £200-300 better off!

 

[Birdman]

When my little Bimmer ran off while parked I had a £500 quote for its repair. But it also hit a house and even though I could see no damage at all to the wall, was advised by my broker to make a declaration of the incident just in case the house owner should decide his foundations needed attention. The declaration has no effect on my NCD/protection unless a third party claim was made (which it wasn't).

But since KillerHerz demolished an entire double wall and remained for photos and sandwiches I don't think that course of action is open to him.......

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Went to go and de-mod it at lunchtime, no wonder it was a write off.

The headlight was virtually above the centre of the front wheel on the damaged side, the chassis frame snapped in two etc etc.

Managed to get everything apart from the Avantgarde grill and the Wheels, including the warning triangle, bonnet badge, cup holder, footwell net, w210 sunvisor etc etc

The Grill had a massive crack through it so it wasnt worth taking, as for the wheels I asked the garage owner who said they had taken pictures of the wreck and it wouldnt be a good idea as they couldnt dispute it in the future, not worth the risk IMO - plus, the wheel by the damaged area looked like it had a handful of chips/scratches etc

Pity I never got it moved to outside my house in the 1st place. Oh well

 

[Shude]

Managed to get everything apart from the Avantgarde grill and the Wheels, including the warning triangle, bonnet badge, cup holder, footwell net, w210 sunvisor etc etc

Not too bad then!

I took a large box of stock parts to the garage and came away with the same large box but full of mods

Things I forgot: floor mats, all the manuals (leave SH etc obviously). They would have been both useful to me and if not then certainly to someone else.

Things I wish I could have taken off: 17" AMG rims and C43 backbox.

The garage said that exhausts often "fall off" when being dragged out of a field and that the wheels could have been swapped pretty easily had the steering not been broken and the car not really safe to be jacked up.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Yeah I got all the manuals, I still have the service history though! - No doubt they will want that back.

Was about to take the mats, werent in top condition though so left them.

Wasnt nice sitting in my car exactly the same as for the past 3 years, engine still started fine*, from inside you couldnt tell a thing!

*Air filter was the size of a coke can though

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Woah, old thread alert.

Watch news 24 tonight, there is a story about the Cambridge Links to the London/Glasgow bombers.

The house they have been searching is the same house that I crashed into its walls...

Small world eh?

In 2001 he lived in a house in Chesterton Road, which is owned by the Cambridge Muslim Welfare Association,

They are still trying to claim agaist me for damages after it was all sorted BTW

 

[recycled]

maybe he thought you lived in glasgow airport so he was taking revenge

 

[KillerHERTZ]

maybe he thought you lived in glasgow airport so he was taking revenge

Or saw what happends to a W202 in a crash, and decided to go with a W124 instead?

 

[glojo]

Woah, old thread alert.

Watch news 24 tonight, there is a story about the Cambridge Links to the London/Glasgow bombers.

The house they have been searching is the same house that I crashed into its walls...

Small world eh?



They are still trying to claim agaist me for damages after it was all sorted BTW

A small World indeed, plus your thread has perfectly corroborated Carrotchomper's point about always declaring accident's. I refer of course to your comment about the ongoing claim.

Regards
John