I dont want my car to get written off

[Uberwagon]

If something runs out in your path, be it a dog, cat, kid, etc then surely your first and natural instict would be to break and break hard.

Looking in my mirrors, thinking is the car too close behind me to break could take a split second. A split secong too much between life or death.

Sorry I would break

Is that mentally or physically?

Personally I would see the person walking in the road, check my RVM and upon seeing a car behind sitting too close simply turn on my wipers and plough through the person knowing I was in the right.

Dave!

 

[Shaun's C280]

Sorry to hear about this, not a great welcome home.

Had an accident myself back in 2007, driver stopped in the middle of the road, no indicators nothing! Went up the rear end and lost 3 years no claims. - Didn't claim for my car, sold it spares or repairs.
Person in the other car got out unharmed, then a week later got a letter from solicitor for a personal injury claim, also claimed for property damage in the boot of the car!
Glad I had legal cover! Cheeky so and so was asking for a song.

After this and IMO best left to the insurance company to sort out.

 

[Adam230K]

I just got a quote from a breakers yard for the parts i need:

Bonnet £65
Bumper £150
Deliver and VAT: £61

And aparently they are the colour i need too.. code 189... but one thing thats really baffling me is that my car looks more bluey blackish than it does 'azurite metallic green'.

I'm a bit confused about that. But otherwise, i think its a much cheaper route than paying £525 excess.

 

[Howard]

Job done then !

No broken lights or anything like that ? Grille ?

189 - greenish-black (emerald black) (black opal) (smaragdsschwarz)

 

[maddog]

You can always keep the car but bear in mind will also need to be noted down on the records that it was written off and repaired and how that will effect the value afterwards

 

[Adam230K]

When the guy was checking the car over the headlamp was slightly loose and he then included it in the estimate just to make money for himself....

I went home and found that there was a broken screw there, i found another one and replaced it and now its solid...

I think the place that the insurers sent me to (wont name them) estimated it far too high to make themselves more money... They even included a new grill and mine isn't even damaged!

Might just be me though.

 

[Howard]

Repair places price it up down to the very last clip , if the grille was even slightly scratched from something else , they would include a new one in the price . They're out to make money remember , not do favours.

When my CLK cabrio was written off , the repair bill quote was £14600 ... , car was worth about £6000 .....

 

[Adam230K]

What about the colour confusion then? Shall ij ust trust what mercedes told me and assume its 189 azurite metallic green? or what?

 

[Howard]

Check your VIN on the Russian site and see what it says ...

 

[Adam230K]

Says 189 metallic green (emerald)

same as what the MB dealer said.

 

[Howard]

Good.

 

[nick mercedes]

I just got a quote from a breakers yard for the parts i need:

Bonnet £65
Bumper £150
Deliver and VAT: £61

And aparently they are the colour i need too.. code 189... but one thing thats really baffling me is that my car looks more bluey blackish than it does 'azurite metallic green'.

I'm a bit confused about that. But otherwise, i think its a much cheaper route than paying £525 excess.

That seems like a lot of money for used W202 parts, I'd have thought you'd get a bumper and bonnet for no more than £150 locally.

After all a whole early W202 is only £500.

BTW you can always get a contract repair if you're concerned that your car is going to get written off, your NCD has bitten the dust anyway so you may as well claim and get it repaired properly...

 

[timskemp]

I'm a bit confused about that. But otherwise, i think its a much cheaper route than paying £525 excess.

How much excess?

 

[c240yaz]

If it gets written off, providing you have the space facility, you could buy it from the insurance company and make a fortune selling the spare parts ?

 

[MBK]

i agree with Will moped guy will claim so you will be going through insurance if they do write off your car you can buy it back from them my old astra which was valued at the time the same as your 202 i bought back for £70. If they fix agree to fix the car then your OK again as this is why we pay for insurance so we dont get stuck with big repair bills. your losing your NCB if he claims so you may aswell get something out of it. just my 2 cents.

* Also i know an astra is no way a comparison to a merc but just to give you a ball park figure


Sorry this has probably all been said before I was on page 2 of the thread when i started writing this post. didnt realise we on page 4 :S

 

[bobby]

Rage,

Sorry to hear about this - hope it all works out and you and your lady are ok

 

[219]

Can I ask where that comes from?

The Highway Code says you must

Which suggests that if you hit something in front of you, you were too close and/or going too fast and therefore (presumably) at fault.

Roadcraft : The System Of Car Control - EVERY action must be preceeded by use of the mirrors ; it is just as important to know what is happening behind you as it is in front . The Highway Code is only a book of advice aimed at novice drivers and is not definitive nor law .

Whilst panic braking to avoid a child running into the road or to avoid critical injury to another human being like a cyclist might outweigh the risk of causing a secondary collision with further risk to human life , braking for an animal is an entirely different matter . It would surely be preferable to run over a dog than to have your child in the back seat wiped out by the truck behind that could not stop as quickly as you ? Never mind who is to 'blame' .

 

[Dryce]

Can I ask where that comes from?

Actually Pontoneer is correct - in the sense that if you initiate a manoeuvre of any kind you should be situationally aware.

The Highway Code says you must

Which suggests that if you hit something in front of you, you were too close and/or going too fast and therefore (presumably) at fault.

However as always this is the kicker.

As regards hitting animals - all very well in principle. I think generally people are conditioned to hit the brakes if anything appears in front of them unexpectedly. That's as good a response as any. It means they don't have to waste a split second deciding if it is a dog or a child.

 

[Adam230K]

I've got 2 options now:

I've found the bonnet and the front bumper from a breakers called "Prestige Allparts LTD" in the same colour as mine, and it will cost me £276 in total for both bits and i can fit them myself without any issues. Only worry i have is the actual condition of these 2 bits, but how bad can they be right?

I could also still go through insurance and pay the excess of £525 (i've got it this high because i dont deem myself to have many accidents, and to bring down the premium). They might write the car off, or they might fix it, but either way i feel a bit edgy about it. They asked a hell of alot of questions like "did u declare those alloys? did u declare the tints/exhaust?" and of course i've declared everything... but it sounds like they want to evade paying out for the repair. Also my mileage is higher than the estimated, because i used it to go to university for about 5-6 months (90 miels a day). Estimated was 10k miles a year, and in that year i put 19k miles on the clock.

What do you guys think?

 

[Adam230K]

Also one question:

If the insurance was to write it off, and i bought it back off them, would i be able to repair it and put it back on the road and re-insure it?