Scott_F
MB Enthusiast
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Yes they have - it's called a motor car.
RTA & the likely demise of a C124
- Thread starter CreosoteChris
- Start date
Yes they have - it's called a motor car.
Flyinspanner
MB Enthusiast
When you take it for the insurers "assessment" - just arrange to take it, wait while it's done and drive it away.
Can't see why they can't get an assessor out to your home -my insurer did some time ago- car was judged uneconomic to repair, and I got the full value of it. Bought car off them for £300.......
Repaired it with s/h panels at a local bodyshop, all sprayed up beautifully....and walked away with enough money to cover running costs for the next 2 years
Can't see why they can't get an assessor out to your home -my insurer did some time ago- car was judged uneconomic to repair, and I got the full value of it. Bought car off them for £300.......
Repaired it with s/h panels at a local bodyshop, all sprayed up beautifully....and walked away with enough money to cover running costs for the next 2 years
Flyinspanner
MB Enthusiast
roadhog
Active Member
I've been waiting for an answer from that guy since that thread went up, got an initial response then silence. It's also a post facelift car so would be of limited use for body parts.
@CreosoteChris, if you don't wish to retain the salvage I'll buy it off you for whatever the insurance want for it.
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
I'm co-operative, and would be happy to see the car broken for spares within this community - however that sort of transaction involves several hundred quid, so I kind of need to establish Roadhog's credibility - located in Norfolk is hardly ideal for recovery from Manchester. and 81 posts is even fewer than my total. PM Me if you want a phone number to discuss
It's a reasonably-decent 220CE though not close to perfect
- Central locking works partially (Driver's door opens /closes driver / passenger doors, so OK for day-to-day use)
- Rear heated screen does not work
- Idle is lumpy when not fully warmed up
- One of the road wheels is a pattern part and does not work if fitted on rear (fouls brake calliper)
- Rust problems, as previously discussed, are not far from the surface
None of the above prevent the car from being pleasant to own and use - just letting you know....
- Impact damage, obviously. Fairly limited, don't think it needs a new bonnet,, bumper is scuffed but intact, I can post some photos if that helps
Car remains currently standing outside my house in Manchester, freshly washed and looking gorgeous (from the right angle.....) Still haven't received the promised calls from recovery or hire car companies. Think I'll call the insurers again and make a further attempt to get it assessed in situ.
Chris
roadhog
Active Member
Are you confusing post count with content or credibility? Recovery from Manchester wouldn't be the craziest thing I've done in the name of W124 ownership.
I think this is still your best course of action. Keep the car at yours while you're negotiating with the insurer. There is no reason at all why they cannot send someone round to your place to assess the car. In my case, the assessor came from... wait for it... Manchester. How about that?
Sort out a value and repair costs then decide whether to keep it or move on. As per bolide's earlier advice, I don't think another insurer can force you to write your car off on grounds of it being uneconomical to repair. The eventual outcome of this claim will to a large extent depend on how well you state your case for this car being the cherished example it is. This is the car you took your wife on your first date with, isn't it? You have mentioned it in your will, haven't you? Your grandchildren are lining up to look after it once you are no longer able to?
My recommendation would be to repair and continue to enjoy it. Bear in mind that you know this car, anything you replace it with would be an unknown quantity. I think you'll find the like for like/ upgrade clause in your insurance T&C is more aimed at the driver of a standard Euro box and would be very difficult to fulfil in your case.
Should you decide you don't want to keep your car after all, get a salvage value from the insurer and we'll talk. I'll either have it off you (not that I need another car really) or the insurer can have it. You have lost nothing so far.
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Hi Roadhog
Just doing some pre-emptive due diligence there - a general matter of staying safe on the Internet - not in any way casting personal aspersions. Establishing credibility is the right, proportionate, reasonable thing to do under such circumstances (and it applies just as much in reverse - I advise that you don’t trust me in a naïve, uncritical way).
Thanks for the level-headed and well-articulated advice.
A couple of hours ago I went to the local body-shop, where the assessment was
“No bonnet / headlight needed, I doubt that this will be written off, it’s an easy fix, and not hugely expensive even if done by the insurers’s contracted agent”
“We will repair it for you for £500, if you don’t mind keeping the scuffed bumper cover”
Much cheaper than I imagined, I’m now thinking I should keep the car, have the body-shop do the necessary, and put this episode behind me. Things seem so different now compared to 24 hours ago - if the Insurance companies declare it a no-fault incident for me, I’ve got nothing to worry about.
Think I can present a convincing case that it’s a cherished car - I have quite a lot of bills accumulated over the last 2-and-a-bit years, because I use the vehicle daily, and keep it maintained accordingly - I always knew it would be cheap to buy, rather than cheap to maintain, and stumped up wherever necessary.
I’m definitely going to fit a dash-cam.
Thanks, Chris
Just doing some pre-emptive due diligence there - a general matter of staying safe on the Internet - not in any way casting personal aspersions. Establishing credibility is the right, proportionate, reasonable thing to do under such circumstances (and it applies just as much in reverse - I advise that you don’t trust me in a naïve, uncritical way).
Thanks for the level-headed and well-articulated advice.
A couple of hours ago I went to the local body-shop, where the assessment was
“No bonnet / headlight needed, I doubt that this will be written off, it’s an easy fix, and not hugely expensive even if done by the insurers’s contracted agent”
“We will repair it for you for £500, if you don’t mind keeping the scuffed bumper cover”
Much cheaper than I imagined, I’m now thinking I should keep the car, have the body-shop do the necessary, and put this episode behind me. Things seem so different now compared to 24 hours ago - if the Insurance companies declare it a no-fault incident for me, I’ve got nothing to worry about.
Think I can present a convincing case that it’s a cherished car - I have quite a lot of bills accumulated over the last 2-and-a-bit years, because I use the vehicle daily, and keep it maintained accordingly - I always knew it would be cheap to buy, rather than cheap to maintain, and stumped up wherever necessary.
I’m definitely going to fit a dash-cam.
Thanks, Chris
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Not-so-likely demise
Tried again to get onsite assessment arranged - the call-centre staffer seemed unable to grasp the concept …”But it’s the process - we need to follow the process in order to get an assessment”. It’s the modern way of doing business - turn everything into a step-by-step process that can be exercised at low cost (then automated and done by robots).
Anyway, “el processo” kicked into action, and 90 minutes later the car was on the back of a slide-bed truck on its way to Salford. “What a lovely car…” commented the chirpy driver of the recovery truck “…you know they’ll write it off, don’t you?” then suggested that buy-back + local repair was the obvious choice.
Immediately got a call from a company that finances the provision of hire-cars for no-fault parties involved in RTAs, by recovering the costs from the fault-party’s insurer. So that’s encouraging - when I questioned ‘em, they stated that if you cross a Give Way line then it’s your fault, and that they are confident it will be agreed on that basis, other driver 100% to blame.
Now waiting for delivery of the hire car - presumably the equivalent of a Mercedes E-Class…. for me, completely accustomed to driving retro-mobiles, it’s gonna be a whole new experience.
Cheers, Chris
Tried again to get onsite assessment arranged - the call-centre staffer seemed unable to grasp the concept …”But it’s the process - we need to follow the process in order to get an assessment”. It’s the modern way of doing business - turn everything into a step-by-step process that can be exercised at low cost (then automated and done by robots).
Anyway, “el processo” kicked into action, and 90 minutes later the car was on the back of a slide-bed truck on its way to Salford. “What a lovely car…” commented the chirpy driver of the recovery truck “…you know they’ll write it off, don’t you?” then suggested that buy-back + local repair was the obvious choice.
Immediately got a call from a company that finances the provision of hire-cars for no-fault parties involved in RTAs, by recovering the costs from the fault-party’s insurer. So that’s encouraging - when I questioned ‘em, they stated that if you cross a Give Way line then it’s your fault, and that they are confident it will be agreed on that basis, other driver 100% to blame.
Now waiting for delivery of the hire car - presumably the equivalent of a Mercedes E-Class…. for me, completely accustomed to driving retro-mobiles, it’s gonna be a whole new experience.
Cheers, Chris
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Have you signed anything to the effect that you will meet any hire car costs that the other party's insurers don't? It's a well-known scam....
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Thanks for flagging this up. I did question the agent of Auxillis (the company to which I was referred by my insurer Churchill) and addressed the matter of "what if the third party disputes liability" and the answer was along the lines of "you can only possibly incur charges if you are found to have made untrue statements regarding the circumstances of the accident, your driving record, etc." (I definitely haven't)
But I must say that the legalese of the contract looks to me like I'm agreeing to meet the costs unless recovery from 3rd party is successful. I am now significantly concerned about this, wondering how to proceed.
I've been told that the hire car will be delivered early Friday.
So - my insurer and the subcontracted hire car outfit have both made reassuring noises that I won't be found at fault, and that the 3rd party's insurer will have to stump up. But verbal reassurances aren't worth the paper they are written on, and if the 3rd party claims, for instance that he never crossed a Give Way line, then:
- it's my word against his
- there's no way of proving fault conclusively
- fault will be split 50/50
- my statements are judged to be 50% untrue
- I'll be liable for extortionate charges
Nice.....
Think I need to sleep on this, and do some more digging the morning
Chris
grober
MB Master
As warned --peoples initial euphoria of driving about in a new high end motor is dashed when they can become liable for £1000s on hire car charges. Looking at another way this is going to vastly increase the insurance claim against the third parties insurance making it far more likely they will contest it. If you really need another car hire it yourself and chose the cheapest that will fufill your needs would be my advice. Sometimes bodyshops offer very basic courtesy cars as part of the repair package but only if given the repair go ahead by the insurance company paying for the repair for the very reasons already discussed.
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Sci-fi Spex
1. My 220CE is not a write-off, it has been assessed and will be repaired by the insurer’s appointed agent. Expected to be back with me at the end of next week.
2. I am now driving a brand-new (delivered with 15 miles on the clock) Audi A4 TFSI Sport auto. Note that I’ve never owned a car manufactured later than 2003, haven’t driven a totally new car for about 25 years (gulp!) and the only vehicle I’ve driven in the last 2½ years is an under-powered, overweight 1993 W124 Coupe.
(Props to Graeme for guessing this ) to me, the Audi seems like something from a sci-fi movie ..I am experiencing automotive culture-shock of a high order. I can’t stop smirking at the range of controls that I don’t understand, astounding (for me anyway) performance and braking, and general overall spiffiness of it. (Mind you, I could do without the vast expanses of aluminium-coloured plastic, and it just ain’t dignified in the same way as the ol’ Merc). All for the knock-down daily price of
1-6 Days £225.80
7-27 Days £195.00
3. …..so I called the hire-car finance subcontractors again and quoted back at them a clause from the contract I signed “Unless paid at the time, or before, hire commenced You shall pay all Charges except Deferred Charges as soon as the hire period ends.”. The person I spoke to advised me to read it as if I were the third party’s insurance company, and clearly stated that I should stop concerning myself about the possibility of being held liable. I asked about my “worst -case scenario” (previous post) and he said that in the unlikely event of it becoming necessary, Auxillis would
- Get an engineering investigation carried out on the vehicular damage to establish what happened
- Take the third party to court (“you have to be a pretty good liar to fabricate evidence in front of a judge, with the prospect of jail time if you are found out”
The Auxillis staffer sounded highly credible to me, and I consider it extremely unlikely that I’ve been delivered by my insurers, straight into the trap of a scam-artist. I appreciate the cautionary words I’ve been offered, but will be driving the space-ship for the next week (by which time my sci-fi spex will probably have recovered normal vision).
I understand that there is a non-zero risk of me becoming liable for hire charges of £1500+, but I consider that risk to be very low. If the worst happens, it won’t break me financially, so I’m making my risk-assessed choice of using the Audi.
Chris
1. My 220CE is not a write-off, it has been assessed and will be repaired by the insurer’s appointed agent. Expected to be back with me at the end of next week.
2. I am now driving a brand-new (delivered with 15 miles on the clock) Audi A4 TFSI Sport auto. Note that I’ve never owned a car manufactured later than 2003, haven’t driven a totally new car for about 25 years (gulp!) and the only vehicle I’ve driven in the last 2½ years is an under-powered, overweight 1993 W124 Coupe.
(Props to Graeme for guessing this ) to me, the Audi seems like something from a sci-fi movie ..I am experiencing automotive culture-shock of a high order. I can’t stop smirking at the range of controls that I don’t understand, astounding (for me anyway) performance and braking, and general overall spiffiness of it. (Mind you, I could do without the vast expanses of aluminium-coloured plastic, and it just ain’t dignified in the same way as the ol’ Merc). All for the knock-down daily price of
1-6 Days £225.80
7-27 Days £195.00
3. …..so I called the hire-car finance subcontractors again and quoted back at them a clause from the contract I signed “Unless paid at the time, or before, hire commenced You shall pay all Charges except Deferred Charges as soon as the hire period ends.”. The person I spoke to advised me to read it as if I were the third party’s insurance company, and clearly stated that I should stop concerning myself about the possibility of being held liable. I asked about my “worst -case scenario” (previous post) and he said that in the unlikely event of it becoming necessary, Auxillis would
- Get an engineering investigation carried out on the vehicular damage to establish what happened
- Take the third party to court (“you have to be a pretty good liar to fabricate evidence in front of a judge, with the prospect of jail time if you are found out”
The Auxillis staffer sounded highly credible to me, and I consider it extremely unlikely that I’ve been delivered by my insurers, straight into the trap of a scam-artist. I appreciate the cautionary words I’ve been offered, but will be driving the space-ship for the next week (by which time my sci-fi spex will probably have recovered normal vision).
I understand that there is a non-zero risk of me becoming liable for hire charges of £1500+, but I consider that risk to be very low. If the worst happens, it won’t break me financially, so I’m making my risk-assessed choice of using the Audi.
Chris
Charles Morgan
MB Enthusiast
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Good news on it being repaired without being written off.
Don't fall for the siren song of new car ownership, where's the misery to be had in that!
Don't fall for the siren song of new car ownership, where's the misery to be had in that!
Good stuff.
When somebody drove into the back of my wife's 96/P Audi A4 estate a few years back the insurance company was most apologetic that the hire car was 'only' a delivery mileage Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer.
When somebody drove into the back of my wife's 96/P Audi A4 estate a few years back the insurance company was most apologetic that the hire car was 'only' a delivery mileage Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer.
T
tanuie
Guest
Result.
roadhog
Active Member
Good news! Any chance you could talk the repairer into addressing the rust issues you mentioned before whilst they have the car? Might work out cheaper in the long run?
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Don’t think that’s achievable - it’s being done by some impersonal corporate repairer appointed by the insurance company - “the process” will take its course
However, I did comment in my first post in this thread
And that’s an excellent outcome for me - I don’t have a problem with going to the local body-shop and paying for the other wing to be fixed or replaced dependent on the true extent of the rot. I do try to keep the car in decent condition because it makes me happy and proud every time I drive it, and I’m reconciled to paying the bills accordingly.
If I wanted to, I could walk into a leasing office and sign the papers, then drive away in a shiny new vehicle - but I choose to run my W124 instead, because it’s my kinda car. I pay a bit more in maintenance, but that’s fine when the depreciation is effectively zero.
Cheers, Chris
1993 220CE, auto, red / black leather, 121k, slightly bent but back soon, Manchester
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When my E55 was in for repair, my local bodyshop provided a 2015 Polo, 6K on the clock, for free as a courtesy car. £1600 for the hire of a 'spaceship' for a week seems quite a lot, but perhaps I'm out of touch...
Auxilis (previously Albany) Assistance are one of those accident management companies which drive up insurance costs for all of us by, among other things, providing expensive courtesy cars in non-fault claims cases. They have a significant proportion of bad reviews for inefficiency, but none I found mentioned them pursuing claimants for the inflated cost of the replacement vehicle, so you personally seem unlikely to suffer this.
Let us know how you get on.
Auxilis (previously Albany) Assistance are one of those accident management companies which drive up insurance costs for all of us by, among other things, providing expensive courtesy cars in non-fault claims cases. They have a significant proportion of bad reviews for inefficiency, but none I found mentioned them pursuing claimants for the inflated cost of the replacement vehicle, so you personally seem unlikely to suffer this.
Let us know how you get on.
OP
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CreosoteChris
Active Member
Yes, I checked out some reviews and came to exactly the same conclusion - point taken, additionally, about driving up the cost of insurance generally.
In mitigation (your honour) at least I'm doing this honestly - I will definitely not be claiming for whiplash or other injuries sustained in the incident because (1) there weren't any, and (2) I take strong exception to the machinations of the "claims management" industry which IMHO has a business model of *outright fraud + plausible deniability*
Chris
In mitigation (your honour) at least I'm doing this honestly - I will definitely not be claiming for whiplash or other injuries sustained in the incident because (1) there weren't any, and (2) I take strong exception to the machinations of the "claims management" industry which IMHO has a business model of *outright fraud + plausible deniability*
Chris
