Not the best morning.....UPDATED 07/09/06 (TWICE!!)

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Well, where do I start ?

 

Was woken at 4.38 am by almighty crash and bang, looks outside my window to see a Vauxhall Calibra on it's roof resting against my parents van, and a male struggling to get free from drivers seat. Also parked outside were my corrado, my works Renault Megane and my sisters MK4 Golf. Got dressed and ran outside to see male run running away from scene, shouted at him and gave chase but lost him.

 

Called police then examined scene in bit more details to find he's lost control off a roundabout then clipped sis's MK4 hit megane square in O/S front corner, slamming it off the rear of my corrado and bouncing back in his calibra rolling it across road into side of parents van.

 

Reckon on £2000-£3000 damage to megane, hit it hard enough to snap driveshafts etc. £1000 to parents Merc Sprinter van and £300 to sister's MK4. Even worse, without going into potential chassis damage i.e. not visible / under panels, I'm going to need new tailgate, complete new rear panel, new rear bumper, number plate, plate frame and whatever potential damage underneath (boot floor ??). Reckon on £1500-£2000 there anyways plus more dep. on damage underneath.

 

Police arrived and searched the area but nothing. However he was obviously injured as there was blood evident within vehicle and on road. Also found 2 mobile phones, still working and the police recovered this to55ers documents, i.e. insurance, MOT etc. They were concerned he had made off from scence as if he was hiding something and they have removed the calibra to be fully forensically examined.

 

But I now have this guys phone number, name, address etc. Just wondering if I should do anything with them ? Police say don't report to insurance company until we apprehend individual. Cos surprisingly enough he has string previous convictions. So they asked if I could describe him and if I could identify him again from line-up / mugshots. Then some more officers arrived with photo's and I picked him out clear as day with 100 per-cent confidence from 16 photo's, no probs.

 

So now I guess we now wait and see if police manage to catch guy and get him charged with leaving scence of accident, failure to report accident, careless driving, criminal damage etc.

 

Here are some pics, I am totally gutted and mad right now......car on road less than a week and this happens.

 

Have a look at the pics

 

[Supercharged 2]

Blimey mate - it sounds like he was actually insured then and the car not stolen... was probably pissed or on drugs so did a runner...

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Car wasn't stolen, male driver has been identified but not apprehended as yet. Yeah, police said prob drunk or on drugs or drugs in car. Interstingly, the very same car and driver was stopped earlier this morning in the town around 00.50am for random stop-and-search. He is very well known to police and they are confident there is more than enough evidence for him to be prosecuted when and if they get hold of him.

 

And TBH not really the way I wanted my car to be introduced to the forum after 2 years of working on it....

[Supercharged 2]

I'm surrised they said wait about the insurance - I reckon you should report it asap and get all 3 into a bodyshop and get curtosy cars - the megane is undriveable anyway... and the corrado won't be secure with that damage!

 

What a sh1tter mate but at least it wasn't a stolen car with no driver to be found, I reckon it will turn out ok...

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Any advice on what to do bout insurance when reporting it then as been told they will try to take car away and get it written off ?

[CoxyLaad 0]

all things considered I think your corrado got off quite well, I was especting a big crunch!

[Jim 1]

FFS! Thats totally crap! :(

 

Well at the end of the day, they know who he is.. assuming there is no chassis damage and it still drives ok then just hang on till they nail this tw@t - at the end of the day, at least its NOT a nicked car where you would have no come back at all and have to claim on YOUR insurance! His insurance will have to pay out!

[Phil K 0]

Gutted! Screw the tw@ for everything you can get :shock:

[dr_mat 0]

Well: given that the accident was 100% not your fault, and the guy appears to be insured, if you tell your insurers about the accident you have a legal right to INSIST that the car is repaired, NO MATTER what the cost.

You have no contract with the other guy's insurer, so you come under their "million pounds third party liability" section.

 

If it was your own insurer, you signed a contract with them giving them the right to write the car off if uneconomical to repair.. You did no such thing with this other guy's insurance.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Jesus.....seems to be the season for "Woke up to find my Corrado like this...." :-(

[M15 VW 0]

FFS! Thats awful!

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

sh1t man!!

 

makes the states ive found my corrado in the mornings seem trivial.

 

as has been said before, is the tw@t is insured you will be able to get the car fully repaired.

[Guest]

thats a mad accident, can't believe what happened there.

 

all those photos look a bit out of this world.

 

good luck with sorting everything, listen to the good doctor above

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

hey struan very unluck mate hope you get it sorted if its any consolation the C looks phat!

[vr6storm 0]

the insurance might be Cnuts if your mods haven't been declared and/or if you have put it down as being parked in a secure area(such as a garage).............it might be worthwhile giving james montgommery a call as he had his CTR hit outside his work and he used a claim recovery type company to get it sorted(think it was hit n run too)

 

if you go down the route of repairing it yourself,then i have the tailgate,back panel and rear bumper........

[StuartFZR400 0]

Wow BTJ, you're lucky you woke, chased him and found his mobile phone. And super lucky the ***-head didn't turn around and shoot/stab you. :shock:

 

Lets hope it is him and that you can identify him at a line up. Should it be another guy driving the car, then you'd get £0 unless you have fully comp insurance on all your family cars. Although I get the impression you have.

 

However, we all hope you do get to catch the little toe rag and get his insurance to pay up. A conviction can only help your cause.

 

Thankfully no-noe was in those cars. That Megan took a heafty whack to punt it onto the pavement!!

 

Still a bummer of a day though - good luck !!

[dinkus 10]

Jeebus - you do live in a nice area! :?

 

It should be irrelevant if you have mods done on the car or not - it's their insurance company that are going to be coughing up, so play hard-ball and make sure you get every penny you need to put everything right again.

[16vradge 0]

Gutted for you mate, hope the damage is only skin deep. C looks nice btw, and those mirrored sprinter windows are big pimpin'

[A20 LEE 0]

:shock: If you hadn't have posted pics i'd never have believed that story. Vauxhall drivers are very special. Hope it all works out ok.

[vr6storm 0]

Jeebus - you do live in a nice area! :?

 

It should be irrelevant if you have mods done on the car or not - it's their insurance company that are going to be coughing up, so play hard-ball and make sure you get every penny you need to put everything right again.

 

 

well seeing as he'll probably claim thru his own insurance company,and no doubt they'll send an assesor out,it could well be relevant,and considering the Calibra's insurance company will try there damnedness to get out of paying decent money too........Skid who stays round the corner from Struan's work has had to fight an insurance company over the value of his mk1 after being rear-ended by a bus,they seem to think a nice and original mk1 GTI is only worth £600

[veeDuB_Rado 0]

holy crap, that sucks :(

 

nasty damage to megane, hope you get it sorted mate :)

[Furkz 0]

my rear bumper and badge's panel was damged and all 5 quotes came through for over 2k

[StuartFZR400 0]

well seeing as he'll probably claim thru his own insurance company,and no doubt they'll send an assesor out,it could well be relevant,and considering the Calibra's insurance company will try there damnedness to get out of paying decent money too

That seems a bit unfair; surely it has nothing to do with his own insurance. What if he didn't have insurance, does that mean they pay nothing? Surely all it means is that he might have to tell his own ins company that he made a mod "yesterday" if they come and inspect it; otherwise rendering his ins void?Dunno - wait and see. Fingers crossed.

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Righto, just home from work after long, hard, tiring and emotional day. Been on on phone to my insurers who started to process a claim. Then went to speak to my man at the bodyshop who suggested instead of pursuing claim through own insurance company and have to pay substantial excess etc, affect premium and no claims, I should employ the services of a non-fault, third-party loss recovery agency.

 

My insurers were only going to give me a Corsa or Astra hire-car for 2 weeks, this service guarantee's a similar car, i.e. 2-door coupe, for at least a month or until car is repaired. They will pursue the other party's / offender's insurance company for all losses, incidently, my whole family is using them now for this claim. His insurers are going to love him.....

 

As it stands, my car was insured fully-comp with an agreed value of £6500 with ALL mods declared prior to taking out policy, so there is no issue there. Also, have got some estimates for damage, which don't make for pleasant reading....

 

Sprinter van £1000

MK4 Golf £300

Megane £3500-£4000 (needs new panels - bumper, wind, door, new brakes, complete front suspension, CV joints / driveshafts - as both snapped with impact, wishbone etc. chassis damage needs pulling etc.)

 

Corrado (this is the REALLY painful bit)

(all parts plus VAT)

 

Tailgate £595

Number-plate panel and licence plate frame £61.77

Rear panel £302.60

Tail-light mounts (both sides) £251.16 (for both)

Reinforced panel (both sides) £167.56

Rear bumper £421.34

Boot floor panel £250.00

 

Total (ex. VAT) = £2049.43

(inc. VAT) = £2408.09

 

Guestimate on labour for 30 hours @ £30+VAT = £1057

Materials = £250

 

Grand total to repair corrado = approx. £3700......................

 

Oh yeah, and I have already identified the driver / offender from photo-fits of the PNC that the police brought round to show me there and then when I called them, got him picked out right first time 100

[Phil K 0]

No way :shock:

 

It's crazy how the Megan has so much worse damage and your C is going to cost about the same... not really much of a suprise though tbh.

 

AFAIK the number plate surround for the rear of the C is discontinued so could cause some problems for you :?

 

Best of luck getting it all done