Ok, we were stationary at a roundabout waiting to pull out and a woman in a new passat estate drove in the back of us. It was a very hard impact &
now we cant open the tailgate on our freelander, both rear doors are stiff and the gaps dont look too good, the tow bar is bent under the car, the
rear bumper is about 3/4" out of alignment & the spare wheel on the tailgate is looking slightly bent.
Theres a quite nasty ticking/grinding sound coming from the rear wheels too.
We are both ok suffering from some sort of whiplash type aches but thats it, hopefully we will be ok in the morning.
Question is, whats the best way forward with this sort of thing ? insurance are saying totally not our fault (obviously) other woman definately has
insurance etc, we are worried that we wont get much for our freelander if it gets written off. Its a 1998 5 door with 80,000 miles on the clock &
in very good condition.
Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing ? last time it happened to me was in 1996 so not sure on valuations etc now days.
We are gutted, wedding in 3 months and really like the freelander after 2 years of owning it (i know they have bad press but each to their own :-)
)
Any ideas what we will be offered for ours if it is written off ? parkers dont go back far enough in their guide in the local shop. Or does anyone
think its likely to be repaired ?
Any advice welcome,
Cheers Andy & Emily
Go to the doctors and get checked out asap if your necks are sore would be my first bit of advice.
Rich
1, regardless of if its 100% not your fault, the 1st thing the other ins company will do is try and lay blame, or partial blame with you. Don't
worry, its their standard practice (my car was parked outside my house when it was hit, I was inside and they still tried to blame me).
2, their 1st payout offer will be very very low. Hold out for more.
Apart from that, just try and put it behind you so you can enjoy your wedding.
1) Look to see how much it will cost to replace the freelander with similar
2) don't accept any offer for less than the above
3) make note of any costs associated with using taxis etc (get receipts) and make sure you're re-imbursed.
eta - I see Mark A has popped his head over the parapet...speak to him...
[Edited on 14/4/10 by stevebubs]
Yeah get your necks checked by a doctor.
Then find current adverts for similar Freelanders for sale and print them off. Insurance assessors will use current pricing that people are selling
for as well as book pricing. Fight for the best price you can, don't accept the first offer.
If your doctor finds you have neck issues then you will be viable to make a personal injury claim.
deffo sounds like a writeoff to me!
insurance will go by glass's guide depending on apparant condition before the accident. you should in theory be able to replace it with the same
vehicle.
First of all, Glad that you are ok.
All the pain will start in a couple of days and i would suggest that you visit the hospital for X-rays.
Now as for the car,
Find cars of better value at similar specs.
If the insurance asks you how much you bought it, tell them that it was about 1-1.5 grand more than you payed for it.
Do not accept any money at all up to the point that you are happy with the with the value offered and obviously ask for a courtesy car. If you can
afford a new one, buy it and then accept the money from the insurance as this way you can claim for travel expenses as well.
I had an accident 3 years ago and as it was unclear for a while due to an accident investigation, my own insurance company tried to F**k me.
If you need advice i can sent you my number
If it is not your fault make a big fuss about getting it repaired. Your insurance company should be on your side on this as they aren't paying!
Ultimately don't accept less than it will cost to get a replacement vehicle identical to yours.
With other Land Rovers that have a chassis it is really easy to get them fixed so you can also settle as a write off but keep the salvage and get it
fixed yourself, I did this for my series 3 when it got heavily hit whilst parked. It got fixed fine but is a write off if you look it up on the HPI
services. The Freelander is a monocoque so if is heavily hit and the shell is bent it is a write off!
Caber
I have spent the last 19 year dealing with exactly what has just happened.
There is very little chance the car will be repaired. your own insurance (and the other parties insurance) will try and pay you as little as possible
(obviously!)
If you go through a credit repair company, they will supply you a courtesy car tomorrow (unless you have already been given one), they will appoint an
engineer to value the car at the highest he can justify (better payouts give more business), they will sort any whiplash claims.
I have helped a few peeps on here with no fault claims, and they have been more than delighted with the results.
as above.
start saving adverts for similar cars to use as bargaining power as if they make a offer it won't be enough.
feel for you and hope all sorted before your wedding.
woolly
By looking on Fleeebay, they go for 1800-2800 on average.
They will offer something like 1400 for it i believe.
Pretent you are in the US of A and sue for a million pounds for pain and suffering, then go buy a new Landie.
quote:
Originally posted by Andybarbet
Ok, we were stationary at a roundabout ...
.... whats the best way forward with this sort of thing ?
Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing ?
Any advice welcome,
my only input is that you WILL get shafted on the value of your car, especially if you also consider wasted time at the scene, looking for a new car,
and chasing people for money.
The best way to avoid being out of pocket is to go down the personal injury route - but i reckon you need to anyway. If the car is that bad you will
be well shafted in the morning.
Must admit my experiences have been very different.
Many years ago I was driving my parents' car when I was hit from behind while stationary at a zebra crossing - despite us telling their insurance
assessor that we'd be happy accepting £600 from them, they insisted on paying £950 to get it repaired ... way above the value of the car!
My wife's car has been hit recently (again while stationary) by a truck. Repaired no problem and my time off work refunded. They did squeal a bit
until I explained exactly how with shuttling around to drop the car off for repair, pick up the hire car, get my son to nursery after, etc. and the
same in reverse on pickup day, it took a day and a half off work at £28 an hour 
The delays were in part cause by them only offering the tiniest of
replacement cars when I arrived, despite us pre-warning them that we needed to fit to child seats and needed a boot big enough for a double trolley,
so they had to agree a bigger car, wait for one and then clean it.
[Edited on 15/4/10 by SteveWalker]
The easiest way to prove the value of the car is to get quotes from dealers, autotrader adverts etc. for vehicles of similar age/condition/mileage. If you can prove that you need no less than e.g. £10K to replace your car like for like then that is what you should settle for. What you paid for your car is not really relevant.
Three times we have had this happen to us....
Wrote the cars off as well as knackering Mrs Mangos back.
She settled much to low and has still got problems with the lower back.
Pay out was good but that is because we run low value cars as I refuse to waste money on tintops dailys.
Its a long and frustrating process good luck.
cheers
sorry to hear about your accident.
firstly get to hospital or doctors. so its all documented incase you decide to claim.
second your car does sound in good shape. if the back doors are hard to open and dont line up to the frames then its probably going to be wrote off
with it being a cheapish car to pay out on.
you could always buy it back and repair it. but i wouldnt do that and i have bought alot of write offs in the past.
good luck and hope all turns out ok.
david j
i still have back issues now after a crash 16 years ago. i settled for a injury payout of £1200 which seemed ok at the time but on reflection was
rubbish.
if you do have whiplash, then the true pain will only start in the next few days so i suspect you will be feeling a bit on the sore side today?
the main thing is to let all partiers know that you will be accepting ZERO responsibility for the crash and that personal injury aside, you will
accept the ammount of cash to get an identicle replacement vehicle. if you think they are stiffing you, ask them to show you a car that you can buy
for their offer.
on a personal injury claim, phone around the no win no fee guys and ask for a ballpark figure of total payout (before they take their cut). then add
on what legal fees the other party would have to pay and take pff 10% for good will. and use this as your starting point for negotiation. their
insurance will not want to go to court and fight this as the costs can spiral completely out of controll and as a comercial decision they will often
pay a decent ammount when confronted with a show of strength.
remember that the first 2 offers will be just testing the water to see how soft you are.
stand your ground. back up every phone call you receive with a letter confirming what has been said and the reasons for your dispute of offers.
quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
my only input is that you WILL get shafted on the value of your car, especially if you also consider wasted time at the scene, looking for a new car, and chasing people for money.
The best way to avoid being out of pocket is to go down the personal injury route - but I reckon you need to anyway. If the car is that bad you will be well shafted in the morning.
Got side swiped by a truck back in October rang my insurer (Saga) straight away who asked about injury told them my neck was sore. The following
morning a no win no fee place rang presumably informed by the insurer was booked into a Physio by them for the following Monday.
The car was written off and received a cheque for 5 grand about 2 weeks later this was about 1.5 K over what I was expecting I wasnt going to argue,
if they'd have seen the motor I would have been lucky to get bottom book.
Got my cheque for compo last week 500 quid above what the no win no fee place expected so they advised to take it, with all my out of pocket expenses,
insurance excess paid.
My neck still gives twinges but the physio did say whiplash can take up to 6 months to get right.
Seeing a solicitor will cost you money and doesnt really mean you'll get any more dosh, there are pre prescribed payouts for certain injuries.
Im dont believe in the compensation culture at all if you trip up on a paving slab I think you should look where your going, but at the end of the day
If I hadnt swerved when the truck pulled out on me or was a split second later driving down that road I would have been under the truck then who would
have kept my missus in the luxury she's become accustomed to.
Hope you get on OK.
Cheers,
Bob
quote:
Originally posted by splitrivet
I would have been under the truck then who would have kept my missus in the luxury she's become accustomed to.
Hope you get on OK.
Cheers,
Bob
Glad to hope your both out and walking. Crashes hurt and people never relise the damage untill a few days later.
As the advice is already three pages long I can really add much. The only things I want to say are:
1) Good luck with it and expect to be out of pocket. All parties involved and someone has to loose out. Often its the people that dont have massive
legals teams behind them.
2) The amount that you will get paid for the value of the car is NEVER more than the amount you value it at when you insure the car. Your insurance
premium is based on this amount. When I crashed my car both the insurance company and the engineer that assessed it said it was worth more than the
£8500 that I valued it at. I stated the value at £8500 because after negotiation thats what I paid. I suggest you check your policy so your not hoping
for something you will never get.
Good luck with it all.
Well, they are taking it away tomorrow to see about repair or write off.
Fingers crossed we wont get ripped off but will keep you posted.
Ive looked underneath & there are 2 large splits each side on the rear 12" of chassis type legs where the tow bar was fitted across.
I also think the passenger side sill looks to have moved forward about 6mm but cant be sure.
Thanks for the advice so far guys & girls, lots of really good points to note.
We visited the doctor this morning because we both woke up a bit stiff (oooeerr missus ) also got the hire car sorted for tomorrow so we wont be
without a car initially, my Dad has offered me his car if we need it so things are falling into place nicely.
Wonder how long before they tell me if its fixable or written off though ???
quote:
Originally posted by Andybarbet
Wonder how long before they tell me if its fixable or written off though ???
Well heres a picture of one of the bent chassis rails, phone is playing up so struggling to get anymore emailed across.
They have told me today that its definately written off so now starts the fight for an acceptable payout amount !
Emily's feeling ok now with the aches & pains but im still suffering with my back & neck.
They said i have the hire car though until i get paid so thats a worry off our minds.
RIP Trusty landrover
[Edited on 22/4/10 by Andybarbet]
Rescued attachment Chassis rail small.jpg