A crash, a claim, a nightmare....

[mcgon1979]

jeez.. thats some story. . .

update...

The assessor examined my car. took 4 minutes. no joke. Anyway I got a call form the repair place AJK in lusk. They said the assessor was adamant it didn't need a front bumper. Just the rear bracket that supports it is bent so should be replaced. OMG! Stunned.....
There is screw holes moulded into the bumper itself (visible if you look from the inside) some of these broke off during the tap. The wire grill is all mashed in too and there is marks on the bumper itself. I am stunned that they won't even pay for it. Its my policy. Im fully comp. So it looks like I may have to pay for it myself. AJK also said that quinn wanted 5 hours off the labour estimate. this is all going pete tong. The guy in AJK rang them back and argued he could not do a "patch up" job on the bumper. Its anew bumper or they could not do it. eventually they said ok. but I have no chance of a bonnet out of them. Its sitting about 1 or 2mm above the wing on one side, so may just need adjustment, no signs of cracked paint or kinks. I hope its ok. but if it needs it I will have to pay. I want it right.
brutal eh. haggling over a bumper. not like I needed 2 wings a bonnet a bumper and a fan and all sorts. just a bloody bumper. I must take pictures for here. if you had 3rd party insurance you might try a "patch up" on the bumper, but anyone with fully comp and a claim against them would deffo have it replaced.

[colm_mcm]

let's hope they'll be equally as stingey with the "injured" party's medical bills.

[mcgon1979]

let's hope they'll be equally as stingey with the "injured" party's medical bills.

Exactly colm. Maybe its the silver lining. The claimant is also with quinn so they should be well stingy. I doubt they will pay anything unless they have to. I have done my best to give them every indication of what I think of the "injuries" to driver and passenger. hopefully I will hear off the handler soon and she can fill me in. I don't think they go handing out compensation anyways. especially not quinn.

[mcgon1979]

Here is a shot of the car from the front... Minimal damage as you can see....

[mcgon1979]

This is what Im concerned about... The bonnet sitting slightly high over the wing... I reckon it can be sorted though. AJKs are one of the best repair houses around...

[mcgon1979]

you can see in the previous shots too that the fogs are sitting back abit from the bumper... This shot shows how the bracket actually broke the plastic off the inside of the bumper.. I have circled the bit thats broken. The assessor did not want to replace the bumper... finally he agreed. thankfully.

[mcgon1979]

all in all its not too bad... Cosmetic damage at most. Im hoping the new bumper and the adjustment of the bonnet and it will be 100%. Have not heard anything else from the insurance, but I have just discovered there is a camera over the N3 just where the accident happened!!!! I'll inform Quinn of this tomorrow. It might help my case..

[Muad_dib77]

Jesus mate - that could have been much worse.

Jst the other party gets whats coming to them..

[mcgon1979]

Jesus mate - that could have been much worse.

Jst the other party gets whats coming to them..

I know dude. I guess at the time it seemed 100000 times worse cause it was FTO and I was shocked it was damaged at all. It's good to post the pics now though as it gives you an idea of the scale of damage caused the the car in front. none was visible!!! yet there are back injuries and knee injuries and all sorts. Plus a 1048euro claim for car repairs. Makes me laugh. and cry!

[colm_mcm]

Knee injuries would be unlikely for a passenger unless they weren't wearing a seat belt. I'm sure Quinn will weasel out of paying them!

[mcgon1979]

They checked out her car.... The assessor said NO WAY to paying anything to do with her "engine problems". Turns out she had a flat battery caused by leaving her hazards on for 10 minutes... Obviously she was quoted by the garage for a new alternator/battery as that seems the issue. Anyway, nothing to do with the tap I gave her bumper. no damage there.

They are going to settle(injury side of claim) though or try to ASAP. If they did challenge it would be huge money and they would/could lose in a case like this. legal fees etc would push the claim upward of 5 or 10k. So the idea is to offer to pay medical expenses etc, and then see what happens. I hope the claimers get nothing... the more they get will directly affect my premiums. thats a guaranteed really. Boooooo

[Muad_dib77]

We'll you could always hope that they amputate the "injured" body parts!

[mcgon1979]

We'll you could always hope that they amputate the "injured" body parts!

Her head you mean?! That seems to be damaged.

[soc]

What a complete croc of sh*t - I really feel for you mate. My wife had a similar episode many years ago with a pedestrian - the other party left the scene saying they were fine but I told my wife to report it to the Garda anyway. Amazingly that night we had a visit from the Garda acusing her of leaving the scene of an accident. I lost the rag completely with the Garda who subsequently contacted the station to discover they had a record of my wife's report! Long story short my wife got stuffed by our a$$hole boys in blue and ended up a charge for careless driving - our solicitor advised not to contest as if you do and lose the penalty would be worse. She had her licence endorsed and was fined. The pedestrian got 5k. The amazing thing was the pedestriam managed to find a witness who was not even present at the scene. But the craziest thing of all is that my wife NEVER drives above the speed limit and is the most careful driver you could meet!! I was never more disillusioned with our Garda than at that time!! Since then I have little or no respect for them and would never trust them as an organisation!

I used to be with Quinn myself and I've also had a similar inicident where I hit a pedestrian - broke his shoulder. He was drunk and ran out from behind a parked car - won't go into details but suffice to say I had witnesses backing me and the Garda actually charged this guy with being an endagerment to himself and other road users. Unfortunately it didn't stick after this he made a claim - Quinn went through he motions of investigating but when I rang after 2 months of hearing nothing they told me they had settled!!!! My premium went from 11oo pounds to 3200 pountds so beware! I wouldn't touch that shower of barstewards with a sh!t stick!!!!

My advice to you is talk to a good solictor for some advice on your options!

[mcgon1979]

Jesus mate. That sounds brutal!!! I hope this doesn't go all stupid like that.
If my policy rises more than 25% Im going to get back onto the ombudsman.
Your policy went up more than 200% thats absolutely shocking....
I was told (off the record by quinn claim handler) worst case scenario that policies normally go up to as much as 80% extra after a claim. However the big raise is usually if the person has lost their no claims etc.
I have 5 years maximum no claims, plus I protected it. The ombudsman said that if I paid extra to protect my no claims, my policy should not be 'loaded' for a claim as it does not affect my entitlement. So, I'll deffo be talking to him (and possibly legal advice) again if my renewal is something ridiculous.

In the current situation there is nothing I can do. legally. no point getting solicitor. The claim handler has told me they are settling. In cases of rear impact like this, its my fault, regardless of N3 video footage of her braking etc. They were not even interested in seeing it. And with "back injury" claims. No point even contesting it. Nothing they can do. All I can do is hope its minimum and that my premium does not go up 200%

[soc]

Unfortunately (as someone already posted) it's another classic example of the sh!ttier aspects of Irish society....

[mcgon1979]

The guy with the swollen knee etc changed his story and is not claiming anything now. and the other one is only getting expenses I think now. so not too bad I hope.

On the other thing, still waiting to get car fixed. 3 weeks on. AJKs say they still don't have the parts from Mitsu. Bit disappointed with that lads. Didn;t thin it would take more than 2 weeks for them to source a facelift bumper.

[Muad_dib77]

I'll give him swollen knee!

b*d.

Hey atleast it's a waiting game now and you wont have to worry about the claim running wild. I do hope the insurance guys put the fear of god into the other party tho..

[CJ]

Didn;t thin it would take more than 2 weeks for them to source a facelift bumper.

If Mitsi don't have the parts here, they usually try and source them thru the parts network in the UK. If theres no stock over the water, they'll have to get the bits from Japan. Expect a longer wait than 2 weeks if thats the case....

CJ

[mcgon1979]

Yeah, its just nice to know. I rang again today and was told a phone call would be made to mitsu and I'd be called right back. Of course...I wasn't.
At least the car is driving etc. but I cannot feel comfortable till I get it sorted. Haven't washed her in a month.

[mcgon1979]

Update to my tale of woe....

Well, heres the deal. The garage are basically blanking me. Everytime I ring (once a week) I am told the guy who is dealing with it is 'unavailable' but they are still waiting on parts, and they are having problems getting them. It's over a month and I'm not sure they will have much look getting the OE bumper at this stage. not by the sounds of it anyways. They haven't even given it the old "ah yeah it will be in next week" line...

I washed the car for the first time in a month yesterday. Realising I wasn;t going to get to wait till the bumper was fixed. These pics were taken 'BEFORE' I washed and T-cut the bumper. After I T-cut it all of the impact marks came out and all the flies too. No cracks in the paint work. It looks good as new apart from the gaps at the wings. I probably should of just listened to my mates and got it fixed. But sure that cow had ruined it all by going through insurance so I thought I may aswell replace it as the slam panal behind it was bent and the bumper bracket was broken on one side. Obviously I could never sell the car like that. Its got to be right. so I said, fcuk it, may as well use the insurance as my premium is fecked now anyways.
Maybe I should of sourced it myself. Bah! who knows. I'll try the garage again next week and see if I can talk to the guy who ordered the parts, not just the receptionist.






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[Bernard]

I'll try the garage again next week and see if I can talk to the guy who ordered the parts, not just the receptionist.

Go there in person.
It's a lot harder to BS someone if they're standing in front of you...

[mcgon1979]

I'll try the garage again next week and see if I can talk to the guy who ordered the parts, not just the receptionist.

Go there in person.
It's a lot harder to BS someone if they're standing in front of you...

yeah your right. good point man. Im in town most nights so don't get to go out to lusk before they close, but think I'll drop up on saturday to see if I can get it straight from the horses mouth about what the delay is.

[Daz]

Mate was just looking at your pics I don't wana get your hopes up but form the pics (i'd know better if i saw it in the flesh) i don't think your bonnet is damaged, i'll explain.

Going by the picks it looks like all that it is, is that the bonnet has been pushed back it doesn't look kinked.there could be 2 reasons for this
Firstly/ i'm sure there is some play on the location holes for the brackets, so i'd loosen them off pull the bonnet forward and retighten and see how that fairs
Secondly/ it could be the brackets themselves that are bent and you can get replacements from camskills or the usual suspects steelroe, ricerocket ect,
But what i would do is I'd find the nicest generous owner who lives close by and do a side to side comparision and if it's a really nice owner swap around the bonnet and/or brackets to make sure what it is, befor shelling out a load of cash.

Daz...

[mcgon1979]

Hey Daz,
Yeah I'm hoping its just pushed back. no signs of any damage to it inside or out. The assessor wasn't even going to entertain possibly replacing it anyways I'll get AJKs to examin it when (IF) they fit the new bumper. they said they might need to realign the wings and bonnet. yawn. Hopefully it will all be good before crimbo.