Bah! Last Monday, a myopic delusional imbecile reversed her car into my B, putting a nice dent between the drivers door and rear wheel arch.
Then had the audacity to tell her insurance company that I reversed into her parked car.

Then, last night, someone else reversed into the rear of the B denting the panel just under the boot lid and cracking the rear bumper.:bang:

Just as well I didnt want any no claims bonus really.

Rich

Somebody opened a tin of numpties. I nearly totalled the B on Sunday. Cruising down the local main road as the legal limit (really) when a boxy little Kia shot out of a side road and stalled across both lanes. Learner driver and mum. I stopped inches short of mum in the passenger seat..reaction of both occupants was to swear like troopers and then take off at high speed...Weird people you do meet on Sunday's.

If I'd been driving my Mondeo tank then I'd have flattened both of them and their baby biscuit tin...

Rustbucket said:

..reaction of both occupants was to swear like troopers and then take off at high speed...Weird people you do meet on Sunday's.......

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It's that old thing of "How dare you tell me I might have done something wrong", which is sadly the normal reaction of the hard-of-thinking.

Custard - bad luck, sorry to hear.

Thats bad news Custard. I assume your NCD wasn't protected. Hope the repairs are good. Steve

sorry to hear that, i wonder is it cause the B is so low hard to see. nah they are just blind !!!

B is hard to see coming at you at speed as it's small and low profile. Many drivers seem to completely miss it...

Given that there are surely a load of drivers with no brain / no interest in the job at hand / no situational awareness and wouldn't notice a nuclear explosion in the rear mirror.

We suffer in Ireland from an entire generation who never did a driving test (in the 70's the government offered an amnesty for 100,000 unlicensed drivers on the road and gave 'em all licenses untested) So we now have a load of elderly numpties on the road who can't drive and are a danger to everybody...

"wouldn't notice a nuclear explosion in the rear mirror"

Sounds very dangerous. Does it happen a lot with Barchettas? Surely they need to be recalled or does one simply need to wear eye protection?

According to the internet, there are around 40,000 unlicenced drivers on British roads. Many people have not renewed their photo driving licences which expire after ten years. A replacement costs £20 which is yet another hidden tax on motorists. Those who never bothered with a photo licence in the first place, and just kept the original paper one, have a licence which lasts until they are 60 or 65. I take your point about the Irish not having had a test though, to be fair, it's not just the elderly that can't drive.

I was stopped at a junction a couple of weeks ago, and the chap in a people carrier in front of me decided to reverse, and slammed straight into the front of my car. I imagine the repairs are going to be very expensive - he said he never saw me! I think in the days of these huge 4x4's and people carriers driven by people who have graduated straight from Nissan Micras and not gone through the white van stage, small car drivers (should that be drivers of small cars ) need to assume that they are invisible in the rear view mirrors of these monster cars- I shall certainly be driving my barchetta much more defensively when I get it back!

johnv said:

I was stopped at a junction a couple of weeks ago, and the chap in a people carrier in front of me decided to reverse, and slammed straight into the front of my car. I imagine the repairs are going to be very expensive - he said he never saw me! I think in the days of these huge 4x4's and people carriers driven by people who have graduated straight from Nissan Micras and not gone through the white van stage, small car drivers (should that be drivers of small cars ) need to assume that they are invisible in the rear view mirrors of these monster cars- I shall certainly be driving my barchetta much more defensively when I get it back!

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Well bugger them! I'm going to weld scaffold tubes to the corners of my B and fix large fluorescent panels to them!

novacustard said:

Well bugger them! I'm going to weld scaffold tubes to the corners of my B and fix large fluorescent panels to them!

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It would be cheaper to buy an MX-5!

afroking said:

It would be cheaper to buy an MX-5!

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:idea:Or buy a flatbed truck to carry the B...I could pay someone to drive it while I sit in the B and pose in safety!

...I wonder how fast trucks go...:nutter:

Well, the second accident has been sorted out and my B has gone to be fettled - estimate is £1600 to replace the back bumper, fix the panel and respray the rear of the car.

Unfortunately, the garage don't feel able to comment on the dent in the side of the car from the first accident (as to whos fault it would be) so I am a bit stumped - without an independant report saying that my car would have to have been travelling sideways, the insurance companies will go 50:50 on the blame and I will be royally stuffed!

Any suggestions???

I'm a little confused mate. If you're claiming for one accident, what is the financial penalty if you claim for a second? If you're fully comp, surely you can claim for the side impact damage regardless of who is to blame? Steve

bumble said:

I'm a little confused mate. If you're claiming for one accident, what is the financial penalty if you claim for a second? If you're fully comp, surely you can claim for the side impact damage regardless of who is to blame? Steve

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You and me both. Two accidents, two different insuance companies to claim off.
If I claim against my (fully comp) insurance, then I am hit by the £500 excess. As I am claiming that the third party hit me, then my insurance company is not interested until they hear from the other party. So i could claim regardless of blame but will be screwed over if I do.
Essentially my beef is that I was hit, and now the third party says I hit her. It really messes with my sense of fairness, but i will probably not pursue the claim much further as I have no witnesses (neither does she) and the evidence, ie the dent in my car, which I say she caused, could only have been caused if my car was not moving. But I need an independant engineer to confirm this and I don't have one!

My car is still in .. 2 weeks and counting! I too was stationery, but I will have to pay the excess and claim it back, but as the accident was in France, apparently it takes at least 3-4 months for the paperwork to go through assuming he admits liability - until then it remains a 'fault' claim, and I am also £350 out of pocket (+ whatever excess they put on my insurance for my everyday car)
If you have 2 accidents and get them repaired, you will be charged the excess for each one, even if they repair them at the same time.

So, in summary, if you are going to get your car repaired you might as well go ahead and pay the excess as you will have to front it anyway, and then try to get it back (you could take her to the small claims court, but you would need a pretty good case). If you don't feel you would win a small claims case, then your choices are either to get the car repaired (basically for £500 + whatever they load your insurance with) or not, or 'back street cash'

Incidentally, if you have already informed your insurance company about the accident, whether or not they pay for the repair it will still be counted against you as an accident.

This information was supplied to me after lengthy conversations with Admiral Insurance, Adrian Flux and Sun Alliance.

We have to fund the uninsured drivers somehow, after all.

A few weeks ago (Tuesday 1st Sept. day after Bank Holiday Monday) my wife went to one of her paid annual membership wild life parks to be met by a team of traffic/parking marshals. When one of them tried to direct her to a parking slot, she said she wanted to park well away in one of her usual remote parking places whice she has been doing for many years as a member.

The attendant then got stroppy saying she HAD to park where he said to which she responded that she was a member of said institution and for many years had been parking where she normally parks with no problems whatsover.

The attenant then went stupid (polite version) suggesting that she was being awkward. etc. Her response to this was "no, parking is tight here and I want to avoid my car being accidentally damage." To this the response came "so you think you are better/above every body else". She replied (a mistake) "no my car is precious to me and I want to avoid it being accidentally damaged".

She then drove off and parked in her usual spot well away from trouble.

NOT !

On returning 3 hours later to her car it had been keyed in 3 places. Rear n/s wing, front n/s wing and front lower n/s wing.

Yes we did follow this up. Immediately with the deputy customer care manager and in writing with the full manager.

In hindsite we should have called the police.

Final response was:

1) No TV survailance or footage over car park
2) staff seasonal contract
3) follow-up with team lead for contractual staff on the day saw nothing
4) attendant would have been "out of character"
5) no other evidence / proof

I would post the whole sad episode / communications here but this would undermine this wildlife charity that we support. We never wanted the charity to pay or accept liability for what happened, but for them to let the "prick attendant" know he was found out and would never be employed again by them.

Sadly I suspect this jealous "prick" will possibly be left again to roam and prey.

The moral of this story is rather hard to take.

"never ever let anybody know that you care for your pride and joy"

If prior to/afterwards, a disagreement should occur, then they have the ability to do more damage both menatally to you and physically to your pride and joy than you could ever have anticipated.

So (joking) we will NOT be singing the praises publically here of "Bs" let alone ours. Nor will we post any pictures or any other means of identification that would enable any of you jealous lot to come round and key our car because it is prettier and faster than yours"

By the way, if you see a lime green "B" with yellow spots making a croaking noise then that is ours.

Don't know what to say Nick. Total **** to do such a thing. Can only suggest that you get some blutak and make a model of the traffic warden bloke, as lifelike as you can, then ram a cocktail stick in his groin. Best of luck with the repairs mate. Steve

Perhaps a bit late now but a word with the BIB (boys in blue) wouldn't hurt. You might find that there is a pattern..same guy, same damage etc to anybody who rolls up in anything half decent. I seem to remember a phrase 'causing criminal damage..'

Well thanks for the well recieved sympathy and ideas.

We were so so lucky. My other half spent just about a whole day with varoius professional rubbing compounds and managed to almost fully retrieve the situation / damage.

The scratch on along the top of the front wing totally removed. The Z (sloppy Z) on the rear wing (top side just by hood corner) was removed except what now looks like two stone chips to undercoat. I would have to point them out to all but the keenest eye.

The lower front wing also went well. However, with just a stone chip like mark remaining a little further rubbing was applied to dull the edges and then 'oooops'

The silver started to go darker in colour. No way to retreive this so now the car now sports a lovely 3D Fiat Badge (racing laurels version) and 3 3D Barchetta badge.

Looks actually very good and now make the car 'unique'.

We also learnt something about our 'B' paintwork. 2005 model colour 755 Griggio Shine Metallic. This paintwork would appear to be made up of a silver top coat, a thin layer of darker backing colour and an almost matching silver like base coat/primer.

Very odd and also explains why the deep key "start" points were silver almost rapidly returning to top colour. The darker backing colour layer is very thin indeed. We know know that there is a limit, and how to spot it, when rubbing out scratches in the future.

I hope we don't have to do that in the same places again as we won't get away with it.

Glad you've managed to sort it, some people really are hard of thinking.