Fido,

Sorry to see you Doblo is in bit of a mess. What happened? Did you lent it to Ozzie?

Have you had a quote to repair it ?

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I skidded on a bend and hit the armco barrier. It was wet and I was going down a steep hill but not very fast as it's a 30 limit anyway. I suspect it may have been a patch of diesel, although I've never been too happy with the tyres on the Doblo. The front ones are a cheap Korean brand and they don't seem to wear out but neither do they grip very well in the wet. I had hoped to get a set of alloys perhaps with better tyres but always seem to miss out.
It's going in for repair tomorrow. I don't know how much the repair will cost as I'm using a repairer appointed by my insurer, Direct Line. I just have to fork out the £150 excess when the car is ready.

Oh dear

I must admit since I've put my Pirelli P3000's on the grip has improved dramatically and it now handles just as well in the wet as it does in the dry and they've got me out of a few situations which I don't think the original Avon ones would have.

Sorry to hear about this and I hope you get it sorted soon

Fido,

While you're in a spending mood why not replace those rubbish tyres before the weather gets realy bad.

Like Ozwald says the Pirelli P3000 tyres seem quite good. They are a little noisey (at least they are on Cargo suspension) but grip well and give good mileage.

As an experiment I'm trying some Vredestein tyres on Mrs_G's Cargo. They grip well, are quieter than the P3000s and look nice with a directional tread. (See seperate "Tyres" thread).

Post a few pictures of the Doblo when fixed, we'll see if we can spot the join.

Ozzie1989 said:

they've got me out of a few situations

Click to expand...

Oswaldo,

Get on the IAM and you'll have less 'situations'


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I beg to differ, all situations were caused by other drivers and not myself and most people would not have had the quick reactions to avoid them

Ozzie1989 said:

and most people would not have had the quick reactions to avoid them

Click to expand...

Ah, the confidence of youth. And so modest as well

Only joking Ozwald. Oh, Mrs_G thanks you for the comment about her high moral standards but says its only coz with all the driving she's too knackered to misbehave!

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Awww well I'm sure even if she wasn't so tired her standards would still be high

I used to use the word nackered all the time, until I got told that it really means "tired after sex"...

Anyway, back onto the subject of Fido's Doblo in pain

reminds me of my dads cat. That poor sod only has one eye too!!!

Hey Fido,

How are things progressing?

Is the Doblo getting fixed up?

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It was collected on Wednesday morning. They said it would take about a week as they are pretty busy. In the meantime I'm driving my Toyota Hiace caravanette but I will be glad to get the Doblo back.

Let's hope you get it back soon have then given you a rough estimate on cost yet?

I rang yesterday and they say it won't be ready until the 27th. I rang Direct Line to complain but they obviously don't give a damn. It looks like I will be looking for another insurance company next time. :bang:

Fido,

What was the reason for the long delay?

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I got it back this afternoon. The garage were supposed to deliver it but they said their towtruck would not be able to deliver it until Monday I went round in the caravanette to collect it so now I will have to organise getting that back The garage boss reckons the 16 days they took is "within industry standards" for this type of job. In fact he says they found additional work needed doing so it should actually have taken longer! They do a computerised measurement and it detected the chassis was bent by 4mm so they had to put that right.
First thing I noticed when they took me to the car was a dent in the bonnet. The garage boss says the insurance company refused to have that bit done as it was pre-accident damage. There were no dents in the bonnet before the accident so it looks like I have another battle on my hands to get that sorted. I suspect it may have been the garage people themselves who dented it when trying to get it to shut. They ended up tying it down with cable ties after they did the estimate inspection.
It was getting dark by the time I got home so I've not had chance to look at it properly or take photos.

Fido, sorry to hear of all this trouble you're having! Inspect it well tomorrow just to double check there isn't anything else, take a good look under the bonnet too LUKHYGO!

By the way, is the dent in the bonnet in the above pictures? If not then maybe you could use those to say the garage caused the damage?

Where is the dent in the bonnet because there doesn't seem to be one in the photo's at the beginning of this thread.
If your experiences with Direct Line are anything like I suffered you won't be with them next year.
My Dad's, wife, brother in laws cars & houses were all insured with them but not after getting my car back from a bunch of clowns, but I supposed I deserved it because you only get what you pay for.