So my wife was rear ended today whilst driving the car. She was stationary and saw the car approaching at speed in the rear view mirror.
Unfortunately she was completely shocked by the whole incident and did not get out of the car as such did not see the guys licence plate or a clear view of his car. The driver was an elderly man who got out and apologised, he suggested they pull of the main road as it happened at a busy junction.
My wife turned the corner and he took off!
The police and a paramedic attended as she was quite jarred by the impact. She got the all clear of anything serious but is really sore and has a nice red line across her chest.
Also no traffic cams and no witnesses as they all took off when they moved off.

The one clue is my wife did notice the guys car was full to the brim with junk, so the police went to the re-cycling centre down the road and a guy with his description ans vague car description was seen twice in the centre that day.
The police cannot view the cctv footage of the site until tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

So the damage at the rear is limited to the bumper which has cracks and lots of scratches and a lot of the fixing points are broken so is loosely attached. The real kicker is my recently fixed (by me and 2 replacement vessels)sky dome was fully open and now does not close at all.
The insurance company has deemed this un-securable and due to the bad weather forecast have collected the car straight away

Is yours the 09 Abarth I often see around Fair Oak?

That's a real shame, hope you get it sorted and the guy gets caught.

Yes mate. Yeah so do I!
My wife is like an invalid today, cant move her right arm very much at all.

Seen yours around too, give you a flash next time

Sorry to hear this mate, hope you catch him!

Does the skydome not close even if you close it manually using the hole between the two bits of glass? You pull out that little bit of plastic between the two

Never tried it, but if the crunching noises are anything to go by I don't think it would have made any difference. The accident repair guys have it now anyways. ;-)

martwho said:

Never tried it, but if the crunching noises are anything to go by I don't think it would have made any difference. The accident repair guys have it now anyways. ;-)

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Look forward to seeing it back on the road, will look out for you.

Keep us posted on the progress.

My old Bravo is still in the area too but haven't seen it for a while now,
ND59 registration.

Ouch hope she has a speedy recovery

People have mocked my in car cameras but I'm glad I have them

Andy Monty said:

Ouch hope she has a speedy recovery

People have mocked my in car cameras but I'm glad I have them

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What would you recommend as a good value camera?

It depends what you want from it I'm running 3


I have a t eye which is now branded Road hawk but its hideously overpriced now for the picture quality you get

E.g.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=PAk_LwakduM

Inside camera at fiat dealership lol

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=id8-HwAa1tA
http://shop.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-rh-2

A dp200 one issue is the iris doesn't like low sun the t eye is clever as it puts a block on the sun

Transcend 16GB DrivePro 200 Car Video Recorder with: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics


http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=7RHPDe1LvyA



You can see both the above cameras here

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=WgOKDLoGCN8


And this is what I have looking out the back window

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=lwBmNk-mHU8

...wow! Very good low light performance.

Small update-

Insurance company: Estimate for replacement of Rear bumper and Bumper reinforcements including car care pack (whatever that means?) £770 +vat

Sunroof requires Fiat dealer diagnostics, car was being taken to a dealer as i spoke to the insurance company agent. No doubt they will go down the replacement vessel route and if both are required i'm sure the bill could be close to a £1000 easy. This wouldnt bother me too much as at least the roof repair would have some sort of warranty.

Police: The wifey spoke to them and it would appear they have viewed the cctv footage from the local recycling depot and have identified a suspect and are in process of getting permissions to get the persons identity so they can pay him a visit.

Fingers crossed!

martwho said:

Police: The wifey spoke to them and it would appear they have viewed the cctv footage from the local recycling depot and have identified a suspect and are in process of getting permissions to get the persons identity so they can pay him a visit.

Fingers crossed!

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I hope they do! people shouldn't get away with hit and runs!

austenw90 said:

What would you recommend as a good value camera?

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I use http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121093876067?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Which filmed this

O.K so opinions please.
Phoned the accident repair centre this morning for an update, who informed me that they have requested my car be returned from Milano Abarth Portsmouth so their own assessors can take a look at the sunroof and forward their assessment to my insurer.
They were a little cryptic but they suggested Milano has suggested the roof be replaced.
Fair enough but the accident repair centre could not give me any more detail as to what exactly is broken.
So pondered this info for most of the morning and then decided to ring Milano and ask what the assessment actually was. Spoke to a guy in service who stated they suggest the sunroof does indeed need replacing as it comes as one unit but he also mentioned that they had suggested to the accident repair centre that this level of damage could not have been caused by a low speed rear end shunt. I took exception to this and told the guy it worked perfectly beforehand and that I had attended the crash myself and could not close the sunroof, to which he said 'well that's our opinion'

So the paranoid in me now is thinking WTF! How is my insurance company going to interpret that info?
Should I wait and see or phone my insurance company expressing my concerns with this assessment and insinuation?

martwho said:

O.K so opinions please.
Phoned the accident repair centre this morning for an update, who informed me that they have requested my car be returned from Milano Abarth Portsmouth so their own assessors can take a look at the sunroof and forward their assessment to my insurer.
They were a little cryptic but they suggested Milano has suggested the roof be replaced.
Fair enough but the accident repair centre could not give me any more detail as to what exactly is broken.
So pondered this info for most of the morning and then decided to ring Milano and ask what the assessment actually was. Spoke to a guy in service who stated they suggest the sunroof does indeed need replacing as it comes as one unit but he also mentioned that they had suggested to the accident repair centre that this level of damage could not have been caused by a low speed rear end shunt. I took exception to this and told the guy it worked perfectly beforehand and that I had attended the crash myself and could not close the sunroof, to which he said 'well that's our opinion'

So the paranoid in me now is thinking WTF! How is my insurance company going to interpret that info?
Should I wait and see or phone my insurance company expressing my concerns with this assessment and insinuation?

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TBH they should be able to strip it down and change the damaged parts. I suspect whats happened is something has shifted and simply blocked a runner on the tracks.

What are the symptoms of it not close? Does it try? Get to far and then return to open etc?

Mate , I have intimate knowledge of the workings of this sunroof as a few months back I replaced both vessels. Its a crunching noise when you attempt to close it and it doesn't move far before it gives up. The damned ribbons are probably broken again.
Fiat wont be interested in tinkering with and neither will the accident repair centre.
In my mind the Insurance company will have to stump up for a proper repair. It defo worked beforehand and it doesn't now.
Im more pissed by Milano Abarths suggestion that the damage could not have been done by what they class as a low speed shunt. What am I a liar?

Really bothered by how my Insurance company will perceive this comment.

martwho said:

Mate , I have intimate knowledge of the workings of this sunroof as a few months back I replaced both vessels. Its a crunching noise when you attempt to close it and it doesn't move far before it gives up. The damned ribbons are probably broken again.
Fiat wont be interested in tinkering with and neither will the accident repair centre.
In my mind the Insurance company will have to stump up for a proper repair. It defo worked beforehand and it doesn't now.
Im more pissed by Milano Abarths suggestion that the damage could not have been done by what they class as a low speed shunt. What am I a liar?

Really bothered by how my Insurance company will perceive this comment.

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As in Meridien Milano? I had awful experiences with them.

Yep.:-S

How can they say it could not. That's a bold claim and saying that they are certain. How can they determine that...

Can't believe it. Had a call from my insurance companies engineer to day to say they are authorizing the rear end damage repair to my car but after assessment they are not willing to authorize the repair to my roof.
So as it stands they expect to return a car to me with the sunroof stuck open.
If I can find a Fiat garage that is prepared to say that this damage has occurred because of a collision then they will authorize the repair!
So it means I will have to drive around in the rain, pay for an assessment and hope its a positive one!!!!!

Really don't know what to say right now. Do they honestly believe i could maintain a vehicle with a hole in roof day to day without a place to store it. The fact is prior to this crash it worked.
Phoned multiple Fiat garages who could say that these roofs don't break(which you and I know isnt true) but would not state that this could have happened during a crash without seeing the car and doing an assessment themselves.

i am so pissed right now!