My baby (Fiat 500,1.2 Lounge) was in an accident yesterday and sustained this damage:



The car is driveable and doesn't make any weird / funny noises.

I believe it was not my fault and could have been avoided. My husband rang Fiat straight away, as they advised us to ring them first, rather than my insurer, and they will deal with the whole thing.

My questions are (I hope you can help):

1) How long will this take to fix?
2) Will I be given a courtesy car by Fiat and for how long?
3) Will this effect my insurance premiums (my insurer is Elephant) if it wasn't my fault?
4) Will this have an effect on the price when I am selling the car in the future?

Thanks in advance.

Just looks cosmetic to me, so in terms of how long to fix - assuming it is just cosmetic - swap out the bumper and reconnect all the lights, no more than a day. If the crossmember behind the bumper has suffered any damage though that will take longer. As long as any damage is repaired to a good standard and your insurers don't declare it Cat C or Cat D then you won't need to even mention it when it comes to resale time.
If Fiat are fixing it without involving your insurers then it won't affect your premiums, however despite it not being your fault it'll still count as a claim if Elephant get involved so will affect any NCB you have if it goes that way. Whether or not you get a courtesy car is up to Fiat, or your insurers.

ANSWERS.
1) That depends on how busy they are! (2weeks max?).
2) If your cover has courtesy car included,from Elephant or Fiat (this depends on their policy)& until you get your car back.
3) No effect if not your fault.
4) No effect on resale if repaired properly.

Make sure you contact insurer before you take the car anywhere without their say so although it is your right to have car repaired where you like you may have to get a quotes from other repairers first, speak to Elephant first.

kamkaps said:

3) Will this effect my insurance premiums (my insurer is Elephant) if it wasn't my fault?

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Depends. Lots of people think that if its not their fault, the insurers will not penalise them. They are missing the point. It is a NO CLAIMS bonus not NO FAULT bonus. Even that isn't as simple as it might be.

If you do claim via your insurers it won't affect you if they can claim back all their costs from the other driver. If they can't get all their costs back from the other driver it will probably affect future premiums.

Hi

Here is an update of my situation.

The accident was apparently my fault because I was the one who was coming onto a main road, no matter what kind of silly and dangerous manoeuvres the other party performed.

My insurance are fixing my car as they claim they would not pay for any repairs if Fiat did them directly (I don't know if that is true). My insurance company has found a garage that specialises in Fiat repairs (original parts etc.) so it is being fixed. I did not get a replacement car because the garage cannot provide one until the 19th of Feb (and I am not waiting that long for the car to be fixed). And my insurance cannot provide one directly because I am to blame for the prang (and their separate company, which deals with recovering the money back from the other party if the accident was their fault, cannot help in this matter). I have no comment for that (just to remind everyone - my insurance company is Elephant).

The repairs will take approx. 5-10 working days so I am hoping to get my baby back some time next week.

I am just waiting to hear about the cost of repairs (my excess is £100, phew) and the renewal price of my insurance. I have shopped around online already and I think I might be changing the insurer.

The only issue that has occurred to me today is whether my car's warranty is still valid if Fiat are not fixing it directly...?
My baby is still only 9 months old and I have already apologised to it.

Any comments?

Hi, glad to hear that your getting it sorted, the warranty should be ok as the damage will be garrenteed for 3yrs from repair, the damage if I'm correct is to the bumper/trim mostly so rusting/bubbleing to metal will not be an issue on your Fiat warranty & as you say parts should be original as specialists. P.S who's gonna tell Fiat!.

Warranty will still cover everything that hasn't been repaired as it normally would have been covered, you don't even have to take the car to Fiat for its servicing for it to still be covered by warranty as long as you get the book stamped by whoever does carry out the work.

I have already told Fiat about the accident - they were the first people we called. But I went with the workshop which my insurer suggested as they said they would not pay for repairs done by Fiat directly (I could of course go to 2 different workshops to get quotes, but there is no guarantee that Elephant would agree to use one of them).
I was also told by Elephant that the workshop would give me 5 years guarantee for the parts. I do want to believe this.

Dunno how long the repairs would take because the person from the workshop told me today that they have a backlog of cars from the 'snow' period (they are not so keen on promising 5-10 working days any more). I also have no estimate yet. Still no replacement car even though Elephant say I should get one.

I am all worried now with all this business of not keeping promises. Maybe I should have gone with Fiat directly...

I may not be able to answer any questions, but I can advise on what my outcome was when I smooshed my GP...

Like you, I was hit by another driver, but the accident was deemed my fault (like you, I was pulling out from side-road, onto a main one - I'd been sat there a while, and the other driver had plenty of time to see me, but didnt brake or try to go round me despite their being another lane... Still my fault though...).

My osr corner was hit - wheel buckled, 1/4 panal and door bent, rear bumper smashed - the whole back end of the car was about 2" out of alignment with the front...

My insurers advised I could have the car repaired anywhere I liked, but if it was repaired at one of their recomended garages then the work would be under the insurers warranty and I'd get a coutest car. If it was repaired anywhere else, I'd have to pay for it, would get no warranty from the insurers, and no coutesy car.

As the work was estimated at about £2500-£3k, I went for the insurers garage, though it did take about 3-4 weeks longer to fix than I was origionally told (supposedly cos they were busy).

I've since swapped insurers, but not sure where I'd stand if any of the repairs fell apart. Touch wood, it's been ok though.

If you've chosen an insurer who provides a courtesy car, and you've paid for that privillage, then (as far as I know) you are entitled to one. However if they don't have vehicles available and offered the option of waiting for it to be fixed and have CC, or having car fixed sooner and no CC, then I guess they have no obligation to give you one if you've chosen the latter. If they've promised you a date for a CC though (do you have it in writing?), then I'd be ringing up every day after said date if I still had no CC...

Sorry for the long reply hope you can get it sorted out x

Wow Sh4dow... It sounds pretty serious. I hope you didn't get hurt in that accident... Your car certainly did
I don't trust people on the road any more. I just do not know what to expect because there are plenty of people out there who do not have imagination and do not use their brain quickly enough.

I did pay for the pleasure of having a courtesy car and I am getting one today. It's not an automatic and it doesn't have a parking sensor but it will have to do for now. The workshop say the repairs will cost £800 and I should be getting my baby back next week. So maybe it is all going to turn out well in the end.

sh4dow said:

Like you, I was hit by another driver, but the accident was deemed my fault (like you, I was pulling out from side-road, onto a main one - I'd been sat there a while, and the other driver had plenty of time to see me, but didnt brake or try to go round me despite their being another lane... Still my fault though...).

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I am not having ago at you, but what you describe is something that courts hear a lot - especially from younger drivers.

If you wish to move into another traffic stream, or pull out onto a bigger road than the one you are on, it is your responsibility to match your speed with that of the other traffic and to find a big enough gap. If your actions cause another driver to alter speed or direction in order to make room for you, you are in the wrong. If a police officer sees another car forced brake or swerve to make room for you to pull out, expect a driving without due care ticket. Even if no collision occurs.

As you have found out, if the other driver doesn't move over, you end up paying.