Yep I'm CHip.I met James and his girl at Norris Bros.One of the chaps at the garage told me that a chap was interested in the 100 demonsrator and that his original car had been involved in a collision when a car rolled on top of his beloved 100.I thought that rings a bell so I went and spoke to this chap and low and behold it was James.
As James so rightly says "Its a small world"
Anyway we had a good old chin wag and I showed James my 100 which was sitting round the back.
James I gather has purchased the 100 which is good news for him and me as I am still the only person in our town who has one.There are now no others for sale in Town.
So James you should be up and running soon and will not have to drive around in the cake much longer All the best

thanks, we'll have to arrange journeys so that we're both not in the same place at the same time Just got to give insurance a ring tommorrow, as well as the accident management company, then its all systems go for another panda, RIP BG56 ZWJ, No doubt I'll see you again soon chip, maybe at a forum meet?

james

another update:

should have the main insurance cheque this week, already insured on new panda so its just a case of sitting by the front door in the morning waiting for the post then picking up the car the following weekend. One more thing, insurance companies drive me crazy!

Good stuff James.....you seem to getting somewhere now.

Great news

You were very, very lucky to walk away from that although I hope, in all seriousness, that you are able to claim for the subtle injuries you must have suffered.

Seriously, the Panda isn't the best when it comes to European crash test ratings and roof "injuries" are notorious weak spots on most cars: you were very lucky that the car didn't crash in to you higher - the metre or so reverse could have saved you.

I don't fully understand why Fiat didn't invest the same crash test technology in the Panda as they did in the Grande Punto. It isn't really a question of money and whilst the Panda may have sprouted love handles in the process it wouldn't, in terms of safety, been a bad thing.

There are some crazily anti social drivers out there (most of them driving BMWs or VW Golfs).

The picture you took is seriously scary - the crumple damage to your car is actually quite dramatic and speaks of a relatively high impact or relatively high force crash and certainly one capable of killing a driver or a front seat passenger given just a little less luck.

The Panda is a beautiful car and one of the very few modern cars with a tangible character and presence. But pictures like this make me wish I was driving a tank!

Good luck.

another update, got the insurance cheque.....and wait for it.................its a whole £1000 less than it should be, not happy at all, still, the garage is still holding the next panda for me after over a month of waiting so far (thumbs up to them)

holy hell!!

very lucky and quick thinking on your part (from accident), if you'd been travveling at any speed the results wouldn't have been the same.


and yup, insurance companies are absolute tosspots.

so the car was a 56 reg? so way less than a year old? and their what £11k new? so they should be paying out more like £8500-9k. not £6500.

keep at them, and don't stop till you get what its worth, no less.

I received £7500 total, as the car had covered 11000 miles...hehe... most insurance companies will only pay the market value of the car, I did fight the first offer but they wouldn't budge.


and to bring a swift end to the topic....I picked up my new 100hp today its awesome, just got to get used to driving it again.

By the way, nice to see you again chip if you're reading, sorry I didn't hang around.

Glad to hear your back on the road

100hpJames said:

I received £7500 total, as the car had covered 11000 miles...hehe... most insurance companies will only pay the market value of the car, I did fight the first offer but they wouldn't budge.


and to bring a swift end to the topic....I picked up my new 100hp today its awesome, just got to get used to driving it again.

By the way, nice to see you again chip if you're reading, sorry I didn't hang around.

Click to expand...

No worries James I didn't think you would hang around long ,not when you got your mittens on your new 100. Just keep youre eye out for spinning cars.

I hope the garage dealt with your problems ok? I bet you will driving about for days before stopping for breath.
All the best Chip :slayer:

100hpJames said:

I received £7500 total, as the car had covered 11000 miles...hehe... most insurance companies will only pay the market value of the car, I did fight the first offer but they wouldn't budge.


and to bring a swift end to the topic....I picked up my new 100hp today its awesome, just got to get used to driving it again.

By the way, nice to see you again chip if you're reading, sorry I didn't hang around.

Click to expand...

not bad considering my 100hp was advertised at £6500 with 5.5k miles on it!

adi said:

No worries James I didn't think you would hang around long ,not when you got your mittens on your new 100. Just keep youre eye out for spinning cars.

I hope the garage dealt with your problems ok? I bet you will driving about for days before stopping for breath.
All the best Chip :slayer:

Click to expand...

I've done a good 100miles today hehe, which reminds me, big thanks and a plug for norris brothers fiat in tamworth for making this ordeal a bit less stressful, I doubt anyone else would have kept the car for that period of time, I'll hopefully be seeing you around again soon chip

Damn thats a big one.....also could be worse with the insurance know a guy whose car was written off a week after he bought it for grand and got 6....