General Crash!!!

[salford scheemie]

I haven't been on this forum for a while but yesterday some bloody idiot reversed into me and I'm after some advice about what to do.

I'd parked by my work on the street, and when I came back there were two notes under the wiper and the front driver's side corner bashed in. The grille, the headlight, the wing and the bumper were all caved in. I've looked at it in the daylight and the radiator's off its mounting and the front structural bit behind the grille is pushed in.

I spoke to a witness who'd left his number and he said the driver must have gone into the Panda at about 30, and didn't seem at all in control of the car. The driver left a note too, and admitted causing the damage, but thought it was just the headlight broken, but the witness said he'll confirm what he saw.

The driver said he'll pay himself if it's not too much, but with structural damage I'm sure it'll be several hundred to fix, which would mean going through his insurance. As fond as I am of my Panda, I think I'd be mad to spend make up the difference between its value and what it would cost to repair, considering the general condition of the car.

I think I should get another Panda and scrap the old one. But how does it work with insurance? I'm fully comp as it was cheaper than TPFT, but my dad says if you claim on someone else's insurance, you can loose your no claims. Is this right?

 

[dave]

you dont lose ncd if its third partys fault, but insurance will still go up a little. that is if the other guy has insurance

 

[the stig/130]

hi salford scheemie,have a look at page 3 of panda threads, sreeeech,beeeeep, crash! is the thread you want, should give you some idea`s where to go. I live in peel green, Eccles, nice to know another panda on the road,

 

[salford scheemie]

Thanks guys. My car's much worse off than the Karmic Nomad's, what with the front structrual bit all bent in and the radiator bashed off.

I'm not in Salford now, I've had the car that long I've moved twice since then and I'm now in London.

I'll get a quote from a bodyshop, but I guess I'll need to get £300 of the driver or his insurance and be buying a new old Panda. There's a couple of Selectas on eBay. I'd always liked the less-to-go-wrong approach of the Panda, are Selectas problematic?

 

[Pandarus]

Thanks guys. My car's much worse off than the Karmic Nomad's, what with the front structrual bit all bent in and the radiator bashed off.

I'm not in Salford now, I've had the car that long I've moved twice since then and I'm now in London.

I'll get a quote from a bodyshop, but I guess I'll need to get £300 of the driver or his insurance and be buying a new old Panda. There's a couple of Selectas on eBay. I'd always liked the less-to-go-wrong approach of the Panda, are Selectas problematic?

I've heard good things about the Selecta.

MEP (Jon) is your best bet and he will be able to advise you regarding what to look out for.

 

[pandamonius_maximus]

Oh no! Sorry to hear whats happened, at least they left details. Regarding fixiing her up, it is suprising what a hit they'll take.

Just as some reference I did repair this ok.....

but I did do the mechanical work myself and only the welding and painting was done by a garage (badly for £200). You can get parts off ebay or panel suppliers (Hadrian auto panels I recommend).

Up to you though, unfortunately it is probably more economical to replace the car and scrap this one but depends how special the car is too you. Mine was irreplaceable so I couldnt bare to scrap her. I would have spent twice her value fixing it if I'd had to.

Maybe another option is for you to get a quote for repairs, then get payment off the other driver with the quote as evidence. No need to inform insurance company this way so no risk to no claims bonus but I dont know of the legality. I know all insurance quotes I got asked "any claims - regardless of fault".

Hope that helps anyway, routing for save the panda but understand if its not possible! Good luck!
Si

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

It's unfortunate to hear about this some people just don't seem to have the ability to drive.

With regards to the damage, if he's knocked the front panel out I'd have said your probably easily looking at £600+ even for a back street garage to do most of the work.

How much would you have said your Panda was realistically worth before the incident? I'd be tempted to get some quotes and contact the other party and go from there. Might be worth them giving you enough to buy another panda if repair will cost that much and they dont want to go through insurance.

Jon.

 

[salford scheemie]

Thanks for the responses. I've done an enquiry about getting the requisite panels from Hadrian's, so I'll get a body shop to quote just for fitting them and painting.

I suppose I could think of this as an opportunity to refresh the Panda generally, and finally get the new door I got 5 years ago the last time someone drove into me sprayed up too...

But whether it's worth it is the question. It's done 110,000 miles, the wiper linkage, drivers lock and rear squirty thing need replacing, first and fifth gears can hide, and then there's the rust. The doors, round the edge of the boot floor and the rear wheel arch corners are starting to go and it needed welding for its last MOT.

On the plus side, I'm very fond of the car, last year we went to Orkney and the Czech Republic it and it's never broken down. I always go flat out on the motorway and it doesn't seem to have harmed it. And I've already had the head gasket done. I'm going to go through the immense beurocracy of getting a garage on my estate which would help with the rust in the medium term.

So assuming that the mechanicals are OK, how long does rust take to kill a car?

 

[salford scheemie]

I bought it for £400, 55,000 miles ago. It's insured for £300 now, so I could use that as the basis for asking the perpertrator for that much.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

So assuming that the mechanicals are OK, how long does rust take to kill a car?

A very long time if its patched up for each and every MOT. You ought to see the state of some of the cars in 3rd world countrys, but depends what you mean by 'kill' a car

 

[salford scheemie]

I've relented and am going to fork out a million pounds to get my Panda fixed, it's going into the bodyshop in the morning.

I've searched the forum for paint code info, and I found 412a for the CLX dark metalic blue.
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/190481-clx-paint-info-needed-2.html

There aren't any other similar colours to catch you out are there?