Looks like my car could be a write-off

[Harrison]

Involved in a major accident coming home from work tonight.

A car in front of me lost control on some ice and started to swerve all over the road. He started to spin left and I tried to avoid him by going to the right, but he swerved back across and went into the front left of my car.

Ripped the wing off, and bent the wheel and drive shaft right around.

My car was then stranded in the middle of the dual carriageway. A van stopped to see if he could help, when a Volvo didn't see us in time, clipped the back of my car and the van, spun and went sideways into the car that had originally hit me, shunting him down the road.

Another van stopped to help... then BMW going much too fast, didn't see the accident in time, tried to go between my car and the van, clipping both and then went head on into the other van.

Finally a Hyundai Coupe came much to fast down the road, went to the right of my car, just missing it, and hit the central reservation.

What a nightmare!

Thankfully no one was hurt. Just the cars. Now have to waste tomorrow ringing insurance and finding out where car was recovered to.

[Buleste]

Sounds fun! Glad no-one was hurt.

[Demon Cleaner]

That's always a pain, not having a car, and then dealing with insurance companies. Btw, yesterday it also started snowing here again, and it seems it's going to continue the whole week. We're mid march!!

[Tiago]

What a mess. what a party for the insurances... as always they will try to blame the others...

[Stephen Coates]

That sucks.

Hope everything gets sorted quickly.

[Harrison]

Here is the car the next day, when I visited the recovery yard.

http://www.amiga.me.uk/off_site_images/407/407_1.jpg

http://www.amiga.me.uk/off_site_images/407/407_2.jpg

[Demon Cleaner]

Lucky the insurance will pay, bumps in cars always tend to get very expensive.

[Harrison]

It's definitely worth having comprehensive insurance with protected no claims for sure.

My insurance didn't hang around. As soon as I rang them they filled out the accident report over the phone and arranged a garage to collect and assess/repair the car immediately. They collected the car from the recovery company yesterday afternoon. Going to ring them today for an update and to find out about the courtesy car.

At the moment I've had to hire a car myself, which I can claim back against the other drivers through my insurance. A brand new Nissan Juke... strange car to drive. Does have all the gadgets my own car has though.. Sat nav, climate control, cruise control, Bluetooth, iPod dock etc.. I wouldn't buy one though. Too small and way too high.

One of the drivers of the other cars involved (the BMW that hit the back of my car) said he didn't have protected no claims, so will lose his no claims bonus, pushing his insurance renewal way up, maybe into the thousands.

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[Tiago]

Sorry but what is "protected no claims" ? Is that kind of insurance that protects you against all situations?
Here you have, insurance for others, covers other cars but not your one, all insurance against all risks, that includes other cars and your one.
I guess protected no claims is this last one.

[Demon Cleaner]

The Nissan JUKE is a really ugly car imo.

[Harrison]

Totally agree. Is really weird looking with the frog like indicator and side light lenses on the top of the wings and the main headlights really down low. Looks bug eyed. And a silly small boot too. I can only just fit Tom's push chair in there, and nothing else will fit, so I have to use one of the back seats to put everything else that is normally in my boot. Mad!

[Harrison]

Sorry but what is "protected no claims" ? Is that kind of insurance that protects you against all situations?
Here you have, insurance for others, covers other cars but not your one, all insurance against all risks, that includes other cars and your one.
I guess protected no claims is this last one.

In the UK we have Third Party insurance that only covers you against damage to other cars, not your own. And fully comprehensive insurance which covers your own car regardless of the type of damage caused.

No Claims bonus is for the number of years you have held car insurance without claiming on it. The more years you have the more discount you can get off of the price of the insurance. A Protected no claims bonus means your accumulated years of No Claims Bonus is protected, so even if you have an accident you don't loose it. If you don't have it protected, when you have an accident you lose some or all of your no claims bonus, meaning your next insurance will be really expensive.

[Stephen Coates]

There's nothing wrong with getting discounts for no claims, but does having protection against it not kind of defeat the point of a no claims bonus?

Does the protection cost extra?:eyebrow:

[Harrison]

There's nothing wrong with getting discounts for no claims, but does having protection against it not kind of defeat the point of a no claims bonus?

Does the protection cost extra?:eyebrow:

Yes, of course.

My insurance run a strike system, so even if it's protected, if you keep having accidents then you will get strikes against you and eventually lose your protection and bonus.

However, if the claim resolves in your favour and the third party is found to be of blame, then the bonus would be reinstated as it was a non fault loss.

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[Tiago]

Then, is quite similar here, names are a bit different, but it is the same.
My main problem is to decide what to have as insurance. I have my driving license since 1998 and never used the insurance. all this years paying
the "fully comprehensive insurance" and never used. If same day i change it to "Third Party insurance" i am sure i will have a accident the day after:lol:

[DonAmiga]

Hope it all goes smoothly with your insurance and its lucky no one was hurt. I once claimed minor bump (my fault) and my full no claims dropped back to 40% from 65% wasn't to bad ;) Which I just offset by doing the comparison web-sites for a couple of years taking the cheapest quote and I'm now back with the original insurance company :)

[Harrison]

@Tiago

Not sure if is the same, but I found that after I had been driving for a few years and built up some no claims bonus the difference in price between third party and fully comprehensive wasn't that much.

It also depends on the age of the car. My last car was a 1998 Peugeot 406 2.0 Turbo that was quite fast but due to the age of the car I was paying under £200 a year for insurance. When I changed it for my current car, which is a 407 2.0 HDi the insurance doubled.

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[Tiago]

Looks the same. I am sure the main difference is the speed you close the problem in UK when you have an accident.
Here... sometimes took a lot of time. insurance talk to each other, they send someone to check the car, then an inspection, then something else, then papers, then bla bla bla bla..... but it depends from company to company, and what type of insurance. when is a"fully comprehensive insurance" they solve it much more faster. But a third party.... and if there is mores then 3 cars involved.... omg....

[Harrison]

My car is now officially written off! :(

Now to wait for the insurance company to sort out the valuation and see what their first offer is.

I'm tempted to get the same car again, but the SW estate version.

[Kin Hell]

Glad to hear you are okay. Sure, it's a pile of hassle to deal with but at least you are comprehensively covered. :)

[Harrison]

Would only ever take out fully comp insurance.

The insurance company (Admiral) have been pretty quick so far. Collected the car from the recovery yard the day after the accident and took it to a local garage. They had it till last Friday to assess it and then state it was written-off. Insurance company collected the car from them yesterday and took it to a salvage yard to be assessed by the loss-adjuster, and today the insurance delivered a free courtesy car I can keep until the claim is settled.

Only bad news is that it's another Ford Fiesta, so at the moment I have 2 of them... identical other than the one I hired is a 12 plate and the new one is a 62 plate. Looks like I'm collecting them. :lol: Will see if I can return the other one in the morning for a slight early return refund. Small interdependent company so they might.

Still not 100% sure what car I want to buy now. I liked the 407 and it is tempting to get another one, but I can't find many of the same top spec (executive/GT) 2.0 HDi. Others I'm considering are an Audi A6 Avent (estate) and a Merc C220 CDI Estate. There are a few of those about around the 2005-2006 age for reasonable money, full service histories and 1 year warranties.

[Harrison]

Complete nightmare trying to find a new car. Got the cheque from the insurance for my old car, so have to wait for that to clear, but I've been looking around to see what's about, and there isn't much I like.

I've narrowed it down to:

Another Peugeot 407 GT HDI, but this time the SW estate.
Audi A6 Avant TDi
Mercedes C or E class CDI Estate.

The car I want most is the A6 Avant, but there are hardly any about, and it has to have a leather interior and color centre display (hate the red monochrome display). But most I've seen have fabric seats.

Going to look at a couple of Peugeot 407 SWs today with full leather and similar spec to my old one.

I've really only got the next 2 weeks to find a car.

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[Tiago]

If money is not the main question, i would go for the A6 :shades:

[Harrison]

I've been having a good look around over the past week, and there were no good A6 around anywhere within 100 miles, but at the end of the week I managed to find a nice Peugeot 407 SW, gave it a test drive and have decided to buy it. I've put down a deposit, and am having the AA perform an inspection on the car this week. Just waiting for the insurance cheque to clear this coming week, before I can pay the difference and collect it.

It's a 2007 Peugeot 407 GT 2.0 HDi SW, in silver, with only 55k miles on the clock. One owner from new, with a full service history, fully stamped up in the service record. It's basically identical to my old car (2005 executive) but the newer GT version. Full leather, RT4 Sat nav with hdd holding the maps (my old one had the rt3 that needed the map CD in the drive all the time), plus you can rip music cds to the hdd jukebox. Quite cool. Only thing I might need to get is a usb adapter cable for usb to connect an iPod.

Still a bit disappointed not to find an A6 as that is the car I really want out of any, but I still like the 407 and it is perfect for my family needs. Will make it my mission to get an A6 for the next one.

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