not a good day. gutted in fact.

[jcs]

car-wise... rang AF this morning who were not very helpful to be honest. they just put me on to norwich union who actually insure the car. they were helpful but told me pretty much straight away that the car would be classed as a write off. i tried to explain etc but to no avail. call centre workers in india dont really seem to care very much at all. they were going to arrange to have it inspected in the next couple of days... we've now ditched our insurers and are going with a company called britannia who will take up the claim on our behalf.

Sorry to see that damage. I had a similar issue with my insurer over a shunt in my Jag. They decided to treat it as a commercial write-off (admittedly, the repair shop quote was £7,800!). I told them I did not want to have the car written off and treat a scrap dealer to an early christmas! After a bit of discussion with them and the repairer, the insurers then said they could settle directly with me and it would be my responsibility to pay the repair shop. I asked how much they would contribute and they said £6,500. After some dialogue with the repairer to trim out some fat, I got his price down to £6,800, so it cost me £300 plus my excess (it was my fault!). This also meant that the car never got registered as a write-off. In your case, the difference and excess would be covered by the other guy's insurance, which Britannia should get back for you.

[Steve_M]

It will be the usual story with insurance companies and Beats.

They dont understand the cars, and with parts prices being high, to them parts alone, let alone the wait for parts will mean they will just want to write it off to get it sorted.

Idea of parts:
H/L RH £394.19 No Stock
H/L LH £394.19 No Stock
Bonnet £453.41 No Stock
Front panel £422.77 IN STOCK

[beardo]

Just seen this and am really gutted for you. If there is anything, anything at all I can do for you just let me know. Remember as well as the Beat I am selling I have a good spare red chassis that I will gladly chop up to keep your Beat on the road.

[TADO]

hi all
thanks again for all this - its been a pretty stressful day here and all the advice and messages have been great.
ive put together a list of all the work/modifications/money spent on the car and will take this and steves quick part quotes down to the bodyshop tomorrow to try and get a rough evaluation and quote sorted from them.
think the car was being given a good check over this afternoon so might know some more details then as well. think this might be a loooooong drawn out process... there goes the summer driving then

[Adam]

FYI
last year a gal, eating and talking on her cell, backed into my Beat. Suffered hood and hinges, bumper, and front crossmember damage. The hood and bumper is repaired and is stored as spares. The crossmember was wasted. Surprising, the repalcement crossmember, item 5 in the attatchment, comes assembled and is low $.

I got one of these a few months ago, it was about 500 euro for the front assembly, light are very pricey.

[Bumbly1]

Looking at the new parts prices above, there is a red one on ebay at present with a buy it now of £900 which could supply all the parts you need and sell the remainder as parts?

Tom

[TADO]

thanks for the tip off bumbly - that does look like a good worst case scenario plan! whether it'll still be around should we need it will have to be seen.
we've already had some awesome and very kind offers of help and parts from board members which we hugely appreciate. *group hug*
apparently britannia work in a similar way to JCS described - ie they wont declare the car a write off even if you end up buying it back. so it might well be a last resort route.

we've got to wait and see now. apparently our friend at the bodyshop has been in touch with the regional manager for britannia to explain the circumstances and exceptional condition of the car and to make them aware that its not any old h-plate honda. the bodyshop chaps have the parts manual and are making a list of all necessary stuff...

[TADO]

Happy update time
http://u-ukhbc.co.uk/vbb/showthread....7288#post17288