As above - Wife taking the kids to school yesterday - went across a roundabout (straight over) but the scaffolder's van on the left thought she was going right and went straight into the side of her....kids thought it was great, put the rear passengers side door in and crucially the bit between the door and the wheel which so im told is a structural failiure....which is a shitter as the car (megane) weve had for 11 years since new and has been brilliant, never broken down, has just used the usual consumables, tyres, pads, 1 set of discs, 1 battery and didn't really need this.....Im assuming the insurance blokey will write it off as its only worth a couple of grand but its only done 55k so theres loads of life in it yet and my other half really doesn't care for cars but doesn't want to take the kids in it now if its unsafe for them....sooooooo.....next car...if it comes to that...I was thinking an SMAX -bigger, more expensive but its a 7 seat and when we go away we usually go with the Mother-in-law and end up taking 2 cars, so, it looks to be the best 7 seater out there...anyone got one - do they like it or no - ive only read good things about them so far... Ironically she saw the same scaffolders van this morning on the same roundabout and let him go first...! In all fairness to them they were really concerned for my kids which was nice, and when I spoke to their boss last night he was alright and I did let him know that no one was going to develop any instant neck injuries!! - he did say "yeah, not sure what happened but there was a note on my desk saying "smashed van up - see you later..."
It's as annoying as hell to lose a car or a bike, through no fault of your own, when the vehicle is worth much more than its value (so to speak). I hope the S-Max (or whichever replacement) gives you and your family pleasure.
Cheers - as I say it shit as theres nothing wrong with our car (apart from the massive dent) - I wouldn't have minded in say 5 years time it catastrophically failed for whatever reason we would have had our money's worth out of it...karma - that's what it is - this month we would have been a little bit better off financially but that will put a stop to that nicely!! I expect our insurance to go up as well as ive read on here even when its not your fault your insurance still goes up..!
No - they thought it was brilliant - it wasn't a fast impact (im guessing about 10mph) - on a mini roundabout...wife's more pissed off that we have to (probably) get a new car as she was happy with that one...TBH - if the assessor says its not a write off - we'll keep it and ill buy a second hand door....as I say we've had it from new and its been faultless. Our last car (that we owned) before was a Renault 5 turbo and that was really good as well....
see if the car is structurally sound, then if it is arrange to fix it with second hand parts and let scaffold co pick up bill. you have car they have no claims.
we have an smax at work and it is a good car but if you are thinking of taking a car full of people it will be a real squeeze as when rear seats are used you really dont have much boot space at all, the only ones i have really seen that would be capable of 6 people with luggage etc and be comfortable for any distance are the grand voyager size of vehicles.
coming from the car industry where I also estimate accident damage cars here, I would be surprised if its not a write off whats the current value of the car your main thing to consider is what labour hours and charge will go into the repair that's the main killer, not parts value but the time involved for the bodyshop to carry out the repair and then there is a loan car to consider hope it all works out for you mind
Glad the family are ok. As for Smax why not get something smaller and cheaper and shove mother-in-law in the boot simples
I worry a little about something similar happening to my car. A 15 year-old Alfa 156SW with 130'000 miles on the clock is worth peanuts, so someone would only have to scratch my bumper for it to be written off. But I like it very much, have had it from new and looked after it. It's worth way more to me than A.N.Other Alfa of a similar vintage with similar miles. I'm hoping it will do at least another 100'000 kms.
If you've had a French car for 11 years with no issues, it should be put in a Hall of Fame somewhere.
I right my 22 year old VW Polo off every time the fuel tank is empty! But I love it and it's just clicked over 38000 so it stays. Our family car is a Skoda Octavia. Brilliant tool and decent to drive as well. Well worth considering
I'll let you know if my £500 Renault Scenic was a bargain or not on Saturday...when it goes for it's mot
