Gutted...

[PHILIP BAXTER]

That's crap. Take inspiration from @Mazza.

 

[colb]

So sorry you had this happen, car is far too good to write off, best try and get it bought back and fix it with used parts from our breaker guys.

 

[Dalek]

I do really feel for you. But as everyone else has said, hopefully you will soon be back on the road.

 

[buze]

Thanks everyone, you are all stars and I really needed that -- spend so much time into the little car that it become personal!

The idiot came to me with outstretched hand and "no hard feeling I hope" I nearly bit his head off at that point -- told him it could also have been the jogger who ran in behind me 1m later, or a cyclist. To be fair he was trying to play it cool but he knew very well he had seriously fscked up. Not that it helps me, as I'm in for countless hours of work and money while he walses off with his rust bucket.

 

[Brian H]

Gutted for you.

 

[abh29]

I know exactly how you are feeling at the moment. ( I had the front and rear end damaged)
I advised my insurance but didnt go though them for the repairs, which meant I didn’t have to pay any excess, and didn’t affect no claims bonus.
Get an estimate, then send it to the other guys insurance and deal with them yourself directly. Remind them that it will save them money as your insurance company will add their charges to any bill !!!!!
If is a lot where they suggest a write off, ask them about an ‘ in lieu payment where you keep the car . (get as much as you can !!!)
This way no write off Category letter is issued to the car
This assumes it is just a cosmetic repair, in which case the a rebuild is relatively easy to do yourself.
A shame you are not near me as I would be happy to help as already done this.
Check out my thread ‘ Write off- no way ‘ as it will give you some idea of whats involved.

If you have any questions about this please contact me.

A couple of years ago a lady rear ended me in heavy traffic [I really felt sorry for her as she had let me in front of her 200 yds before]
Damage was just rear bumper required spraying , the parking sensor all OK. After speaking to my insurance broker I spoke to her insurers about them dealing direct with it, sent them the estimate from the body shop. Them were not being very cooperative so back to my broker who thought they might be worried about me claiming whiplash later. I went back to her insurers told them the bump was so minor I hardly felt it absolutely no whiplash.
They immediately agreed I could get it done were my quote was from.
Interest when I collected the car I was told as they were appointed agents for her insurers , they had a schedule of rates and got paid a little bit more than they had quoted me direct.

 

[Grumps]

Sorry to see this. Don't do the insurance thing! Get your parts from Andy Spurs and others get it sorted and if needs be spray it later when funds allow.
My wife has had 4x4 for 20 years and experience states they are equally as s*** as any other car on ice and much heavier so damage will always be worse if one runs into you. Good luck getting it sorted.

 

[Paul Rice]

Didn't the driver of the landrover offer to pay?

 

[Ianmc]

Anyone fitted a roo bar to a Z3

 

[Grumps]

Didn't the driver of the landrover offer to pay?

Good point

 

[jaguartvr]

They will write it off, negotiate the salvage value of the car and deduct it from the payout. You will be able to fit good second hand parts to get it back on the road and be in pocket too. Never take the first or second offers of value but they rarely up the offer after offer 3.
Don't forget to tell them about any recent serving or expenses paid out recently. You can if necessary put your number plate on retention online and it is done immediately.

 

[MalcQV]

Bugger. It makes owning older car a risk when this happens

I think, after reading comments that it might be best to try to deal direct with third party/third party insurance. Only my opinion but if you have it written off and then buy it back for salvage money, once you have repaired the car and painted the repair (assuming that you don't do it yourself) if there is no money left then you have well and truly lost out because the car is CAT write-off and worth substantially less.

 

[abh29]

If you have a full set of photos showing the damage ,and conformation it was wrote off solely for cost of parts/ car value and showing in detail the repairs as carried out,would that actually reduce the value by much even if it's CAT ?.?.

 

[Grumps]

If you have a full set of photos showing the damage ,and conformation it was wrote off solely for cost of parts/ car value and showing in detail the repairs as carried out,would that actually reduce the value by much even if it's CAT ?.?.

Yes a cat is a cat. Generally it reduces value by 50% plus your target market is reduced.

 

[mrscalex]

They will write it off, negotiate the salvage value of the car and deduct it from the payout. You will be able to fit good second hand parts to get it back on the road and be in pocket too. Never take the first or second offers of value but they rarely up the offer after offer 3.
Don't forget to tell them about any recent serving or expenses paid out recently. You can if necessary put your number plate on retention online and it is done immediately.

Not sure if this is what you mean but... if you are saying let the insurance company write it off then I can't agree if there is another route available. A repaired Cat will never be worth more than about 60% of it's prior value.

I have a serious issue with the whole Cat thing mainly on older cars but on newer ones too. The insurance companies have it all their own way to manipulate the situation to their advantage. They know exactly what cars fetch at salvage auction and will manipulate their decision based on this. They will happily write-off an economically repairable car if they can improve their financial position from the salvage - regardless of what the repairs will cost.

When you go down a claim route you are surrendering the future of the car into the hands of the insurance company for their own selfish gain. It's a good job house insurance doesn't work in the same way. They will even try and convince you to use their repairer if they don't write-off - rarely a sensible option as their repairers are usually national chains/networks, their work is often questionable anyway but even worse after being bullied into lower rates in exchange for regular work from the insurance company.

Let's say you paid £4k for the car and it had held at this value prior to the accident (no idea in this car's case but it conveniently illustrates my point). It's written off and there is a £4k payout - lucky btw if they agree with your valuation. The salvage is bought back for £1.5k - which is more than they would get at salvage auction btw as they take advantage of your emotional attachment. So £2.5k in the bag to pay for repairs. This needs to cover not only the repair costs but the drop in value after repair from £4k to £2.4k (40% drop to 60% of original value). So you have £900 left to do the repair.

With the right level of owner input and hard work, that car can I suspect be repaired for £500-£1000. But it will be hard work and a big learning exercise. And even if you can cover yourself financially then your pride and joy is forever branded as an outcast by most of society. It will be more difficult to sell even with the 40% price reduction.

Meanwhile the insurance company are out of the problem cheaply enough. Preferable even if they can get a repair done for less due to their overheads of processing a repair. They even get to load your insurance premium next year due to the claim. Protected NCB % is not the same as protected premium. Oh and they have your £400+ annual premium to offset their costs, not to mention the previous 15-20 years when you never made a claim. They are laughing every step of the way as they disappear into the sunset while you get to do all the running around to fix your car and have the issue of it selling it one day as a Cat. Or find a replacement in as nice a condition as yours.

I'd have a lot less problem if there was a separate category of write-off for older/cheaper cars that was never recorded onto the DVLA record. Or if there was a way to virginise a Cat N/D (potentially S/C) of the car by inspection.

Oh and add in this - if you decide to keep this totally away from the insurance company and settle with the party responsible then you are breaking the terms of your insurance by not notifying. And what constitutes an accident is anyone's guess. A low speed shunt into a gate post? A trolley rolling across the car park into your door?

 

[mrscalex]

No finer example of the financial damage and stigma merely breaking wind on a Z3 bonnet causes than this car.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-BMW-Z3-3-0-Individual-Sport-Estroil-blue-manual/323673131811

Just look at the pathetically small amount of damage pre-repair in the accident photo. In the right-hands and with (I suspect) no other damage than what is visible you could get change out of £500 from a decent back street bodyshop.

That should be a £6k car every day of the week. And he can't move it on (he's been trying for quite a long time) at £3k. Previously sold at £3.5k but it fell through.

Of course the car could be a dog close up, though I doubt it. In fact from the description it sounds pretty decent. But even if it is a dog it's the fact it's been written off previously that is killing it.

 

[MalcQV]

As the few posts above suggest. Dealing with the legalised theft insurance companies put on us is a nightmare. It really needs regulating more (if it is really regulated much at all).
A few years back I was reversing out of a car park space in my then recently purchased auto MB. I did not notice the car behind come up rather quickly and I stopped, I had however been a bit too keen with the go pedal IMHO. When I got out (angry man in other car ) the car's weren't touching but he did have paint removed on his front wheel arch. There was no damage to my car. I am not certain to this day if I hit him. I notified the insurance (as required) and ultimately paid for the repair on his car out of my own pocket (£170).
However when I came to re-insure with my current broker they have registered it as 'accident no claim or responsibility' but it was noted.
Is that a weighting on a future premium should I change insurers? I would bet on it being so.

Likewise my sister about 4 years ago was sat in her lounge and her car was on the drive (full width type drive) outside her window and the Civic owner up the cul-de-sac got out of his car with the handbrake off. Rolled down into my sister's car and removed her front bumper and damaged the front wing and she sat there open mouthed and saw it all.
It was repaired by the third party insurance but when she came to insure the car the next time, they informed her she could no longer have third party only cover for driving other cars and the policy increased substantially because, and their words "If you have been involved in any accident and including a non fault accident you are statistically more likely to be involved in another".

So she had a weighting on her insurance for not being in her car when it was hit by another also with no driver! Madness.

 

[mrscalex]

I had a dog run out on me a couple of years or so back. Pitch-black night, from the bushes and I had a fraction of a second to decide what to do. So I braked, not as hard as possible but in a way to try and time it so the dog bounced off the car back into the bushes rather than into the path of the road. Which somehow I managed and the dog survived. The point was, not my fault and I played a part in saving the dog. Amazing how strong Whippets are btw.

Anyway, my legal protection managed to claim off the dog owner's pet insurance (the company initially lied and said there was no cover). My insurance company didn't get involved in anyway. Suffice to say my premium was loaded. And I'm still having to declare the incident when I swap cover now.

I truly hate the darker side of car insurance.

 

[Shelly]

Hope you manage to get you poor Z repaired
How guttering.......

 

[DavidM]

If you can manage it - get a quotation for repairs - get the money from the culprit through amicable means - have the car repaired without going through insurance - but get it done professionally.