Hi All, I'm after a bit of advice as someone shunted into the back of my Mk2 16v this morning on a local road. The car in front of me stopped quite abrubtly, I stopped ok and the car behind, an Astra, did too - although quite close to me. Then a larger car, a Passat, shunted into the back of the Astra behind and pushed it into my rear end! The impact was relatively low speed I think but as I was stationary the Golf took a fair knock to the rear and it pushed the bumper in and folded the back panel in the centre where the VW emblem is. The impact was certainly enough to do some damage and be felt by me and my passengers who were quite shook up. The Passat driver admitted it was entirely his fault and details were exchanged, obviously not much use to me until Tuesday when I can get in touch with the insurers so I'm kind of in limbo thinking about how it might turn out. I took photo's at the scene of all the cars, people and damage incurred. Obviously I love the car and have put an awful lot of time and money into getting it to the condition it was in, aside from actually purchasing it about 5 years ago in excellent original condition. I am worried that due to the age of it the insurers may not want to fix it as they may say it's cheaper to write off. I think I have it on agreed value, and it's with a specialist insurer but I would be claiming off the Passat driver rather than my own insurance so how would it work? What are my options? Surely I can have my car back how I want it as it was in no way my fault? I just want it to be this morning again, but I'll decide not to go out in the car, no one will run into me and my lovely original oak green 16v will still be as Wolfsburg intended when they made it 17 years ago! Any advice much appreciated, I am very upset about this and want to sort it out properly so I don't lose out! Cheers Stu
Did you get the details of the Astra driver too? These multi-car shunts can be a bit slow, from what I've heard (luckily I've never had one). You might have to claim off the astra, as he actually hit you, but wait and see what your insurance say. Whatever happens, make sure everyone knows you want to keep your car, whether it's written off or not... and if it was me, I wouldn't let it out of my sight till I had an agreement that I could definitely keep it.
Thanks Mike - yes got the details of everyone involved so hopefully it can be sorted out well enough. I definitely want to keep the car and won't be letting it out of my sight as you say, I hate leaving it anywhere - actually felt quite sick this morning after the incident thinking of the old girl getting written off or something!
yes thats right, when a guy went in to the back of me and the then shunted me forward in a few cars ahead of me, the claim went back down the line till it reached the guy who did it, each company claiming on the car behind till it got to the last one. pain in the ass, as the insurance company thought at one stage i was to blame with regards your car, claim on the guy responsible, i take it you want to keep it and put it back to its former glory? no harm in that! as for value Vs right off, what do you think its worth compared to the guide price in parkers etc.. maybe worth trying a few bodyshops to get an idea on cost of repairs so you are armed with the info when dealing with the insurance companies and pay outs.
Thanks for the replies, a nightmare it certainly is! I really could have done without this. Here's some pics I took yesterday at the scene of the incident showing the damage to the car. I suppose it doesn't look that much in the pics but it's enough to really p1ss me off! [:^(] The rear bumper has pushed up and presumably bent or broken it's mountings, I haven't brought myself to look underneath yet. The rear panel is bent in the middle obviously but the rear hatch still opens fine and the sides of the car seem ok to my untrained eye. The car drives fine and the damage seems restricted to the rear panel and bumper, though as I say I've yet to look into it further.
Jon - yes, good idea on getting quotes for the repair to get an indication of likely costs. If it happened that the insurance company didn't think the car was worth fixing would they pay out an amount I could put towards getting it fixed myself? I don't want it writing off obviously for what seems to be an apparently small amount of damage. I don't want it as a Cat D or anything like that, I just want it back how it was before someone shunted it for me! As for value - to me it's worth a fortune because of the time I've put in on it and the parts etc. Not sure on the market value, I expect if I'd put it up for sale on here a few days ago pre damage then it would have fetched a good price very quickly. Ideas on value appreciated, spec is as follows: 1991 'H' Mk2 GTI 16v Excellent original bodywork & rainbow interior Factory fitted Air-con (try finding one with that!) Factory rear headrests Factory leather wheel E/M, E/W, S/R 150k ish miles with full service history from new Oak Green Low mileage Audi 2.0 6A bottom end 'Man in the shed' P&P'd 16v head and exhaust manifold 'Hotgolf' lightened flywheel Eibach suspension 280mm front brakes All the other usual bits and bobs I can't think of now, fastidiously maintained and cherished by myself for about five years. What's it worth?
sorry to hear that. it would be sad to see a mk2 scrapped for that. ps - you could have washed it before you took pics!! lol
if they don't stick it through the body shop for you or you choose a body shop you want it to go through, they should pay out for the damage, which shoudl be an agreable figure between yourself and them ( though it will be what the car is worth in their eyes or enough to cover the cost of the repair from your point of view) shouldn't go down as a CAT d etc, my neighbour reversed into one of my golfs, big fck off dent in it, the car was "written" off due to the cost of the repair, i was paid out for the cost of the car/cost of the repair for not going through the insurance and sorting it out myself which i was more than happy to do as i wanted to use a trusted bodyshop and not one reccommended by the insurers. but have a good look round the car to see what you can find that is wrong with it, panel damage, to give yourself an indication on what to expect. it looks minimal on the rear panel, i just hope for you that the boot panel inside isn't effect, thats the pain part.
That will have certainly had some effect on the boot floor, but probably not much. We had a MK2 that was shunted a few years back and it sustained exactly the same damage as yours; the rear panel was creased inwards in the centre but seemed okay at the sides. We visited a body shop and they seemed to think it'd be possible to just pull it back out again as opposed to completely replacing the rear panel. I would only be really worried if you have any sign of distortion in the quarter panels, or reduction of door gaps. Trev
Thats a shame. I think to repair that it would just need to be beaten out then a bit of filler skimmed over the top. Then a bumper.
i had something simliar happen to my oaky. they didnt write it off they just repaired it. i have since got it agreed value at 5500. so now i have no worries if it happens again but worse!
I reversed into someone recently and did exactly the same damage. I still can`t work out why it bent there, when I hit the other car more with the right corner, mashing the iron and cracking the bumper... The floor wasn`t affected, and I managed to push the dent out very easily. There is still a slight crease, but it`s only noticable from certain angles. I was also panicking that it my result in the car being written off, so since it was (mostly) my fault, I suggested that I pay for the damage to the other car. They agreed and I got the bodyshop who sprayed my car (and now friends of mine) to sort it out (cracked bumper, broken grill on a new Fiesta) for just 160.
Hi All, thanks for the replies, very helpful indeed. The damage does seem to be limited to the rear panel. I had a look under the car and it looks fine aside from that, and also inside the boot the floor is fine with only a minor dent in the inside rear panel behind where the outside dent is, if you see what I mean. I will take a few pics and post them up. I've spoken to the insurers and made it clear in no uncertain terms that the car won't be leaving my sight for assessment, repairs, replacement or anything like that and that I will get some bodyshop quotes myself and they can cover the cost. They did keep going on about how it might be a 'total loss given the age of the car' as expected but I've told them it means a lot to me and will be getting fixed one way or another. What I need now is bodyshop recommendations if anyone is local to me and has experience of good places that can fix the car to a high standard so it's as good as new (like it was before the shunt!). So, any recommendations in the North West / Cheshire / Liverpool type area? Cheers Stu
best o fluck with it dude because its an older car you might find they will want to write it off but i hope you get it sorted,
I seem to remember there is a decent body shop in Kuntsford on the road out towards Wilmslow and Alderly Edge. There has got to be a few good places around what with all those footballers living round that way - need a good bodyshop or two to fix all their cars when they bing them.
