[Fallout]

Hi guys. Like a donkey, I reversed my car into a steel upright at the petrol station before xmas. I was doing about 5 MPH but this car must be made of paper! I have damaged:
- Rear bumper
- Rear panel
- Boot lid
- Underneath is probably a bit bent
- Rear right light cluster slightly damaged

So I am pursuing an insurance claim, and they have estimated the repair cost at £9k!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My only guess is, this quote includes shipping in replacement parts from Japan. My car is not worth that. It is a near standard 33GTR, probably worth £4k-£5k on their books, and 6k-7k in the current climate as a private sale.

They apparently will not let me buy the salvage, due to the way their policies are set out and new government legislation. So say they are generous and give me £6k, which I think is unlikely, I am still faced with losing a perfectly mechanically sound and roadworthy car (in good nick), with nothing more than superficial damage ... TO SCRAP! Even though I could buy something similar, that makes me feel a little sick. I also expect to get maybe as little as £4k, cos you know what insurance companies are like.

So what should I do? The only other option I have is to get a quote from someone else myself, and get them to go via that garage. The problem will be sourcing parts. I did get a quote when I first pranged it, and the guy estimated £3k, but he never gave me it in writing because he could never get a quote for parts from Nissan, as Nissan Japan never got back to Nissan UK.

So I am a bit lost on my options. If I cancel the claim and fix it myself, that's a lot of money out of my pocket, and completely negates the point of having insurance in the first place. So really I need to go via the insurance company, but get it fixed elsewhere .... and source the parts myself ....

Help!

 

[Nassin]

Hi, I think that you should wait until you hear which way your insurers intend to proceed. Intil you know that, you really cannot make any firm decisions.

 

[Fallout]

I'm 99% sure they will write it off. The thing is, I am unsure of how much money they'll offer. What is a reasonable sum for a good condition 33GTR, 77000 on the clock, standard apart from Tein Flex + EDFC and Exhaust/Air Filter? How much would be taking the piss?

 

[LiamGTR]

Take all your modified bits off and replace with standard before they come ?

 

[Nassin]

I assume that your insurers have inspected the car and that you are waiting for their offer. Your insurers have the choice to repair, replace or pay the pre-accident value in cash. Sorry, but you need to get their offer before you can decide on your next move. If the car is written off and you are unhappy with the valuation then you can only provide independent evidence to substantiate your valuation. In view of the age of your car this would normally be by way of producing advertisements showing the asking price of similar cars. Dependent upon the extent and type of damage some insurers, if asked, will allow you to keep the salvage and offer settlement by deducting the value of the salvage from the agreed total loss value. However, you need to know what they propose before you can move forwards. I hope this helps.

 

[Fallout]

Just got a call from the engineer and he has confirmed it'd a Cat D write off. Waiting for valuation from insurance company now.

 

[tonigmr2]

I'm sure some of the skyline specialists on here will have second hand parts - you don't need to replace it with all new stuff? Cat D isn't serious really. See what they offer.

 

[markM3]

Insurers will let you source parts usually, so the car won't be written off and still be paid for less the excess.

Cheers,

 

[TREG]

I'm surprised you only value your car at £6-7k?
If its got service history and in good condition I would be thinking slightly higher?

 

[Fallout]

I valued my car based on when everyone was flogging their cars for £6k-£7k during our crazy Skyline slump. Having looked on ebay now, it looks like a nice example of a standard 33 can still fetch 9k. So I reckon mine is worth £8k then. Which is good ..... except for it raises my expectations of what they'll actually offer me.

But yeah, I think you guys are right. If I can source all the parts myself, I could probably still keep the car. As soon as that valuation comes in, I'll start shopping.

Still feel gutted! 10 years driving without incident, and one stupid mistake.

 

[matt gtr]

I think to get a tidy gtr you are looking at around 10k if they offer around 6k look on auto trader and find 3 similar speced r33 gtr for around 10k print them off together with copies of the receipts that you have spent on the car and send them in to the company dealing with your claim their first offer will be crap it always is when i crashed my gtst insured for 7k their first offer was 4k i refused sent in ads for similar speced cars and they paid me out my 7k this was around 2.5 yrs ago its up to you to prove your car is worth x amount you need to prove that if you accept say 6k for you car you will be well out of pocket best of luck matt

 

[Fallout]

Thanks for the advice mate. The cheapest R33 GTR I can find on autotrader is £7k.

Cheap one

So I guess that is the minimum I should possibly accept. Will find some more to prove it's worth more than that though.

 

[james1067906]

Depending on how it goes with the insurance, if it comes down to it, i'd bite the bullet and source the parts from some traders on here, and fix it yourself.
Like you said it negates the point of insurance, but it beats having it written off for something relatively minor like this.
Just my two cents

JamesH

 

[SklyaFett]

I had my car valued at 12k and i got 8k in the end. They go by the glass house guide and will not pay more than what they have on there system. But mine was a cat A write off so it was take it or leave it. I did fight for the 8k mind you. Insurance companies are pants and a law to themselves. If i were you i'd get it done yourself if its just bumpers and the like and not bother claiming. Just my 2p's worth anyways. Hope all goes well

 

[alex2005]

Id have just got the repairs done myself, I bet you could buy the bumper,bumper bar, boot lid and lamp unit for less than £300 and maybe even in the same colour, all the body shop would have to do is repair the rear panel! (assuming the damage isnt that bad)

Im sure others will agree.

Hope you get it sorted soon

Alex

 

[Richard Bell]

Who are you insured with?

I would get another quote as it sounds VERY expensive to me.

Richard
Rising Sun Performance

 

[TREG]

Your car will reach £9k easy with service history.There are hundreds of cars fetching less at the docks, but they will require money spent on them.

I think if you bought the parts used and had them all sprayed up in the correct colour you could get it done for £2500.

 

[Fallout]

Waiting to hear what the insurance company will offer me now. It'll probably be in the next couple of days.

Who are you insured with?

I would get another quote as it sounds VERY expensive to me.

Hi Rich. Yes, the quote is RIDICULOUS. The engineer phoned me up with that quote and basically said the spoiler was like gold dust and cost an arm and a leg. Sounds like crap to me. I could get a brand new aftermarket one for < £200. I don't know what they're playing at.

I did try and get a quote from Sandydown Bodyworks, but they never got me a written quote. Apparently Nissan UK didn't get back to them after trying to contact Nissan Japan ... blah etc.


I've got a watch on a load of parts on ebay. I can't find an original 33 GTR spoiler, but I can get most of the rest in silver, so buying the parts myself and fixing it myself is still an option.

 

[Fallout]

Just thought I'd update you guys on this.

The insurance company have offered me £10,000 which is what I valued the car at on the policy. So less my £500 excess, that's £9500 in my pocket, which I am happy with.

So that car is going to be taken away, and I'll be in the market to replace it with something else. Now I can get shopping. Hopefully the car will get fixed up by some scrappy, and get back onto the road at a Cat D, under the ownership of someone who will get it for a bargain price.

I've learnt a few things about insurance ...

- 'Specialist' insurers may be cheap, but they're a pain in the arse when you actually need to claim, and the benefits you forgo (like courtesy cars and dedicated claim handlers) would make life a lot easier.

- All the horror stories of the car being massively under valued aren't always true. I did give them £5000 worth of RSP service history, and a detailed breakdown of the value of the after market parts on the car though.

- It cost me £12500 in Jan 2007. That's what I call a car that holds it's value.

 

[markpriorgts-t]

cant grumble at 10k