Accident.

[ibrooks]

Luckily the fault has been reported by 3 other people to the highways agancy, who have in turn passed the concern on to the gas board, and it appears that they have done nothing about it. The other thing going my way is that the workmen, in front of the police officer said "we have told our gaffer about the bolt and he said to keep 'bashing' it down". The other thing I did was to speak with the mechanic whos garage is opposite and he has said there have been problems, I gave him my number to pass on in case he heard from anyone else in the same position.

 

Sound like it's time for them to take their pants down and bend over.

 

I'd even suggest that there's a case to answer for the highways agency - they should have checked that the gas board had sorted it and if not they should have rectified it and taken steps to recover their costs for doing so from the gas board.

 

Iain

[Big Jim]

Chris,

 

First of all, get onto a solicitor, one of the "you win all" type, the companies hate them, because not only do they have to pay up to yourself, but the solicitors costs would double the amount very quickly.If you're claiming from the water company, and £5k is what you're asking, then £5k is nothing in their expenditure.

 

Also what you should do in readiness for making a claim on your insurance, is to get a quote from GBSC or someone similar to rebuild your car, if the quote comes in at say £7k, you could offer your insurance that you would do it yourself for £6k. You would have to have the rebuilt car examined by an insurance engineer afterwards though.

 

I hope that you manage to sort things out to your liking.

 

PS.

Luckily the fault has been reported by 3 other people to the highways agancy

I doubt very much this was a "Highways Agency" road, it's more likely the local council "Highways dept"

[Guest Getting There]

Hi all

 

I have had the insurance people out and they have written the car off. I am having a meeting with GBS tomorrow to get a cost, but I dont think it will do any good as they have decided that it is a CAT B write off, this apparently means that it is salvagable only for parts and can never be put back on the road. I was planning on getting a new chassis and panels and re-building the car, then VIC check; however if I build anything it will have to go though an IVA, now I am double gutted as it means that I am starting from scratch.

 

The insurance company have already come back with a price of £2800, (I said I valued the car at £6500), so I have told them to take a long jump of a high cliff. It also doesn't look as if I will be able to claim anything on top of the value of the car. I was hoping that my solicitor would be able to make a claim as if I buy another Robin Hood, it is not the one that I built (the main reason for me having the car), to enable me to take a month of work un paid and build another.

 

Dont know what is going to happen and I am getting towards the point of not even getting another and just walking away as everything just seems to be against me and for the gas board (who still dont seem at all bothered).

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[BigLee]

What a complete bummer Chris - I feel for you. £2800 ia ridiculous but as Jim says get onto one of the ambulance chasers and document how much time and effort it will be to rebuild another. They will get you more from Gas board. Do this before you accept anything from your insurers.

[Guest mikea]

Did you have an agreed value in place ??

[Graham B]

Argue about the cat B rating .!!!! explain to the assessor/engineer that its a kit car and all parts can be replaced/repaird..Mine was a very understanding bloke

 

Mine was much worse and I negotiated a "damaged , repairable" , only an MOT was required to put it back on the road with same plates.

 

I got £3200, ( less£200 excess) and the car --- and RHE supplied all the bits I wanted for £1900. -- 14 months later --The Phoenix,

 

 

Much easier and quicker biuld , the second time round.

Graham B

[Guest jusycom]

Hi Chris ,which insurance company are you with if there offering such low valuations for a car that was only sva'd in april some of us might need to upgrade to agreed valuation. Have you seen a solicitor yet about the gas board bodgers yet. justin.

[philshelton]

have you aske a valuation from gbs and maybe even the club also get the price of simalar cars from mags. my insurance paid out £2900 for me to get it fixed all i had to do was submit them a quote had a cheque 5 days after assesor had been to look.

[Guest Getting There]

Hi all

 

I have been to GBS today and they are preparing me a price that they would charge me to rebuild the car onto a new chassis, so I can approach the insurance company with a true estimate. We have also sorted ot a price to get a car on the road based on new parts supplied by them.

 

I have an appointment with a solicitor on Friday who believes we can take it forward on the basis that under British law, if an accident is not your fault you can not be worse off than before - my argument with this is that I am driving a car that I built, therefore to be in the same boat I need to do the same. The claim through the solicitors is to cover the time and expense that it is going to take to build another car and get it back on the road again. The gas board have accepted that the plate was badly installed and that this was the cause of the damage to my car, but have not said that they will pay for the damage caused..... yet.

 

The plan is to get everything sorted and buy a new chassis and assosiated parts (GBS will build the chassis with engine mounts to suit the S2000 engine and box I have) and get started, the lead time for this will be 5 weeks, and I am hoping the scavenge some parts off the car I have now to complete the build.... or thats the plan at the moment.

 

Cheers for all the advice on this and I hope it will be sorted fairly quiickly (but quick never happens with the legal system!!).

 

Chris

[ibrooks]

Careful - to avoid the "new" car having to go through IVA you need to qualify under the points system that it's the same car as the original but re-built. So many points for the brakes, so many for the steering, so many for the engine, so many for the transmission etc. The points are loaded in such a way that a replacement chassis/body needs almost everything else to be from the original.

 

Chances are that as well as an MOT the car will have to go through a VIC - my mate has just had this on a Xantia that was written off over two years ago for a minor bump (wing, headlight and bumper put it beyond economical repair). The previous owner, his dad, "just had to MOT it" to put it back on the road and it's been through another two since but this time around they refused to let him re-tax it until it had gone through a VIC (at his expense and hassle - could have been popular if it had been sold to joe-public).

 

You've had enough trouble already - don't store more up of your own making.

 

Iain

[Guest Jonathan Tall]

A pothole appeared outside my house one morning, and the council sent 2 men and a van to 'mind' it until the waterboard arrived.

After I'd supplied a couple of cups of coffee and gone to the chippy for them, I asked how much longer they were going to be waiting.

After 6 hours their boss phoned to say that the waterboard wouldn't be coming and they were to make a temporary fix.

I was staggered when they used a buckled sheet of steel-plate and a bag of 'instant tarmac'........

 

 

I fell asleep listening to the crashing of the plate, convinced that I'd wake-up to find a queue of wrecked cars!!