Today is a sad day for my new ZS :(

[thestribb]

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately today was a horrible day resulting in the below images of my car being the final outcome, all caused by a complete w*nker in a Clio speeding and cutting me up as I was trying to overtake, causing a spin. Thankfully, due to my quick thinking and "amazing driving skills" (as quoted by an independent witness :P ) I managed to avoid the other car and didn't cause any incidents with other drivers, just a short delay on the A14 eastbound and some debris.

It's unlikely, but this is a desperate plea to everyone on here to see if anyone think they could help fix it? The back is just a replacement bumper and some slight passenger wing damage, but the front is the worst with the bonnet and wing very much needing replacing, but also, the car has crumpled in quite far.

I'm not holding out much hope, but I thought I'd ask as i've only had the car two weeks and absolutely loved it :(

[Supercharged_Z]

Hello,

Im afraid that will be writen off the front end is quite bad and not worth repairing I am sure.

Sorry to hear of your crash. might be time to look for another zs

Ross

[Lukeus101]

:yikes:Hope your ok mate and anyone else who was with you :( Hate to say it but it may not be cost effective to bring this one back to life.

[thestribb]

Well I'm not involving the insurance company whatsoever as it's more hassle than is worth (and more expensive), and as there was no other cars or people involved I don't need to. I paid £800 for the car, what do people think is a realistic quote price to get it looked at?

[Ritchy]

bad times mate claim his insurance and get another zs:) be cheaper than repairing and will give you a chance to get a nice one, if your not getting insurance involved get the guy to pay for the car as written off, £800 cssh, buy another, swap the bits you like, then weigh in the rest

[Supercharged_Z]

front panel,
bonnet
wing
bumper
radiator
light

all of the above = big money plus the labour and paint, the repair will not be much cheaper than £1200 quid i am sure. thats without looking of there is chassis damage or other damage.

[thestribb]

The annoying part is the guy involved sped away (which makes me think I could put in a claim for failing to stop) so I have no reg details, my only saving grace is that it was all caught on the A14's cameras, so I'm wondering if I have a case there for a criminal conviction?

[MG6Turbo]

Its highly unlikely the police will bother getting the footage.

Didnt the witness get the clios plate?

The problem you have is proving the other guy caused the accident, as he didnt hit you.

The damage is quite severe to the near side front, it would appear the leg has crumbled. This is the worse part. Getting the parts in the right colour wouldnt be an issue.

Where abouts do you live?

G

[thestribb]

I'm in Northants (I just bought an alternator off you by the way, not that I need it now haha, but thanks for the speedy delivery ;) ) Do you reckon there's anything i can do?

[peterzs]

George seems to be breaking good ZS's, might be able to PX yours for a decent one.

[Boot Hill Bandit]

George seems to be breaking good ZS's, might be able to PX yours for a decent one.

agreed. Let G have your ZS and pay a bit more for a fixed one off him. George has supplied quite a few members good cars on here. Just PM him and have a chat see what can be done.

[thestribb]

Yeah I've sent over some pictures to him so we'll see what happens, if I can get it fixed or like you say exchanged for another plus some extra £ I'll be a very happy chappy. Not too fussy on the new one either, as long as it's a hatchback i'd be immensely grateful.

[stamford]

Sorry to hear about this. Certainly a bad one and would have been written off straight away. I would be fuming if the scrote who caused this got away, I wouldn't let it go.

[Boot Hill Bandit]

Yeah I've sent over some pictures to him so we'll see what happens, if I can get it fixed or like you say exchanged for another plus some extra £ I'll be a very happy chappy. Not too fussy on the new one either, as long as it's a hatchback i'd be immensely grateful.

Well you've done the right thing in talking to George. If it is fixable economically he will tell you. I suspect judging by the state of that front end the chassis legs are bound to have been tweaked.........sometimes it is just more economical to buy another ZS, this looks like one of those cases.

I'm sure George will be able to help you out. Best of luck fella.

[ian zs180]

Sorry about your zed mate at least your ok thats the main thing ,the car can always be replaced and i,m sure you will find another great zs good luck with it pal

[thestribb]

Thanks for your kind words chaps, much appreciated. Hopefully something is salvageable or like you say, get another one. I'll keep you posted on future developments.

[Smokey]

I have plenty of body parts in this colour for sale so if its fixable you can give me a shout.

[talkingcars]

Sorry to see this.

Hopefully you'll come out of it okay but I suspect the car is beyond affordable repair, the front end looks to have chassis damage.

I also suspect that you wont get far trying to claim against the clio as there was no impact with them or any other car, have you spoken to the police?

Let us know how you get on.

[mattie007]

I have plenty of body parts in this colour for sale so if its fixable you can give me a shout.

He wanted the skirts and bib last week but you had sold them ;)

[p_b82]

Sorry ot see a badly bent ZS - esp as you had not had it long - however as always glad to see that the car stopped injury to any passengers.

As the person that caused the accident failed to stop, unless you get a witness step forward who did get it there is little you can really do...

Good luck with either replacement or repair!

[Smokey]

I meant like wings, front bumper matt.

[thestribb]

Just to give you all an update, I've spoken to the police, the highways agency and my own solicitor to see what can be done. The highways agency are going to send me footage of the incident as I requested it under Data Protection (nice to see these irritating laws actually coming in handy for a change!), the police have been really good to me and are doing all they can to see if I can get something sorted, but it's all down to the officer who attended the scene and their opinion of it. I have some quite bad neck, back and arm pain now as a result so they've said as there's injury involved I may have something to look in to.

I did have a witness who saw me swerve to avoid the car, who has given me their details, but they did say they don't think they saw the other car actually speed past me as they were a few cars back, so not sure how that will work out. Solicitor's are looking into it, but as it's 50/50 liability at the minute it's a bit tricky without a good police report and witness, but we'll see. They've said to ring around a few bodyshop places to get some quotes on a cost of repair and to get as much evidence as I can and take it from there. I'm hoping that if the witness is useable and the police report comes back with some evidence on my side that I might be able to add the cost of repair to the solicitor's bill and have it sorted under MIB, but we shall see. I should be getting a phone call from the officer who attended the scene to have a chat with me, so maybe I can explain the whole situation again to him and see what he thinks.

On the plus side, I've popped round to have a good luck underneath the car today in the daylight and got some good pictures, and the battery still works, as do all the electrics, the steering isn't shot at all and all seems ok inside. I didn't dare try to turn her over just in case relevant pipes and cables weren't in correctly, thus making the problem worse, so it does seem to be mainly bodywork issues, I still can't see if the chassis legs are knackered at all, but I'm hoping George or someone else with similar knowledge will be able to suss that out from the pictures I've taken. So worst comes to worst, I think I could flog all the mechanical and electrical bits and make some good money back, as it drived superbly before it's facelift.

But until I get some more communication, bureacracy is the name of the game here it seems, but in the meantime I'm sampling the delights of our wonderful public transport system.....

Until next time....

[talkingcars]

Fingers crossed for you.

Keep all your travel tickets incase you can claim them back.

[Bobdope2002]

dont mean to be rude here and this is just my oppinion

Sod the ZS off buy a new one with ya payout.... job done.... theyre so cheap nowadays theyre just not worth the effort......

[MG6Turbo]

Bit harsh Tim..lol

It might not be that bad to fix if you can get the panels in the right colour.

Im waiting to see the car in the daylight to give a proper verdict if it is worth doing or not.

G

[Bobdope2002]

Ya kno me g

I wudnt bother if it was me

All this effort over an 800 quid ZS

Sorry but its not worth the effort

[talkingcars]

If ya got a spare £800 Tim I'll let you have my address!

[Bobdope2002]

Uve lost me

[thestribb]

It's not the £800, it's the fact it's a perfectly drive-able car, probably the best condition ZS I've seen, and I don't just want to add yet another to the scrap heap if it's worth fixing. It's worth the effort to me as it takes me almost a year to save that kind of money, and now it's all gone in one split second because of someone else's recklessness. I wish I could be as carefree as you and had enough money to just "buy another car", but sadly, it's not so easy for all of us. P.S George, I've sent over pictures to you now, hopefully they've got into your hotmail inbox as they were quite large files and had to send them in two different messages.

[Bobdope2002]

I don't have £800 I don't have 20p to my name to be quite frank

You must have insured it for 800 sheets I don't kno anything bout insurance claims but I'm sure ull get close to that back

Money you get back buy another simples what's the big deal over it let it go

Just my honest and frank opinion

Hope G can help ya out

I'm sure he will

Bob

[Dan1971]

I hope things work out for you. You make a fair point.

The car clearly means more to you, so I hope that George can get it back to being the car it once was within your budget, and it does you proud for as long as you want it. I'm sure that there are a few bits and bobs lieing around in peoples sheds that you'll be able to get hold of for postage.

Having said that - getting it from the state it's in now, to the way it was before may take some doing...and I'll guess that it'll just never feel the same again.

All the best though.....

[thestribb]

I don't have £800 I don't have 20p to my name to be quite frank

You must have insured it for 800 sheets I don't kno anything bout insurance claims but I'm sure ull get close to that back

Money you get back buy another simples what's the big deal over it let it go

Just my honest and frank opinion

Hope G can help ya out

I'm sure he will

Bob

Insurance was taken out for £700 on that car, there's a £500 excess to pay before you even begin (£300 young driver, £200 voluntary) and then they'll simply write it off, and being that it's valued under £1k it'll likely get written off for about £200, meaning I'm £300 down in cash, lose two years no claims for doing it, and my premium doubles next year.

THAT'S why I'm trying to sort it independently. With respect Bob, I appreciate that you are providing an honest opinion, as have most people so far who have been supportive on the forum, but in this case at a time where I'm am under enough stress as it is, I'd prefer you to keep your opinion to yourself :)

[mattie007]

I meant like wings, front bumper matt.

I was only joking Blair. I was just pointing out that a week ago I was asking for skirts and spoilers to make his ZS look meaner, now he probably needs half your car to rebuild it! 'thestribb' is a close mate of mine and it was mainly me that got him into ZS ownership. He's been after mine for the last 5years ;)
It is/was a fantastic ZS, drove like new and in decent condition too, the interior was factory fresh.
Really hope it gets back on the road as we only did one photoshoot in the dark!
Im sure between us we have 1 perfect Zed!

[tb steve]

if the worst come to the worst go through the MIB i had to to this
i had to claim most of it through my insurance first anything else in losses to claim from the MIB and as its a new car (to you) anything you have just bought claim that as well (got £500 back for the tracker i added)
when the MIB pay out you will get your NCB back which is good

p.s dont know how it works if there is an injury involved ??

[thestribb]

I'm looking at going through the MIB Steve, I've not heard of the NCB coming back though? Can you elaborate a little more as that may prove to be a good option?

EDIT: Just realised that I'm still not going to get any luck there, as I'm on TPF&T, so they won't pay out for any damages to my car.

[tb steve]

well i had my wrx got spanked 7.5k in damage we cought the bloke he had no insurance so went through MIB

if i have this right
so if you can prove it was not you fault and you cant claim there insurance you can claim through the MIB i dont think it matters if you TPFF ??
have you got a crime ref number ?? you will need one ask the officer for it

would ask your insurance about this or get the number for MIB and ask them they would no the ins and outs so to speak i can only go on what happend to me but would deff give them a buzz mate

[tb steve]

may be abit wrong about the proving it thing what happens if it was a hit a run and no witness (like you) its late sorry

just read here tho think this is what you need ???

http://www.mib.org.uk/Frequently+Asked+Questions/en/Default.htm

[thestribb]

I do have a witness, but they didn't see the car speed past me, just my reaction to it. I got an incident reference and the police officer actually rang me tonight to tell it was going down as a damage only RTC. My solicitor has said about going through the MIB, although it is a long winded process made even harder with limited witness statements and police reports, so we'll see what happens. They've asked me to get quotes from garages to a cost of repair which is what I'm proceeding with this week. We'll see how it goes, thanks for your advice though Steve, I'll keep you posted.