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RichardW
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Post by RichardW »

That's a real bugger Stuart - hope you feel better soon.

However, this from doc: "oxygen thief" made me laugh. A lot. I shall use it more often. Thanks mate! :lol:
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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

Cant take the credit for oxygen thief mate, I nicked it from Oily Stewart, and I too loved it, hence I've been making vast use of it!

Hope Stewart hasn't copyrighted it, I'll owe him a fortune!
Smokes lots, because enough's enough already!

Far too many BX's, a bus, an ambulance a few trucks, not enough time and never enough cash...
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

• 1992 Citroen BX TZD Turbo Hurricane
• 2006 Xsara Picasso 1.6 16v
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docchevron
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Post by docchevron »

Quality bro!
Needless to say, thats going straight in the favourites list!
Smokes lots, because enough's enough already!

Far too many BX's, a bus, an ambulance a few trucks, not enough time and never enough cash...
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stuart_hedges
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Post by stuart_hedges »

Right. I'm not going to make a long post because I don't think I could keep my language under control.

I've been offered £500 as injury compensation.

And £300 for the car.

Bring on the lawyers :evil:

Actually, you guys can help. To persuade them the car's worth more than that, I need adverts for similar cars. They don't accept eBay. Magazine classifieds etc. Keep your eyes open for me please!
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

I would've thought getting them to offer £300 for the car (read ANY BX!) is a good start - but you'll need to add a couple of hundred on top of that to replace it, so keep at 'em.

But injury compensation only £500 - laughable.
• 1992 Citroen BX TZD Turbo Hurricane
• 2006 Xsara Picasso 1.6 16v
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Post by tim leech »

How much!!!!!!!!! :shock:
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Post by jeremy »

Lawyers use a book called Kemp (maybe Kemp and Kemp or Kemp on Damages or something.) Its a large possibly 3 volumes by now yellow loose leaf (therefore square backed) thing - and may be available in a good public library.

Otherwise try some net research but the figures I found looked little more than they were about 15 years ago when I last had anything to do with it.

Trifling injuries were worth £750 or more then so they must be worth more now unless the rise of the ambulance chasing companies has meant a drop in damages as due to laziness, incompetence and greed they may well have sold their customers short in the interest of settling things quickly and getting paid.
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Post by Kitch »

I'd say the value of the car is probably about right, seeing as BX's are only fit for scrap metal in most people's eyes. I work with insurance engineers, and they all drive brand new german cars. Anything older than 1997 is doubtful.
And BX's aren't classed as classics. I checked through the book to see what the original payout offer is on a car (before you enter agreed values etc) and the 16v is worth £145....anything more will write it off. Rock on! :lol:

Injury claims, I'm not too sure (or fond of). I appreciate that your situation is genuine, but if people didn't abuse it so much, the payouts wouldn't be so laughable, and premiums so high.

In your case you are obviously actually injured and entitled to money. Whiplash might be as common as an Essex girl called Carla, but you should still see four figures surely?
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stuart_hedges
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Post by stuart_hedges »

OK, I've calmed down a bit now...

The car is a Cat C write-off, which means that if I do get it rebuilt it will need to be inspected and MoT'd before it's allowed back on the road.

The company had booked a truck to take it away - without having asked my permission first - but I soon put a stop to that! I told 'em I had an independent Citroen expert coming down to have a look (thanks Doc).

I suspect the reason that the figures are so low is that so many people are making spurious claims - so they start off with a laughably low figure, assuming that they're going to get hit anyway.

I'm a victim of someone who was driving too fast with his eyes shut and nothing I could have done would have avoided the collision. I do not, therefore, expect to be left out of pocket.

As things stand the combined offer for car and injury aren't even enough to replace the car with another in similar condition. What can you get with 67000 miles on the clock, a perfect interior, no rust and no mechanical or electrical issues for £800? Not much - and certainly not a "proper" car with five doors and TRS spec.

To be honest I don't approve of massive compensation payouts. I'd like a little, in case of any future problems, and to pay for the odd massage and physio right now. Kitch's estimate of four figures seems about right.

But the very least I expect is for the damage caused by the offending driver to be put right. If my car can't be fixed, I want enough money to replace it with something in similar condition and with similar spec. £300 won't cut it.

I'm beginning to understand why some people think it's OK to drive without insurance :(
M

Post by M »

Going back to my earlier post - there was an article in last months 2CVGB magazine and the guy had had two cars returned to pre accident spec at the other insurers cost as its his (your) legal right to not be left without your car.

Employ a solicitor (probably get one with your insurance anyway), tell him this is what you want and then sit back and let the other company squirm. I know General Accident (other insurance company) wanted to write my Laguna off when someone hit the side of it, it ended up having a new sill, rear quater panel, wing, lights, and 2 doors. I also had a decidedly mundane Vectra for the 4 weeks it was off the road.
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stuart_hedges
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Post by stuart_hedges »

Thanks, Marty.

Honestly - without the combined experience and advice of the people who've posted in this thread - I think I'd be cutting my losses, accepting the money, and trying to put the whole thing behind me.

Which is what they want me to do :(

It's not right, and I won't have it. Thanks, guys.
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cavmad
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Post by cavmad »

They will always undervalue your car because they want to pay as little as possible and try and bullshit you.
I quite easily got another £225 on top of what I was offered for my Calibra and could quite likely have held out for more. Once you get a hire car out of them they'll start to sweat a bit if you refuse their first offer because once the cheque arrives they'll take the hire car back immediately.
As regards the compensation then, while it's very decent of you to only want a reasonable amount, there are guidelines for this type of thing and I honestly believe you'll get closer to £2000.
A ggod brief will tear through the 3rd party's insurers and you won't need to do anything excpet sign a couple of forms and sit back and try and get better.
If the insurance company try and bull you (they did to me) they'll most likely tell you you have to accept the first offer and they will only give you X amount of compensation. When they do just tell them you are not prepared to discuss it further until you've taken legal advice. They'll be trying to tell you any old rubbish as once you've accepted their derisory offer and had the cheque you'll be stuck with it and there's no way in a million years you're going to be made anywhere near a fair offer. Speak to a brief about keeping your car too, might be tricky as if they pay out on it it'll become their property but you can worry about that at a later date.
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Post by tim leech »

Never take the first offer Stuart, golden rule that one, my sister in law had her MINT low miles Astra Cabriolet written off in Jan 2005, after she had owned for only a few months, She Paid £4500 which was a fair price as it had less than 30k on the clock, she like you was turning into a junction and was stationary (dropping my nephew off at school) and was hit by a young motorist not watching what he was doing.

It was a clear case who was resposible, the Astra was a write off, and to be honest was so twisted it wasnt worth fixing so we let them take it. The first offer came in at less than £3000, which she refused and threatened to get a solicitor involved, 1 week later another offer, this time for £4400 was given which she accepted.
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DavidRutherford
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Post by DavidRutherford »

stuart_hedges wrote:I'm a victim of someone who was driving too fast with his eyes shut and nothing I could have done would have avoided the collision. I do not, therefore, expect to be left out of pocket.

The very least I expect is for the damage caused by the offending driver to be put right. If my car can't be fixed, I want enough money to replace it with something in similar condition and with similar spec. £300 won't cut it.
Statements like that, made in writing to (I assume) the other person's insurance company are powerful, and cannot do any harm whatsoever.

It took several letters like that (one of which went to 2 pages) to sort the insurance on the claim I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Remember this: Insurance companies actually employ people to keep claims to an absolute minimum. They often work on commission, so the lower the claim payout, the more they make. You're undoubtedly up against one of these. They are hard work, but after a while if they end up spending too much time on one claim, they'll pay out so that they're not "wasting time" on your claim anymore.
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