Xant no more.........(now with pictures)

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 28 Mar 2005, 06:37

Its a shame, from the pictures it looks shiny. I suppose the consolation is that nobody was hurt. It could have been worse, it could have been an HDI written off.
I know when I went looking for my current car the majority of the Xantias I looked at had had hard lives. If you get the insurance company to pay out a reasonable sum you should be able to find a decent car. Its the third party (or their insurers) duty to return you to the state you were in prior to the accident. Your car wasn't new, not doubt the insurers will seize upon every tiny little fault they can find. Its an uphill struggle but you'll get there in the end if you're persistent.

blueboy2001 · Post by **blueboy2001** » 28 Mar 2005, 06:38

As the accident was not your fault, the third party insurers are legally obliged to put you back in the position that you were in before the accident and you can demand that the car be professional repaired to factory standard. They won't like it and will try to wriggle out of it, but its your legal right should you wish to exercise it. If it costs them £5k to reshell it for you then thats their problem - and you can hire a similar car whilst yours is being repaired and they must pay for it.

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 28 Mar 2005, 08:34

Well somethings not right because over about 50 mph it kept trying to veer right, should have had it towed but wasn't thinking straight (that'll be the door pillar, nice big bump and a throbbing headache)
Had a look underneath and the pipe that goes into the suspension cylinder is at a strange angle to the left hand side so somethings shifted, doesn't seem happy going into high position either.
At least I didn't buy the tax that was due the end of the month[:(!]

silverback · Post by **silverback** » 28 Mar 2005, 13:43

Looks like the same damage that happened to my previous '97 lx16v Xantia.
The insurance company wrote it off.
I argued that the car was low mileage and regularly serviced and was a one owner 'cherished member of the family'.
I got 2k for the car less excess of £150, which was probably more than what I'd have got if I had sold it privately.

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 28 Mar 2005, 13:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by paranoid

Women in corsa<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The corsa pictured? It doesn't look damaged at all unless it's missing a huge chunk behind the guys legs. If not I can see a few people going out this week and welding scaffold poles to the boot floor of their Xantia.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">was very apologetic<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You may find she changes he tune when it comes to trying to defend her NCD.
Good luck with the insurance company, they can be right bar stewards sometimes.

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 28 Mar 2005, 15:22

Start getting together every scrap of service history / photos for your car - then search the autotrader and the internet for similar cars to establish a price.
When I wrote the Laguna off the insurers based their ofers on a higher milage RN spec car - despite mine being a low milage FSH RT Sport. Eventually got them to up their bid by caling their bluff when they said "if we are going to be offering £2000 for your car we may as well repair it" - So I said "please do as I would like it back and love that car etc". Needless to say they didnt - but offered me more money for it.
Insurers - all twunts of the highest order when it comes to parting with cash....
Good luck, at least no one was seriously hurt.

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 28 Mar 2005, 16:14

Shame, the Xantia looks like a loved one, at least no-one was hurt, will keep eyes open for a clean one.
Stewart

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 28 Mar 2005, 16:27

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by blueboy2001

As the accident was not your fault, the third party insurers are legally obliged to put you back in the position that you were in before the accident and you can demand that the car be professional repaired to factory standard. They won't like it and will try to wriggle out of it, but its your legal right should you wish to exercise it. If it costs them £5k to reshell it for you then thats their problem - and you can hire a similar car whilst yours is being repaired and they must pay for it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Unfortunately, not *quite* accurate. The insurers are indeed obliged to get you back to the state that you were in before the accident, and you can indeed have a hire car until such time as they do so, but a pay-out for the full market value of the car is considered acceptable to cover this obligation. The definition of "market value" is what most arguments are about.
In determining whether to repair, or pay out, the general rule-of-thumb used by insurance assessors is that if the cost of repairing the car exceeds 65% of the value of the vehicle, then it isn't worth it, and they will pay out.
I was in a similar situation after a rather nasty 4-car Motorway smash about 10 years ago, although in this case, the car was never ever ever going to be repairable. Still took a month of strongly worded letters and belittling 'phone calls from the insurer to get a measly pay-out that wasn't anything like the value of the car. I wish you (paranoid) better luck for getting it sorted than you had at the time of the crunch.

born2die · Post by **born2die** » 28 Mar 2005, 16:55

tis a good old accident black spot that I live just 5 mins away and think I passed you. On a lighter note isnt the A&E at nuneaton the most depressing place you have ever been.

mbunting · Post by **mbunting** » 28 Mar 2005, 17:11

Lesson Nr 1: Get yourself a towbar on the new car.
Lesson Nr 2: Get yourself a towbar on the new car.
Lesson Nr 3: getting the pattern ?
I had an orion plough into the back of my Xantia ( with towbar ! ), I was stationary, and he must have been doing about 25-30 when he hit me.
The xantia didn't move, and his engine was nearly through his dash, the engine bay being a destinctive U-shape.
The only damage to the car was the back bumper was pushed off it's mountings. I checked everything else and it was fine.
We went to watch an ice-hockey match in Manchester, and returned home via the local hospital for a checkup ( whiplash ).
I also leave about a cars length in front of me when I'm last in a queue - this has saved me previously from an old woman who evidently needed six weeks stopping notice, and caused a pile-up !

Stinkwheel · Post by **Stinkwheel** » 28 Mar 2005, 17:57

The towbar thing is a very good idea but can workagainst you. A chap i know has an XM which was hit from behind quite hard, the towbar took a fair amount of the impact and the car looked fine but on closer inspection the mounting points for the towbar were distorted. Obviously this is technically a write off.

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 28 Mar 2005, 18:14

I read sometime ago Volvo's experience of tow bars in crashes, Volvo have put quite a lot of R&D effort into the subject. In small impacts they do protect the rear of the car, (up to the point that your tow bar mounting points become damaged). The big advantage of a tow bar is that it stops your rear bumper getting scratched in car parks (always park tow bar out).
Once you get into larger accidents they distort the crumple zone in ways it wasn't designed to distort in meaning that they reduce the crash safety of the rear of the car.
So if you're going to have a small accident they'll save your rear bumper but in a bigger accident they could cost you rather more than the repair of your car.
As for the accident not being your fault unless you did something stupid or unexpected like pulling out in front of the Corsa, she clearly ran into the back of you and its your fault. If you stopped because the car in front stopped its her fault, you managed to stop she didn't.

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 29 Mar 2005, 17:58

Definate write off methinks[V] floor up at least 2 inches in the boot and rear screen abou[t to go bang judging by the stress lines in it

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 29 Mar 2005, 18:12

I would agree with Kowalski about towbars- looking at the pics it appears thet your crumple zone did its job and absorbed the impact in a controlled collapse before it reached the passenger compartment, and it looks as if the rear doors still open and close. Shame about the car but job well done for modern design- you survived uninjured!!
The towbar on my BX goes accross the back, so in a rear ender would do very little towards protection but at the same time at least it doesn't interfere with the crumple zone as a longitudinally mounted one would.

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 29 Mar 2005, 18:42

that does look like a write off, however it depends how much further up the car the damamge is. does the car still sit flat or has the back end twisted slightly?
Andy