Somebody killed my Xantia

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » 29 Apr 2006, 11:18

Hi

This is what happens when some silly cow does not see that her traffic lights are RED and carrys on through at 50kph, straight into the side of my Xantia, also pushing me into the car next to me on the other side.
This happened on Thursday afternoon.

This is the drivers door

Again the drivers door shut

Door and front wheel

Say's it all really

The front wheel leaning in at the top

Front view

Passenger side (damage coursed by the car i got pushed into

I bought the car nearly 3 years ago with only 22,000 Km on it for €4000 (yes Citroen are expencive here in Germany) and yesteday the damage inspector for the Insurance (who is indepentant) has valued the car at €3300 so that is what i will be getting from the insurance. Not bad for a 1995 1.8i Xantia

The car has now 57,000km so somebody will be getting a peitty young engine from the scrap yard soon.

I doubt that i will be getting another Citroen, even though i loved the car, there is never any in the scrap yards here, so spare parts are hard to find, in the 3 years i have had my car, i have only seen 1 xantia in the scrap yard (ok there will be another very soon

But you never know, if a nice Xantia esstate is sitting there saying PLEASE BUY ME i may well do, as i love the cars so much.

But if i do not buy one, i would like to say a very big thankyou to all the guys here that have helped me out, with very good advice over the past couple of years or so.

Thank you to all

Tony

bencowell · Post by **bencowell** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:02

It is always a shame to see a good condition rare Citroen damaged.

I hope you find another car that is just as good for you.

deian · Post by **deian** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:22

wow, i would have had major road rage if she did that to my car!

thing is now you will lose your insurance no-claims, unless she is willing to buy you a new car out of her own pocket.

i'm so sorry to see that, i wish you all the best luck with further matters regarding this.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:36

Hi

I wont loose my no claims bonus, it was her fault and her insurance will pay the money, i am not claiming of my insurance at all.

Yes it is a shame that the car has now gone, i loved it, the hire car i have at the moment is a new astra, but it is not a patch on the ride comfort i had with the Xantia.

Tony

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:47

Was that other Citroen in the background of the photo in the accident too ? Or is the car just at a Citroen graveyard ?

Boy the amount of lean on that front wheel is scary... "they don't make em like they used to"....(like the massive suspension subchassis on the GS and CX which would have prevented the wheel leaning over like that)

Was there any intrusion into the cabin ?

Regards,
Simon

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:51

Shame. Sometimes you're driven to breaking point by the apalling driving ability of other drivers - and I thought the most stupid driving was only found here in the UK...

In his report, did the damage inspector say to what extent the damage is to the front left wishbone/strut and more importantly the subframe mounting points for it?

Otherwise it looks as if the damage is localised to panel damage to the driver's door and both front wings with the bumper and bonnet surviving intact. Are the A and B pillars straight still? Did any airbags deploy or aren't there any side ones on this age of Xantia in Germany?

I accept there's superficial damage to the ridge line on the top of the sill but unless the German TUV [or whatever it's called] is REALLY PARTICULAR the minor kink would pass a Brit MOT without too much problem. Combined with just how high a value the car still commands it does seem a shame to scrap it. Crazy thing is, here in the UK on ebay you could buy a similarly coloured car complete for donor panels for £100 GBP/Sterling!!

Andrew

ellevie · Post by **ellevie** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:51

A very depressing sight indeed !
Did you suffer any damage yourself ?

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » 29 Apr 2006, 13:19

Hi

The damage inspector said the cost of repair would be approx €10,500.
I don't know the full extent of the damage yet, i will get his written report next week.

The dash board has been shunted along to the right a bit, and all the foot pedals have shunted over to the right.

I only suffered a bang to my left shoulder from the impact.

I honestly though that i would be hurt more in this, but i think her also hitting my front wheel really helped me out.
The car has no side airbags, but what is scary is the car that hit me was a Honda Jazz and the steering wheel airbag did not deploy?

The other Citroen's you see in the picture were not involved in the crash. All the cars are in a car compound, and it is just coincidence that there are two Citroen's next to mine.

I was there yesterday morning to remove all my stuff from the car, radio, speakers, etc... and they had to get a car out from behind mine, so i said i would try and move it, it started right away as normal, but drove a bit Crabbe and wobbly due to the front wheel but the breaks and the suspension still worked as normal.

Tony

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 29 Apr 2006, 13:33

It does sound more terminal than appearances first indicate, that's for sure! The wheel probably has borne the brunt of the impact energy but the side bar system in the door looks as though it did it's job transmittiming movement energy to the surrounding frame - to move the pedals sideways shows there's been some massive movement on the floorpan and the front subframe too...

More to the point, you're lucky your neck isn't racked with pain - is the shoulder pain due to the door's intrusion or your seatbelt restraining you?

I think I'd get another exactly the same after seeing this one coping so well and still operating albeit with obvious problems!!

All the best, Andrew

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » 29 Apr 2006, 13:36

Hi

The pain in my shoulder is due to it hitting the door very hard.

I do agree though that the car stood up well to it, and protected me very well.

Tony

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 29 Apr 2006, 14:00

That's a pain in the ass alright. I hope you have better luck with your next car.

I'm surprised how well the door help up.

BTW, is it just a coincidence your number plate has "FROG" in it?

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » 29 Apr 2006, 20:25

Hi

No it was not a coincidence that the reg has FROG in it.

Where i live in Germany, Freiburg all reg numbers start with FR, then i can choose 2 more letters to follow that, and then 3 numbers. the numbers are my birthdate.
So i thought long and hard abot it, then it just clicked in to place.
A French car that is green, so keeping up the English tradition of calling the French frogs,
FR OG 213 was born.

Tony

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 29 Apr 2006, 21:02

wow! its sad to see a Xant die like that but I think very interesting also, show that a design as old as the Xant was done properly.

My brother's BMW E30 was shunted on the front corner, bust the wheel & sheered the bottom arm from its mountings, bent the corner of the front valance, the wing & the end of the roll bar. All bolt on bits.
The new mondeo that hit it, litterly fell apart. The entire front corner was destroyed, headlight, grille, bumper, front suspension, bonnet & wing. The airbag never went off in that either.
Last I heared it was due to be scrapped. The E30 was rebuilt in a afternoon & he recently sold it.

It made me smile reading the fact with all the damage your Xant sustained it still drives & even more impressive the suspension has just got on with it.

I love these cars!

fivelighters · Post by **fivelighters** » 30 Apr 2006, 22:14

i hope u stayed in the car and shouted for a ambulance to get a nice claim $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

PowerLee · Post by **PowerLee** » 01 May 2006, 10:07

Once again for people who think in a modern car the airbag should fire off in every crash, On a modern car like a Honda Jazz or the current Mondeo it takes a HEFTY shunt over a certain threshold to fire the airbags off in a front end crash.

The cars SRS computer is smart enough to know when to just fire off the seatbelt pretensioners, If the airbag isn't needed it WONT fire it.

In the older simpler cars front airbags where easy to fire off, Just drive an older Ford at about 12 mph into something & BANG it will go off.