Done a crash

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xenton
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Done a crash

Post by xenton »

I had a collision yesterday. Came around a roundabout to some lights changing to amber, started breaking for the light, 2 cars in front of me neither breaking, looked to be going through the lights all of a sudden the car in front plants the brakes, I do the same but collide with the vehicle. She actually apologised as soon as she got out the car, for breaking so suddenly, but the car in front just stopped dead, she was on the white line and the car in front over it, soon as the lights went green the other car drove off. Now in spite of all this, I hit a car from behind so it will be considered my fault as I should allow enough room etc, some have said as line of sight with car in front is impossible on roundabout this may be a mitagating factor, but I'm pretty sure the blame will end up lying with me. Bye-bye 5 years NCD. It just cracked her bumper (07 mini cooper). I got a smashed o/s headlight. Bumper scuffed and some of the clips snapped where it attches to the o/s wing and the very front of the o/s outer wing bent inwards.

I just managed to bag the headlight from ebay for £69 delivered (it's the xenon unit, and I was struggling to find it new from anywhere). I will be doing the repair myself at the weekend.

If I need to replace my bumper, should I be looking to buy 2nd hand, or is there cheap source of new primed bumpers ready to spray? (this was the case with my old ford).

Also - where can I find my paint code and how do I translate that into an actual colour (I know it's a dark blue).

Thanks
Mark D.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by jgra1 »

Mark it may be too late but you could try and sort her bumper via a garage and not use the insurance?
if your c5 is dark blue its 99% likely to be mauritious blue.. I havent looked for the code on mine, may do in a sec..
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Re: Done a crash

Post by oneday »

colour code is on the sticker in the front door you can google it to get the colour name
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Re: Done a crash

Post by citronut »

i dont think you loose all your NCB just 2 years i belive
Regards, malcolm.

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Northern_Mike

Re: Done a crash

Post by Northern_Mike »

jgra1 wrote:Mark it may be too late but you could try and sort her bumper via a garage and not use the insurance?
if your c5 is dark blue its 99% likely to be mauritious blue.. I havent looked for the code on mine, may do in a sec..
I'd really advise against this John these days. Mark should only lose a couple of years NCD. Secondly, I've had a couple of friends who've had incidents like this, where the outer damage has been superficial , but "under the skin" has been quite bad. A Punto with apparently only a cracked bumper, but suffering from a distorted boot floor was one example. Best just to put it down to experience and let a garage sort it out properly, then you have no comeback at all.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by jgra1 »

fair enough Mike..
Northern_Mike

Re: Done a crash

Post by Northern_Mike »

jgra1 wrote:fair enough Mike..
I must add, that with labour charges from a dealer, even a replacement bumper with painting and fitting, for a MINI Cooper is likely to cost you a lot more than the slightly enhanced premium you might get! BMW dealer... BMW parts... BMW Labour..
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Re: Done a crash

Post by wheeler »

Once the driver tells a few people what has happened no doubt ideas will be put into her head to claim for personal injuries, If its not one of her friends it will be one of the vulture personal injury companies that the other partys insurance company put onto her (after getting a kickback of course). I had this a few yers ago after i was in a non fault accident, I kept getting pestered by these people even after repeatedly telling them i have no injuries, the kept calling back telling me it can take a few days for any injuries to surface & were virtually coaching me what to say the next time they phoned. I had to be quite rude to them to get them to stop calling me.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by xenton »

Thanks for all the replies folks. I am planning on doing the work myself purely for cost reasons. I am going to get it checked over by a mechanic and a couple of accident repair quotes, to be sure it's just the outer wing. My excess is ridiculous at £1100 (voluntarily as it was the only way I could get my insurance down to a level I could afford at the time). The xenon headlight units are crazy expensive cheapest I found is £580, but managed to find a unit on Ebay for £69 delivered. I am considering getting the wing repaired professionally after fitting the light myself, and sorting the bumper myself to keep costs down and make sure of a safe repair. I appreciate what's been said about hidden accident damage, but the headlight took the brunt of the impact, which has bent the inner wing back, the inner wing is visible due to the damage and hasn't moved at all and I'm going to get a mechanic to check it over. I'm just grateful I was in the C5, if I was in my previous escort, the brakes weren't as good and the car would of just crumpled.

The lady concerned, whilst apologetic was adamant everything was handled via insurers. I'm almost certain she'll develop whiplash if she hasn't already. My wife was rear ended and spent the night strapped to a spinal board and in a collar, took her a while to recover, she still gets aches now, but it hasn't affected her quality of life, and she didn't want to claim, this was over a year ago, and we still get regular letters emails and phone calls trying to get her to claim.

I'm glad I may only lose 2 years no claims not 5 - it's a small comfort - but a comfort non the less.

Thanks for the colour suggestion of mauritious blue, will check my sticker and google in a mo...

How do I stand with driving it to work and back until my light arrives (Thursday or Friday). It will only be during the day so lights not needed, but obviously the indicator is in the headlamp unit just leaving me with the rear and the one on the wing.
Mark D.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by myglaren »

Rattiva_Mike wrote:
jgra1 wrote:fair enough Mike..
I must add, that with labour charges from a dealer, even a replacement bumper with painting and fitting, for a MINI Cooper is likely to cost you a lot more than the slightly enhanced premium you might get! BMW dealer... BMW parts... BMW Labour..
Quite - my daughter reversed into a stationary BMW at very low speed, looked like just a scuff on the bumper and she agreed to pay for it herself rather than involve the insurance.

£776 :shock:
BMW claimed that the actual bumper behind the plastic was bent and it needed a new shock absorber - one time only piston arrangement like Volvo and SAAB used to have (she was driving a SAAB - not a mark on it.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by citronut »

you can avoid paying any excess even if it goes through your insurance by not claiming for your own car,

tell your insurance company you are repairing you own car then you dont pay any excess
Regards, malcolm.

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Re: Done a crash

Post by Citroenmad »

That is bad luck :(

I would agree, go through insurance, the costs to repair the other car could well rocket, they often do. There might be damage under the bumper, no doubt the panel behind the bumper and possible damage t the boot floor of the mini. Then there is always the chance the driver might put in a claim for whiplash, happens all the time.
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xenton
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Re: Done a crash

Post by xenton »

Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing going through the insurance for hers, but repairing mine myself.
Mark D.
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Re: Done a crash

Post by red_dwarfers »

Sorry to hear that, though it's good to hear both you and her are in a position to carry on as normal :)

I had a fault accident about 5 years ago with a parked car that I slowly nudged, still get calls and text messages. The last one was very sneaky as she put down the phone as I was asking her to remove my details from their database :twisted:
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Re: Done a crash

Post by RussellF97 »

"How do I stand with driving it to work and back until my light arrives (Thursday or Friday). It will only be during the day so lights not needed, but obviously the indicator is in the headlamp unit just leaving me with the rear and the one on the wing." [-X

The law states that you must have all lights in working order. If it would fail an MOT as it is now, then if the boys in blue pull you over you can expect a ticket. #-o
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