Useful day out

[Hell Razor5543]

W Reg, early 2000. Mum has said she would want to keep it if possible (obviously they cannot let her keep it if it is unsafe to repair), and, from her demeanour, the conversation she had was a good one. I have seen a photo from the offside, and, while the wing, bumper and grill are damaged, the shape still looked sound. If it is uneconomical or unsafe to repair I am sure Mum will INSIST on another Volvo V70, as close as possible to 'The Galloping Greenhouse' as possible. She likes that car, and the trim level (heated leather seats, air con, etc.) is very good.

[Stickyfinger]

Best of luck and glade Mum is OK. I am just going thru this process as well after my "gravity attack"

they wrote it off by just looking at photographs I sent them by email, I think you can wave goodby to the Volvo.

I await their reply to challenging the valuation (which to be fair was quite good) but I am going by "Small Dealer" prices and not ebay.......so am pushing for £500 more than offered.

As there are 3 basic methods of car sales, Main Dealer, Small Dealer and Private sales, the valuation should be based on the middle type, get your valuation from that market.

[RichardW]

That's a write off for sure sadly - hopefully everyone is OK, metal can be replaced! Value of 14 year old V70? <£1k - repair will be in the region Addo quoted I would think. As you are claiming off the 3rd party you have a bit more wriggle room than Stickyfingers - but not a lot. Their first offer will be derisory - but you are entitled to be put back in the position you were. So that means an equivalent car, and if it had decent new tyres, new cambelt, etc etc, then all this should be taken into consideration. You will no doubt have to fight hard to get it... What ever you do, don't sign up for a hire car offered by them under 'credit hire' - that can backfire badly on your wallet if the claim is eventually not met

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, I do know that 'GG' has only recently passed her MoT (within the last month).

[Northern_Mike]

The insurers generally don't take that into account - correctly in my view. As far as I'm concerned a car that's on the road should be well maintained, serviced and in good working order.

It's like car adverts that list "good points" as things like "regularly serviced.... decent tread on tyres... recent disks and pads".. etc. So what? I'd be expecting that anyway!

[Stickyfinger]

I bet you are disappointed a lot then Mike but yes you are correct it is more by "quick look" as far as I can tell..........guess who washed and hovered his dead one before they took it away just in case

[Northern_Mike]

I find car adverts most annoying.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

I find car adverts most annoying.

I find all adverts most annoying...

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, 'The Galloping Greenhouse' has been written off. The cost to repair her (at a Volvo specialist) was over £4,000. A couple of mechanics also said that, even if the repairs were sound (and they ought to be, at that price), how solid would the other welds be, and would the impact have weakened them?

[addo]

A £4000 repair on that hit should not leave any portion of the car compromised. What you heard about residual weakness, was uninformed people dribbling nonsense.

[Chris570]

A £4000 repair on that hit should not leave any portion of the car compromised. What you heard about residual weakness, was uninformed people dribbling nonsense.

So they were certainly in the "trade"

[Northern_Mike]

A couple of mechanics also said that, even if the repairs were sound (and they ought to be, at that price), how solid would the other welds be, and would the impact have weakened them?

They are talking out their arses.

[Hell Razor5543]

Regardless of the opinions of the mechanics, the cost of the repairs were massively greater than the value of the car. Something that made them point this out was that the impact was enough to set off the airbags. I don't know what the trigger force is, but Mum got a face full of fabric, and it hurt somewhat. A fair offer has been made (and accepted), so Mum is now looking for another car. I would expect that she will go for another V70, as the spec level was good, and it met her needs well (and it did very well in protecting us in that accident). The only change I would recommend to her is to go for a diesel engine.

[CitroJim]

A couple of mechanics also said that, even if the repairs were sound (and they ought to be, at that price), how solid would the other welds be, and would the impact have weakened them?

They are talking out their arses.

That's where they usually talk from in my experience

James, pleased your Mum has a settlement she's content with... How about a C5 for her?

[Stickyfinger]

Pre 2009 Volvo V40 have the same NCAP rate as Post 2008 C5's FYI and higher that 2004 facelift C5's by some margin.