Had a guy pull out on me from the left on a roundabout in my workplace and slam his breaks on, the road was wet and salty and I was unable to stop. The speed of impact was around 10-15mph this was all caught on the security cctv.

Now speaking with my insurer I have had to claim liability due to me hitting the rear of his vehicle (fair comment although a little sour as he should have gave way and by not doing so reduced my safe stopping distance to the point whereby it was impossible to stop).

Anyways my car suffered (what I considered) light damage to the front including:

Bumper and support bar, O/S wing,front panel, O/S headlight, bonnet and power steering pipe (no structual damage at all).

Now this is what confused me as I used to work in the vehicle body repair industry, my car sat outside my home for 4 days prior to being recovered by the insurance approved repairer, I had instructed the recovery driver that the power steering pipe was leaking and hence the vehicle should not be driven (at risk of running the pump dry and covering the road in my street with hydraulic fluid) this was ignored and he done exactly that.. 2 hrs spent scrubbing up the oil.

When I called into the bodyshop (unexpected) my car stunk of clutch "if you've ever had a clutch go you will get my drift" it was also sitting in a puddle with no coolant in the resovoir and both radiators damaged "remember this never lost any coolant in the 4 days outside my home", oil seeping from the g/box and the n/s xenon light had developed broken mounts as well as the gear knob being missing and 2 small car park dings on either rear quarter panel.

NON of the above damage was a direct result of the accident and I firmly believe this occured at somepoint during Its stay at the repairers holding facility. Being a car enthusiast and the car in question being quite rare and my pride and joy to boot I was furious at Its condition.

The quote the garage gave my insurer was £5650 "I nearly fell over" when I found out, the list including jig work etc (I have since had my car placed on a jig at my old work place and was not required) a visual inspection would have verified this by any qualified engineer (this was as they sent a so called independant engineer later when the car was outside my home) as the damage was contained no further back than the bumper support and all crumple zones were intact.

I feel the extra damage to the lights and radiators were the underlying factor for my car being written off (2x complete headlight units are in excess of £2000) although the bulbs/ballasts on my originals are ok they still claimed for them, headlight casings minus the bulbs and ballasts are a mere £640 for the pair, I have informed the insurance but it fell on death ears.

I have been asked if I would like to retain the vehicle at 28% of their settlement figure, considering I paid for the recovery back to my property from the body shop as they were going to whisk it straight off to a salvage yard, the fact they have saved on any storage fees as I have had it in my possesion, the figure of 28% way exceeds my value for it but my issue is that being such a rare model there are only 7 for sale in the UK and all are above the current book valuations offered by the glasses guide etc and all located at least 250 miles away, the only one of a lower value is situated in Northern Ireland and I would be taking one hell of a risk travelling over there on spec that the car is worth purchasing.

These are the options I've considered, I'm not one for confrontation so dont know where or how to start the ball rolling but at the same time really want to get this sorted asap as it has went on now for 3 weeks with every bit of correspondence being from me to them.. not one courtesy call to inform me of any progress..

I would love to retain my vehicle but I fear after I plough the cash settlement into its repair if ever it is involved in another accident or theft then it will only be worth a fraction of its book price and I will be left with nothing. (car is to be cat d)

Let them retain salvage and accept their offer, but fear I will not find another in a similar condition to my own on current book prices.

Try to arrange a bigger settlement figure whilst lowering the percentage they have placed on my vehicle, having it repaired and biting the bullet so to speak, being a member of an owners club I can seek a good discount of upto 25% from the vehicles dealership.

Sorry for the long winded thread but I'm furious and dont really know how to express it all into words.

They must put you in the position that you were in before the accident. I suggest that you tell them to do just that.

I have spoken with them today and quoted your comments, they asked me to forward any evidence that similar vehicles are currently exceeding the glasses guide price, I emailed them the only seven I could find for sale. I have now had a realistic offer minus the retention and excess deducted so have agreed to accept it, I have also renewed with them (as renewal was due and the accident took place on my previous policy) they have agreed that should my vehicle be involved in any accident or theft the full book value will be returned and not just a percentage. People close to me have said I should have held out and that the 1st offer should not have been accepted, but I dont want to gain extra from the claim only what I need to get back on the road in the same spec car and their offer will allow me to do so.

Thank You

Kev

(I'm so glad this thread could close no sooner than it started as some I've read have got pretty ugly).

Quick update but not a good one, It's now 4 weeks since my accident and last friday they offered me £4965 after deductions for excess and retention costs of my vehicle (I accepted this offer over the phone) and had them repeat this twice so to ensure there were no wires crossed and asked if it was ok for me to now put the car into a bodyshop of my choice for repair! she informed me that this was fine.

Today I called them to see just exactly what was going on and was answered by a pleasant assistant that stated the following "Your claim has been processed and all is in order so I would like to inform you that a cheque for £3650 is en-route", I nearly fell over "£3650 I had been told £4965 and this was agreed 1 week earlier and again this week, they told me today that the offer was £4965 minus retention and excess that left me £3650..

This is not what they said when I accepted the offer and I insisted that I had been offered £4965 as the car was valued over 5k and this figure was after the retention and excess was deducted. All this should be on recorded telephone conversations I also asked her to check the notes of which she confirmed the original offer that I stated "she put me on hold for about 5 minutes then came back to me with some jargon about them having to go through calls etc to find out who was at fault then quickly ended the conversation and hung up. (do I have a right to hear these as they all state that the calls are being recorded for training and security or could they simply loose them to cover their tracks ).

I have been assured that If they have made a mistake then I will get the £3650 payment from the insurance company and then the broker will have to pay the differance to match my original offer, I'm at a loose end and extremely worried as people close to me have said that it is my word against theirs and they could loose the telephone calls if they choose. (please tell me they can't).