What happens when boy racers are given their dads car keys....

[S1g 579]

...They try to fly! This is what is left of my van after they landed on my roof/windscreen as I was driving home a couple of nights ago.

I walked away with just a bit of whiplash. Its quite scary seeing the underneath of a car heading very fast towards your windscreen.

[S1g 579]

Pre accident it was a very tidy little van.

[expeatfarmer 591]

That was a lucky escape.

[nigel 1,876]

Blimy you where lucky there gareth, van not so lucky

[Stormin 4,458]

Pleased your ok Gareth. Hope they throw the book at him. Though most likely slap his wrist and say naughty boy, while dad pays his fine.

 

[wurzel 117]

Crikey lucky escape there  where did that happen

 

[S1g 579]

IT happened just off the A465 about 2 miles from my work. They took a sharp bend I would estimate doing at least 70-80! Luck was obviously on my side as it could of been much worse. Only 2 nights earlier my 4 year old son was in the front seat on that very road. Looking at the damage to the roof he may not of been so lucky! With things like this I can see the arguments for raising the minimum driving age to 25 and restricting the power of the car they are allowed to drive. 

 One problem I'm up against is even though I'm totally not at fault the insurance company will probably only give me about £700-800 for the van due to its age and highish mileage, what replacement am I going to get for that? Still at least I'm still here, that's the main thing.

[Wristpin 400]

59 minutes ago, S1g said:

 

 One problem I'm up against is even though I'm totally not at fault the insurance company will probably only give me about £700-800 for the van due to its age and highish mileage, what replacement am I going to get for that? Still at least I'm still here, that's the main thing.

Sue the father in the small claims court for the sum needed to put you back in the position you were before his son demolished your van.

 

[Alan 1,273]

Very lucky there Gareth.  Could have come though the windscreen.

[S1g 579]

44 minutes ago, Wristpin said:

Sue the father in the small claims court for the sum needed to put you back in the position you were before his son demolished your van.

 

The problem is that on paper the van is almost worthless, so I'm only entitled to have back what a  nearly 9 year old van is worth with 160k on the clock. I bought this off the original owner with a new gearbox ( early 6 speeds had a problem with the one bearing failing prematurely)fitted , when it was less than 4 years old. It has been maintained reguardless of cost in this time, recently it's just had 4 new michealen tyres, new shocks, bushes and springs. Full service and a valeting inside and out. With the mot this came to over £500. I'm that pedantic that I even go round every month or so touching up stone chips, if there's any. It's even had a very expensive bumper protector fitted to the rear, so the load area is like new. It had full Vauxhall history up until I bought it, however it looks like it's had allmost nothing scince as I've done most of the oil changes etc myself.( every 5k)

unfair I know, but what can I do?

[S1g 579]

18 minutes ago, Alan said:

Very lucky there Gareth.  Could have come though the windscreen.

Yes the a pillars on these Astras must be made out of steel girders! It hasnt moved anywhere near as much as the bang indicated. The boy racers were in a vw Passat so not a light car by any means. The roof has given a fair bit, but the rest isn't too bad. Still drives ok, but a bit difficult to see where you're going.

[Chris 642]

You were very lucky.

 

I would have lumped the driver one when I got out. Had some stupid cow hit the rear of my landrover the other night on my way home as I was trying to pull out onto the main road. Luckly I just had a bent lamp guard which I can sort myself. Her car sure had front damage with my tow hitch taking the brunt of the bump.

 

Need less to say she got a mouth full 

 

Landrover 1 --- Vauxhaul MPV crap 0

[expeatfarmer 591]

With a vehicle like your van I think you can ask your own insurance company to pursue a full claim against the other party and insist on a like for like replacement rather than a cash payout.

[S1g 579]

The assessor should be coming out next week and I'll see what I can do. The one thing on my side is this has a very rare( for a h type Astra) rear seat conversion so I may be able to talk them up. They may struggle to find a decent replacement.I'll let you know what happens. However I'm going to have to get the claim wrapped up quickly as my insurance renewal is due in only about 3 weeks and until the claim is proved they will wipe out my 5 years no claims and also have a claim pending so the premium will be through the roof! 

[S1g 579]

Just been thinking, does anyone know if I have to give ownership to the insurance company when they write it off? As there is an awful lot of newish parts on this van and I'm thinking it may be worth keeping and parking up at the bottom of the yard as the replacement will be the same model? And thus give me a good source of parts.

[nigel 1,876]

You can normally buy it back at scrap money if you talk to the assessor unless they have changed the rules since I last did it

[slf-uk 914]

Very pleased you are ok.

 

18 hours ago, nigel said:

You can normally buy it back at scrap money if you talk to the assessor unless they have changed the rules since I last did it

 

I'm with Nigel on this one. It does not look too bad to put right, I have repaired much worse in my time.

 

Iain

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

On 19/11/2016 at 9:54 PM, S1g said:

Just been thinking, does anyone know if I have to give ownership to the insurance company when they write it off? As there is an awful lot of newish parts on this van and I'm thinking it may be worth keeping and parking up at the bottom of the yard as the replacement will be the same model? And thus give me a good source of parts.

That's one bad experience, glad you're ok . They should allow you to buy it back, saves them the cost of disposal etc. Would be a good thing to do, if either you get the repairs done, or salvage all that's good on it for upgrading a replacement. Get what you can out of them.       

[S1g 579]

20 hours ago, slf-uk said:

 

It won't ever get repaired, the damage is actually worse inside the cabin, and something has twisted as the bonnet gap has moved. The  little I understand about metal,it must of been seriously weekend. It was a hell of a clout at impact. The item I hope to save above everything is the rear seat conversion. It's a bit of a ball ache to remove the extra floor fitted to vans but If I've already got the complete outfit then my options to replacement vans becomes much more wide as allmost no mark 5 Astra vans were converted. I'll have to see what I get paid out but I quite fancy a sportive Astra as a replacement as the spec is much higher, but I'll probably have to put a couple of grand towards the payout.

[S1g 579]

Well the latest in this saga is their insurance company rang today to say they were going to collect the van to assess it, then charge us for collection, storage and its return. You can imagine the jist of my reply! The long and short of it is they have till early next week to wrap it all up otherwise they are going to get charged for a hire van, taxis, trauma and whiplash etc. They rang back an hour later to say their assessor would be with me tomorrow morning.

[Ian 2,417]

Ouch!!   Glad your ok mate, that must of been a hell of a fright!

[S1g 579]

Thanks, it did make me jump a bit but I'm still here which is the main thing.

[S1g 579]

Well the assessor has been, he reckons it would cost at least £6,000 to repair the damage! Ouch, as the most I've seen one of these for sale is £2,000 it'll definatley be written off.

[slf-uk 914]

I hope the insurance company offer you a sensible settlement, you have been through enough.

 

Iain

[HeadExam 1,783]

On 11/18/2016 at 5:43 AM, S1g said:

Pre accident it was a very tidy little van.

Really lucky that you are able to post this and really happy we don't have to hear about an alternate ending