And the muppet award goes to....

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greenwoo
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And the muppet award goes to....

Postby greenwoo » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:26 am

Gotta love the postal service, let's face it pop a letter in a box, 24hrs later its whizzed around the country and appears on someones ( hopefully the right persons) doormat.

But at what cost?

Well i found out 3 weeks back.....the cost Dear Reader is about £2k.

'How So' I hear you say?

Ah, that'll be the worth of my Rav4 which was abused by a Post Office lorry. I suspect my Rav felt a bit like an Essex bird on a Saturday morning, or a Sunday morning, thinking about it, any morning.
That feeling of having been taken advantage of and left all sore and messy - used and abused.

How? Ah there's the rub ( i'm talking about the Rav, not the essex bird).....Moi, in the left hand filter lane approaching a roundabout, the lorry in the right hand/straight on lane.
A muppet of a driver who decides as the road ahead is clear to take the roundabout at a slightly faster speed than he should have.....but needs to use part of the left hand approach lane to get around the err roundabout.

Can you see where this is heading? No foreplay, no warm up, just 'in like Flynn' - straight into the offside bumper.

The slightly concerning thing? Now i know that no one is supposed to admit blame, but being blissfully unaware that one has carried out a manoeuvre is taking the piss.
'Wat u talking about fella, nah i was going straight - you must have driven into me lorry'
( course i did mate, i decided not to go into the retail park/sainsburys, i thought what a weez, i'll wreck my car and not bother putting anything in the fridge for the weekend).

I'd like to say that i handled the ensuing debate with decorum and sensibility.
But I didn't.
If there was a competion for calling someone a ooops a number of times in a minute, i would likely have won.
Apparently 'there's no need to be like that'....mm i beg to differ.

To top it off the cheeky muppet thought i was dodgy because i couldnt remember who that car is insured with; Even more incredulous was the fact that i couldnt remember which insurance company for THAT particular car ' 'Wot, you got more en one den'.

Alas the sorry saga continues. Quotemehappy - what an oxymoron. Serves me right for pushing the 'buy it now' button and not checking. Yes QMH are totally 'online'....no cosy chit chat about what the fook is happening - nope, the delights of 'live chat' with 'Emil' ( made up name just in case) are the order of the day.

Hard to rant via 'live chat'.....given that opening a Zip file with the photos was beyond them, as was not bothering to tell me they couldnt open the file ( 1st i heard was when i chased 'emil') and given that the next 2 emails i sent they only saw one and yet again failed to tell me that they were still waiting pic's ( which they eventually found 'in their mail server)...I think i'd be entitled to a full on 'Rant'. But no, via live chat one can only subtly hint at their uselesness - which i suspect went over 'Emils' head.

Ah yes Dear Reader.....the old gal is looking the worse for wear....and alledgely ( thx Emil for the update which i chased you for)....it seems that in their eyes she's not worthy of a boob job, sorry front bumper ( i was thinking about that essex bird).....

All frigging handy as with the snow there's no getting out of my road. Looking across the room I can see 3 packs of ciggies left....that bloody snow/ice better be gone by Thursday morning!

next car is def having a dashcam!

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nelmo
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby nelmo » Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:29 am

I got a free dash cam with my last insurance policy and I've fitted a front/rear camera to the kit as well now - never had to rely on them but must make the whole process simpler?

My wife hit our gatepost and caved in a corner of the front bumper last month - I didn't even bother asking the insurance to fix it; 13 year old Lexus? New bumper alone was £1200, never mind fitting - insurance would probably have written off the car :?

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b33fy
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby b33fy » Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:12 pm

Got a nice Skoda Yeti.. top spec, will sell at the right price, throw in two dash cams, fitted. hth :D
Power.. small nail, fast hammer, Torque.. small nail, big hammer.. I got a big hammer :P

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DJ.
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby DJ. » Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:44 pm

Sorry to hear that Mark.

Is it driveable, and do you think it will pass an MOT. When a biker rode into the side of our C1, they just sent me a cheque to write it off. We still had the car, so I did a rough job fixing it up. The wife and daughter moaned for a bit, but we've had a few more years cheap motoring and I don't really care if my car looks crap as long as it works.

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locost220
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby locost220 » Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:37 pm

Dash cam all the way, unless it your fault of course.
Locost book chassis, Undergoing testing post rebuild :D :?
Robin Hood 2B, keeping me sane
Sylva Leader, stuck to the trailer

greenwoo
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby greenwoo » Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:02 am

Well.....we've got to the thorny stage of 'market value'.....seems their definition is somewhat different to mine.

Initial suggestion is £80 less than the cheapest same year/same spec available, and about £500-700 less than the 'majority'. Mind, there's only 8 avail from dealers around the country.

Which brings me to a point that i don't know the answer to ( and which no doubt they'd make up on the spot).
Should market value be;
A fair average?
Should it include 'private' ad comparables?
Should it include comparable cars that are at the other end of the country?

My rebuttal to their figure aside from tge few comparisons i could find was;
I live in the south, so 'value' should be within a fair distance
I bought from a forcourt dealer originally, so the same shd be true this time too

intrigued to see what they come back with. In honesty, i was surprised at the going rate for these cars; Guess winter does have an impact on 4x4 prices! And turnover must be good at the right price as a load of comparables that were for sale 10 days ago have mostly sold.

@ Duncan.
well my thoughts til today were to keep it if poss and get it repaired. But seems they are likely to want 25-30% of the value.
Which is a frigging joke.
A good pal of mine bought his 'written off' Merc that was valued at 5k+ for 10%
in our case if they stick to the %'s, we'd pay 450 to get it back, say 250 to fix, leaves us at 700, against a supposed value of 1800-2k....but then its got the Cat s/n downside.

Thinking if settlement is right, take it, add a few quid and get one that is more than a 'down the shops' runaround.

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b33fy
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby b33fy » Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:38 pm

Is it worth claiming on the insurance Mark? I had a similar incident where I was reversed into. They said to the insurance that I was moving etc etc, and there was no damage to their car. So it was down to my insurance. Despite not being my fault and protected no claims etc they still consider any accidents regardless of circumstance in the past 5 years. I guess we are penalised if we live in a dishonest area. Not sure on the total cost of extra premium but no doubt they got their money back somehow.
Power.. small nail, fast hammer, Torque.. small nail, big hammer.. I got a big hammer :P

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locost220
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby locost220 » Fri Feb 12, 2021 7:33 pm

Does annoy me that people just can't be honest when it is their fault. Takes a bigger man I suppose.
Locost book chassis, Undergoing testing post rebuild :D :?
Robin Hood 2B, keeping me sane
Sylva Leader, stuck to the trailer

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b33fy
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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby b33fy » Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:10 pm

locost220 wrote:Does annoy me that people just can't be honest when it is their fault. Takes a bigger man I suppose.


Yep, totally agree Rich, in my case the driver admitted at the time then when she got home her husband told her otherwise. Wouldn’t answer her mobile. Was so tempted to pay her a visit and write her car off for her with a few litres of Tescos finest, but not worth the aggro.
Power.. small nail, fast hammer, Torque.. small nail, big hammer.. I got a big hammer :P

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Re: And the muppet award goes to....

Postby Flyingtiger » Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:00 pm

I don't think insurance and honesty can never be in the same sentence, both for the individuals and the companies. Shame when anything like this happens and even more disappointing to see how people behave in the ensuing mess.
Fully support dash cams now, recently swmbo pulled up behind a 17t flatbed at some traffic lights but the old dorris in the A6 behind didn't, pushed her into the lorry and the lorry about 2ft with the airbrake on! Luckily only minor injuries but wrote off a 4 year old 1 series. Dorris didn't have a clue what was going on, police came but were as much use as a chocolate teapot, didn't even give a ref number (wonder if the outcome would have been the same if that was an 18y/o in a big bore Corsa ...) Long and short was an absolute nightmare with 3 vehicles involved,weeks of grief and hassle, Dorris' insurance completely denying any responsibility despite photos of her car embedded 3ft into the boot. Our saving grace was when the lorry driver produced a rear facing cam clearly showing the wife's car stationary for a second or so before being pushed into the back. Even with that, it was all set up to go to court until a last minute settlement, needless to say well below market value. As well as the dishonesty, the system seems all geared up to line the pockets of the lawyers, no wonder the premiums are so high. Finally got another car, dash cams went straight in! Also used them in mine to successfully challenge a speeding ticket on our wonderful 'smart' motorways!
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