Feck! Wife's just reversed into a lorry...

[malfunction]

So... Even though I haven't learnt to drive yet (first lesson on Thursday) my wife has just reversed our nice new (ish - 52 reg) Focus into a builder's lorry parked out on the road. It's only a small dent on the rear wing (passenger side) and a long scrape on the bumper but the body shop reckons it will be about £350 as they'll have to respray the rear wing, bumper and tailgate to blend it in properly. The excess on our insurance is £250 so it doesn't really seem worth claiming...

Any advice? Are the body shop taking the proverbial? The driver of the lorry's not bothered (it's made no real mark on his old truck) so would we be better off:

1) Claiming and being honest incase the driver wants to claim?

2) Paying for it ourselves so that our premiums don't go up?

Any thoughts appreciated - we'd only just cleaned the bloody car!

[TiG]

I'm no insurance expert but i think if you have any crash, even if you don't claim you are meant to report it, you'll usually find this in most insurance policies as far as i know.

Of course even though you are not claiming it is very likely your insurance would still go up because of that, which is why most people won't even tell them, but its a dangerous game because if they did find out about it and you did have a major crash that wrote off the car and they proved you have had an earlier accident you didn't tell them about you might find they don't want to pay you.

I've always found the general rule with insurance companies is not to give them any reason to not pay out..

just my 2p

TiG

[Butuz]

Generally resprays are noticable so i would follow TiG's advice as of you do have a crash and the ins company check over the car and say "why's the rear end been resprayed" you could be in doo da.

Though, it is tempting if the lorry driver doesnt want to claim, not to claim which will cost you £100 above excess but save you no claims, and an insurance premium rise for the next 3 years....

Butuz

[malfunction]

Right so it's damned if I do damned if I don't basically...



So if we informed them but didn't make a claim we'd keep the no claims discount (which is coming up to 2 years) but they would increase the premiums anyway because we'd had an accident? Makes sense I suppose.

Arse.

So I might as well claim it anyway.

Ho hum... Bloody women drivers!

[malfunction]

Right so it's damned if I do damned if I don't basically...



So if we informed them but didn't make a claim we'd keep the no claims discount (which is coming up to 2 years) but they would increase the premiums anyway because we'd had an accident? Makes sense I suppose.

Arse.

So I might as well claim it anyway.

Ho hum... Bloody women drivers!

Anybody know how much rear parking sensors are to retrofit?

[dkmech]

Do you mean "go back in time and fit them before the crash happened"? Probably a lot

[malfunction]

Do you mean "go back in time and fit them before the crash happened"? Probably a lot

Well that would be nice. I may be asking the ford garage soon though... The car's due for a service in July (if there's anything left of it by then)

[Butuz]

The best parking sensor is the person driving

Butuz

[malfunction]

The best parking sensor is the person driving

Butuz

Well she's obviously faulty...

What I need is a siren and a load of flashing lights if she gets within 2' of something

[malfunction]

Seriously folks. Decided to do this the proper way.

Had a look on-line - using direct line as an example and there are options for having had accidents and not claimed as well so if we say:

#1
Yes - had an accident in the past three years
No - made no claim
Have 2 years discount

And #2
Yes - had an accident in the past three years
Yes - made a claim
Have 0 years discount

The total difference between the yearly premiums is only £30! I knew it only made a big difference when you had 5 years no claims but that's ridiculous

[Zak33]

Anybody know how much rear parking sensors are to retrofit?

£349 inc vat and fitting max....some are less than £200....

I sell loads of them.

[malfunction]

£349 inc vat and fitting max....some are less than £200....

I sell loads of them.

Cheers Zak,

If it's less than our usual excess (£250) then it's probably worthwhile - I'll see how much my local Ford place wants to take me for. Either that or I wrap the car in foam and old egg boxes...

[malfunction]

Cheers Zak,

If it's less than our usual excess (£250) then it's probably worthwhile - I'll see how much my local Ford place wants to take me for. Either that or I wrap the car in foam and old egg boxes...

Just phoned the local ford dealership. Who had no idea. He said it would take 2 hours (!) to fit (£130 + VAT for the labour) but that he's not done many so has no idea how much the parts would be. So how does he know how long it would take to fit eh?

[Zak33]

cos its in a list....we have them for all parts...

do ya self a favour....go into the Parts dept and Sales dept....get some price lists....and look for it....

it will have a TOTAL PRICE INCLUSIVE...the dealer is SUPPOSED to obey that....

if they aint done one....go somewhere else.....

the bumper comes off...then you drill 4 holes through the shell casing (the painted bit) and put the sensors into them....

remount bumper...and wire up beeper unit which has the sensors plugged in....

HOWEVER....on a Corsa, we have a MUCH CHEAPER version....

the rear NUMBER PLATE comes off.....we glue onto the edges of the number plate the sensors...they are on plastic protrusions....the same depth as the bumper ....refit number plate....

fit beeper into car and wire sensors to it....

very very easy

not as good as having the 4 sensor kit tho..that covers far corners too....but it helps

[malfunction]

cos its in a list....we have them for all parts...

do ya self a favour....go into the Parts dept and Sales dept....get some price lists....and look for it....

it will have a TOTAL PRICE INCLUSIVE...the dealer is SUPPOSED to obey that....

if they aint done one....go somewhere else.....

the bumper comes off...then you drill 4 holes through the shell casing (the painted bit) and put the sensors into them....

remount bumper...and wire up beeper unit which has the sensors plugged in....

HOWEVER....on a Corsa, we have a MUCH CHEAPER version....

the rear NUMBER PLATE comes off.....we glue onto the edges of the number plate the sensors...they are on plastic protrusions....the same depth as the bumper ....refit number plate....

fit beeper into car and wire sensors to it....

very very easy

not as good as having the 4 sensor kit tho..that covers far corners too....but it helps

Cheers Zak - I was obviously talking to the wrong person - was put through to services not parts... (Though you'd have thought the lazy / stupid bloke in services would have at least told me that...)

[malfunction]

Bringing this thread back from the dead...

Just phoned the parts dept. (as I was booking the focus in for a service anyway) and they say they fit a non-ford kit - which costs £200 + VAT and doesn't include fitting... So £200 + £130 (fitting quoted earlier) + VAT = £387.75!