E30 Zone

Last night on my way home from work a Barry Boy decided to plow straight into the side of my car.

It hit just next to the rear wheel arch (where the door would of been if it was a 4 door) and completely crumpled it. Had to crowbar out the rear wheel arch so I could get it home.

So basically it's pretty battered, rest of the car is in such good condition I don't want to get rid of it. Insurance company will just write it off so I don't want to go through them.

Would it be worth getting that sort of damage repaired? The car is an H reg 318i with only 101000 miles on the clock and had the engine and rest of the car checked by BMW and they said it was one of the best examples they had seen in a long time.

I could see it going into thousands to get it done properly.

Just wondering if I should cut my losses, sell the car for parts and get myself another one.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

get some pics up of the damage mate

From what you have said so far i would cut your losses and get rid of it.

get some money off Barry first though.

Depends, If its just the rear quarter damaged it can be replaced fairly easily and the panel is still available from BM at about 300-400 quid.

If its bent up the sill and the inner arches etc then it will be very expensive to repair properly.

Well the drivers door will need to be replaced and the rear wheel arch inside I 'think' is okay. It just slighty bent the arch when the panel crumpled in where the car hit and pulled the arch in with it.

Take it to a few bodyshops for estimates. It may cost less than you think to repair. I'd say dont expect any less than £1000 though

It cost me £700.. if it's going to cost that much I'll just sell the bits, or I'll just go through Barrys' insurance and see what I can get.

was he insured?

Yeah he is insured, trouble is it was on a roundabout so it's going to be hard to prove it was his fault! Which it was as his exit was blocked (traffic lights were red), he then stopped on the round about to leave a gap for traffic to get through (myself) which was the correct thing to do. So I exited onto the roundabout and as I started to go past him he moved and went into my side.

If it'd been my misjudgement the front of my car would of been damaged but I can see this taking months.

The insurance company will probably decide "Knock for Knock"

Sounds to me like you are best to try to sort it outside of the insurance company, and suggest that he pays you a few hundred pounds and you wont claim against his, because from what you have said so far, he actually had the right of way and the claim could go 50/50 or even in his favour.

A few other details could be important though, is there a 'Keep Clear' section on the road? And were his lights still at red when the collision happened?

It sounds to me like it was a very low speed accident, and therefor, the damage shouldnt be too bad but I have no doubt the insurance will wright the car off as a few years back, I had to get a door skin replaced under the insurance and that was about £700 including parts and labour.

If you get some cash off him then you could source a 2nd hand door and 'pay cash' for a repair job on the rear quarter.

Tell your insurance company straight away what has happened if you have not already.You must inform them of all rtc's etc as they have a financial intrest linked to the car ie they could have to pay out to the other party.If you do not inform them then you could end up in real trouble.
It will probably go 50/50 so if your not fully comp i doubt you would get any money and if you are it will probably still be low by the time the excess is paid for.
I doubt you will get the other party to part with any cash either.Once people get home after accepting blame they change their mind so i can not see him offering cash.

this claim has the potential to go split liability as technically you still have to give way to your right, although he has yielded right of way to a degree by leaving the gap. Also the fact that he has hit you on the rear quarter shows you were well on your way out when he has moved forwards. His insurers may ultimately accept liability but there will probably be a squabble for many months before they do so.

If the cost of repairs exceed 60% of the pre-accident value of your vehicle then it will be deemed a total loss.

If you want to keep the car and have it repaired then i would seek out some written estimates from bodyshops advising them what your intentions are - i.e. to keep the car and avoid it being a write off.

You need to report the matter to your insurers for information purposes if nothing else as the barry boy will probably be looking to make a claim against you, unless he is going to do the decent thing and accept blame.

Yeah I've told my insurance company and Barry has contacted me and wants to split the costs 50/50.. There isn't much damage to his car.

He doesn't want a claim on his insurance so he is willing to sort it out without the insurance company. Guess he can see himself taking liability.

The car is still drivable to an extent, the rear wheel arch rubs on the wheel if I go over a bump so we are going to jack it up and bang it out for now as it's got to be replaced anyway, at least this way I can still use it.

The impact has just damaged the outer shell as it wasn't a high speed accident, he was litterally going about 5 MPH.

We've decided it was such a nice car before the accident to repair it at any cost. Money comes and goes but to find a car in this condition is hard so I want it back how it was.

unlucky! you're welcome to chop the side off my spare 318is if you need parts for a small fee! cars in stoke

Why don't you let the insurance company deal with it, if they write it off just take the money and buy the car back at a fraction of the cost and use the extra money you get from the write off to fix it. Keeps everything nice and legal that way, will also stop the barry boy trying to claim against you (you never know how some peoples mind works!)

Id agree with doing things by the book and letting the insurance company know...dont want things coming back and biting you in asre....i wouldnt anyway.

I've informed the insurance and everything but if they write it off doesn't it then get catagorised and have to go through loads of checks etc?

I will involve the insurance if barry gets nasty but as far as barrys' go he was okay.

Sounds like it shouldn't be too bad to repair, never trust a chav on the roads! There are plenty of old e30 coupes breaking/scrapping so should be easy to cut out a replacement quarter panel

sounds to me to be a gauranteed write off, baring in mind the book price for a 318 will be about £500. not really worth repairing if its the rear quarter and inner arches. the suspension components could also be bent.

did you smash the chav in the face?

as far as i can make out he was on the round about so am i correct in thinking he had right of way regardless of whether he left a space or not?

/\ that is my understanding yeah, in a driving lesson they would not say to move out until the roundabout is clear?

Yep...Chav had the right of way...but he'd given way to Ian...

Never trust chavs on roads...use your BMW to get as far away as possible from them...

im guessing chav wont admit he'd stopped and that he'll say ian pulled out in front of him on the roundabout .not looking to good to me tbh.

Well Barry has offered to pay for half the repairs on my car, I drove the car home and it seemed okay to be honest just a bent panel. I will take a picture when I get a chance so you can see.

You can buy back panel parts from BMW like the wheel arch and bottom quater etc so I may just do that and get it sorted, the back wheel arch was a little rusty anyway atleast this way it'll get me to sort it out.

He admitted stopping on the round about and has already admitted partial liability as he gave me right of way, you can't stop on a round about let someone out and then hit them because you can't be arsed to wait.

I can see it going his way on the insurance though so that's why I'm just willing to bite the bullet and get it fixed.

Nevermind, live and learn. never pull out when Barry gives way.

yeah that could look bad, just because he could say he you pulled out on him

i wish you could forget insurance and just get it sorted. i would want barry boy to pay the full amount but that wont happen i guess.

my mate had to buy a new bumper for an old woman because she randomly stopped on a round about no reason to stop.....

real pain.

so does Barry want you to pay anything towards him?

if he's accepting 50% blame then that implies you are 50% responsible, so has he any losses?

He's pug 106 is practically intact.. the front bumper was hanging off, mine is going to cost far more to fix. So I think what he wants to do is when we get our cars fixed the total amount split in half... Or get his own car fixed and give me a contribution towards mine.

As long as barry gives me cash I don't mind overly which he said he would. (He lives next my mums partner which is handy)

Had the wheel off today and all the suspension and that is okay, hammered the arch out so it stops rubbing the wheel.

Took the backseat cards off and there is a crease in the inner wing but apart from that it's just a new panel I need and get my door sorted which I can get from BMW for £200 (the new back panel that is)... But now with this inner wing damage is it going to create a lot of hassle?

I would post up some pics of the damage if you can mate, there are people on here like Beardymat who will be able to give you an honest opinion as to how much grief it will be and whether the inner arch issue needs addressing properly or not.

Here is some pictures:

Just got a quote, £700 + VAT if I supply the part, they can save the inner wing and sort the doors out, this includes respraying the door and back panel and all the other necessary jobs. So basically it'll be like new they reckon.

It's an accident repair place that loads of insurers and local dealers use so they are quite reputable.

Think I'm going to save my pennies and get on with it.

so whats the latest with the barry boy? has it been reported to the insurers or the police?

Barry Boy doesn't want to go through the insurance so he's willing to part with alot of cash to keep me quiet.

So I should be able to get most of this repair paid for by him and I can just cover the rest.

To be honest going through the insurance is going to take months and I could even end up losing and then they'll write it off anyway.

So what do you guys think of the damage? I'll get some pics up of the rest of the car but I think it's worth fixing, especially as I'm not paying for most of it.