talizman

iTrader: (1)

Must be my turn for bad luck and cars.....

My wife's Vauxall Vectra seems to have a bit of a jinx going at the moment.

On Tuesday night we were sitting at a red traffic light and an old codger in a Ford Focus rolled up behind us, and rolled. And rolled. And clunk! right into the back of us at about 2 mph.
The bumper is scratched and the paint broken and all flaking off.
I was initially going to make a claim on his insurance, but the repair will cost less that our excess and although I would expect a full recovery to be made due to the non-fault, I'd rather not make a claim for such minor pish as I claimed last year after a non-fault accident and the ******* loaded our premium by £100 even though it was non-fault.
I don't fancy my chances of getting cash out of the old bugger so looks like I'll catch the bill myself.

Then tonight the same car was being driven by me and it died. Its turning over but won't start. Tried jump starting and bump starting and nothing.
The car is a 2.2 SRi with just 26k on clock and it's not very well.

Getting towed to the garage in the morning, so wonder what bad luck number 3 will be........

Fuzz

You did remember to put petrol fuel in it didn't ya.



Andy

Brendan Hughes

The fact that you can't find anything decent to replace it?

talizman

iTrader: (1)

lol cheers guys!

Miss Kinky

thats what you get for driving a Vauxhall!!

Crazy Chick

What other type of petrol is there?

Reality

Had a vectra SRi as a company car a while back.

Twice it went from Scotland to England - Twice it didn't make it back under it's own steam .

The 15 hour AA relay trip from Hull to Cruden Bay (North of Aberdeen) was a particular joy .

Make your 3rd piece of bad luck - push the ******* thing over a cliff

Bubba po

You don't have to pay the excess in a no-fault accident.

Reality

My SRi had a similar sounding problem. Drove it to a Supermarket - did shopping - came back 10 minutes later it wouldn't start.

Called out the AA and the guy tapped one of the relays and it started first time.

Said it was something to do with the heat build up in the engine bay - cant remember exactly - it was a while ago.

The Zohan

That's not the usual way is it, Not that i make a point of having accidents but last year we had a no fault accident, another old codger clobbered the back of our car - we did not have to pay our excess.

lightning101

I'll bet you aren't even wearing your neck brace to work

The Zohan

www.scumbag-injurylawyers-for-u.com

OllyK

It depends on the insurance company, some insist you pay the excess regardless, and if you are found to be not at fault, they'll recover it from the other party, others will wait till the end and remove it from the payout if you are at fault.

What also seems to have changed is that if you were in a chain, the person that hit you from behind was considered at fault, you'd claim off them, then they'd claim their damage and yours off the next in line. It seems that now, the blame has to be agreed between all parties and then the full bill goes directly to that party.

How do I know? The Misses was rear ended last August, the person behind claims she was hit from behind which forced her in to the misses, the person at the back claims they didn't hit the person in the middle in to my misses. I can't fault the co-op for the speed that the misses car was fixed, in the garage the day after the accident and back fixed the day after that, but we are still trying to get her excess back. Add to that the misses needed physio as a result of the whiplash and it's all turned in to a mess, despite us saying we don't want any compo, just the excess. So 8 months on, it is now with solicitors and it looks like it's going to go to court. What a fiasco.

talizman

iTrader: (1)

If liability is admitted at the absolute outset, then yes, your car can be repaired straight away with no excess, but all too often liability takes a while to sort out and in the interim you pay your excess up front for repairs and then it gets recovered.

Well thats whats happened in my 2 non fault accidents over the past 2 years.

One of my accidents was absolutely cut and dried who was at fault yet I still had to pay my excess and it got later recovered.
Why did this happen? Not because they refused to admit liability, but because they third party's insurers refused point blank to even communicate with mine!
Cheers Norwich Union

Leslie

Claim direct from his company, he has to admit it was his fault since he drove into your rear bumper.

If it is too late for that, if you get an aerosol of the matched colour and some clear lacquer as well as filler and primer from Halfords, you can repair it as though it never happened.

Les

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Well, on the accident front, I tried calling the guy who hit me several times but he's been rubber earing me, so I reported it to the insurers.

If he had been decent about it, I'd probably have accepted a patch up repair on the damaged bumper if he had footed the bill, but to hell with it, its going in for a brand new rear bumper!

Regards the engine, it would seem that the 2.2 SRi engines had a weakness with the cam tensioner that should have been recalled. It seems that Vauxhall neglected to do this and simply dealt with the situation as and when the tensioners failed.

So, the car is getting a brand new engine fitted tomorrow under warranty. Even though the car is 5 years old (Y reg) they are honouring the repair under warranty since it is a widely known weakness. The car had only done 27k mile with 5 service stamps!

So, should be as good as new soon!

Anyone wanna buy a 2.2 SRi Vectra with 0 miles on engine?

Brendan Hughes

talizman, read this thread to the end, see if it makes you feel better :

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=511364

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Jeez! I though I was unlucky!!!

Leslie

That tensioner pulley problem has been around for a very long time now. I am surprised that they did not inform owners of the likelyhood of the pulley failing in the first place. Lot cheaper on engine replacements!

Hope you reported the accident to the coppers.

Les

Brendan Hughes

Can you guess what he does for a living?

Leslie

No I don't know Brendan, but I have got a good idea now.

Les

talizman

iTrader: (1)

lol

Job done Leslie

Leslie

Good news talizman.

Les