DrEvil

... or possible?

I aways thought the front end of a car would give-in quicker than a back end of a car?

ie. if someone rear ends someone else, more damage is likely to be done to the front of the car behind?

A friend was recently backend someone at what must of be circa 2-3 miles an hour. They were in a a new clio, and hit a Suzuki Capacino (MY'95). There was no damage to the clio, bar a small amount of scratching on the bumper - the Capacino on the other hand alledged needs a new boot lid as it won't close properly etc.. and the bumper is damaged, the guy reckons on 1000 quid!

Two things, the (other) car can't be worth more than that and secondly I suspect the majority of the damage was already there prior to the inccident.

What to do?

I think they should get the insurance companies involved now, and my friend should dispute the damage and 'suggest' that she thinks he is trying to claim for a prior incident.

Thoughts?

DrEvil

.. sorry to correct the above.. the guy is say that the inner skin has been damaged inside the boot... surely you'd need to be doing 10mph or more to achieve that!

ozzy

DrEvil,

How do they know it was only 2-3mph when they hit. Was it pulling out of a roundabout or something?

I bumped into the rear of a Ford Ka in my MY99 about 6 months ago. The guy was pulling out, then decided to stop when he saw a car approach the juntion to our right. I though he'd gone and just rolled forward. I was doing about the same and there was no damage to either car - not even a scratch , just some smudging on both our dirty bumpers.

IIRC cars shouldn't damage in impacts less than 5mph as it's part of the EU tests.

Stefan

DrEvil

Ozzy, exactly the same scenario..

I've just got some advice off my broker (Cheers Rum* ).

I've yet to see the other car, but will be going with a friend (mechanic) and the friend that was involved, to see whats been done.

IMHO, if there is that much damage to the inner skin (so much so the spare wheel can't be removed easily), then there should be some stress marks in the bumper paint/plastic too - which there apparently wasn't just after the incident.

I'm waiting to see the quote the guy has come up with, based on that there are a couple of options, but it is looking likely that insurance will need to pay. Although, taking the excess into consideration and the increase in subsequence years insurance, it may be worth my friend paying the 1000 pounds themselves.

I also going to suggest the car is assessed by a friend of friends bodyshop - I don't think this should cause a problem?

Alex

Jerry*

Does sound a lot but then again.. Suzuki Cappucinos are probably quite specialist...

Doesn't surpise me that bits are expensive.

Mind you, saying that... I'm surprised the Clio isn't a write-off... French build quality - ohhh dear !!

Best get some kind of independent inspection done by the insurers involved - should reveal if someone's taking the pi55 !!

I'm going through the same thing at the moment (see my thread from last week !)

DrEvil

John,

I didn't know you were - which thread? Sorry to hear about it, its a royal pain in the *** isn't it! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Gee, if'd I known I would have spoken to you longer earlier today!

Cheers, Alex

PS. thats the thing I can't get over, the Clios have loads of fiddly (read 'weak') plastic stylised bumpers, so many little bits that would break if flexed - but there is nothing but a small amount of scratching on a very small part of the bumper. we've checked inside the bonnet, the light clusters, the wings, the underneath of the front, every thing is intact!

[Edited by DrEvil - 1/13/2003 2:45:26 PM]

DrEvil

Just for the record, the third party is claiming the following:

rear bumper, & fittings, rear panel fittings, rear lamps, interior boot
trims, apply anticorrosion, rear number plate, rear bumper brackets, rear
bumper clips, boot floor sound pad kit, rear bumper grilles
etc... + labour

Any Suzuki dealers on this board or independant assessors?

Cheers, Alex

dosenöffner

The chassis runs fairly close to the front so you would expect that to take some impact. The engine also sits there so the front subframe is a lot stronger.

The rear is a hollow shell (unless rear engined or midmount) and often sits aft of any chassis points (they end just after the rear axle). Easy to cave in really.

DrEvil

I see your point - but if you've looked at the new clio, the grills above and below the front bumper have waffer thin plastic tarty strut thingys (thats my technical assessment of the front design! ). Still can't see how the clio escaped with minor grazing...

RON

I had a guy reverse into my Omega one day, sat in traffic, he was about 3ft from my car, he decided to select reverse instead of 1st, broke the headlight on the omega, totally trahed the back of the Metro, would have need rear quarter, tailgate, lights, bumper etc!
I suspect the impact was at a lot less than 5mph. sure did make a bang though!

ScoobyWon't

I was hit about 6 years ago by a Vectra from behind, maximum speed was 5-10mph while I was at a standstill.

The only damamge to the Vectra was the headlight fell out (and was pushed in).

My car however was written off. New boot lid, bumper, lights, boot floor required to fix it.

DrEvil

So, assuming they were doing around 3-5mph, this might be possible.

the monk

those new clio seem to stands up well against crash damage, my bro's clio rearended someone at about 10-15mph, the other car back bumper completly wrecked, while the clio only had a scratch on the bonnet, and it polished out!!

logiclee

Alex,

A friend from work has a 96 Escort GhiaX, he was hit from behind in Nottigham just before Christmas. The car that hit him was a little Honda CRX 2 seater coupe thingy. It was in queing traffic at a roundabout so slow speed.

The Escort even has a towbar fitted!!!!!

The CRX suffered a broken number plate and a couple of scratches that she wasn't bothered about.

The Escort needed a new rear bumper + paint, repair to tailgate where broken bumper had pushed up and damged it. This meant they sprayed the entire hatch and fitted new badges.

Total cost with hire car £900.

So to sum up then, little plastic CRX hits an Escort with a Towbar fitted. No damage to CRX, £900 damage to Escort.

I couldn't believe it either.

Lee

DrEvil

Thanks guys.

I'm going to get the body shop recommended by the local suzuki garage to independantly assess the car, they said they can send someone over.

If there quote is more, then I will obviously go with the one he has had done, if not, I will be interested in the differences.

I can't help but think that some of the stuff he's listed is taking the michael, I accept the bumper and possibly one rear cluster may have been damaged. Ah well time will tell.

Looks this will be settled without the insurance being involved to avoid huge policy increases next year (it was the otherhalf's car, if you hadn't guessed already, bang goes some of our savings towards a house deposit).

Alex