Repair Bill :(

[Ting]

Hey guys.

I had a little accident last night, but to cut a long story short the steering rack has snapped at the wheels, so the wheels move on their own with no way of me controlling which way they face. Had a hell of a job getting the RAC guy to get it back to my house.

I was just wondering if anyone knew what kinda of money it would cost for the parts + repairs because I'm not sure if its worth claiming through insurance or not. Literally the only parts which were damaged are the steering and the front wishbone and maybe the front arb but any rough prices or estimates would be appreciated. I can post pictures if that would help?

Thank you for your time.

 

[thePHILosipher]

i had a similar accident just over 2 years ago in my 1.2, steering arm, driveshaft, front bumper, ns front wing, head lamp & bulb, alloy wheel, tyre and bonnet including labour came in at £1450, i'll see if i can dig out the reciept for you and give you the break down of all the bits, realistically tho, you wont be looking at any less than £400 unless your doing it yourself.#

hope your ok and the car gets sorted quickly

 

[Ting]

Ah right.

I thought it might be something around that figure, a mate said something like £500. Absolutely gutted though, hate looking at the thing now. Yeah if you could find the receipt that would be really helpful but don't worry if you can't.

Cheers

 

[m0rk]

What did you do?

JDA? or hit a kerb or something?

 

[Ting]

There is a road near where I live that has a large bump/pothole in the road just before a corner. I came up to the corner and had forgot about the bump, broke while going over the bump, heard a massive bang and the steering went strange, and while going round the corner afterwards it just under steered off the road and the left of the car went up the side of a grass verge and was on 2 wheels.

When it landed there was another bang and the wheel had twisted at the lower arm on both sides and completely snapped off the steering rack. It had also twisted the wheels so they were facing opposite ways. I wasn't going very fast round the corner so the damage is actually quite minimal as I didn't hit anything except the ground.

 

[m0rk]

I'd put that through the insurance then... you don't know what else was broken - subframe / hub / strut

Better to pay the excess & let the insurance co pick up the tab

 

[Ting]

My excess is £350 so if it is less than about £500 to repair I may as well get it done myself right? As I don't even have no claims bonus yet, insurance will be going up a couple of hundred, I've just checked a quote by putting down a claim..

I will be getting a proper mechanic down to look at it soon to see what he thinks.

 

[m0rk]

The good thing with insurance is they'll replace everything that could be affected

Better to lose your NCB than have a hub fail on you on a NSL corner?

Just a thought really, but I'd want to change as much as possible

 

[Ting]

Here's a few pictures. Not easy to get inside the wheel arch as the wheel has been pushed back but you can see a few things:

 

[DEAN0]

There is a road near where I live that has a large bump/pothole in the road just before a corner. I came up to the corner and had forgot about the bump, broke while going over the bump,

I would be getting a letter of complaint in to my local council and seeking compensation for failing to keep the road in a fit condition to be driven on.

As the very least - go have a word with one of the companies who specialise in "Where theres blame - there's a claim"

 

[Viking]

The good thing with insurance is they'll replace everything that could be affected

Better to lose your NCB than have a hub fail on you on a NSL corner?

Just a thought really, but I'd want to change as much as possible

The thing with insurance companies is they spend as little as possible so do just what it takes to get it going again. I found that out a few years ago. A lot depends on which garage it goes to, but the assessor will doubtless take a look and tell them what they are allowed to replace. I'd get it done private myself, and get it done right.

 

[Rory101]

I would be getting a letter of complaint in to my local council and seeking compensation for failing to keep the road in a fit condition to be driven on.

As the very least - go have a word with one of the companies who specialise in "Where theres blame - there's a claim"

Agree with that - especially as it sounds like the hole has been there for a while. Any idea if it's been reported before?

Councils are paying out more in compensation than they spend fixing the roads now.

 

[Ting]

Just to let you all know, I've gone through insurance in the end. I took it to a garage to get an estimate and he said it would cost a minimum of 1600 because they would have to replace some other parts as well as the ones I've already listed. Also genuine SEAT parts are not cheap at all are they

Pretty bummed out about it all, especially not having a car at the moment. Can't wait until its all sorted..

 

[DEAN0]

Just to let you all know, I've gone through insurance in the end. I took it to a garage to get an estimate and he said it would cost a minimum of 1600 because they would have to replace some other parts as well as the ones I've already listed. Also genuine SEAT parts are not cheap at all are they

Pretty bummed out about it all, especially not having a car at the moment. Can't wait until its all sorted..

OK - that gets your car on the road as quick as possible.

Get a written report from the garage explaining all damage caused by the incident
Go and take pictures of the offending pot hole
Submit a complaint to the council and back it up with a visit to a claim specialist.
Use the compo from the council to pay the insurance company back and reinstate your no claims.

Then you have a fixed car, and probably some spare cash to do other things to it.