Rear end collision

[Nabraxas]

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of assistance here - I was involved in a collision yesterday where the vehicle following failed to stop and hit my Cupra R up the backside at about 20/30mph. Initially the jolt and sound made it seem a hell of a lot worse than it appears.

From the looks of it there are just a few scuff marks on the bumper and it looks as if the following vehicle (a Citroen Saxo) went up onto the bumper and bounced off... I've got an engineer from the insurance coming out to assess the damage, but, what sort of things should I/he check for - to the naked eye it just looks like scuff marks across the bumper but I'd be very surprised if that's the only damage it sustained?

I have checked the boot floor/wheel well and they seem fine; what else should I check?

Many thanks!!

 

[benjiwales]

wheel allignment, you never know

 

[olaf]

Check the boot lines up correctly and that the gap between door and body is even all the way round. Should show if any panels have been pushed out of place.

Was the collision low enough to hit the exhuast?

To be honest if your insurace assesor is any good he should know exactly what he is looking for! If you are in doubt take it to a local bodyshop to get them to have a quick look. Although some of the damage (or lack of it) may not be apparent without removing the bumper.

 

[Willie]

If there is any damage to the bumper insist on this being changed. It may not look damaged from the outside but until you get it off you never know.
As above check the panels for alignment. Also give your car a wash just to allow you to see any damage easier.
As for the assessor you'll probably find that the he is a young guy that knows feck all (maybe only in my experience)

 

[dainott2105]

Personally i would look into taking a cash pay out if there is only a little bit of damage. I had a car give me a nudge about 6 months ago and wanted to change my rear bumper for a neo design one so took a £600 cash payout from the insurance company (they will all do this, my mate is a driving instuctor and makes a good profit when people bump into him, and it happens quite often). One thing i wish i had thought of at the time was the exhaust (it should have been damaged ) and would have had the cash to buy an aftermarket one then.
Worth considering if you know a sprayer (one that you trust to work on your car) and can keep the extra cash.

 

[Nabraxas]

It does look like it has caught the top of the exhaust.

Still haven't heard anything from my insurance - not too sure how these things usually work; if it comes to claiming is it best to contact the 3rd party's insurance and put a claim in? Also, if I take it somewhere to be checked over, do you just keep the invoice and then claim it back off the 3rd parter insurer?

I spoke to my insurer who said they can make the claim but I will have to pay the excess and then claim it back, whereas if I go straight to the 3rd party insurance I won't have to pay the excess?

 

[dainott2105]

go to a garage and get a quote for repair (preferably one your insurance company select) and when they come back with the quote tell your insurance company you would like to have a cash pay out instead of going to a garage as you are happy to repair your own car and its your pride and job and dont really want anyone you dont know working on it. They will then get one of the money men that normally deal with sending the cheques out to ring you and he will knock a bit of money off for the labour that a garage charges (eg will give you £30 an hour instead of the £60 odd that the garage would charge) and basically thats it (well in my case it was). Cheque comes and modding starts lol