Aquaplaning = curb and plenty of damage

[Cupra TDI 150]

Well last night really topped off a crap day at work, i was coming out of the car park and turned a corner to end up aquaplaning on a huge puddle i hadn't noticed and hit the opposite curb. A loud bang and a bit of a jump over the curb, was followed by a nasty hissing noise.

On inspection Alloy is unuseable, and tyre probably trashed, so I changed it for for the spare at which point the light drizzle turned into a terrential down pour which totally soaked me.

With spare on a trial drive approx 5 metres told me there was a little more wrong than just the alloy and tyre. RAC was called and a recovery truck arrived, once on the back of the flat bed the recovery tech had a look underneath.

On top of an alloy and tyre, he informed me that the lower arm needed replacing as well as the a/roll bar link, and drive shaft was bent. Ok so we chatted on the way to my local dealer both of us coming to the conclusion that approx £600-700 would probably cover it.

I rang the dealer at 9:15 this morning and spoke to the servicing dept to be told that i would need to get in touch with my insurance, i asked the approx cost as didn't want to really go through insurance to which he replied around £2,000 - 2,500.

Is it me or are the front ends of the Leon's made of butter? How can hitting a curb a relatively slow speed cost so much is the Dealer over estimating?

The recovery guy had never seen a drive shaft bent before even a total right off with the wheel at 90 degrees didn't bend a drive sahft on the Toledo he picked up 2 weeks prior.

 

[lc_allan]

Erm curbs are very hard and if you mounted one I suspect the shaft took a big knock.
Still quite an estimate to put right.

 

[GREY 225]

Bad news there mate,id go to scrap yard and try to pick up parts from there,should be plenty of choice,even if its not a leon, parts from mk4 golf may still fit,like lower arm, roll bar link and drive shaft.If its insurance job then id get dealer to do it,if your paying yourself then id look at scrapyard.

 

[truCido]

sorry to hear about the damage

I wouldnt goto the dealer for that though!! I'd goto a local garage

 

[Cupra TDI 150]

Rang the insurance got protected no claims, and the excess is £275, guaranteed car hire too. So for the amount i have been estimated I'll get the dealer to do it

 

[nick-barnes07]

get the bits from a breakers yard, someone just drove into the side of my lcr, i hope something is bent underneath as his insurance company will have to replace it for me

 

[Fl@pper]

you hit it hard enough to jump the curb so not surprised

catch em at the right angle it can a fair bit of damage - especially with all the cars weight behind it


must admit 2-2.5k sounds a bit extreme

 

[westoncraig]

not being funny but you must have been going some to aquaplane the car around a corner!???

 

[CupraStoo]

its been said already, but "how fast" springs to mind!

youd have to be going a fair rate of knots to aquaplane in the first place

hard lines mate

 

[Willie]

As said, how fast? and what tyres?

 

[Romeoisgraham]

Go to local garage and I bet it will cost half the quote from a dealer........... the most expensive thing you need is a whell from a dealer. get on from ebay and have your local garage fit that when your repair is complete.


where you live I know a great garage in Glasgow who will sort out a great deal if I call them???

 

[dainott2105]

Id never go near a dealer for a repair anyway to be honest unless it was through insurance. They have to quote for new everything and if you do a search on fleabay or google for 'leon breaking' you could pick the parts up for a few hundred. Be careful with the old protected no claims cos i was talking to the guy when i renewed my insurance and i had 9 years no claims and had run up the behind of a lady in my previous car and he admitted that there is no real point in protecting your no claims these days cos they always ask you if you have had any accidents in the last 5 years and if you have it will increase your premium whether its protected or not. He told me its just a sneaky way to make a bit more on each premium and people think that they are safe with it. Evil Evil insurance companies!!

PS gutted for you about the bump, how fast were you going?? Curbs are Big and Hard and not to be messed with....ever

 

[Mitchy]

Id never go near a dealer for a repair anyway to be honest unless it was through insurance. They have to quote for new everything and if you do a search on fleabay or google for 'leon breaking' you could pick the parts up for a few hundred. Be careful with the old protected no claims cos i was talking to the guy when i renewed my insurance and i had 9 years no claims and had run up the behind of a lady in my previous car and he admitted that there is no real point in protecting your no claims these days cos they always ask you if you have had any accidents in the last 5 years and if you have it will increase your premium whether its protected or not. He told me its just a sneaky way to make a bit more on each premium and people think that they are safe with it. Evil Evil insurance companies!!

PS gutted for you about the bump, how fast were you going?? Curbs are Big and Hard and not to be messed with....ever

Full protection no claims is better than not having any though even considering a recorded claim.

I dread to think what my insurance would be if i had 0 bonus. Probably double at least £750 to £1500

Accident might add £100 or so but protected NCB worth its weight in gold in my opinion

 

[Crafoo]

Well last night really topped off a crap day at work, i was coming out of the car park and turned a corner to end up aquaplaning on a huge puddle i hadn't noticed and hit the opposite curb. A loud bang and a bit of a jump over the curb, was followed by a nasty hissing noise.

On inspection Alloy is unuseable, and tyre probably trashed, so I changed it for for the spare at which point the light drizzle turned into a terrential down pour which totally soaked me.

With spare on a trial drive approx 5 metres told me there was a little more wrong than just the alloy and tyre. RAC was called and a recovery truck arrived, once on the back of the flat bed the recovery tech had a look underneath.

On top of an alloy and tyre, he informed me that the lower arm needed replacing as well as the a/roll bar link, and drive shaft was bent. Ok so we chatted on the way to my local dealer both of us coming to the conclusion that approx £600-700 would probably cover it.

I rang the dealer at 9:15 this morning and spoke to the servicing dept to be told that i would need to get in touch with my insurance, i asked the approx cost as didn't want to really go through insurance to which he replied around £2,000 - 2,500.

Is it me or are the front ends of the Leon's made of butter? How can hitting a curb a relatively slow speed cost so much is the Dealer over estimating?

The recovery guy had never seen a drive shaft bent before even a total right off with the wheel at 90 degrees didn't bend a drive sahft on the Toledo he picked up 2 weeks prior.

The same sort of thing happened to me about 5 years back when I had my old mk3 Ibiza, I was on my way to work and was pulling into a junction when the car understeered nicely into a kerb, it was a bit frosty out and I obviously hit a patch of slippy stuff. I only hit it a low speed but it took a nice chunk out of my wheel and damaged the tyre, cracked the suspension strut, required replacement ARB, needed a new wishbone and driveshaft and a few other things, and I seem to remember the quote from the dealers in Doncaster being £2000+ So my dad said we should do it ourselves as the majority of the £2k was labour, I think it cost me about £700-1000 by cutting the dealer out of the loop.

 

[jiege01]

control arm- £25, antiroll bar link- £5, drive shaft £30, grand total of £60, from my local breaker, then mechanics charge for a couple of hours labour. no way would i go to a dealer, go hunting for parts, far cheaper.

 

[fozzybear]

i,ve snapped a driveshaft clean in two,,,,mind i did hit two drystone walls and car was writeoff......got out without a scratch pity i haven,t got pics on file any more

 

[CupraStoo]

i snapped a driveshaft in my old car! Torque rules!

 

[Cupra TDI 150]

Not overly quick, a contribution of things really, a bit of late breaking and steering at the same time, with standing water that i hadn't noticed on just after the apex. Wasn't lokking at the speedo, as the car park is always quite busy at that time of night.

One of the lads that used to work at the store, heard about what happened and said a few people had hit the curb, both tyres were Michelins pilot sports i think, I have instructed the dealer to put goodyear on instead when replacing.