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Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:45 pm
by Robsey
Obviously didn't have her mind in the right place. It is a shame for her circumstance, but the reality is that damage and injuries could have been so much worse.

Thankfully for all parties, nobody was physically harmed.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 7:59 pm
by tonyo
OMG.. Glad occupants are all OK.. Sure the old girl will be back soon.. Shout if there's any bits needed, in case I've got anything in the loft..

My Dippy tried to show solidarity today.. Parked on the drive, there was a crack, and I just managed to leap on the brake pedal before it rolled into the GTE..

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:19 pm
by Cabletwitch
Image

Just a thought... :mrgreen:

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 10:35 am
by James McGrath
It would have to be a pretty big 'Pow!' sticker for that to work on mine.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 7:05 pm
by DiplomaXE
gutted for you James, when I saw this.
I dont think I have anything left parts wise that would help you out, but you never know what's in the loft!

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 7:39 pm
by cavalier1990
Sore one James, hope you get it all sorted. Insurance will write it off as the cost to repair would be much more than the car is worth, insurance wise, not to you.

Might be worth getting a quote from your mate and then having a word with the driver to get payment for the cost of repairing it.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 10:07 pm
by James McGrath
DiplomaXE wrote:gutted for you James, when I saw this.
I dont think I have anything left parts wise that would help you out, but you never know what's in the loft!
Thanks Pete.
I think I'll be ok for parts, as long as the electric window mechanisms are ok.
They do still work so I hope they can be retrieved and can be swapped onto the new doors.

cavalier1990 wrote:Sore one James, hope you get it all sorted. Insurance will write it off as the cost to repair would be much more than the car is worth, insurance wise, not to you.

Might be worth getting a quote from your mate and then having a word with the driver to get payment for the cost of repairing it.
Yes, I'm expecting them to say it's 'uneconomical to repair'. I have to wait until Tuesday 9th before it's inspected.

I did think about dealing with it outside the insurance, but the other driver has already informed her insurance.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:33 am
by tonyo
From experience, Front electric window mechanisms are relatively easy to get hold of. Rears are not. As long as the runners aren't bent, they can be swapped over to run on Omega units if they give out.

I did the N/S on mine last year, and the O/S needs doing now....

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 9:42 am
by Lowrider Dave
Holy heck! Just catching up with the thread and saw this, what a mess and how immensely frustrating. I am glad you are okay but the poor DIppy :(
I agree that the insurance people will be likely to say it's beyond economical repair, so the only real route would be to retain the car and enter into discussions with the insurance people over value of car and what they will give you as well as the car.

I know my brother had to fight to retain his GSI2000 and get some ££ off them - he had to prove how valuable/rare a good condition car was worth. Good luck with the assessment and don't be tempted to clean anything up on the car prior to inspection, but be sure to show and supply them with pre-accident photos. Above all make it abundantly clear you want to keep the car.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:50 pm
by cavalier1990
James McGrath wrote:Yes, I'm expecting them to say it's 'uneconomical to repair'. I have to wait until Tuesday 9th before it's inspected.

I did think about dealing with it outside the insurance, but the other driver has already informed her insurance.
Yes but I think it is up to you to start a claim on her insurance, then they will send an assessor out to basically write it off, then they will offer you a market value for it, if you start a claim it will go through your insurance to her's then your insurance will be dearer for a few years as well as her's until you build up a new NCB. Even if you have protected NCB it will still go up, one of the scams theses daylight robbing insurance companies get away with.

They will then own the car if they give you a market value for it and it will be scrapped. I think you can refuse the offer and basically take it out of their hands, not sure if you need to pay them to do that!

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 6:50 pm
by James McGrath
Well I got the verdict yesterday.

It's been declared a category C write off, meaning it can be repaired and returned to the road.
I was very lucky to get this as apparently the damage to the B pillar would normally result in a category B write off (no pun intended) which is not allowed back on the road.
Likely the guy who came round was an ex-Vauxhall employee who used to work in warranties back when the Cavalier was new so he was sympathetic to the cause.
He also had a long consultancy with his colleague on the phone and decided as it's mild steel and easy to work on, the repairs to the B pillar could be done to a good enough standard for it to be safe to return to the road.

I also got a payout of £1000 which will help greatly with the repair bill.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 10:08 pm
by Mk3alan
Better result than you feared I guess - was that an inspection from her Insurance?
A few years ago while stationary on a slip road I was hit from behind and pushed into the vehicle in from (radio shot out the dash)!
A lorry ha run into the back of the queue and in total 7 cars were involved and as far as I can remember all claims were covered by the lorry, mine was certainly and I had a courtesy car for over 3 months!

Alan

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 10:19 pm
by James McGrath
Yes, I had an inspection form her insurance yesterday.

Well I didn't think it was that bad until the inspector showed me how badly bent the B pillar is.
For a while I thought he was going to say it's a category B, but he consulted someone on the phone for a good 15 minuets or so and then said he was going to put it down as a category C.

Sounds like a nasty accident if 7 other cars were involved.
Was this in your Cavalier or another car?

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 10:58 pm
by Mk3alan
Bad enough but glad it's not going to be scrapped, hope you can get it repaired ok.
My right off was in a mk2 Astra Estate and only ended up with a couple of hundred for it.
The accident made Radio 2 traffic though!

Alan

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 11:02 pm
by Robsey
It is good to see the Cavalier is going to get a second chance.

Definitely more deserving than most to stay on the road.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 12:21 pm
by Steven715
I'm very sorry to hear of your accident James however I am pleased to see that you are going to get it repaired I hope it doesn't cost you to much money to get it done, sounds like you was lucky to get the Cat C instead of the dreaded cat B.

All the best.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 9:29 am
by cavalier1990
James McGrath wrote:Well I got the verdict yesterday.

It's been declared a category C write off, meaning it can be repaired and returned to the road.
I was very lucky to get this as apparently the damage to the B pillar would normally result in a category B write off (no pun intended) which is not allowed back on the road.
Likely the guy who came round was an ex-Vauxhall employee who used to work in warranties back when the Cavalier was new so he was sympathetic to the cause.
He also had a long consultancy with his colleague on the phone and decided as it's mild steel and easy to work on, the repairs to the B pillar could be done to a good enough standard for it to be safe to return to the road.

I also got a payout of £1000 which will help greatly with the repair bill.
That's a brilliant result James, especially being still able to fix it and the payment from her insurers. I guess the first big job will be fixing that B pillar, do you think it can be jigged back into place? Are you going to try and do as much of the other work as you can, sourcing/fitting doors etc?

I just bought 4 good doors for my dippy, I do have another 2 for passenger side front/back set, I need front one for my blue 1.8, but if you are really struggling for a back one then give me a shout.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 10:33 am
by James McGrath
Thanks.
Yes, hopefully the B pillar can be put back into shape relatively easily. It's not been pushed in by much, only about 2 inches.

Luckily I've been able to source a couple of doors, and they are in the right colour too.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 11:17 am
by cavalier1990
James McGrath wrote:Thanks.
Yes, hopefully the B pillar can be put back into shape relatively easily. It's not been pushed in by much, only about 2 inches.

Luckily I've been able to source a couple of doors, and they are in the right colour too.
Good to hear James, sounds like a goer then :)

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 2:40 pm
by Lowrider Dave
Glad to hear you got some money and able to keep the Cav!

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 11:56 pm
by James McGrath
I'll be going on a 600 mile round trip to Accrington tomorrow to pick up my new doors, along with some other parts taken from this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142364129748? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 12:43 am
by Robsey
Don't forget your passport if you are going to Lancashire.

It's a whole different world up there.
Even for a northerner like what I is...
:shock: :p :no :scratch

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 4:29 pm
by cavalier1990
Robsey wrote:Don't forget your passport if you are going to Lancashire.

It's a whole different world up there.
Even for a northerner like what I is...
:shock: :p :no :scratch
I was going to say Eh oop, whippets and flat caps but is that not a Yorkshire stereotype? :)

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:05 pm
by Robsey
Probably. Both very eccentric breeds.

Re: James' 2.0 8v Diplomat

Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 11:08 pm
by James McGrath
Another world indeed.

Well it was a very successful, albeit long, journey on Thursday.
Took the LS in the end, for the fuel economy.

McGrath snr. at the helm:

Image

Didn't set off until 8:30am so didn't get there until 3:00pm, but this is what we were greeted by:

Image

Image


As well as the doors I picked up a few other bits, including a 1.6/1.8 bonnet liner and a scuttle panel both in great nick:

Image


Had a bit of a scare with the doors when we realised that the front door wouldn't fit in the boot.
It took allot of careful maneuvering but it just about squeezed into the rear seats:

Image


Felt bad about leaving this car with no doors. Looked to be in reasonable nick:

Image


Anyway, the LS ran well and it did the whole 600 mile journey on just over three quarters of a tank of petrol. :)
It was very cramped on the journey back as we had to have the seats too far forward for comfort.
We didn't leave until gone 5pm so after traffic and a pit stop for dinner, we didn't get back home until about half past midnight.
All in all though, the journey was well worth it.