Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice

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Wed 25 Feb 2015 22:17
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - Jalf

Vauxhall Astra 1.6 petrol Sxi was rear ended at 30+ mph while stationary. Full liability was taken by third party insurance. The electrics malfunctioned and a loud banging noise could be heard when slowing down/applying breaks on the short journey home. The car was towed away a few days later as the battery had burnt out and without the battery being charged or replaced and the car being tested a repair estimate was submitted and approved.
4 weeks later the rear end repairs had been completed but unsurprisingly the car would not start.; a new battery was required as the battery would not charge.
Once the battery was replaced electrical faults showed on the dash and were re-set by the garage .
The car was then taken for a test drive and immediately returned to the garage as black smoke was coming from the engine. This was not happening before crash. The car had just past it's MOT a week previously and has been fully serviced every year for the past 7 years.
This has since being diagnosed as crankcase compression and ruled to be non accident related.
A formal complaint has been made, however we are now being told we have to take delivery of the car and argue that regardless of whether the fault is accident related or not (we also dispute the decision made), had the vehicle been correctly assessed it should have been written off.
Essentially, we now have a car that is not road safe and requires > £1000 worth of repairs, after being rear ended through no fault of our own.
Any advice on how to proceed please?

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 09:15
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - slkfanboy

>This has since being diagnosed as crankcase compression and ruled to be non accident related.
Sadly it seams hard to link a crankcase pressure issue to a rear end shunt. What milage has the car done?

One of two things could be the cause.

1) The crankcase breather is blocked

2) Cylinder rings warnout.

I would take the car to another garage and see what they say is wrong. Further why do you say the car is not road safe?

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Sat 28 Feb 2015 08:40
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - Jalf

Thanks for the responses.

The car has 70000 on the clock and we have been advised the garage can't risk running it for more than 20secs as they are concerned it will catch fire. We were told it needs a new rocker box.

Any further advice is appreciated.

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Thu 26 Feb 2015 12:17
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - Palcouk

Appears to be an unfortunate coincidence, the crankcase compression issue cannot be linked to the accident.

Electrical warnings may have been linked to the crash. Bateries can fail at anytime, often without any warning.

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Sat 28 Feb 2015 08:54
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - Jalf

Thanks for your response.

The battery burnt out because the elecs malfunctioned. The vanity light was running in the back ground because the boot was jammed and the car was not registering it was closed. This was not even looked at until the rear end damage was repaired, 4 week's later. After offering the car back on a trailer.

How is it possible to assess the damage and the condition of the vehicle when the car has no power?

They were advised of concerns with the electrics and the loud banging when the car was collected and did not look at this at all.

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Mon 16 Mar 2015 16:33
Vauxhall Astra - Garage / insurance advice - YG2007

I think its safe to say the crankcase breather is unrelated to the rear end shunt however the rocker box on these engines from memory have a crank case breather built into them which becomes blocked. We have changed a few at our garage and the car runs fine. The engine will run with the oil cap removed and shouldnt be too breathy. A compression check would rule out worn rings. I think from memory the rocker cover from vauxhall is less than £ 100. We also found when we have done this type of work that the hoses going to the inlte manifold are usually blocked with oily Sh$$ and can eithe be removed and cleaned or just replaced if they have gone soft

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