Vauxhall Astra G Petrol (1998 - 2004) - Not a great start to the new year,

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Sat 2 Jan 2010 14:08
Not a great start to the new year, - Lucy1012
Hi,
I slid on black ice yesterday and crashed into an oncoming car, as I crossed on to his side of the road the accident is considered to be my fault, so be it. The question I have is that i would like to know if my car is likely to be written off.

From looking at the car with a very untrained eye, i would say it needs a new passenger door, it will not open, is caved in and is crushing the dash board, a new wing, and the bumper is damaged but possibly repairable. Also the windscreen has shattered. It is a 2002 Astra Estate, with 73k miles on the clock. I should imagine the market value to be around £1.5k give or take. I live in the middle of nowhere with 3 kids and need a car :-(

Thanks
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 14:25
Not a great start to the new year, - Jcoventry
It's going to cost more to repair than its worth, doesn't that usually mean a write off?
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 14:29
Not a great start to the new year, - Lucy1012
I think you are right, but i have no idea what repairs would cost... seriously I put petrol in the thing and can just about manage to pump the tyres up anything after that is over my head :-) Thanks for your reply though. & happy new year. I am just thankful that my kids were not hurt.
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 17:19
Not a great start to the new year, - smilleynially
I'm no expert, but I'd start looking at values of the exact same car you had, sold at dealers rather than privately, as this is the price the 'independent' assessor will value your car at. This is to make sure they don't make an offer under value.

In short, your car will 99.9% be 'written off'


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Sat 2 Jan 2010 17:49
Not a great start to the new year, - David Horn
Might be worth checking with your insurer to see if you have hire car cover in the event of your car being written off. Mine will provide a hire car for up to a month if the car is written off or stolen and not recovered.
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 18:12
Not a great start to the new year, - Lucy1012
oh dear... thanks for the reply and the tip about getting a proper idea of what it is worth, will get on to that this evening when the kids are in bed. Checked about the hire car and I will only get one should it be repairablle not in the event of a total loss. As soon as I get the go ahead I will go car shopping...
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 18:53
Not a great start to the new year, - OG
Round our way the police have been advising motorists who have had accidents on ungritted roads to bill the council.

www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/Crash-drivers-to-lodge-...p

Might be worth a try....
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Sat 2 Jan 2010 19:47
Not a great start to the new year, - Lucy1012
thanks for that i actually live on the bucks/oxon border, but to be fair i used an unclassified single track road which would never be gritted anyhow, is was all down to my poor judgement, there was no ice on the roads in my village, it was 1pm and sunny so i chose to use the back route to save time, the road was clear up until this patch and just unlucky that another car was coming the other way at that moment. hey ho you live and learn... to top it all the guy called me to tell me he has been to the hospital and has whiplash so i am now waiting to see if he is going to sue me also :-( but there was nothing i could do to avoid it, i swerved to avoid a head on that was all i could do.
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