Scirocco Register

Had a bit of an accident the other day, hit a pothole 5" deep, then lost control and got upclose and personal with a telegraph post. The resultant damage being couple of dents with wheelarch pushed in on the front wing and a dent in rear panel wheelarch pushed in and a crack in the plastic of the back part of the body kit and suprisingly little damage to door.
What I was wondering is will the insurance companies wee man decide to write the the car off or will it get sorted by their approved garage. Got an agreed value of £!600 with insurance company.

You could try and chase the local council with regards the pothole!
Can't help with your question regarding insurance, speak to them first and see what they say.

With some insurance companies, if they write off the car you have the option to buy it back from them for the scrap value, might be worth checking out.

First port of call should be the council. I'd get an estimate for the repair, then ask the council to pay. No damage to you ncb then

As nate said try the council. Also my last car that was written off got valued at 1300. I got to buy it back of them for about 80. I kept most of the good bits for my new one and managed to sell a load of stuff too.

Ben.

When I told my insurers about it they said they will persue the council for me, but it all depends on how often the council check the road conditions, or if anybody had reported the hole before I hit it, and how long it takes the council to respond and repair it, so I am keeping my fingeres crossed.
It would be so sad to see it scrapped as it's such a good running car, especially the 1.9 TD AAZ engine,and the body was very tidy, i suppose I will find out soon enough, and if the worst happens (scrapped) I could fit the Diesel engine into another one.

Go and take some photos of the pothole using a ruler to show the size and depth - and hope the Council haven't already filled it in! But as previously stated, if the Council argue that it had no knowledge of the pothole, then you may have some difficulty in getting it to admit liability.

Whether this is just one of those "down the pub" stories... but someone told me they were successful claiming even when the council pleaded ignorance, as they argued that the size of the hole meant it had been there for some time. Duty of care and all that

I tried to claim on the council for my wheel that got bent by a pothole. The council said they would look into it but all they did was fill the hole in, when I chased it up they said they had no knowledge of a pothole in the area!
I was so trousered off! And ended up replacing the wheel myself

I had a similar incident years ago in a mk2 Escort, hit a pothole around a bend, took out the front strut, wheel and tyre. The pot hole had already been filled once by Cardiff City Council, but the rain (we get a lot in South Wales) had managed to break up the repair. So I contacted the Council and they wrote back saying that they couldn't be held responsible for something that was done due to nature and the weather. I argued that it hadn't been repaired properly and got nowhere, ended up having to pay for the damage myself!

As Pete has said get evidence in the form of a photo and ruler and a newspaper with the date showing etc!

Went to the body repair shop today, Its now a scrapper, (cat c, unviable repair, ect...) think I will go cry in a corner,
Well thanks for your comments, I am off to search for my next car ??????????

If they're gonna make it a total loss, buy it back and repair yourself

If there is no damage to the steering etc, fit a second hand front wing and trim and get someone to pull the dent out of the rear quater.
The body shop is problerly giving you a price for a brand new front wing and trim, those two bits are worth more than the car!
Insurance companies seem to write off any car older than 10 years old!

Looking at the pictures it does not look that bad, all depends on any damage to the wishbone mountings etc.

I repaired a Mk1 Golf that had suffered a similar impact on the front wheel. It needed a new wheel, the wishbone was distorted so was replaced. The body turret at the top of the strut had been pushed upwards with the impact and had to be persuaded to return to its original position. Luckily in this case there was no external bodywork damage.