frustrating dilemma.......it's a long one.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

If they write it off buy it back at the auctions cheap lol

my wife said exactly this last night.......but I already own it......spent $250 on it just the other day with service, thermostat and a rear suspension look over, new shockers going on next week.

windscreen fixed (no charge).

waiting to hear from CGU as to where they will go from here, I won't be repairing the stone damage, although I will be telling them I already have so I hope there are no CGU staffers in here.

I spoke to an RAA insurance rep as I was waiting for my car to be finished, he stated my case "could have been handled better".

I think I will bundle all of my insurances together, home, contents, 2 cars, caravan, workshop, tools (which are all currently with CGU) and I reckon I'll go RAA.

I don't like the way the "refusal of renewal" was thrown at me for so many years of membership for something so trivial and wasn't my fault.

[xisled]

Hi Poppa

Just be careful if you don’t fix the damage and you insure your car with another insurance company. One of the questions they will ask, if you have any pre-existing damage on the car. Some insurance companies will have a limit on how much damage such as $750.00, some companies will not insure a damaged car.

If you do tell them there is no damage, and you do make a claim later on they may reduce or deny the claim.

Lodge a claim and if it is written off, buy the salvage back from the insurance company prior to auction. They will sell it salvage cost. (what they would get for it at auction)

Refusal of renewal is pretty standard across all insurance companies for cars that have been damaged and not repaired.

[MercurySilver]

Funny because when I've insured cars they never ask me if there are stone chips on it....so why should it matter now????

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by xisled

Hi Poppa

Just be careful if you don’t fix the damage and you insure your car with another insurance company. One of the questions they will ask, if you have any pre-existing damage on the car. Some insurance companies will have a limit on how much damage such as $750.00, some companies will not insure a damaged car.

If you do tell them there is no damage, and you do make a claim later on they may reduce or deny the claim.

Lodge a claim and if it is written off, buy the salvage back from the insurance company prior to auction. They will sell it salvage cost. (what they would get for it at auction)

Refusal of renewal is pretty standard across all insurance companies for cars that have been damaged and not repaired.

yep!....I explained to the RAA ins rep what happened and told him about the chips and dents......he reckoned they sound about average for general everyday use and would be viewed as such.

I could wait for an assessor to visit one of the repair places and get his opinion I guess, I'm on good terms with them all.

if needs be I will get it repaired I suppose.

[MercurySilver]

id threaten to change insurance mobs

watch them back peddle then

[naddis01]

Are you able to post some photos of the damage. When I first read your story I was under the impression there was substantial damage. Now it just sounds like a couple of chips.

[poppa smurf]

there are quite a few dents of various sizes, a couple would hold a good size drop of fluid down to slight indentations, each have rust starting in the base after I washed the vehicle today and studied them a bit harder.

the windscreen was shattered of course.

all depends on what one would determine as "substantial", personally I class it as "significant" but repairable by myself when I get around to it.

I will say it was a frightening experience and one I would not wish on anyone else, the window exploding along with the sound of the gravel peppering the vehicle at speed is an experience not readily forgotten.

on a new car I would get it repaired but the vehicle is 9 years old.

I have found a 6" "dribble" of some clear unidentifiable material left over from the windscreen repair process just in front of the drivers door that I am having trouble removing as well now, along with a couple of noticeable scratches on the bonnet where I suspect the windscreen was rested.

all in all I am quite ready to sell this vehicle, it appears to attract an inordinate amount of drama right from the get go.

CGU didn't ring back today so I guess that will happen tomorrow. happy days while I await the outcome of their decision.

[mik]

That sucks Poppa....... I have to say if I could pay 400 excess to get the car repaired and looking sexy again I would do it regardless of the inconvenience, a bloke ran into me a while ago. ...... there wasn't a huge amount of damage but I got it repaired........ the car came back all cut and polished looking really good and it probably added a thousand dollars of value to what prior to the accident was a pretty clean old car, and now I feel good every time I go near my clean looking old car as opposed to being continually ****ed off if I had of left it.
good luck whichever way you go mate.

[supershifty]

Indeed it sucks poppa, hopefully this will give you a smile ;)



Cheers!

[poppa smurf]

Mik it just seems that this vehicle is a money pit, it has lived more of it's life in workshops and been off the road more times than any other vehicle I have ever owned, granted this one can't be attributed to the vehicle itself but it means yet more money out and the loss of the vehicle yet again.

it is just out of the service department for a couple of things then into the crash repairs and back to the service department next week.

every time it goes in it is away for a full day regardless of the time it was booked in or length of job, seems it sits outside the workshop until they "get around to it" and I'm on shanks's pony regardless of how big the job is.

I had a quick word with a smash repair shop owner this morning about the stone damage and asked how long it would take and when could I drop it in.

answer was the standard "big job mate it's gonna take at least a couple of days" and "we're flat out like a lizard drinking, drop it in sometime next month"

I figure I can fill the holes with some touch up paint, give them a little bit of clear coat then a polish and get on with something else more important like actually driving the bloody thing.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

Mik it just seems that this vehicle is a money pit, it has lived more of it's life in workshops and been off the road more times than any other vehicle I have ever owned, granted this one can't be attributed to the vehicle itself but it means yet more money out and the loss of the vehicle yet again.

it is just out of the service department for a couple of things then into the crash repairs and back to the service department next week.

every time it goes in it is away for a full day regardless of the time it was booked in or length of job, seems it sits outside the workshop until they "get around to it" and I'm on shanks's pony regardless of how big the job is.

I had a quick word with a smash repair shop owner this morning about the stone damage and asked how long it would take and when could I drop it in.

answer was the standard "big job mate it's gonna take at least a couple of days" and "we're flat out like a lizard drinking, drop it in sometime next month"

I figure I can fill the holes with some touch up paint, give them a little bit of clear coat then a polish and get on with something else more important like actually driving the bloody thing.

its only a money pit because you're an an old grandpa that does that sort of grandpa stuff

whack any other badge on the boot and song remains the same

no offense intended

would be a pearler to snap up when you move on to the next money pit.....

[poppa smurf]

I haven't taken offence, it's to be expected, after all why should I want to bring my vehicle up to a decent standard.......what a silly notion.

I've already had a few offers of purchase on my "grandpa spec" vehicle, and if I hadn't spent so much on it and got it to this level then I probably would sell it.

I'll drive it for a while until the K's get a bit high then I will sell it, it is a very nice car when it behaves itself and doesn't rattle like a garbage truck which is why it is still in my shed and not someone else's.

I don't understand the statement "grandpa stuff", what is meant by that........not my fault nor choice that a truck has in insecure load.

is it "grandpa stuff" that I wish to drive a vehicle that doesn't sound like it is towing a bag of empty cans.