Parking car ripped my baby's headlight & front grill apart - gd garages Oxford?

[teige]

I love my TDI 2.0 GT 140 BKD, sad to come home to find this today.
Driver who did it was trying to park ahead entering forwards, and caught my corner on their way in. It's on CCTV and they admit responsibility & left a note, phew!

Something on their rear corner must have caught and pulled hard ?? Headlight pulled out and the mounting places that the grill and bumper screw on to are torn away.
So it's a little bit more than new headlight and front bumper, grill.

Anyone know what the inner member with the torn mounting points is called?

Anyone able to recommend a bodyworks in/near Oxford to try to get this repaired by?

Also does anyone have advice what I should do about insurance & claiming? I've been driving less than 2 years and never had to deal with them. The driver said they'll settle off or on insurance, and I have a good policy myself.

Cheers folks, new experience to me I'm a bit lost and want to be driving my baby again

[teige]

[GilesWoodward59]

Sorry that’s happened but good that they’ve admitted fault. As they’ve left you details and admitted fault then I’d claim via your insurance. It won’t affect your NCB and will ensure you don’t get embroiled in a cost argument if the price is more than they were expecting. You also don’t then need to work out which body shop to use etc.

[teige]

Thank you man, appreciate the advice!

[LC5F]

Doesn't look too bad - It will need the front slam panel replaced - the ripped-out sections cant be glued back in

[teige]

So Admiral are a pain to deal with, but made a claim, found out their approved repairer - no space to bring it in to garage til sometime January. Called other bodyshops and they're the same.

I could fix it myself much sooner if I order the headlight, slam panel and a new bumper/grill.

Finally heard from the at-fault driver's insurer who are gonna sort me a hire car (phew!) and get someone to assess (sounded more like value) the damage. They've already calculated my car's low market value and are sure it'll be beyond economical repair. I think they're doing the mighty 140 GT TDI dirty of course. Car is perfect balance of reliable, good mpg, power, small and good at lugging stuff - can't be beat.
It's crazy to me how the car & insurance industry just pushes good cars with plenty of life to being scrapped over tiny damage.

I'll want to have whatever money they'll give me and repair it myself.
Plenty ppl here must have done that - what do I need to look out for?
Will my insurer end my policy and then want to charge more for a car that has been categorised N, say?
Any way to stop it being categorised or stop any insurance hikes?

[Vecridorm]

My gt sport got written off, didn’t want to pay excess so they offered a third party called ax uk, they literally did everything they give you courtesy car arrange if it’s a total loss and you’ll either get a payout or your vehicle fixed at the price of giving courtesy car back with a full tank, all claimed through other insurance even paid for my physio for the aching and spasms ect that I still have, could be worth a look depending on the total situation hope it helped!

[terrier]

rebuild with gti front slam and grill

[GilesWoodward59]

We took a payout for a car that was deemed uneconomical to repair but after a year our insurers refused to renew the cover (because we hadn’t fixed it ourselves) and we ended up having to scrap it. Didn’t quite get that but worth checking how they would treat your car in this situation

[teige]

We took a payout for a car that was deemed uneconomical to repair but after a year our insurers refused to renew the cover (because we hadn’t fixed it ourselves) and we ended up having to scrap it. Didn’t quite get that but worth checking how they would treat your car in this situation

Because you *had not* fixed it yourselves?    Huh?

As in, you got a garage to fix it, and you insurer said they won't renew cover because you didn't DIY the repair? Uh I'm confused haha

[teige]

I'm on euro car parts getting the parts sorted and looks like the minimum repair job would be £510 of parts.
Any mechanics want to say what a fair amount of labour is for swapping out the slam, headlight, bumper and grill?

At-fault driver's insurer warned their calculator has my car's market value low so expect a write-off.

160k miles, 2005 GT TDI 140bhp. Winter pack, heated leather, new tyres.

I see similar cars advertised between £2k-3k on Autotrader, but I reckon insurer will low-ball my car to £1k.

Anyone fought with an assessor before over repair to value ratio?

[Vecridorm]

I'm on euro car parts getting the parts sorted and looks like the minimum repair job would be £510 of parts.
Any mechanics want to say what a fair amount of labour is for swapping out the slam, headlight, bumper and grill?

At-fault driver's insurer warned their calculator has my car's market value low so expect a write-off.

160k miles, 2005 GT TDI 140bhp. Winter pack, heated leather, new tyres.

I see similar cars advertised between £2k-3k on Autotrader, but I reckon insurer will low-ball my car to £1k.

Anyone fought with an assessor before over repair to value ratio?

I had a gt sport 170 08 plate 80k miles not a single scratch and I received 3.5k for mine showed proof of them being worth more and they said well the website they use say otherwise (wasn’t any on the site they use)

[bobby_fodge]

I'm on euro car parts getting the parts sorted and looks like the minimum repair job would be £510 of parts.
Any mechanics want to say what a fair amount of labour is for swapping out the slam, headlight, bumper and grill?

At-fault driver's insurer warned their calculator has my car's market value low so expect a write-off.

160k miles, 2005 GT TDI 140bhp. Winter pack, heated leather, new tyres.

I see similar cars advertised between £2k-3k on Autotrader, but I reckon insurer will low-ball my car to £1k.

Anyone fought with an assessor before over repair to value ratio?

I've done the above work on my GTI a couple of years ago. Someone reversed into my car and after checking reviews for the bodyshop her insurer used, I opted to take some cash, bought the parts and fitted them myself.

It's pretty straight forward, Pelican parts website has a good series of guides you can consult.

This one is for removing the radiator but it shows how to take the bumper off.

pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Volkswagen_Golf_GTI_Mk_V/26-WATER-Replacing_the_Radiator/26-WATER-Replacing_the_Radiator.htm

A second pair of hands to hold the radiator and intercooler would have made it easier.

[teige]

I've done the above work on my GTI a couple of years ago. Someone reversed into my car and after checking reviews for the bodyshop her insurer used, I opted to take some cash, bought the parts and fitted them myself.

Did you take some cash from the insurer or drop the claim for some cash from the person?

If the insurer will pay me to repair it without writing the car off, then happy days but at the mo I'm concerned about it getting written off and having a cat S or N slapped on it.

[LC5F]

Valuations can be tricky to deal with - as a rule you reject what they first offer - and back it up with sale prices of similar spec cars.

But sometimes luck swings the other way - I managed to upgraded from my written off Mk4 Gti with a surprisingly generous quick pay out, my insurer paid out - literally 3 hours after the accident that was not my fault - the Golf was a tatty 2002 1.8t with 125k miles, I too was also expecting £1k....but they offered £3.5k, who was I to argue!

Good luck