www.jec.org.uk

May I seek some advice from you kind folks please?

A lovely gentleman ran into the rear of my 2002 XJ8 3.2L Exec on Friday 13th. The immediately apparent damage is the body colour bumper, the mounting brackets, the o/s rear light cluster and possibly the boot panel has been pushed in slightly, although it still opens/closes and locks fine.

Given the age and mileage at 106,000 I greatly fear that the Insurers will view this as beyond economic repair. WBAC.com value the car at £850.

What are my options, should the Insurers seek to write it off?

Next Friday 13th I am staying indoors with the door locked securely!

Mark

I guess it depends on how the car is otherwise, if in good order then definitely worth repairing as doesn't sound like damage is too severe? Insurers may indeed write it off but I am sure would sell it back to you for a nominal sum.

Andy

We had a 3.2S 40 down here recently that had been rear ended.

Crumple zone on near side collapsed slightly causing the n/s wing to close up on the rear n/s door and putting a ripple in the roof. Bumper and boot lid gone as well. The owner bought the car from the insurance company and had it repaired locally for around £1000. Some of us did question whether it was worth the hassle but the owner was pleased at the outcome although the car has been classified as a paper write off.

Mike

MArk,

Sorry to hear the news. A few thoughts:

It's fairly easy to check for boot floor ripple on a 308. However, the bumpers and cans often do a very good job of holding the impact and not letting the floor distort.

Pull out the trim panels from the boot floor and peel back the bit of carpet on the rear part of the boot side. It should be pretty obvious if there's any floor ripples.

As regards the result of the claim, a lot will depend on whether you really want to keep the car and would you feel happy if the only way to do that was to have it as a Cat D write-off. If it is a Cat D, then sadly, I think you'll struggle to sell it in the future for any decent money.

However, if you do want to keep the car without it being a Cat D (and I guess there is no dispute that the other party is at fault?) then my suggestion would be to:

- Get in contact with the other party's insurance company and ask for them to send out an assessor as part of their accident management process. They would quite like to deal with you direct through their accident management process than you get your insurance company to start arguing with them.

- Have the car cleaned within an inch of its life, inside and outside, before the assessor arrives.

- Make sure you know what damage has been caused, particularly if the boot floor is rippled.

- When the assessor arrives, talk to him about rare the car is, how they are starting to appreciate and how it's used as part of the club's displays etc etc.

- Get him to cost the repairs with you there and then. He will have a little hand-held device and can do it straight away. IF the bumper isn't broken and IF it only needs painting, and IF it's only one bumper mount, and IF the floor isn't rippled, and IF it's only one rear light, and IF the body paintwork isn't affected then the figure is probably between £650 & £950. (I have some very recent experience of exactly the same thing!)

- Whatever figure he comes up with here, explain that you're worried about unseen further boot floor and bumper mount and rear panel damage and his company will need to pay for the car to be trailered to an alternative bodyshop of your choice for a further assessment. This will cost them a minimum of £100 already.

- see if you can get him talking and get him to agree that his company would much rather give you a cheque for you to sort out repairs etc yourself. Although they won't tell you this, most insurance companies would much rather do this than either arrange for repairs or go through the process of writing off the car and disposing of the salvage.

- get him into a friendly chat about what sort of figure would be acceptable as a straight cash payment for you to arrange the repairs. Keep banging on about the unknown bits of boot floor damage, rear hidden bumper mount panel etc. As an assessor, he would really like to agree a figure with you there and then.

- Gently push him up on his first suggested figure with yet repeated talk about all the unknown damage.

- Settle on a figure only if it suits. IF, and it's a big IF, all the damage is only as I described in the fifth point above, you might be lucky and get him from an initial suggestion of £650 up to £1000 eventually. Remember, he wants to do the deal that day. It's so much in their interest to just give you some cash.


I hope that helps a bit. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Paul

Thank you all for your replies. There is some good advice here, and at least I am prepared for the discussion with the Insurers.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Mark

Well my fears were justified. After initially trying to suggest that the damage to the boot and rear light cluster were not caused in the accident, the Insurers have now accepted that all the damage was caused in the impact. Unfortunately, the total cost of repairs are well over £3,000. This is significantly more than I expected and does indeed result in the car being an economic write off.

Having wrestled with the problem for over a week, the mind has won over the heart and I have accepted the Insurers cash offer.

We are going to try being a one car family for a while, and see how it goes. There is a lurking suspicion that I will be back as Jaguar driver eventually...... so if anyone knows of a good clean X308 or X350 I can afford....

Never mind, see it as an opportunity to get another one! Plenty on ebay, and some gems (as well as some duffers..)

andy