Morris Minor Owners Club

My Convertible, (which was in very good condition) was shunted from behind into another car. The driver who hit me admitted liability, so did their insurers.
Having heard some horror stories about dealing with Insurance companies can anyone recommend how to acheive a fair valuation, a repairer in the midlands, and any helpful comments especially if you have had a similar experience would be appreciated. - Thanks

See my other post.
When this happened to me (twice!) my insurance company used my legal cover to sort it out. No idea how, but my no claims etc. was untouched as should yours be.

was you driving at the time, and the car in front of you who claimed

Yes I was driving, and the car I was pushed into is claiming on my insurance. As my insurance is close to renewal I have already been told that I've lost my no claims due to this and that my premium will go up- which isnt fair and I will probably have to include this in my claim against the person who hit me. I read somwhere that the innocent party should be compensated so that they end up as well off as they were before the accident, and I hope that is true, but how long it will take is another matter.

Hello Ragtop, sorry to hear about your accident

Contact your insurers ASAP and start filling the forms, it is an absolute PITA, I know because my Traveller was crashed into in 2008, luckily, like you the other driver admitted fault and all went well in the end. My insurer is RH who were great during the claim process, no complaints at all.

Phone your insurers and ask where you can take the car for repair, preferably to a Minor specialist. For my Travellers accident only the best would do so i went to ESM. Again, ESM's service and quality of repair work was superb. Highly recommended if you live in the south East of the UK.

Another sneaky, tip (it worked for me!!!)

Find out when the insurance assessor will come to have a look at your car and the day before wash polish and wax the car very thoroughly! especially the damaged areas of the car. It sounds odd, but is the assessor sees a clean, shiny cared for classic (even the damaged areas) when he comes to assess, he is more likely to approve the big repair bill and not write the car off. It worked for me!!

My Traveller was shunted in 2004 and it took 3 years to get sorted out to the 'cheque' stage and only got that far after I fired the first 2 firms of solicitors. Eventually I got the other side to pay out exactly twice what their valuer suggested and the final bill, including injury compensation came out to £95,000 plus £4500 for the car. The first crowd of muppets suggested I might get £5000. Get stroppy, get nasty, be determined, and don't let the solicitors fanny about with your hard-earned cash.
Remember, they'll get paid regardless of how much they win for you.
Their valuer won't be experienced in classic cars and will merely go out an buy a copy of Practical Classics and then put "Morris" into E-bay for a series of valuations. If you do it all yourself you can be much more selective. there is a Traveller on there at the moment for £8000, isn't there? Don't forget to bill them for your time (@£50 per hour)

If it helps, I'm on 01446 795 four eight nine

Rob

Is that £95000 or £9500. Did you get seriously injured?
Peter

£95,000. I may never play professional Concert piano again (although, I never could, before)

Also, makes it quite difficult to fly an aeroplane with this stuck in you. (or pick your nose, tie your shoelaces, button your shirt, unbolt your trunnions etc)

Not sure what I am looking at, what are they doing. (I know its not a piercing, though I see more and more kids with lumps of metal sticking out of their spotty faces).
Looks a tad painfull to say the least.

Morris Traveller Vs 7-tonne truck @60mph. I forgot to let go of the steering wheel and the impact of him hitting me (on my side of the road) was enought to push me forwards and the steering wheel back. Something had to give, and it was my thumbs. Pulled the tendons out of my thumbs and they had to be stretched and stitched back together. They drilled 2 holes right in as far as the wrist bones and left me like that for 6 months.

I showed the same pictures to one of my work colleagues. He then showed me his photos from an operation he'd just gone through. I tell ya, Haemorrhoid ops look like gunshot wounds!

Could we stop talking about operations please, I was getting ready to eat.

Where's the nauseous smiley?

Blimey you should be dead. Guess the air bag helped.

I suppose once you lose use of thumbs you really start to find out how useful they are.

Will they fully recover eventually?

Good job your not left handed

The hands work fairly well but they had to cut through the nerves to the left thumb. I can't feel what I am holding if I can't see the hand (if you see what I mean) so it is only a problem if I am trying to put a nut onto a bolt round the back of a panel. The Barrister suggested holding a biro in my left hand when the other barrister entered the courtrooms. Possibly the only smart suggestion I received!

I had quite a lot of physical pain in the weeks following the crash. I'd smacked my knuckles on the metal dash, banged the knees on the sharp metal edge under the dash (go on, have a look for it), strapmarks from the belt, whiplash and a sore ankle from the front wheel joining me in the footwell. All things considered, it stood up well. All 4 tyres were off the rims, the rear woodwork was mashed but the doors opened most of the way and the upper crossmember (shock mount) was unbent. The A-hole in the truck had smashed the screen with his forehead and was only saved from coming right through by catching his nuts on the steering wheel.

The psychological aspects were rather unpleasant. Recurring dreams about the truck hitting me, the stress of being stuck at home, can't visit friends, can't drive, can't unlock a door, can't open a tin of beans, can't wipe your.... nose. After 6 months in plastercasts my hands had the smell of old Gorgonzola cheese due to me being unable to get them damp for fear of toxins being washed down the steel rods and into my bones. Then there were the f-fing lawyers! If I flew airliners in the same way that they devoted themselves to the task at hand then we'd all have died a long time ago. I now regard them in the same way as journalists and politicians but with less respect.

The insurance company were as slow and dim as the solicitors but they probably got paid less. Their first offer for the car was soon doubled after I demonstrated that their valuations were based on the 'take' from a few minutes on Ebay and a browse of "Practical Classics" magazine. They tried to down-grade the value since there were a lot of scratches on the windscreen pillar. "No 5h1t, Sherlock!", says I, "The sunvisor was ripped right off the screen pillars, and, by the way, here are 2 adverts for sunvisors for over £250". I bet that one moment of stroppiness gained me a good £500.