Bugger, Damn and Blast!

Loxy · Post by **Loxy** » June 13th, 2006, 20:01

Drove home last night...drove over a pothole, situated under a bridge that I was driving normally under (its a traffic light controlled one) - I was doing about 20 mph. Heard and felt a large bang, and I thought no!....the tyres on my BM had popped. Anyway got home (obviously knew the tires were ok), with a serious shake to the drive. Examined my off side front and back, wheels - and both my alloys (9 spoke, 18", M series ones - similar to below pic) had been damaged.

Official confirmation today - they are both buckled. Insurance job.

Cost to be advised - they have to check the size, add balancing and special alignment - gonna be dear - but already its gonna cost me - as excess insurance amount is £250.00.

:doh:

They've recommended not to drive, which would be bloody inconvenient - so keeping the journey's short. ;(

Am mightily peeved to say the least.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » June 13th, 2006, 20:35

Might be an idea to try the local scrap yards, or possibly at a push (I don't often recommend this) ebay?

Might be a damn site cheaper than claiming on insurance, and watching your premium sky rocket next year.

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 13th, 2006, 21:10

Yeah, if you've got any no claims you're probably better off just paying it for the sake of £250.

Post by **FatherJack** » June 13th, 2006, 21:54

Read your insurance details, you can usually make a number of claims without it affecting your premium, depending on your age and whether you have no-claims protection.

You'll have to have it all done through the insurer's recommended garage, which may not be in a convenient location, and they'll probably take the £250 off you over the phone or as soon as it goes in.

If you can manage to source 2 wheels yourself for less than £200, allowing at least £50 for a trip down to Tyre Sales or Kwik Fit for swapping the tyres over, getting the wheels balanced and the tracking sorted, it may be worth the extra hassle if you think your premium will be affected - otherwise use the insurance company, it's what you pay them for.

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 14th, 2006, 7:00

Don't forget though that there'll be an excess to pay, which taken off £250 isn't likely to save you that much. I personally wouldn't consider claiming for anything under £500.

webclam · Post by **webclam** » June 14th, 2006, 7:19

ok, steps to take:
1) photograph the pothole in as much detail as is safe. Location general area, something for scale etc...
2) contact the council and put in a claim for compensation. it's their job to keep the road safe and you are entitled to damages.
3) check something like partfinder etc. to source a couple of replacements
4) drop me a line of you get no joy quickly, I'm in the trade and might be able to assist.

Post by **FatherJack** » June 14th, 2006, 11:38

Dog Pants wrote:Don't forget though that there'll be an excess to pay, which taken off £250 isn't likely to save you that much. I personally wouldn't consider claiming for anything under £500.

His excess is £250, so that's what he pays, tops. I have protected no-claims and my excess is about £100, so I claim for anything that isn't vastly lower than that as the insurance company sort it all out - make the fuckers work for the money you have to give them each year. If no-one claims they laugh all the to the bank.

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 14th, 2006, 12:16

FatherJack wrote:
Dog Pants wrote:Don't forget though that there'll be an excess to pay, which taken off £250 isn't likely to save you that much. I personally wouldn't consider claiming for anything under £500.
His excess is £250, so that's what he pays, tops. I have protected no-claims and my excess is about £100, so I claim for anything that isn't vastly lower than that as the insurance company sort it all out - make the fuckers work for the money you have to give them each year. If no-one claims they laugh all the to the bank.

So, he goes through the insurance, pays £250 anyway, and has his premium hiked up because he made a claim

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 14th, 2006, 12:26

Er... Isn't Loxy a 'she'?!

Post by **FatherJack** » June 14th, 2006, 12:32

Dog Pants wrote:So, he goes through the insurance, pays £250 anyway, and has his premium hiked up because he made a claim

Your premium doesn't increase* if your no-claims are protected, I mentioned it's only worth doing if there's no penalty.

I was quite surprised reading through my insurance details at the number of rather serious offenses I could potentially commit before losing my no-claims status - I could pretty much get away with hijacking a school bus and going on a murderous rampage with it through the playground, so long as I confined myself to only one such outing every two years.

*Well, it increases each year, it always does - but mine's never gone up more than one might ordinarily expect, despite two claims in the last few years.

mrbobbins wrote:Er... Isn't Loxy a 'she'?!

As far as posts on this board go, I don't know. Please mentally replace any gender-specific terms in my post and accept my apologies.

Post by **TezzRexx** » June 14th, 2006, 12:50

mrbobbins wrote:Er... Isn't Loxy a 'she'?!

MAYYYYYYYYYYYBEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Loxy · Post by **Loxy** » June 19th, 2006, 19:25

Tis me. Deffo female the last time I looked!

Update:

Thanks for the information everyone.
Its a 10 spoke wheel, I clearly can't count. I've had lengthy discussions with the insurance company and with the council. You were right about the no claims - its gonna sit okay on my insurance cos you are allowed so many claims of this nature to go through before it affects my policy. Good news - bad news about the fact its still gonna cost me the excess but I've had an official quotation from BMW and its a considerably cheaper to pay the excess than to pay for the whole repair...over a grand basically. eek!

The council are a different kettle of fish and far less efficient when it comes to the claim. I've got everything I need to push forward, but if I'm doing an insurance claim, then I shouldn't claim from the council too - or I guess at the very least claim back the excess. I've tried to take a picture but its in a very very bust spot and has already been filled in - damn them! Will consider what to do about them soon. I'll not let them get away with it thats for sure. I imagine alot of people do let them get away and they shouldn't!

Soooooooooooo, the bottom line is that I'm waiting to do the whole fix thing through the insurance company and an authorise BMW garage. In the meantime, the wobble I have is annoying but dealable with....although I'm not taking my car far every day til it's fixed.

Anhamgrimmar · Post by **Anhamgrimmar** » June 19th, 2006, 20:33

hopefully, (and considering BMW main stealers are quite thourough) theyve included a tracking/allignment check. if you've managed to bend the wishbones, that'll have a knock on effect on tire wear....and some 'interesting' handling characteristics in the wet

/518 upside down in a ditch blog

Loxy · Post by **Loxy** » June 19th, 2006, 20:46

Anhamgrimmar wrote:hopefully, (and considering BMW main stealers are quite thourough) theyve included a tracking/allignment check. if you've managed to bend the wishbones, that'll have a knock on effect on tire wear....and some 'interesting' handling characteristics in the wet

/518 upside down in a ditch blog

Will include the alignment yes - KDS isn't it? Something like that!

Post by **Roman Totale** » June 19th, 2006, 21:22

Take it to Kwik Fit

I've just seen that on the B3ta board and it made me chuckle.

webclam · Post by **webclam** » June 19th, 2006, 23:02

Anhamgrimmar wrote:hopefully, (and considering BMW main stealers are quite thourough) theyve included a tracking/allignment check. if you've managed to bend the wishbones, that'll have a knock on effect on tire wear....and some 'interesting' handling characteristics in the wet

if it's an insurance based repair, the bodyshop will be obliged to follow thatcham approved best practice, which should include all collateral damage as well as the immediate, obvious stuff. They will have been informed as to the cause of the damage and should be asked ot ensure all other connected parts are taken into consideration. both Glassmatix and Audatex estimating systems will take this into account.
It's worth asking at the point of booking in to ahve the suspension checked over, just in case they are too dumb to do it anyway, and remember, Loxy, don't sign off the repair until you are fully satisfied. INSIST on a road test (in a new M6, ideally) to ensure it's all ok again.

Loxy · Post by **Loxy** » June 20th, 2006, 7:06

Heh - like the road test idea but I do love my car, but I can't even afford the idea of an M6! Will road test mine though and the quote from the garage for the insurance company mentioned them checking other things too - so one would hope they would be thorough.

Lets hope that once approved, it doesn't take too long for them to sort it all out.

Post by **FatherJack** » June 20th, 2006, 10:09

Glad the insurance are sorting it, I suspected paying for repairs yourself would be considerably moore than £250.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » June 20th, 2006, 10:53

FatherJack wrote:Glad the insurance are sorting it, I suspected paying for repairs yourself would be considerably moore than £250.

> 250

Loxy · Post by **Loxy** » June 20th, 2006, 12:54

all told probably closer to £1200.00