Car Written Off!

[TooMany2cvs 65]

I'm not following...?

You owned a car that'd cost you £7k in a year in depreciation and finance costs, right? That hit on your pocket has just been wiped out in a second. At what cost to you? A couple of years of higher insurance premiums. Bargain.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Yea we had done nearly 17,000 miles in it aswel. Wonder how much it will increase my insurance next time around

Yea we had done nearly 17,000 miles in it aswel. Wonder how much it will increase my insurance next time around

[TooMany2cvs 65]

Yea we had done nearly 17,000 miles in it aswel. Wonder how much it will increase my insurance next time around

Play with a meerkat, and find out. But I suspect you'll come out very much ahead, financially. Three points for a CD10 on your licence would probably make a bigger difference, if that happens.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Luckily it's a £150 fine and a course so not bad in that department. That gap insurance or VRP as the Audi salesman called it today which he said is the same thing is a must have for any new car buyer in my eyes!

[stu8v 68 1 Cars]

They old boy that hit me got a choice, Driver Awareness course or go to Court.

 

I don't know what he picked as the letter from the Police didn't say....

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

Cynical and despairing world we live in now... stop is stop and giveway is giveway, exit's from garages are stops... you need to be looking for more than just headlights... just glad your all okay and that it wasn't your Gti...afterall, no love lost on just another Audi A4, eh?

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Unbelievable.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Yea I know I'm ashamed in myself for not been my careful when pulling out but I just didn't see the lights or I wouldn't of pulled out, another thing the police said today was that on the CCTV from the forecourt you can see me stop at the junction, look left,look right (at the sign) then just set off. I don't mind doing the course as part of it is practical apparently and could be beneficial.

 

 

 

Unbelievable.

Which bit?

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

On a road with no street lights the only thing visible at night is the headlights of on coming cars isn't that what you look for in the dark?

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Which bit?

You, not the story.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Thanks for your input....

[mechanicalrepairs 8]

Sorry to see the accident but at least everyone is fine and you can get a new car soon enough.

 

 

What I don't understand is the gap, why would an insurance company give you a policy that lets you have a car for a year, cover 17,000 miles and get back what you paid for the car? Plus you state the policy was free, that's even more odd.

 

Sounds to good to be true, you know what the other part of that phrase is?

 

 

Carl

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

Most of the time I actually hate driving with her in the car... she's a chatterbox and as much as I love her she won't hear that she's distracting the driver, she can't help it but it drives me nuts, my plan is to make her the co-driver when me and my pal get our rally car up and on the road, then I'll see if I can keep up with her )))

 

It's easy to say, but good driving is all about observation, anticipation, consideration... if you didn't see the headlights then you didn't see them but that strikes me as scary, I can't say because I wasn't there... only logic says if you didn't see the headlights then something is wrong, not just the poor location of the sign, min!

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

I know I couldn't believe it either, at first I couldn't grasp it but they explained it when I first enquired about a replacement. I thought I knew the ins and outs but people on here helped doubt to set in so I rang early this evening to clarify and I was 100% right in what I said happens in the event of a total loss claim. The idea is to put you back to square one before you bought the car and that means getting all the money back you put in. We got the insurance thrown in at the time we bought it what we didn't know which I've since found out is that it was already included in the deal but they tried to sell it to us at the time but refused it then on the day of picking the car up they told us it was included free of charge as a goodwill gesture for the car been two weeks late. I'm not arguing with them but BMW, Mercedes and Audi were all familiar with how it works in my favour today without me even explaining anything so surely it's just how it works. Please ring a dealer and confirm to put end to people saying it's not right etc

Edited January 2, 2014 by Rams_gti6

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Most of the time I actually hate driving with her in the car... she's a chatterbox and as much as I love her she won't hear that she's distracting the driver, she can't help it but it drives me nuts, my plan is to make her the co-driver when me and my pal get our rally car up and on the road, then I'll see if I can keep up with her )))

 

It's easy to say, but good driving is all about observation, anticipation, consideration... if you didn't see the headlights then you didn't see them but that strikes me as scary, I can't say because I wasn't there... only logic says if you didn't see the headlights then something is wrong, not just the poor location of the sign, min!

I know there's no logical explanation apart from I was stupid enough to not realise the sign was a sign and not an empty road no need anyone to tell me I'm "unbelievable" or anything else I've punished myself enough this past few weeks and know where I've gone wrong. Simple careless mistake. Everybody has made one in they're life's or no doubt will do. The sign is no excuse but as I said before if it wasn't there I wouldn't of pulled out in front of a car, the sign is no where near the regulations for signs and them rules are there to stop things like this happening and to make sure drivers can see the road from up to 4.5m back from the junction depending on road speed and amount of traffics it receives

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Regardless of how it happened, it was an accident, the clue is in the name and they do happen, despite what some of the "holier than thou" folk on here are saying. Main thing is no one hurt, cars can be repaired or replaced.

[mowflow 67]

It's a return to invoice policy which is slightly different from regular Gap. Gap does as I said but a gap RTI pays the difference to the original invoice price. When you think about it, it is a bit of an odd policy as you do win a watch with it should the worst happen. They cost a bit more than regular gap so I guess the insurance companies have done all the maths on how many times they might need to pay out to ensure they still win over all.

 

I doubt there's a single driver amongst us that's not had at least one moment of distraction or lapse in concentration while driving.

[mowflow 67]

I know I couldn't believe it either, at first I couldn't grasp it but they explained it when I first enquired about a replacement. I thought I knew the ins and outs but people on here helped doubt to set in so I rang early this evening to clarify and I was 100% right in what I said happens in the event of a total loss claim. The idea is to put you back to square one before you bought the car and that means getting all the money back you put in. We got the insurance thrown in at the time we bought it what we didn't know which I've since found out is that it was already included in the deal but they tried to sell it to us at the time but refused it then on the day of picking the car up they told us it was included free of charge as a goodwill gesture for the car been two weeks late. I'm not arguing with them but BMW, Mercedes and Audi were all familiar with how it works in my favour today without me even explaining anything so surely it's just how it works. Please ring a dealer and confirm to put end to people saying it's not right etc

Like you say, back at square one. Do yourself a favour this time and don't waste the money on an Audi

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Exactly.

 

Yeah that rings a bell RTI cover, he refered to it is vehicle replacement something or other but said its same as gap but gap is for used maybe? Yeah as soon as I told the salesman at each garage about the gap the became a lot more helpful!

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Lol can't knock the audi it's been excellent for us so been looking at the new s3 sportback, also looked at 330d m sport at stratstone bmw that's a 2013 '13 ex-demo car and seriously well spec'd, that would up our payments by next to nothing with our payout added in and a CLA 220 cdi amg brand new that would cost about £30 more a month but brand new. Decisions, decisions...

[GLPoomobile 958]

Most of the time I actually hate driving with her in the car... she's a chatterbox and as much as I love her she won't hear that she's distracting the driver, she can't help it but it drives me nuts,

 

My wife is like that at times too. She then gets a bit humpty if I tell her I need her to be quiet for a while so I can concentrate, but she's used to it now and understands why I'm like it. I've never understood how some people can drive whilst having in depth conversations or listening to music at volumes that rattles the windows. For me that's far too distracting.

 

Simple careless mistake. Everybody has made one in they're life's or no doubt will do.

 

Indeed. This is one of those mistakes that you'll forever more question yourself over. But if you can learn from the experience then you'll be a better driver for it. Some older members on here will recall how I wrote off my Civic under frankly comical circumstances, and that was the sort of situation that to an outsider you'd think it was complete lack of care, lack of observation, utter stupidity etc, and I'd probably think that myself if it happened to someone else. But accidents happen, and in my case the negligence wasn't my own, and their were other contributory factors, just as the sign in your accident contributed.

 

Likewise my accident that wrote off my 6 day old Saab a few years ago. To this day I still can't really understand how I cocked up. I can only assume it was fatigue, even though I hadn't felt tired immediately before.

 

Without wishing to rub salt in the wounds, I think the lesson here is that whilst the placement of the sign was irresponsible, it really shouldn't have caused the accident had you taken more care and and been a bit more observant (easy for me to say as I wasn't there ). You may not have seen the actual headlights, but one would assume that you should have still been able to see some of the light being projected forward and to the sides of the oncoming car. It also seems like you probably weren't as close to the edge of the junction as you could have been if the sign was blocking your view.

 

All the above is intended as constructive criticism rather than kicking you whilst you are down

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

I don't mind doing the course as part of it is practical apparently and could be beneficial.

 

 

I did one in september after a really stupid accident at work. Cost me £120 no points no court no endorsements and no compensation end of. Half a day in a classroom with other folks that have hit something then half a day with an advanced driving instructor. There's no test to pass or anything, its just what it is a driver awareness course to make you aware

Edited January 2, 2014 by Slo

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Thanks for the constructive comments. Thanks I'll prepare myself for that then lol

[TooMany2cvs 65]

What I don't understand is the gap, why would an insurance company give you a policy that lets you have a car for a year, cover 17,000 miles and get back what you paid for the car?

Because they can make a profit by selling it. Especially since it's...

 

a must have for any new car buyer in my eyes!

Plus you state the policy was free, that's even more odd.

It wasn't free. Rams paid for it. It might not have been an explicit line-item on the invoice, but the cost of it got rolled into the deal somewhere, probably in the finance costs. After all, those "free" things with the finance stop you looking elsewhere for cheaper finance...

 

The sign is no excuse but as I said before if it wasn't there I wouldn't of pulled out in front of a car, the sign is no where near the regulations for signs and them rules are there to stop things like this happening

It's no excuse, but... excuse/excuse/excuse.

 

and to make sure drivers can see the road from up to 4.5m back from the junction depending on road speed and amount of traffics it receives

Were you driving this flamin' A3 or standing behind it pushing it? Why on earth would you need to see from 4.5m back? COME ON... Either it's no excuse or it's a whole long string of excuses... The photo you posted shows CLEARLY that there's a big solid sign there. A big solid sign that could be hiding something. So... you take extra care.

 

I idly wonder how many people have pulled out of that petrol station without hitting anything, since the sign was put there.

[mowflow 67]

Lol can't knock the audi it's been excellent for us so been looking at the new s3 sportback, also looked at 330d m sport at stratstone bmw that's a 2013 '13 ex-demo car and seriously well spec'd, that would up our payments by next to nothing with our payout added in and a CLA 220 cdi amg brand new that would cost about £30 more a month but brand new. Decisions, decisions...

The S3 is over priced and the least interesting car in that hyper hatch class (M135i and A45). I had an 8p s3 sportback and it was as dull as anything.

 

I tried to get a CLA for my mother in law recently. Mercedes are doing zero discounts on them and the most powerful diesel offering doesn't come anywhere near something like the 330d or even a 125d for that matter.

 

If you are going to finance the 330d I'd avoid ex-demo straight of. The APR through AUC is twice what you'd pay on a new order. You can get close to 20% discount off list brand new or the lease deals on these are heavily supported at the moment so probably a better choice as I bet the monthlies are around the same as what you were paying on your A3 only the initial payment will only be about £1500.