Disaster!!!

Zebedee · Jan 30, 2015

Just went to take one of my daughters friends home and in the car park where she lives some idiot would not wait 2 minutes for her to get out...insisted I reversed and when I did went I straight into a bollard....it was dark and the sensors did not bleep...think it was the angle.

The whole of the side of the van on the passenger side from the door to the middle of the rear wheel arch is completely squashed in and the side bar is a big twisted mess....amazing damage as I was only doing 5 miles an hour!

How do they replace the side of the van...we could be talking thousands as it is the side with the electrics, water, kitchen etc!!!!

Just got home and I actually feel sick!

A very sad and distressed Zebedee

calikev · Jan 30, 2015

Really sorry to hear that Judith

GrannyJen · Jan 30, 2015

oh Judith! Nothing I can say

You must be devastated. It may look worse than it is. I crunched a hire vehicle 18 months ago that looked awful but in fact was less damage than it looked.

My sympathies. How horrible for you.

motacyclist · Jan 30, 2015

An approaching car lost control on a bend and took out the whole offside of my son's Mercedes Vito, even damaging the wheels. I thought it was a write off but it was as good as new after it was repaired.

Sickening I know, but try not to worry, it's only metal and plastic, no one was hurt and the insurance will take care of it. Hopefully you have protected NCB

Colin

Meoncoast · Jan 31, 2015

In the light of day only pride and joy hurt. They can rebuild it people are more fragile.
Your claim will test your choice of insurace company, feed back to forum how this works out.
I would make sure they let you use a VW fully approved body shop.

Anyway sorry to hear your news

Californiaman · Jan 31, 2015

Sorry to hear that. The damage sounds similar to the damage Kernowlads van experienced when it caught a gate post on his driveway. I don't think there was a problem repairing the damage (other than the obvious insurance impacts and a little time) your van will be good as gold in no time, don't beat yourself up over it!

Maud · Jan 31, 2015

That sounds awful, Zebedee

I'm sure as others have said that it will be sorted and look as good as new in no time, but I really feel for you and can imagine how shaken you must have been after it happened - not to mention furious that it could have been avoided with just a little patience from the other driver.

Celia and Edward · Jan 31, 2015

We had a similar accident at 5 miles an hour in a carpark with a six month old van! We had the repair finally sorted brilliantly without any interference to water, sink, electrics etc by Feltham Coachworks TW7 4EA and they were VW approved. Our only difficulty was getting AXA insurance to allow a decent / VW approved garage to do the work - don't get fobbed off with a garage you are not happy about or insurance company insisting that only London certain garages are useable within your post code. See you are in Southfields, so nearer to Feltham Coachworks than we were in Vauxhall . In the end it turned out that Feltham Coachworks were the nearest place to us regarding our post code and they did do repair work for AXA but this took a bit sleuthing, telephoning around and persistence on my part. Perhaps you should give them a ring on Monday to see if they can help or advise or if they do work for your insurance company? See:

Accident repair, Crash, Car body shop in Heathrow, Hounslow, Isleworth

Fernando the Workshop Manager was a great help from the very start , as was Tara on reception. Fear not this will become a distant memory before too long .. Celia

Georgiegirl · Jan 31, 2015

Grrr how frustrating and upsetting for you. I was gutted when someone opened their door onto Gino and left a small dent so can only imagine how awful this must be. Sounds like it's all fixable though so fingers crossed it gets sorted out soon