# GOT T-BONED



## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

Well the other night my car got T-Boned, looks like its a write off, a few Skyline enthusiasts reckon the insurance company will write it off, so i need to take the reg number off, whats it worth???? N50 GTR, short for NISMO GTR ? what should the asking price be??


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## fourtoes (Feb 27, 2003)

Aaagh man sorry to gear that Pupsi buddy! Gutted for you mate! Really am!
Is it worth going on those erg valuation sites? Or not?
I guess it's very specific to us GTR lot really?
Hope your ok mate and didn't get hurt?

Bob


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Ah, that's very sad news. Hope you're OK. 
If they do write it off, it's possible to buy it back & repair perhaps?
If the roof's not kinked it's likely to be repairable. Hope it works out anyways.


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## akasakaR33 (Oct 10, 2005)

Hope you are ok....


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## JapFreak786 (Aug 29, 2003)

As Aki said, I hope your ok!


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## Sub Boy (Jan 28, 2008)

That's sh1t news pupsi! I hope you are OK, is it worth buying the car back from the insurance company to reshell/rebuild?


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## matty32 (Dec 18, 2005)

ah that sucks 

sorry to hear that


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## clarky_gtt (Dec 28, 2006)

Pupsi, i am an insurance approved engineer/assesor. If you have any pics pm them and i'll have a look.

did you have a agreed value?


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## muzzer2002 (Oct 10, 2007)

not good to hear pupsi as long as your ok and i hope it works out with insurance for you


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## Fuggles (Jul 3, 2001)

N15MO J (my number plate). I was offered £3k for it a while back.


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## Lith (Oct 5, 2006)

Dude, that really sucks to hear - sorry man  Hope everyone are fine.


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## drewzer (Jun 22, 2009)

gutted for you mate, hope you are ok


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## JTJUDGE (Nov 21, 2011)

Miguel - Newera said:


> Ah, that's very sad news. Hope you're OK.
> If they do write it off, it's possible to buy it back & repair perhaps?
> If the roof's not kinked it's likely to be repairable. Hope it works out anyways.


If the roof is kinked just put in a sun roof, I did that with my gta


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## MIKEGTR (Jul 8, 2005)

JTJUDGE said:


> If the roof is kinked just put in a sun roof, I did that with my gta


**** it, why not go the whole hog and make it convertible lol


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## Moff (Sep 27, 2004)

Hope ya ok doood...


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

Dayum, always sorry to hear that, all that matters is you're OK enough to be here writing about it.


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## GTR33-MP (Dec 29, 2004)

Sorry to hear that Pupsi, how bad is it ?


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## R32 GTR R32 GTR (Nov 27, 2009)

sad time mate its a great car.


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## davew (Apr 28, 2003)

nightmare mate, nightmare. We've repaired a few recently as the insurance co's just want to write them off now and click on the salvage parts.


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## nightcrawler (May 7, 2010)

sorry to hear about it buds. at least you are ok. thats the most important


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## JTJUDGE (Nov 21, 2011)

I bet he'd take a broken leg or 2 over an insurance write off 

Sent from my BlackBerry 9860 using Tapatalk


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## Kango_V (Jun 24, 2005)

Take off ANYTHING that is not declared on the insurance that is non standard. Then buy it back if you can. Nice audio? swap it with a £25 halfords unit. Also, get it towed back to your house as soon as possible.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

All the mods have been declared to the insurance company, valued at 30k. I'll put some pix of the damage, it doesn't look too bad, it's got a kink on the C-post halfway up, the rear wheel is slightly pointing inwards, could be because the chassis is kinked or it could be the subframe is slightly twisted. Looking at the pix it looks O.K, but in the flesh you can see the abnormalities. Does anybody know a Skyline specialist body shop??! I'll post the pix up tomorrow, thanks for everyone's concerns. Thinking about how much money has gone into that car, I've realised it's undervalued, I'll have to scrutanise the policy as I'm sure replacement is like for like.


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## Mikeydinho (Jan 30, 2009)

this is sad news, let hope we can save it. Hope your ok.
Mikey


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Doesn't sound too bad. More likely to be bent arms at the rear than a bent chassis, since the rear arms are tied together with the subframe which is stronger than the arms... If it's a bent chassis, the boot lid would not usually close right, or fit would seem wrong, but depends on how much. Even a bent chassis can be straightened without too much difficulty on a GT-R, since the rear subrame can be removed easily enough to then work on straightening. Replacing a suframe or arms isn't too difficult either.

So all may not be lost & it may not be a writeoff after all....hopefully not.

Post some pics when you can.

This company has done some top quality repairs - have seen in the past, including work on Clive Haynsford's RX-7, RX-8 & RX-4.
If you've seen these cars, especially the RX-7 (Long time ago - it was repaired from a writeoff) and RX-3 you'll know they do quality work. (Clive is www.Mazdarotaryclub.com chairman).

They'll put it right - perfectly.

Wellcome to BBR


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## R32 Combat (Jan 29, 2004)

There are soo many r33 GTRs being broken, why don't you re-shell it?


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## JapFreak786 (Aug 29, 2003)

Abbey Motorsport have a good body shop which they use, other members have used in the past, so ask them??


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

pupsi said:


> All the mods have been declared to the insurance company, valued at 30k.


Does your insurance company allow you to buy back the carcass if they do total it? In several instances in my personal experience, the insured can purchase back the...remains for about 10% of the payout for being totaled. Then, you could part it out or find a super clean stock one and transfer over all the good stuff.

.02


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

HeavyDuty said:


> Does your insurance company allow you to buy back the carcass if they do total it? In several instances in my personal experience, the insured can purchase back the...remains for about 10% of the payout for being totaled. Then, you could part it out or find a super clean stock one and transfer over all the good stuff.
> 
> .02


If I am allowed to buy it back then i'd like to find a clean R34 and swop the engines over, that would be ideal, I never thought of doing that, rather than reshelling an R33 better to go for an R34??????


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## nazams (Sep 28, 2009)

pupsi said:


> If I am allowed to buy it back then i'd like to find a clean R34 and swop the engines over, that would be ideal, I never thought of doing that, rather than reshelling an R33 better to go for an R34??????


Makes sense bro! 34 all the way


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

Sorry to read about your car Geoff. Glad you are ok though. Get it fixed, don't let them write it off as 99% of the time you cannot buy it back. 

Or.......start swapping it all out right now.


.


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## GTR33-MP (Dec 29, 2004)

R34 all the way..in my unbiased opinion ofcourse


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## jabran200 (Sep 5, 2005)

you can always buy it back usually even if it is cat b.


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## davew (Apr 28, 2003)

Usually the rear suspension arms bare the brunt of the impact. I have to say that GTR shells are pretty rough buggers and it takes a hell of a smash to twist the chassis on them.

I'd imagine its rear 1/4, upper and lower arms, hub carrier and possibly rear rack arm. If its the OS then possible the HICAS unit is damaged. This is enough for the ins co to want to write it of though.


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

jabran200 said:


> you can always buy it back usually even if it is cat b.


Not true...ask your insurance company.


.


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## jabran200 (Sep 5, 2005)

Ludders said:


> Not true...ask your insurance company.
> 
> 
> .


Some may not want to straight away but you can demand it and you can buy it back but sometimes you may have to fight for it. I know of atleast 2 cat b cars personally that were retained by the owner.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

Here's the pix, the rear wheel points inwards although there was no impact on the wheel itself, main point of impact was at/towards the bottom of the B-post. I just hope that the insurance company allows me to buy it back.....Notice the kink halfway up the C-pillar.


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## stephenwap (Mar 26, 2010)

Doesn't look too bad


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## n600hks (Aug 20, 2008)

nop that shouldnt be a right off but depends on the current value, the repair costs along with possible car hire taken into account and time scale


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## clarky_gtt (Dec 28, 2006)

perfectly repairable in the right hands


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

You might want to answer by pm but....who's fault was it?

If it was the third party you can get the car fixed as the third paty's insurer cannot write it off. You then claim against them and have them pay. You can exclude your insurer if you want to.


.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

It was the 3rd parties fault, he has already admitted liability, the enginner is coming tomorrow to assess the car, lets see what happens. I would rather it be written off as it wouldn't be the same again.


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## burnsey_100 (Sep 6, 2011)

Ouch hope you get it sorted


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

With a new sill, door, quarter panel, wheel and side skirt plus possibly a b-pilar that's not a difficult repair for a good bodyshop and the car would be just as strong as before. 
The bodyshop I recommended would do a perfect job.

Good luck with it anyways.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

Been inspected by the engineer today, he will submit his report to the insurance company and they will in turn inform me, so its a waiting game now.


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

That doesn't look nearly as bad as I was thinking it was. I've seen much, much worse repaired correctly.

They can fix everything but the memory.


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## GTR33-MP (Dec 29, 2004)

Pupsi, 
doesnt look that bad, here's some links to good local bodyshops. I've used paynes before (not on skyline) and they have built some show winning cars. Solus are Porsche approved repairer.

Solus | Home

Paynes Body Technik V 2.5

Dav


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

Oh yeah, forgot to ask how's the gap at the rear of the driver's door where it meets the quarter panel?


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

HeavyDuty said:


> Oh yeah, forgot to ask how's the gap at the rear of the driver's door where it meets the quarter panel?


Driver's side is fine. The B-pillar on the n/side at the bottom is pushed all the way into the car and brought the floor up, B-pillar would need completely replacing and 100% the cars needs to be put on a jig to align it up properly. The rear suspension/arms ? need replacing as the rear wheel is at a funny angle.

Heard from the engineers today and they think they may class it as a category D write off.


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

pupsi said:


> Driver's side is fine. The B-pillar on the n/side at the bottom is pushed all the way into the car and brought the floor up, B-pillar would need completely replacing and 100% the cars needs to be put on a jig to align it up properly. The rear suspension/arms ? need replacing as the rear wheel is at a funny angle.
> 
> Heard from the engineers today and they think they may class it as a category D write off.


Have you asked if you can buy it back?


.


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## nazams (Sep 28, 2009)

insurance companies always give you a option to buy it back first. 

Pupsi DO not accept there first offer they make reject it, once you do they will offer you a higher price


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## rockabilly (Oct 15, 2003)

If a pillar has gone.its a write off. sorry mate.as the pillars are integral to the cars structure
the roof will have been pulled downwards.sometimes when the sill is cut free they do return
to the original point..


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

nazams said:


> insurance companies always give you a option to buy it back first.


As I posted earlier...this is not the case. Insurance companies will not always offer you the car. Some companies will not allow the insured to buy the car. Pupsi you need to ask the company and not the broker. 


.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

I have made my intentions known to my insurance company about buying it back, they seem to be alright about it, but as its the 3rd parties insurance that will be paying out for it, i'm assuming they would have the last say in the matter. 100% i want to buy it back, the RB30 was just loosening up nicely. Its only got about 3000 miles on the complete set-up.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

rockabilly said:


> If a pillar has gone.its a write off. sorry mate.as the pillars are integral to the cars structure
> the roof will have been pulled downwards.sometimes when the sill is cut free they do return
> to the original point..


As mentioned before Bernie, the roof looks o.k, but the C-pillar is kinked halfway up, i'll have to have a more careful look at the roof. The sill has gone in quite away's as has the bottom of the B-pillar and pulled the floor up. I'm up North till next week, on my return, i'll have to force the passenger side door open to properly see the damage as its stuck and wouldn't open.


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## scoooby slayer (Jun 13, 2009)

my dad had a range rover that was total write off, they wouldnt let him keep the shell but we got to strip any parts we wanted to keep before they collected the shell, it had a very rare vm marine 3.6 td engine in so we kept it, that was fire damage claiming from his own insurers.


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## scoooby slayer (Jun 13, 2009)

if it was my car id push that i dont want it repaired as it will never be the same ive had this same thing myself with a sierra cosworth, just get a cash settlement and keep what parts you want would be my ideal plan of attack, my accident was someone elses fault crashing into me and i claimed from there insurance.


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

Hope this all works out, Pupsi. 

It's a good point by nazams (and maybe others) to *not* accept the first settlement offer. But in this case, if you're OK with their first offer, you might counter-offer that if you settle for that figure & keep the car you'll go away.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

scoooby slayer said:


> if it was my car id push that i dont want it repaired as it will never be the same ive had this same thing myself with a sierra cosworth, just get a cash settlement and keep what parts you want would be my ideal plan of attack, my accident was someone elses fault crashing into me and i claimed from there insurance.


I'm also in the same mind, the car will never be the same even if it is repaired, but because of its value, the insurance company will always do what is cheapest for them. Estimated repair costs, on 1st examination, without an in depth inspection are just under 7k. The car is worth a lot more than that, to replicate it would cost 30k plus. 
If the C-post has got a kink in it halfway up, i'm assuming there must be damage to the roof also. I didn't get a chance to look at it properly as i had to travel up North the next day.


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## gtroc (Jan 7, 2008)

If the cost of repairs is half the value of the car, or very close to it, then the insurance company will write it off. 
If you decide to buy it back they will normally deduct 20% off the final settlement.

It doesn't look too bad tbh. I hope you get what you want.
Good luck


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## Mookistar (Feb 5, 2004)

If its 30k to replace it only "worth" 10-12k to sell. So buy it back and use it as a donor putting the best bits in another car. 

Mook


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

After a lot of hassle on the vehicles value, the assessors have now asked, do i have any documentation on how much was spent on the engine/modifications (which i do) Originally they valued the vehicle according to book price/market value £9K, i would assume that an assessor/engineer would, after inspection know that its not a standard car and value it accordingly. What a nightmare i've had with them its unbelievable. They've asked for an independent specialist valuation, cost to replicate the car. The people that know and worked on my car and could provide that valuation is TR Racing, question is how do i get in touch with Justin?????


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## tonigmr2 (Sep 12, 2002)

Surely any GTR specialist could do it, for a fee. Why don't you ask Abbey or RK Tuning, their word is worth much more than a now defunct company and they will know the worth of what has been done.

Who are your insurers btw?


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

Sorry, it came up twice, its that good. lol.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

tonigmr2 said:


> Surely any GTR specialist could do it, for a fee. Why don't you ask Abbey or RK Tuning, their word is worth much more than a now defunct company and they will know the worth of what has been done.
> 
> Who are your insurers btw?


Insurer's are Highway Insurance, via Keith Michaels. 

I can't understand how 2 assessors/engineers have valued the car according to the Parkers/Glasse's price guide, especially after the 2nd engineer was shown an original R33 and my modified one, he even took pictures of what lay under the bonnet and his valuation was the lowest of the two, even after me giving them the invoices from RIP's alone, just for the engine, and i've got loads more invoices which they haven't even seen yet for all the other bits. 

They've somehow missed to note the damage to the rear suspension, (they've put down, rear wheel needs replacing) The floorpan's been missed out altogether, there's a slight kink above the door on the roof, which i didn't even notice, but was pointed out to me by someone i'm getting another independent estimate from.

For the last several years i've been paying my insurance premiums with all mods declared and the valuation to be around the 30k mark, and now i'm being told that my cars value is just under 8k and they're happy to cat D it, and pay me £6390 and allow me to keep my car W.T.F ?????????????????????

Excuse me a minute, while i pinch myself to make sure i'm not having a nightmare, yes i think i'm still in the real world, unlike the assessors/engineer's, how can they call themselve's that, it's disgusting. This is all from the 3rd party insurer's 


Now they want to repair it and not write it off, as its the cheaper option, i personally wouldn't have the same confidence driving it as i had before the accident. 

It's now going to be an on-going saga, let's see what happens next. 

The worst part is, it feels that i've got no-one fighting for me in my corner. I think that Keith Michaels is now going to step up to the mark, Jeremy Pocock has said that the Chair-person of the company is now looking into it personally.


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## nezzi21 (Jul 7, 2012)

I had this sort of thing when someone ran up the back end of my old VR6, had to fight tooth and nail to get it sorted. Stick with it though and only accept what you are happy with.


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

As i've never made a claim before, do i have the right to have it replaced, than to have it repaired. The B-pillar would have to be replaced, floor may be repairable, slight kink in the roof above the door that should pull out when the bottom of the B-pillar is pulled out to align everything up, ie, inner sill and outer sill, quarter panel boot-lid gaps, etc ?????


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## surcalation (Sep 26, 2011)

Do you have an agreed valuation?

I had that hassle with an old car of mine through HIC. Even with all receipts, invoices and paperwork and declared to over £8500k's worth spent on it the most they would give me was £3500k. All because I had not paid £25 for an agreed valuation. However the accident was my fault but it showed me the true light of declaring everything on your car. Means f'all unless you have an agreed valuation in writing from them.

Insurance = jokes!

Hope you have more luck then me!


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

surcalation said:


> Do you have an agreed valuation?
> 
> I had that hassle with an old car of mine through HIC. Even with all receipts, invoices and paperwork and declared to over £8500k's worth spent on it the most they would give me was £3500k. All because I had not paid £25 for an agreed valuation. However the accident was my fault but it showed me the true light of declaring everything on your car. Means f'all unless you have an agreed valuation in writing from them.
> 
> ...


On the renewel letter from the broker it said car valued at 30k and as mentioned before, the premium i'm paying is with all mods declared, otherwise my premium would actually be a 3rd of what i'm paying, and have been paying for the last several years with the same broker and the same insurance company.


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## HeavyDuty (Apr 27, 2012)

Hey pupsi, has someone else already suggested showing the claims adjuster printouts of vehicles for sale in similar condition with similar mods?

I'm not anti-insurance or anything, my Father was in the business 40 years and I had a brief stint in the biz when I was a kid, but fair is fair and unfortunately sometimes you have to fight. After all, it was the other company's insured that hit you, right?


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

HeavyDuty said:


> Hey pupsi, has someone else already suggested showing the claims adjuster printouts of vehicles for sale in similar condition with similar mods?
> 
> I'm not anti-insurance or anything, my Father was in the business 40 years and I had a brief stint in the biz when I was a kid, but fair is fair and unfortunately sometimes you have to fight. After all, it was the other company's insured that hit you, right?


I've only found one for sale, that was Iceagers car, he had an RB28, i think he was asking about 28000 euro's for it.

It was the other company's insured that hit me, they have admitted liability.


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## monkfish (Jul 1, 2009)

i hate insurance companies.......the owness is always on the driver to somehow find out or know every little loophole that they can use to weasle out of paying when you need them YET they demand everything of you to be 100% up front with your side of the deal...

insurance...legalised theft in my opinion...and yes i do have insurance but ive been burnt a few times before.

i wish you the best of luck mate...and dont give an inch to them cos theyll take a mile.


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## boyband6666 (Sep 8, 2011)

Ok sorry I am late to this one, but here I can help.

In terms of getting it repaired, Garage-D have a whole car jig, and amazing skills. They also have a spectrograph thing (I forget the exact name) which lets them match paint exactly. They also deal with lots of imports.

You have a right to get the car fixed up to how it was before, if it is Cat D standard (i.e. not worth fixing to them) - not a dangerous one. So ignore the settlement, and demand they put it right, you also have a right to demand your choice of garage to do the work. 

They however cannot just declare it a write off - the case that set it in law was a guy whose Daihatsu (or something similarly daft) was written off and crushed by the insurance company, and they gave him about £800. However he valued it at a lot more because it had LPG fitted. In the end they found in favour of the guy and set a precedent.

Anyway good luck!


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## pupsi (Aug 29, 2006)

Have heard about garage D, where-a-bouts are they, anyone have a phone number for them ? Wouldn't hurt to get an estimate to repair it from them.


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## GTR33-MP (Dec 29, 2004)

01923251588 speak to julian, they are based in watford. 
Although personally i would recommend Abbey!


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## scoooby slayer (Jun 13, 2009)

its a difficult one but the same as my cosworth crash, whatever the repair cost is i just got that in cash and kept the car so i had the option to repair myself or sell. 
you wont get 30k pay out though if its repairable for 8k. just make sure you get the full repair cost and build it into a new shell is my advice.


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## blue34 (Jul 28, 2005)

I think the main consideration should be, whether or not it is going to be recorded on the HPI register as CatD

A CatD record would permanently devalue the car and make it much less desirable in the future and therefore not worth repairing.

Hope it works out but expect to have to do all the letter writing and phone calls yourself though...


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## wildboy (May 2, 2010)

blue34 said:


> Hope it works out but expect to have to do all the letter writing and phone calls yourself though...


Keep on at them, they're hoping you get bored/frustrated and give up.
Don't let them grind you down, it'll be worth it in the long run.


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## Simonh (May 24, 2002)

did you get any joy from this? looks like I am about to have the same fight with my insurers


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