I was just out for a drive as it's such a nice day. Came off a dual carriageway, stopped behind a focus at the roundabout. They went to pull off, I looked right, saw there was space before the next car, I went to pull off and BANG!

Turns out the woman in front had had second thoughts about pulling away. I've only myself to blame and I'm really annoyed because I always make a point of looking twice except this time. Grr!Luckily all involved were ok and we swapped details as I apologised. My airbag didn't even go off, which, along with the small amount of damage to the focus shows how little of an impact it was but the coop bore the brunt of it.

Here are some photos. Bonnet's fubar, wheel arch liner is rubbing on the wheel and caused a flat, passenger side fog cluster is no more.

Thoughts? Is this survivable? Going to call my insurer tomorrow morning as they're closed now. Any tips for dealing with them?

http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x371/MikeRoss2/

bummer

easily done though

with todays prices id bet the insurers attempt a write off

Mike I'm in mellow mood & can sympathise to a certain extent but, as you get to the stage where you get complacent, it's time indeed for a wake up call.

I'm behind the wheel more than ever due to my job, & I've got to the stage where I'm watching the rear of anything that's in front. OK it's a case of post code lottery of how the traffic behaves to certain extent, but I've become....expect the unexpected full stop.

Jim, I drive with the same philosophy and have done since my driving instructor told me to "assume that everyone else on the road is an idiot".

This is why I'm so pissed off with myself. I always look at the car infront, look to the right to see whether there's a space, then look back before setting off. I don't know why I didn't this time.

7 years driving without so much as a scare and now I do this. FFS!

That's a real bummer Mike. I've been driving nearly 35 years and have done similar a couple of times, albeit many years ago and yes, technically it is your fault, but hesitant drivers are incredably annoying.

Like you, I pride myself on my care and anticipation and it'll always be the odd moment when you slip that something like this happens.

As for the damage, I would agree that insurance company would right it off, but you could buy it back off them cheap and buy secondhand bonnet, bumper, wing, grill and other bits cheap. There are plenty of scotties around, so I'm sure you could get the donor parts needed if your car's nice enough to make it worth your while.

Regards
Pigman

Thanks Pigman,

If it was just the bumper bonnet and fogs then I'd do that. Maybe even get in contact with the woman and ask if I could buy here a new bumper rather than going through the insurer but looking at the way the metal is bent infront of the intercooler I'm now thinking it's a write off too.

What price do you think they'll give for a 98 S Reg with 111,000 miles? There are only a handful on autotrader and nothing directly comparable.

Hi Mike

Others might have a different idea, but you might not get much more than a grand sadly in current market, however, if you're lucky your insurance company may not yet reflect fully the drop in market value.

I would still suggest you buy it back from insurance company so that you can break up what's left of it. Please note everyone, that I am not promoting the breaking of a coupe here, but if it's a write off, then it would be good if Mike could get back as much as possible.

Also, the parts may find their way back into other coupes, rather than rotting at some unknown breakers yard. No doubt you've got a good interior, wheels, engine/gearbox, exhaust manifold/turbo and lots of other bits that could help you get back some money.
Hope it goes well with insurance company.

Regards
Pigman

Thanks again Pigman.

I'm coming to terms with it.

If I get a good condition replacement coop with the cambelt already done then it means I've saved £500 wich will offset most of my excess. Plus I was going to have the bonnet and roof sprayed soon so I've saved a few hundred at least. My insurance hike will just about wipe out the saving I was going to have for hitting 25 so I can live with that.

Desperately trying to see the bright side lol

Bleeding shame!
Chin up and good luck.

It's easily done, so don't beat yourself up.

I've had a few near misses because of complacency and it makes you realise you always have to be on your guard.

If I were you, I'd repair that myself. You can get used Coupe parts for next to nothing and it doesn't look bad at all.

It's the way the metal's bent that makes me worry. I think I'll have a go at using the jack to push the bent bit back out of the wheel arch (so it's drivable at least), Fit the spare and have a drive to a bodyshop or poweritalia (are they open on sundays?) to get their opinion on whether it's fixable. I appreciate that it's not easy to tell from photos. If the prognosis is good I'll just pay for the focus bumper out of my own pocket.

I've done the same thing in my old Mondeo.
I needed a few bits like bonnet, lights, bumper etc. all easily sourced.
In fact it cost me about £80 to get my car roadworthy and £100 to pay off the guy I hit.
It looks like bolt on parts but the bit to look at carefully is the seams of the box sections that protrude forward of the suspension turret. If they look good, I believe everything else just bolts on/ off.
I'd keep the insurance out of it for now and see what you can do.
If it is any consolation, it hasn't happened in the 8 years since, not even a near miss, so I guess I learned my lesson.

The lady involved has kindly agreed to give me until monday evening to have a bodyshop assess whether mine is fixable. If so then I'm paying for her bumper ASAP and I'll do the coupe as and when funds allow.

I don't mind walking to work for a few weeks if it means I still have the "Slo Grower" (a fitting number plate considering the turbo lag, is what my mates say lol)

Shame fella, I did the same about 8 years ago in my Bravo HGT, only minor damage to mine and a slight mark on the Ka that I hit but a shitty feeling never the less. It'll look worse than it is, but that Focus bumper will be £500 fit and painted - and I bet another 500 quid for bits for yours. Tough decision to make, but save her! Too many Coops are dying...

If it's fixable it's getting fixed. No argument there.

£500 for a bumper? shit!

Yeah, wife had a Mondeo and a front bumper was £300 + vat then painting, fitting blah blah and that wasn't a Ford genuine one! I'd check on the price of a bumper etc before you make an promises! You can still let her claim without claiming yourself! Still costs you but it's a lower value claim so shouldn't reduce your NCB as much and you get to fix your car!

I work for Ford so I get a discount but only for my own car...hmm...I might have to call in a favour from a mate at work who owns the same year focus as the lady involved.

Well sounds like you hit the right make of car then! I'd check and then if you can afford it make the repair, it's always cheaper not to involve your insurance company. The wifes bumped mine (very gently) twice and I bought a rear bumper off here and the other has added weight to my desire for a full respray, sadly she's just made me buy a new sofa, dining table, living room carpet, side board etc etc so that was my 2,500 quid saved blown in the wrong direction!

£2500 on furniture? That's 5 cambelt changes (up until today everything I bought was thought of in multiples of cambelt changes..."I'm not paying for festival tickets...that's a quarter of a cambelt change!") now that furniture cost 5 focus bumpers in my mind lol

My £600 excess simplifies things actually: If the focus bumper is less than £600 and mine is fixable then I pay out of my pocket for the bumper and walk to work until I can afford to fix mine. Simple. I have a plan. I don't need to worry about this anymore. The world has not and will not end because of this. Relief.

As long as the coupe's world doesn't end then all will be well!

As for the wife, she owes me big time now! I need that respray damn it!

Good luck!

hey mate. Sorry to hear that.
I'd try hard not to go through insurers, in my own opinion. I am 25.

(In my opinion) ... It is suicidal to voluntarily go through the insurers, but of course, if the other driver wants to, then you cannot do anything.

I hope she knows hers will go up too though! (even if it is all 100% your fault and nothing to do with her). (and you will lose 2 yrs no claims if you're not protected)

Just try a few quotes for say next year, with this claim now in the quote. It's shocking how much it will increase.

The repair, also, I had a pretty identical thing last year. used bonnet - sprayed, and used bumper - sprayed, with probably a bit of welding on the front for that bent cross member (depending on how bad it is) you're talking about 600-800.
But that would be EASILY an increase in your premium for the claim of a crash. And you have got the next 3 years to declare the crash in your insurance renewal.

Good luck with it all though!

Thanks. I already had a look at what my renewal would be like with and without the accident. Rough figures, I know, but I'm looking at a 50% increase over what I would have paid! For me that's £400.

I'll definitely try to keep it between me and the other party and they've already said they don't mind how we do it as long as it gets done.

Can anyone suggest a bodyshop with coupe experience near basildon which will be open tomorrow? Poweritalia isn't open on a sunday so I can't get their expert opinion.

Who else is open on a Sunday ? Wait till monday mate ! Good luck.

Sorry to see the damage Mike and hope you get it sorted soon.

Thanks to all the wellwishers. I've just made the car drivable this morning and will be having the damage assessed on Monday. If its repairable I'll be on the lookout for scotty front end bits over the coming months so if anyone has any come up for sale, please bear me in mind.

Thanks again everyone.

It's shocking that you have to do everything to try and avoid going through your insurance these days. You're paying an over inflated premium to start with just so you can then pay for accident damage out of your own pocket as well.

I can understand why some people don't bother taking out insurance at all.

If anyone knows where I can get a diagram of all the body structural components around the front end it would help me to figure out what I've actually damaged. Can't really see without taking lots of stuff off.

May help Click on the menu for views

Excellent. Thanks. Looks like parts 23, 21 from the body structure image are knackered. Plus the piece that the bumper attaches to which isn't shown. It's just whether the end of the side rail is slightly buckled. That would make it silly money to repair I'm presuming.