Damage to front bumper/grill (1 Viewer)

[BusyBuilder]

A car pulled out in front of me, I managed to slow down but still hit his back end.
He wants to pay cash for repair, which I'm in two minds about until I get professional estimate for repair or replacement.

My worry is how long before I get a replacement front from Hymer ? as against a repair done locally ? There's not much damage its cracked the fibreglass and bent part of the grill, no other damage. Good repair shop could fix easily. Lost the tow bar cover though.


 

[Lenny HB]

Don't use an auto repair shop they will fill and spray. Find a boat repair man he will do a proper GRP repair finishing off with colour matched gel coat.
I took a big chunk out of the front of my last Hymer got a boat guy to do it, hemade a suberb repair and half the cost of a body shop.

 

[bigalw35]

The same as mine, I also had someone hit the front bumper, check the price from Brownhills, just over £1500.00. When I was in Germany I brought some "PLASTIC" welding rods and repaired it myself, not a bad repair, mine was worse than yours, check it out

 

[Lenny HB]

The same as mine, I also had someone hit the front bumper, check the price from Brownhills, just over £1500.00. When I was in Germany I brought some "PLASTIC" welding rods and repaired it myself, not a bad repair, mine was worse than yours, check it out

Hymer front end is GRP I don't see how plastic welding could work.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

Body yards are good for repairing fiberglass then get a professional paint shop to match everything up.

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[Lenny HB]

Body yards are good for repairing fiberglass then get a professional paint shop to match everything up.

Shouldn't be painted its a gel coat finish.

 

[BusyBuilder]

Can gel coat be matched to correct colour?

 

[Lenny HB]

Can gel coat be matched to correct colour?

Yes.

 

[Lenny HB]

This is what I did to my last van.

 

[bigalw35]

Not wishing to argue with you Lenny, but my front and rear bumpers ARE plastic, I worked for a time in a GRP company, so I DO know the difference between GRP and plastic, below is an ad for plastic rods
EBay item number 281165525787

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[bigalw35]

This is what I did to my last van.

View attachment 701969

Your bumper is quite clearly grp, you can see the glass fibres

 

[Lenny HB]

Not wishing to argue with you Lenny, but my front and rear bumpers ARE plastic, I worked for a time in a GRP company, so I DO know the difference between GRP and plastic, below is an ad for plastic rods
EBay item number 281165525787

I have only ever seen GRP front ends on Hymer A Class vans, back ends vary my rear bumper is aluminium and the top rear moulding is capped abs.

 

[bigalw35]

Lenny, if we are in a field somewhere a lot of funsters know me, come over and say hello, have a beer and check out my front and rear end, of the Hymer that is

 

[GMLS]

Shouldn't be painted its a gel coat finish.

I was planning on over spraying a gel coat finish on the pop top of an old caravan using rattle cans for simplicity. What would be the implications of this?

 

[DerryW]

3 weeks after collecting our current MH it sustained minor damage to the NS rear corner. A gentleman caught the rear corner as he was reversing out of parking bay. He admitted liability strightaway. That was Nov 2021. It finally goes into repair shop on 16th Jan 2023, 13months after incident. I must admit the first 4 months was getting written confirmation from my insurance company that the 3rd party will be paying my access. The rest of the delay was down to availability of parts and workshop slot.

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[Lenny HB]

I was planning on over spraying a gel coat finish on the pop top of an old caravan using rattle cans for simplicity. What would be the implications of this?

It can be done, all the silver vans are sprayed on top of grp just not the correct way of doing it when the original finish is gel coat.

 

[Ernesto]

A car pulled out in front of me, I managed to slow down but still hit his back end.
He wants to pay cash for repair, which I'm in two minds about until I get professional estimate for repair or replacement.

My worry is how long before I get a replacement front from Hymer ? as against a repair done locally ? There's not much damage its cracked the fibreglass and bent part of the grill, no other damage. Good repair shop could fix easily. Lost the tow bar cover though.


Its a positive that the other guy is admitting responsibility Could be well worth keeping any records of them offering to settle and therefore admitting liability....appreciate we dont know the full facts, but a 100% rear end shunt would usually be pinned on the vehicle behind in the absence of other info/video.
Sounds like the other party is being reasonable and it gets fixed soon

 

[Brody]

A white van man hit our daughters Golf last year which was parked outside our house.

We saw him do it and drive off, I was just getting out of my car, I had to jump back in my car and get it off our drive which is usually a slow 4/5 point turn at the best of times (I did it in 2) to follow (chase) him and alert him to what he'd done! He claimed he'd not realised he'd hit it. Anyway when he drove back up he admitted to it, I think it helped that he clocked the CCTV. He then asked to settle it in cash.

I personally would never do this again, it was hassle getting in touch with him, he tried to get us to go to a backstreet body shop when it was still under warranty, daughter wanted it to go to a VW garage. She had to take her own time going and getting quotes, take time off to drop and collect the vehicle and pay out up front and then he short changed her by about £35 which really pi$$ed me off. Really he should have given her an extra £35 for all the hassle he caused her and for being so accommodating.

I'm glad he's admitted liability for you, but I would say alot of people totally underestimate the cost of repairs these days and this is when you may start to have hassle. By then it could be however long down the road. It would be insurance for me everytime.

 

[Spriddler]

a lot of people totally underestimate the cost of repairs these days and this is when you may start to have hassle. By then it could be however long down the road. It would be insurance for me everytime.

I refused cash from a very persistent guy for a repair to my car, probably because (as he eventually admitted) that he didn't have any insurance.

 

[Brody]

I refused cash from a very persistent guy for a repair to my car, probably because (as he eventually admitted) that he didn't have any insurance.

He definitely had insurance on his van, I checked it out. I think he wanted it doing independently so he could doctor the receipt and claim it back against his tax as a repair to his van.

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[BusyBuilder]

How do you check the insurance on the other guy ?

We took photos of the junction, his car inc registration, his driving licence and got his picture by his car too. Our towing eye also punctured his rear bumper, he admitted liability. I would rather a repair as that probably what the insurance would do as the damage is not too bad, and supply times would be long (I guess), I've emailed Travelworld for new bumper (and tow eye cover) for quote.

 

[Ernesto]

How do you check the insurance on the other guy ?

We took photos of the junction, his car inc registration, his driving licence and got his picture by his car too. Our towing eye also punctured his rear bumper, he admitted liability. I would rather a repair as that probably what the insurance would do as the damage is not too bad, and supply times would be long (I guess), I've emailed Travelworld for new bumper (and tow eye cover) for quote.

I dont think you can ...data protection and all that.

IMHO its a gamble...trouble is notifying your insurance for a small prang could mean endless paperwork and even potentially a higher premium for you ...set against the risk of a poor repair or this guy not paying up when the time comes. Mind you, if this guy allowed you to photo his driving licence, he does sound like he's genuine as you have his home address now as well !

 

[rwg]

One more thing is to get down underneath the front of the van and check that there is nothing bent behind the plastic/GRP bumper. I got hit from behind once in a Focus - the plastic bumper looked like it hadn't got a mark on it, but the steel cross-beam behind was bent by about 2-3 inches... The plastic had just sprung back.

cheers,

Robin

 

[Conal]

Your insurance company can easily find out his insurance details. They share them as I found out when hit head on by an idiot high on drugs and travelling on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Brody]

You can check if another vehicle is insured, it won't tell you any personal details or who it's insured with, it will be a yes or no.

Google it, the only catch is you have to tick a box to say it's your vehicle but you don't enter any of your own details so

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[bigalw35]

You can check if another vehicle is insured, it won't tell you any personal details or who it's insured with, it will be a yes or no.

Google it, the only catch is you have to tick a box to say it's your vehicle but you don't enter any of your own details so

You’ll find it on the dvla site

 

[BusyBuilder]

This is still ongoing with my insurance. Got the front repaired, they cut a section out, replaced bumper and bothe radiators as they were bent as well.

Now have legal cover people onto other driver, he hasn't put in a counter claim even though his rear bumper was damaged. His insurance company is playing hardball,, but our solicitors are confident we'll win. They are claiming 5 months of no moho usage...whatever that adds upto.

I have a feeling the other driver only had daily insurance, not annual insurance.