Well that’s my five month holiday gone for a burton,

[Emmit]

Your reason for LV not writing your van off is right there - repairs cost £13k, replacement would have been £40k...

It doesn't change the situation, but I think it does help if the offending party is genuinely apologetic, rather than not.

Even if dash cam footage is restricted for posting online etc, it is still useful to have to pass on to the insurance company as it gives them weight to their argument.

It's surprisingly easy for vehicles to get hooked up on bodywork/chassis components, especially if you have a tow bar. I had a Range Rover hit my van while I was parked(!), and it got hooked up on my towbar even despite the slow speed impact. I have to admit to rather hoping that it would pull off his front splitter/bumper when he backed away, (partly due to his total indifference to the fact he'd driven into my van - no apologetic words at all from either him or his wife, see my comment above!), but he did manage to 'de-couple' without damage and the only injury to my van was some smudges and small scuff. I think my towbar saved the van from worse damage. But my accident wasn't at 90kph++ closing speed...

Totally understand this. And it may influence your decisions. I understand that too. I've had my van for 10 years too, and would be gutted if I was in the same situation.

Duct tape is in EVERY van, isn't it?

That may be true, but I think many people are completely unaware of the fact that it's shockingly easy to fall asleep at the wheel. It happened to me on the M4 about 25 years ago. I was driving home in very bad weather from an event I'd been at in Windsor and I was aware of being a bit tired, but I didn't feel 'exhausted'. One minute I was awake, driving in lane one, the next I woke up in the outside lane when my wheels hit the rumble strip. I was exceptionally lucky to cross three lanes of a busy motorway without hitting anything or being hit by anything. The rumble strip certainly saved me from injury or worse. I came off the motorway at the next junction and stopped. Ever since, I've been very aware of the risks of driving tired, and I frequently tell others that contrary to what most people think (including me, before), you often get no warning at all, and if you ARE aware that you're beginning to struggle, you should definitely pull over rather than trying to push on through to reach your destination. You (or someone else) might never get there otherwise.


Meanwhile ivorantony I hope that whatever you decide to do in terms of getting yourselves and your van home, that things work out for the best result in the circumstances and that it doesn't take too long for you to be back out enjoying your motorhome once again. All the best, and take care.

Your reason for LV not writing your van off is right there - repairs cost £13k, replacement would have been £40k...

It doesn't change the situation, but I think it does help if the offending party is genuinely apologetic, rather than not.

Even if dash cam footage is restricted for posting online etc, it is still useful to have to pass on to the insurance company as it gives them weight to their argument.

It's surprisingly easy for vehicles to get hooked up on bodywork/chassis components, especially if you have a tow bar. I had a Range Rover hit my van while I was parked(!), and it got hooked up on my towbar even despite the slow speed impact. I have to admit to rather hoping that it would pull off his front splitter/bumper when he backed away, (partly due to his total indifference to the fact he'd driven into my van - no apologetic words at all from either him or his wife, see my comment above!), but he did manage to 'de-couple' without damage and the only injury to my van was some smudges and small scuff. I think my towbar saved the van from worse damage. But my accident wasn't at 90kph++ closing speed...

Totally understand this. And it may influence your decisions. I understand that too. I've had my van for 10 years too, and would be gutted if I was in the same situation.

Duct tape is in EVERY van, isn't it?

That may be true, but I think many people are completely unaware of the fact that it's shockingly easy to fall asleep at the wheel. It happened to me on the M4 about 25 years ago. I was driving home in very bad weather from an event I'd been at in Windsor and I was aware of being a bit tired, but I didn't feel 'exhausted'. One minute I was awake, driving in lane one, the next I woke up in the outside lane when my wheels hit the rumble strip. I was exceptionally lucky to cross three lanes of a busy motorway without hitting anything or being hit by anything. The rumble strip certainly saved me from injury or worse. I came off the motorway at the next junction and stopped. Ever since, I've been very aware of the risks of driving tired, and I frequently tell others that contrary to what most people think (including me, before), you often get no warning at all, and if you ARE aware that you're beginning to struggle, you should definitely pull over rather than trying to push on through to reach your destination. You (or someone else) might never get there otherwise.


Meanwhile ivorantony I hope that whatever you decide to do in terms of getting yourselves and your van home, that things work out for the best result in the circumstances and that it doesn't take too long for you to be back out enjoying your motorhome once again. All the best, and take care.

Whilst I totally understand your frustration when the Chelsea tractor smacked your pride and joy with occupants of said tractor not apologising, however (and there is a very valid HOWEVER)

Many Funsters on this thread have said, "don't do that", "don't do this" in order to mitigate, as far as possible, the Insurance Co. wriggling somehow out of making a substantial payout.

Every Insurance I've had for a vehicle warned against making an admission after an accident. Saying anything like 'sorry' could be construed as an admission.
See all, hear all, say nowt is good advice

 

[KiltedCamper]

SORRY - THIS IS LONG BUT MIGHT BE WORTH READING: We had a similar experience around Christmas 2023. Our Autocruise Starseeker was hit side on by a Mini doing around 40mph on a sharp blind right hand bend (driver and passengers were high on Nitrous Oxide and ran off). We weren't badly hurt but the MoHo was written off because the chassis was bent by the impact.

We had paid £24,000 for the vehicle less than 12 months before. Our insurer (that I won't name because in the end they came up trumps) initially offered us about £15,000. I queried this, as the agreed value less than a year before was £24,000. It became clear their Desktop Assessor was valuing the vehicle on the basis that it was a Peugeot van, not a motorhome! I sent the insurance company a set of pictures of adverts for comparable vehicles for sale. Their Desktop Assessor responded with two Autocruise adverts for what he said were comparables, with prices around £15,000. I followed up the adverts. One of them was for a company that didn't exist (i.e. it was a scam ad). The other company was real so I phoned them and spoke to their MD. He was quite clear that he had never had an Autocruise for sale and that they had not placed that advert - It was a fake Autotrader ad that this company had known nothing about.

I referred this back the the Desktop Assessor and he, somewhat reluctantly, referred it to higher authority. The result was that they paid us the £23,000 (i.e. the cost of the claim minus the excess). As it was an uninsured loss (the owner of the Mini reported it stolen about 2 hours after the crash, and I believe her home address was not too far from the crash, which makes me very suspicious) and so we had to wait quite a few months to get about £400 back towards the excess from the Insurance pool for uininsured losses.

The moral of the tale is to be very firm with your insurer, especially if it isn't a specialist, about the true value of your loss. It was a hard slog, but as our insurer was one of the top rated motor insurers they accepted that I knew more about motorhome valuations than their Desktop Assessor. That's not his fault as he had no experience of motorhomes.

PS: Anyone sitting in the second row of seats would probably have been killed by flying debris even though we were doing less than 20 MPH at the time of the crash. The result is that our replacement vehicle is a Campscout PVC. Still not up the the standards of a modern car for safety, but better than a traditional motorhome.

 

[Barclaybasher]

ivorantony thought about returning via Bilbao or Santander but no cabins....

lt might help phoning the local BF offices at -

• Santander
• Port Address - Brittany Ferries Terminal. Estacion Maritime S/N, 39002, Spain. Tel: 9 02 10 81 47
• Bilbao Port Address - Terminal de Brittany Ferries, Puerto de Bilbao, Muelle A3, Zierbena, 48508, Spain. Tel: 9 02 10 81 47
  
  ...sent from a very rock and rolly Salamanca to Bibao
  
  

 

[Ruby2]

This morning travelling serenely down the A12 towards Madrid, at a nice steady 90 kph, roads all but completely empty
This Nut in a Renault Megane falls asleep at the wheel and promptly writes off my Motorhome,
To say I’m gutted is an understatement, we had planned a 5 month trip including Morocco,
Now need to get the old girl home, so looks like it’s a winter at home for us this year,



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I'm so sorry, what an absolute nightmare for you both

 

[Charente16]

Commiserations, been there. We suffered major storm damage to the roof in Germany (30k in euros), we decided to have the repairs carried out there, the insurance company was far more amenable in considering the repair quotes, took our wishes into consideration, because of not having to transport the van back to France which could have been around 5,000euro.

We had the van repaired at a MAN Service Garage who also built Custom Truck bodies. Could not have had a better job done at a Motorhome dealer/garage in France.

A lot less hassle.

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[Philbaker]

Crickey, he must have been travelling if both vehicles were going forward and he did that damage.
Should be in the police report. Would be interesting if you could get a copy.
Anyway the main thing is no one was seriously hurt.

Judging by the look of his car and the damage down the side, it is not his first accident in recent times.

 

[Barriesimpson]

I'm amazed that nobody could come up with a better solution than repatriating a vehicle from Greece for the want of a sensor, crazy world.

It's another reason that insurance policies are exorbitant.

 

[gus-lopez]

When our van was repatriated we bought some bags to take a few clothes iPads we were given a hire car to take us to ferry, taxi from ferry in uk to hire car and drove home when we went to the van in uk everything was inside untouched even the bag of washing, what have you in van that you can’t carry in a car or in a bag.

same with me .ADAC supplied me with a cross border hire car when the engine went in Poitiers & they recovered the van back to spain. everything as it was when I left it.

Every Insurance I've had for a vehicle warned against making an admission after an accident. Saying anything like 'sorry' could be construed as an admission.

Here you are meant to fill in a "european accident report form" which is in triplicate. You fill in the details with drawings on left hand side & other parties details on the right. The other party has to fill in his one the same .his on left yours on right.each of you has to sign each others. basically whoever is in the wrong has to acknowledge it on the spot.

https://www.allianz.co.uk/content/d.../support/european-accident-statement-form.pdf
This is why you always call the police to insure that you get the form filled in & have witnesses.

 

[Peregrinator]

Oh I feel so sorry for you both, at least your both safe, that's the main thing, Don't forget, on the insurance front, do not except their first offer, and put in all the extras you missed by five months holiday, if it is a foreign car & foreign insurance, go though them only, just notify your insurance that their insurance is sorting the claim once confirmed, over there most motorhomes are dearer, so should get a better offer.

 

[Peregrinator]

Of course. But in this case it's the self-report of the driver that may be interesting.

One can prove the phone stuff, if the right investigations are done. As one can prove the alcohol stuff.

But there are a limited number of reasons for crashing without braking into the rear of another vehicle on a motorway.

Police can check the phone, also the details will be on record with the provider, but police don't normally check that, unless there was serous injury or death.

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[Peregrinator]

We got hit down one side of our motorhome from just before cabin door to rear wheel arch last year 2023, it took three & 1/2 months for the panels to arrive before even starting the repair.

 

[Charente16]

We got hit down one side of our motorhome from just before cabin door to rear wheel arch last year 2023, it took three & 1/2 months for the panels to arrive before even starting the repair.

Ours was 'out of commission' from the end of September till the following April.

 

[ivorantony]

Annoyingly our first motorhome a CI Landliner was just a month old in April 1971, when that also was hit in the rear by a coach on the M1, they eventually decided to repair her and we didn’t get her back until December,

 

[glastry]

I know it is no help to you ---but, is this the best that any of us can expect?
Damaged by someone obviously in the wrong, and the best that your insurance company can do is repatriation or similar?
The delusion that I had was that my insurance would provide me with a similar van ,and sort it out with the person at faults insurance!!
How wrong can you be?

 

[Barriesimpson]

I know it is no help to you ---but, is this the best that any of us can expect?
Damaged by someone obviously in the wrong, and the best that your insurance company can do is repatriation or similar?
The delusion that I had was that my insurance would provide me with a similar van ,and sort it out with the person at faults insurance!!
How wrong can you be?

Insurance is yet another scam. You pay the yearly premium, they invest it and make loads of profit. You make a claim and they basically say no, or if you are lucky they cover a small percentage of the damage. The following 3 to 5 years your premium goes up so that they can recuperate the money they lost on your claim. Share holders make a huge profit on their investment (just as well, otherwise they would take their money to the pharmaceutical companies while hoping you get sick) and the directors of the company get mammoth end of year bonuses. And it is all legal, it's more, if you don't have insurance the law enforcement company will make sure your life is hell. Welcome to the new world.

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[MichaelT]

Insurance is yet another scam. You pay the yearly premium, they invest it and make loads of profit. You make a claim and they basically say no, or if you are lucky they cover a small percentage of the damage. The following 3 to 5 years your premium goes up so that they can recuperate the money they lost on your claim. Share holders make a huge profit on their investment (just as well, otherwise they would take their money to the pharmaceutical companies while hoping you get sick) and the directors of the company get mammoth end of year bonuses. And it is all legal, it's more, if you don't have insurance the law enforcement company will make sure your life is hell. Welcome to the new world.

That's total rubbish for want of a better phrase. You pay say 500 quid to insure something worth 100k plus you may damage another van worth 500k. Your pension is invested in these companies so you make a profit or you don't get a pension.

Imagine insuring houses in Los Angeles now, not much profit there?

 

[Barclaybasher]

That's total rubbish for want of a better phrase. You pay say 500 quid to insure something worth 100k plus you may damage another van worth 500k. Your pension is invested in these companies so you make a profit or you don't get a pension.

I haven't got a private pension - another can of worms........

 

[Brains]

I haven't got a private pension - another can of worms........

All pensions, including government ones, are invested in the same companies.
(Unless you have no pension at all and are just replying on your savings, which are also invested with the same companies)

 

[Barclaybasher]

All pensions, including government ones, are invested in the same companies.
(Unless you have no pension at all and are just replying on your savings, which are also invested with the same companies)

My 'pension' is from rental properties, all converted by myself and dividends from a family business, created by myself from nothing.......

 

[The Wino]

Insurance is yet another scam. You pay the yearly premium, they invest it and make loads of profit. You make a claim and they basically say no, or if you are lucky they cover a small percentage of the damage. The following 3 to 5 years your premium goes up so that they can recuperate the money they lost on your claim. Share holders make a huge profit on their investment (just as well, otherwise they would take their money to the pharmaceutical companies while hoping you get sick) and the directors of the company get mammoth end of year bonuses. And it is all legal, it's more, if you don't have insurance the law enforcement company will make sure your life is hell. Welcome to the new world.

Could you direct me to the insurance company that pays it's shareholders a huge profit or is it a myth?

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[bobnick]

Not to hijack the thread but on insurance.
I just hired/rented a Land Cruiser (not the tiddly Prado thing, it's dad).
I paid just over A$500 for all singing and dancing EXTRA insurance to cover ALL eventualities..........i thought.
The list of exclutions is far far longer than the list it actually covers.
A daft question.............is insurance a scam..................

 

[PaulW2]

The large print giveth
And the small print taketh away

 

[Freo]

This morning travelling serenely down the A12 towards Madrid, at a nice steady 90 kph, roads all but completely empty
This Nut in a Renault Megane falls asleep at the wheel and promptly writes off my Motorhome,
To say I’m gutted is an understatement, we had planned a 5 month trip including Morocco,
Now need to get the old girl home, so looks like it’s a winter at home for us this year,



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Very sorry to hear of this. As others have said, the main thing is that there were no serious injuries.
Vehicles can be repaired or replaced.
However things turn out, very best of luck going forward.

 

[The Wino]

Not to hijack the thread but on insurance.
I just hired/rented a Land Cruiser (not the tiddly Prado thing, it's dad).
I paid just over A$500 for all singing and dancing EXTRA insurance to cover ALL eventualities..........i thought.
The list of exclutions is far far longer than the list it actually covers.
A daft question.............is insurance a scam..................

If it's a scam don't take out the extra and take the risk yourself! It's just gambling really you either take the gamble that you are going to have to pay for any damage or they take the risk for you at a price.

 

[jongood]

Could you direct me to the insurance company that pays it's shareholders a huge profit or is it a myth?

Not sure about others but Aviva pays an attractive dividend.

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[jongood]

If it's a scam don't take out the extra and take the risk yourself! It's just gambling really you either take the gamble that you are going to have to pay for any damage or they take the risk for you at a price.

Or take out your own excess cover, plenty of companies out there.

 

[jongood]

Annoyingly our first motorhome a CI Landliner was just a month old in April 1971, when that also was hit in the rear by a coach on the M1, they eventually decided to repair her and we didn’t get her back until December,

Ive been wondering how you're getting on with the trip back?

 

[bobnick]

If it's a scam don't take out the extra and take the risk yourself! It's just gambling really you either take the gamble that you are going to have to pay for any damage or they take the risk for you at a price.

And that's the point, they DON'T take any risk.

 

[ivorantony]

Work still in progress, waiting on a trailer board that should be here Monday, all the main structure work is completed, just the cosmetics to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

 

[Al n Val]

Work still in progress, waiting on a trailer board that should be here Monday, all the main structure work is completed, just the cosmetics to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Is it too personal to ask for any photos of what you’ve managed to do so far

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