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Hahah! Ban on first transgression! Harsh. I doubt I'll have my car back by then

*blatantly ignores search feature* what's the woodman meet?

Not this month! Off to India next week for work, and getting married at the end of the month! Yay!

Taras at RTP is informing the insurer of the estimate for repairs. I'm hoping it all gets approved, don't mind how long it takes so long as it it's job well done. As for a race... Santa Pod? Run what you brung! I'm pretty sure that Adrian's is what, 100 lb/ft up on mine!? Reggie would be smoked!

I won't put a body kit on mine, as I like the standard look, however the current Nismo is quite cheeky. That turned my head, but those wheel arch trims are a bit odd. Last years Nismo was too much for me! Each to their own! I'd love to paint mine in an unusual colour. I've got my eye on a Nardo Grey (Audi RS colour) with a mid/light blue accent on the (stock) wing, possibly with identical vinyls for the GT Edition but in that same blue. IMHO that would look fantastic with some dark ultraleggera wheels. Maybe I'll stick with the classic jap wheel design though as per the 350 Rays. Mmmm grey! It's all a matter of taste.

I got the replacement car yesterday. Porsche Boxster 2.7 PDK, specified with PCM and a few sporting bits. Not a bad ride, smells 'Porschey' - interior has a definite Porsche smell that I recall from my Cayman S, and the hot rubber smell after you give it beans is there too. Nicely balanced car, very easy to position. Just a bit slow overall. Needs double the horses! PDK is an excellent gearbox fhough. No quibbles there. Picture outside: Dashboard:

The Quaife ATB diff is on my shopping list for this year too. It is made for the 350z, but I have seen that it can be made to fit the 370z.

*rants* The 370z is an 'SP7' car, so a 'like for like' replacement car is not actually this. Most of what was offered was diesel, automatic and convertible. E class barge, 3-series and 4-series.

And finally whilst I'm on the small print.. My modifications are covered, but not the cost. The fine wording of my policy will take a market rate for the car and mods together. More phone calls to AF to figure this mess out (the only point of me insuring via then was because of the mods, which were discussed and detailed at length). I'm annoyed that they at no point told me this. It is easy to assume that the policy covers all £7,700 of parts and labour for my Stillen/Norris work. Anyway, a very small premium has been paid (£40) and my value is properly insured. At renewal time I will be going for an Agreed Value policy, which will pay out a specifically agreed value in the unfortunate event of a total loss. Buy wisely, people.

Also also: everyone has an 0845 type of number so we are up to some fairly hefty phone charges from the mobile operator so far. Not a problem as I can claim them back via ULR. The recovery took 2h to arrive (he was stuck in traffic himself, lovely chap tho) and couldn't take us home so ended up on various tubes to Waterloo, navigating the line closures (overground to CLJ would have been so much quicker, were it not closed) and then a walking-pace train home to Farnham. Took aaaaaaages! Moral of this, maybe check the fine print about the recovery/relay etc options.

Repair news: I've taken Octet (Adrian)'s recommendation to get the car over to R-T Performance. Had a brief chat with Taras who should get custody of the behicle soon. Insurance news: WHAT A BLOODY FAFF! I must have made a thousand phone calls trying to figure out what's going on. If you book via Adrian Flux then you might be interested: AF are the broker. They sold me the policy. 'ULR' handle all claims on behalf of AF. They also pursue the uninsured losses from the third party, and arrange a replacement temporary vehicle at the third party's insurance cost. Most of my calls have been trying to get a vehicle that isn't boring. Easidrive had a 4 series BMW available, so ULR appointed 'Accident Exhange' instead. Hopefully a 2014 Boxster will turn up tomorrow after many many conversations that go "no, I'm 6'4", I won't fit in that car" and "no, I'm not your grandad, I don't want an E-class"... Equity Red Star are my insurer/underwriter. They eventually decided to contact me today (everyone else was quite proactive). By this point I have given a witness statement about 6 times. They offered three choices: 1. Claim on mine, pay XS then reclaim it (I had already chosen this) 2. Give the whole case to ULR to chase from the third party 3. Go direct to the third party insurer. There's also me ringing ERS regularly to find out where they've taken my car (Veetech) and to get it moved to a better garage for estimates. I must say I didn't expect it to be quite so 'hands on' this insurance thing. Ho hum. If none of this makes sense ask questions.

The advice I had received from another paint guy was that the pearl really comes down to the individual style of whoever applied the coat, so even a replacement panel would have some differences. This worried me because I'm a neat-freak!

Thanks for that advice. Useful, as I didn't know. Do you happen to know if those lovely alloys can be 'un kerbed' as there's a bit of kerb damage. My local paintshop said the paint was difficult to match well.

Ah cool! I am back on client site (Newbury) tomorrow. Have a new starter to show around. Ho hum! I'd love to check the car out though — another time!

What's the deal with RT? Are you connected to them or just a happy customer?

Aha! That makes sense

The recovery chap just called me to say he's just seen Adrian (octet) at a garage in Wimbledon. Dunno the details but what a coincidence.

It really helps to keep cool. Can't change what happened so best to keep calm, check everyone is ok and get it sorted. Other party is ok and admitting fault. Just hoping the repair is good. As I'm claiming on mine then recovering back I get to be much more involved in the repair process. We all had a laugh when they suggested an Audi TT as a temp car. Sigh.

I've heard this. Pearl White and those alloys too... Both an absolute sod to match. It has to be perfect or it's going back until it's right. (In my job I'm one of those devil in the detail creative directors that won't sign off unless it is brand and pixel prefect, so I have practice!)

I have like for like, fully comp, even GAP RTI (though I swapped out the car loan for personal finance this year to pay off a huge chunk and get a better rate on that which was left). Should all be fine. It's the like for like temporary car I'm interested in right now. If it's a chuffing Nancy boy TT I'll make the Mrs drive it. (I've already threatened this after she was eyeing up an R8 today!) heheheh

It's just a flesh wound! I've never had an accident before though, so I am not sure of the costs involved. Good luck to them matching that Storm White though. I won't approve anything less than perfect! Who knows what the underwriter/loss adjuster will say. Fingers crossed it's good news.

Haha nice! Unfortunately the car is now sitting on a flatbed on its way for an insurance estimate after an old lady hit it whilst I was last in a line lf traffic. Ho hum.

Here are the pics: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yl7r5yusslibnyi/AAAb6wJKrfxNauoXh5cK4J2Na?dl=0 Bah! At least everyone involved is okay. Down to the insurers now. The other party was looking over their shoulder to change lanes and had misjudged the situation. Unfortunate.

Waiting last in line in traffic queue up to the Shepherd's Bush Roundabout. OH just about to take a drink of water and BAM! Water everywhere. Old lady smacked the NSR quarter. Damage is number, bodywork pushed to 5mm from wheel (too close for me to consider driving it on the motorway home) and a pixelated light cluster(it actually looks pixelated but in real life). Underneath looks ok but it was dark and wet. Car trucked away for assessment. Pics to follow. Hopefully not too bad, I'd like to keep the car, otherwise its a replacement and parts swap for all the tuning work!

Heh I can give it a try if the weather clears up a bit. It was lighting up the rears in 4th on the A31 the other day.