nowhereboy

Yea just noticed on the direct gov website I can claim for this outside of my insurance. I'll log it with them today, pay for the damages myself and hopefully they will reimburse me. You know those weeks when absolutely nothing goes your way? yea, I'm having one of them

I work in insurance and know what a massive ball ache it would be trying to claim for something like this, it's just not worth the bother. Even if I managed to claim as "no fault" it's still likely to mess with my premiums anyway. In hindsight it could have been a lot worse, I do feel like it might be worth calling the people responsible for the roadworks. If that hasn't caused a massive accident by now I'd be surprised, the car behind me went straight into it also.

On my way into work this afternoon and the wind must have blew a massive roadwork sign into the middle of the motorway. It was lying flat but big enough to block both lanes. I didn't notice it in time to slow down, from a distance it blended in with the road due to really bad visibility and heavy rain. By the time I was close enough to see it properly it was already to late to stop and impossible to avoid due to the shear size of the thing. I wasn't speeding but I hit it hard at about 50mph, it somehow sent the car into a fishtail and I very nearly lost control. Had it not been for recent drifting and car control lessons I'm pretty sure I'd have span out but thankfully I caught it. I haven't had time to inspect the damage properly but from what I can see I need a new front bumper, their's a big chunk missing out of the front and it's not sitting quite right now either. I have a new front lip ready to fit after Christmas and now I'm unsure if theirs any point in paying to repair/replace the stock bumper and fit the front lip or just cough up for a v2 replica or something. Rubbish situation as the front lip is a present from my other half for christmas. Pretty angry about the whole thing to be honest, it happened on the A1 motorway and that road is a complete joke at the minute, constant traffic, roadworks and delays and now this because someone clearly hasn't secured a roadwork properly, no point claiming on my insurance due to the lack of a third party so I'm going to have to cough up for it. Sh*t happens eh? :rant: Edit - I'll get a pic of the damage up later.

So yea, it sounds about right to me anyway. It's a thirsty beast the 350.

While saying "£50 to 140 miles" isn't the best basis to work off I know I fill up weekly and spend about £45, I'll do about 120 mile each week on that amount. I've never bothered working out what my actual MPG is, it will probably just be depressing anyway

Yup, played in the same band for years, the majority of my twenties revolved around that band and the music. We did pretty well, played some big gigs and had some wild experiences through it, all a learning curve. I got a real taste for that life but I've took a step back since meeting my partner, I'm all grown up and sensible now Officially, i'm still in the band but due to everyone aside from me and the guitarist basically having some serious personal issues going on we haven't played a gig in months.

Unsure if that's the one without the rev up engine but the higher tax band? Just something to consider. Look's clean but personally I wouldn't want to pay so much for a DE engined Z.

Bobby Z I had no idea haha! Live and learn I guess.... Thanks veilside, I know they're a common choice but I think they suit the Z well.

yea dude they're 265's. They still rub ever so slightly but under load if theirs a dip in the road or something and I'm pushing on. Not sure if I can go any lower until I get thinner tyres.

Really glad I never sold it gm. It's took a while but I've really started to gel with the car now. It's quite handy having the ep3 for little back road blasts too, totally different car to drive to the Z (as you no already), it's just so light, makes for great fun in the corners.

Figured after two years of ownership and more mods planned for the future it was time to start a thread to show my progress so far and to track future mod's also. So it all started here, a 2004 stock UK Z, 67k on the clock and complete with toy car looking radio antenna First off was the usual, removed the antenna and fitted a shorter one along with removing the rear windscreen wiper. It stayed this way for about 18 months while I got used to the car and just enjoyed driving it, After about a year the clutch gave out so after a quick call to cougarstore I picked up these... Exedy clutch and cc lightweight flywheel Also removed the "350Z" badge from the rear bumper The zeditus really started kicking in and after much research I decided to go for Rota grid drift wheels 18" 9.5J front and 10J rears and tein springs, originally they were on stretched kumho ku39 tyres. I also removed the front number plate surround. Somewhere in the middle of this we also bought an EP3 type R and spend a little modifying that too. the progress on the Z has slowed a little since. I've since fitted goodyear eagle F1 tyres and ended up having to get the arches rolled because the 45 profile seems HUGE on these for some reason. That's how she sits at the minute ^. Future plans are to fit a tarmac sportz gt front lip and some nismo style side skirts but that will be after Christmas now. I really need to invest in some coilovers at some point too as the teins don't quite sit as low as I want them too.

Really need to start a build thread at some point, might do it today if I can find the time.

Unfortunately not. Xmas has destroyed my bank ballance! I'm getting the front spliter as a present tho so I'll buy them in January and get them all fitted together. Planning on getting the bumper smoothed and re painted while I'm at it.

Pictures!!

Looks like I'll be keeping the Z for a long time at this rate!

Exactly!

As others have said, it's the postcode that's causing you the problem over anything else I'm afraid. Insurance is all about statistics, my 1.2 fiesta costs more to cover than the 350Z.

I was speaking to a copper about this recently and he said in the eyes of the law there is no such thing as an accident. It is a road traffic collision and all of them are meant to be reported to the police and they will then take a view as to whether any further action needs to be taken. He said its the law as it stands. Obviously they don`t tend to get involved in something that is just a small coming together but if its more serious then they take a view on whether action should be taken to stop it happening again, such as an awareness course. Or they may just prosecute because they feel the outcome requires it and you need to suffer the consequences. Hopefully he was wrong and you are not obliged to report it. I know i would never involve them unless forced to as they always seem to make matters worse On this topic, if there's a "next time" or for anyone else out there - what do you legally have to do after a minor accident? I called my insurance like a good boy to notify them of a potential claim which has led to them going "he made a claim lads, lets shred that NCB and pocket his cash!". Yes, I can get the money back next year once it blows over (I better do since I now have a thousand pound loan to cover that time!) but did I jump too soon? The other guy never even contacted his insurance, so I basically dobbed myself in. Adrian Flux are sympathetic, but the underwriters don't care about any of it, even telling me to go to the ombudsman if I had a problem. I did, and they said everything so far is within the law since there is potential for a claim up until 9 months after the event. Regardless, if this kind of thing happens again I'm giving the other guy my details and then waiting to see what happens. In hindsight if you hadn't contacted the insurance company and settled it outside of the insurance it's highly unlikely they would have ever found out about it. The only way would be if someone informs them or for some reason the police got involved (which rarely happens). So to answer your question, yes you did pretty much drop yourself in it but technically speaking you did the "right thing". As a broker I find myself in this situation loads, a customer will be making small talk and drops themselves in it by informing me of an accident that was settled outside of the insurance. My heart sinks every time, inside I'm thinking "just shut up, your opening a can of worms here". It's my legal obligation to advise the underwriter of the incident once a customer tells me something and you guessed it, my job to call them back and inform them the good news about premium increases. For the record (and incase my company is reading ) I am in no way advising anyone not disclose things to an insurance company.

Thats another car thats going up invalue isnt it? Hard to find a good one under 11 grand these days. Even a stock 200sx s14 seems to cost 6 grand or more. Cool cars and its another id fancied owning at some point but i wouldnt pay the money for one now.

Sounds like you're speaking from experience. Do you or have you worked in insurance also?

It's no wonder people hide things from insurance companies really. The whole industry should be completely revamped and properly regulated, if the government could be trusted it should be sold by them and not for profit. Saying that I'd be out of a job so maybe that's not such a great idea haha..

Just for the record I don't necessarily agree with the procedures but I can at least understand the somewhat twisted logic of the insurance company's.

@Ekona the ombudsman won't be able to help in this situation, they may listen and sympathize but they won't do anything (I know this from experience). If it went to court and the case was successful I guess it would have to change the way car insurance works in the UK and lets face it, that's unlikely. @Mouthwash If you make a claim mid way through the policy the price won't be affected, the premium is based on the information at the time of the policy inception.

Playing devils advocate here but I guess the insurers logic is that if the incident did end up resulting in a claim and/or did get settled as a fault the price paid at renewal would not have been based on the right amount of NCB hence my previous statement about backdated additional premiums being necessary. This is because the NCB is normally reduced from the date of the incident and not the date the claim was settled. So if they base your renewal on full NCB and the claim ends up going ahead they will then have to reduce the bonus backdated from the renewal date and go about collecting the additional premium. it's obviously just easier for them to charge based on worst case scenario and refund if necessary.

Maybe he does, but until he's actually claimed then you do not have a claim on your policy, so the NCB must stand. That's just common sense, and I can't see how any insurer can penalise you for a claim that may or may not happen! Seriously, I can't see how that can be remotely a fair term in any contract, so I'd be kicking off big time. You're wrong I'm afraid Ekona. Kicking off big time would get you absolutely nowhere either. I hear that very complaint on a monthly basis, insurers will always look at the worst case scenario over the better one in a "what if" situation. That way if it turns out the claim does go ahead and does get settled as a "fault" the insurer doesn't have to run the risk of the customer not coughing up for the extra premium backdated from the renewal date. Is it fair? Probably not.