Gutted

It appears that I'm following an unfortunate trend... A van pulled out in front of me this morning. I've seen enough written off coupes on here to realise that mine has joined this shitty list. Such a shame, it was driving better than ever. I'll post pics tonight

very sorry to hear this mate

Sorry to hear that.

Oh dear; sounds serious. Good luck,

Tim

Choker Shifty, been a bad month i think

Mate no

Jesus! Sorry to hear this that's two excellent coops gone for good in two days! Crazy! Are you alright?

Here's a link to photbucket: http://s1162.photobucket.com/albums/q535/Fiatcoupe1/

I'm ok, bump on the face where I kissed the steering wheel (yes I was wearing a belt) but air bag didn't deploy...I think I was only going about 30mph so not sure if they work on speed or impact...

Neck and wrists are a bit painful, anyway the other chap is ok and has admitted it's his fault.

AND its my bloody birthday!!!! Bottle of wine has been opened...cheers guys!

gutted for you mate but atleast your ok and happy birthday .

Oh Dear!.... That looks terminal to me im afraid mate.
Is it an le aswell

Gutted for you fella.

Sorry to see mate at least your ok.

It nearly happened to me last night.

We had very bad fog, I was on the way to asda at about 9pm. I was going round a roundabout when I see front lights heading towards me, slammed the brakes on and just missed him by a few foot.

Lets just say he did one before I could even see what car it was.

Not the best Birthday present in the world, very sad

It's repairable but it'll be a catC write off for sure.

Glad you are ok though Anthony. So sorry to see your lovley coupe in that mess.

Looking at the pics it was clearly his fault! No 'think bike' posters around those parts then!

Happy birthday Shifty

ooer. Wrong thread.

What a bummer that looks well worse than mine mate.
Lovely looking coop too. What's going on at all! As everyone said to me "At least your alright" and "It's only a car" but we know it isn't really is it That was a lovely coop. Suffered mate

Gutted for you Shifty

They need 'think coupe' around these parts Phil
Joe regarding repair can you hazard a guess at repairs etc? Failing that do you have anything non turbo for sale? I've just brought the latest Thames valley trader and its not helped my mood...

Double trouble what with C2D's as well, dreadful stuff shifty and a sh1tty birthday present. It sounds like you are not too badly damaged even if the bag didn't inflate, that's the main thing. Hope the next few days bring better news.

Bugger. Anyway, to more important stuff, what was the policelady like? Did you get any close ups?

Sorry to read this Shifty

Glad you're 'ok'.

Gutted for you mate

Always makes me feel a bit sick looking at crashed coops

You realise it's a conspiracy to push Coupe prices up, right?

As long as you're okay that's the main thing. Will you get another Coupe?

Gutted for you Anthony, i was only thinking about you last night as i was driving past Warfield wondering if you still had your coop.
If you do end up getting another coop maybe we should pop up and see joe together and work out a discount on buying two coops from him - buy one get one free?

Good news is you still in one piece

Oh not another

Thanks for the kind words guys, I'm now in the depressed stage. That bloody car had put me through the ringer more than once but it was the only car I ever loved. Looking at the prices of coupes I may get another...
It's strange to say but I kind of feel the need to say thanks to this forum for the advice its offered and also to Joe who has without doubt been the only reason this car has lasted so long. Long live the Fiat coupe! Watch this space...

Go for it; you know you want to

Good luck whatever you decide....... just give it some thought first!

Thanks Shifty, you've been a great friend and customer so I do really hope you stay in the coupe fold
In reference to the damage and costs, as much as it pains me there's no real sense in getting this repaired, not when you can pickup another nice LE or plus for 3.5 - 4k tops
When you had your respray after the front end bump a couple of years ago did the insurance Cat the claim?

Always sad seeing pix like that - particularly when a lot of time and effort has gone into the car. Hope the payout is decent.

Keep the faith.

Cars been written off, apparently it just under £6200 to repair. The assessor offered me £1800...so I made it clear this was an LE and that I've only been able to find two standard LE's and the cheapest one was £8995. Unfortunately for me my V5 never had LE written on it when registered. So I mailed Fiat the chassis number and bless their cotton socks they came straight back confirming it was an LE. The fight continues...

i cant believe fiat were that helpful! hopefully now with that proof the should offer a more reasonable figure.

stick to your guns Shifty and get what the cars worth not what they think its worth .

Insurance companies annoy me - i bet you were paying your premiums based on what you told them the car was worth when you took the policy out - but they are not prepared to honour that

Good luck getting it sorted. As has been said, fight for the amount you deserve!

The above link (if it works) shows the majority of the paperwork produced during my short 50 month ownership. I'm amazed at how much money has been spent getting this car nearly perfect, rough estimate is 8k. Lucky for me my wife doesn't read the forum
I hope this helps change the assessors, fingers crossed!

Sorry to hear your unfortuante news Shifty. Can i just say unless you have an AGREED VALUE policy or a policy on AN INDEMNITY VALUE basis then the insurers are only obliged to pay MARKET value. Unfortunately, whatever you think the car should be worth or what you have spent on it over the years is irrelevant if you have a standard market value policy. So be prepared for quite a fight if the policy you have is on a market value basis and you want £8000. You better start looking for similar examples for sale in case you need to prove to the insurers what it would cost you to go out an buy another to replace it. Like Joe said you can pick up another nice LE or plus for 3.5 - 4k tops, so you may struggle to get near the £8,000 mark if this is the case. Not what you want to hear but just be prepared, this may not eb a straightforward battle ahead of you. Sorry.

Regards
Sarah

I'm only after market rate Sarah, we all pretty much accept that the money spent buyimg and keeping the cars on the road is lost TBH. I really don't expect £8k, it's just there are only 2 standard LE's up for sale at present and the £8k came from the lowest priced one...

Shifty, only just caught up with this thread. So sorry to hear about the car and glad you're OK. I hope you get another good one. Are you going to buy it back from the insurance company?
Ross.

Hi Ross, definitely considering another one. I never did get to grips with DIY maintenance on the coupe so the next one will have to be sorted. In all honesty my LE needed everything fixing and then replacing and cost a bloody fortune. As for buying back the old one I'll wait to see what I'm offered for the settlement first. After the crash the engine continued to run and I would be very surprised if the belts had remained in place...plus the gear stick was solid

Shifty, it is a complete pants, but keep the faith mate,

Tim

Gutted to hear about this. That was a cracking looking car too.

While I am loath to say this (in light of recent press reports about dodgy whiplash claims) , if you are in pain from the accident, remember to get it checked out, because if you do suffer personal injury at a later date, it would help your claim.

Only just read this thread today. Feel gutted for you, nonetheless you walked away from a potentially big accident on your birthday, so some angel is definitely looking over you from above. Hope you can get the insurance sorted soon.

I'm finding the hardest part actually getting the 'engineer' to understand the difference between the LE and other coupe models. They sent through another 3 coupe for sale adverts tonight in order to prove their low settlement offer. One was a moonie plus with an LE interior = fail, the other was a Black LE that had been modified and the other one was just some muppet calling his 20vt an LE.
I'm really not against modified coupes, in fact I've always been envious but I think I'm safe in saying that once you modify the resale value ( I'm talking whole cars not breaking) drops. There's currently only one standard LE for sale in the country and thats selling for £11,500, now I really don't expect to get anywhere near that but would like to be left in a position to wait for one to turn up, with the money being offered now I'll be in the market for a mangy dog of a coupe that WILL be a money pit, so pissed off!

Good Luck shifty. I just had to accept the original offer on mine. 1.6k, sent them other ads and bills etc but they reckon all the ads had lower mileage (which is true) and the bills were just maintenance Having looked around I doubt if i'd have got 2k if I was selling it so I had to take their offer

Got most the parts for repair should you chose to repair it yourself!, main thing is the condition of the drivers chassis leg, (not the first bit that goes across the front the bit near the engine mount) if thats quite straight its a easy fix!

Thanks for the kind offer Adam, unfortunately they sent through the engineers report today and it's been classed Cat B.

Well the discussions continue but I thought this might be of interest -
The Limited Edition went into a 300 only production run, which was changed to 1400 which will impact residual value.

This was written by the engineer attempting to work out how much the car is worth...I must say that this surprised me as in all my time on here the actual amount produced is a mystery? I've asked him to provide proof I look forward to his response.

I can tell you.

He got it from Wikipedia.

You should change Wikipedia so that it says:

"Due to high demand at the start of 2012, prices for LE's sky-rocketted with cars changing hands for £30,000 on average"

... actually that is not true. Fiat never gave a prediction on the amount it would produce in total, moreover the LE badges feature 4 stamped-in numbers (N° 0001 onwards). If they were really only planning 400, it'd be three numbers. What Fiat DID say (if I remember correctly, following a LHD demo day that included a few English journalists) had already started, was that they were planning production for around 200 RHD models for the UK market. In reality, I *think* they got to around 300 allocated for the RHD market - certainly unconfirmed.

First of all, I'm really sorry to hear about your coop. I'd be gutted if anything happened to mine and it isn't half as nice as yours was.

Insurance companies really piss me off. My last quote went up £200 as my area had allegedly suddenly become a crime hotspot. I was livid as I was expecting a price drop as I was a year older with more no-claims bonus. Then when I moved the premium went up again because it was supposedly an even worse area. They charge what they like without any justification and then try and wriggle out of paying out if you have a crash.

IMO you should declare what you think the car is worth at the start of the policy and they should base the premium on that. If you crash you should be guaranteed that much. Simple.

I'm so glad I've not had an accident (touch wood) and not had to try and get money out of my insurer. It would be like getting blood from a stone. Still, could be worse; I could be 17 and paying £2000 for a 1.0saxo. It's criminal!

Shifty I'll join the chorus saying sorry to hear this. All of us enthusiasts worst nightmare.....
I see you mentioned your LE only had 20VT on the log book (as has mine and many others.) Was your car insured as a 20VT too or did you deliberately ensure it was stated as an LE. Trouble is if you only quote the registration to an insurer for a quote the database they use will only go on the data from the log book - hence if the V5 only states 20VT thats what the insurance policy will only state it covers.

BTW as a fellow Steeler ..... I wish I hadn't looked at the photos Would it be any worth showing your insurer the LE register list on the forum as a hint to the scarcity of the car? I know we're 'only' a forum but going on that (and you would expect most enthusiasts for the Coupe would be here) that now only makes 138 LE's still on the road that we know about....

Can I just say not all insurers/brokers are the same, there are some of us out their that do try and advise you to insure these cars correctly and do not try and rip you off!!


Shifty - Double check in your policy wording, the actual policy booklet that you should have with your certificate/policy schedule etc the insurers settlement basis. Ie 'Market Value'(??) then check the insurers definition of market value, again this should be confirmed in the same policy booklet, dependant on what it states may help you and you should quote this back to them if you need to.

You may find that the definition states that the most they will pay is the value declared to them at the start of the policy, if this is the case then you will have a proposal form or something similar that stated the amount you valued the car at at the start of the policy.

It may state it is the value of a replacement car of similar spec etc at the time of the loss. Which will assist with the case you are putting forward.

It may state something else.

By the way in my experience most insurers label an LE as a 20VT, even when told LE, as their systems do not rate them any diferently, rightly or wrongly.

If you need any advice please do not hesitate to contact me

Thanks
Sarah

Shifty, just found this article, which you will find of interest:-


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-1722555/How-challenge-car-valuation-write-off.html

Sorry to hear about your car and trouble of pay out your having.

Ive had good and bad from claims before over the years. Although the cars wasnt wrote off . Mainly from working in the trade and not happy with where they like to send your car for repairs.

The insurance companys really do try it on , not all of them though.

A friend was hit and his car rolled over on to roof then on to its side, He was fine a little shocked as expected and a cut and bruise here. The police report stated the other driver fully in wrong . Charged for dangerous driving . Direct line was both drivers insurance company suprise suprise it was settled at knock for knock lol. His car was a write off no repair no payout how that works i really dont know.

Hello Sarah,
Firstly Thank you for your continued assistance, it's very helpful.
I have checked the policy book wording and it states 'Market Value' which in turn is 'The cost of replacing your vehicle in the British Isles with a car of the same make, model, specification, mileage, age and condition just before the loss or damage.

The other link is also very interesting and yes they have suggested an 'independent assessor' carry out a check. Well with help from A Another expert on Fiat coupes we have provided this letter suggesting similar values for 'Market value' and the insurance company have rejected stating the report did not include actual cars for sale (ones that could be verfied). You can imagine I became a little bit miffed at this point and have now escalated to my insurance companies relationship manager who deals with the company producing the write off value.

I talked to him yesterday and have been promised an update later today.

Thank you again.

No problems Shifty, just hope it all works out in the end.

If I can be of any assistance just let me know

Regards
Sarah

Shifty

I dont know if this is any help but the moon plus with LE interior ,is just a vt6 with the LE kit/interior/trim on it. If its the one thats been on and off ebay for a while now. It was first priced at around 4k i think .
So out of the 3 exmaples they gave 2 arent LEs , maybe some ammo for you when you next speak with them.

End of the road unfortunately chaps, the assessor talked to Motormech (Paul) today who gave a value of £1800 against my coupe. The mileage was high at 145k but I'm fairly certain he didn't consider that the car was cherished and had been fully resprayed and the best part of £8k spent in 4 years...
So called expert...my arse!

Thats disgusting, it costs a lot of people at least 1k a year to keep the bloody things on the road.
Sorry shifty

Awful news mate ; can you buy her back and break her? At least you'll get a bit extra back towards another one

Crap isn't it mate

I had all that and they came back saying they were unable to improve their offer. I sent them that link to moneysaving experts report. Attached their offer (which I'd renamed "Admirals measly offer") and all my recent bills (close to 3k) but that was just dismissed as maintenance

Still. Once you've accepted that there's nothing you can do about it it gets a bit better and you can start planning ahead

You can pick up some very nice coupe's for £2K so not too bad an offer really!
Look at piston heads, a 2000 W plate sold for £1500!!

Is buying it back and doing the repair not an option, yes it will be registered but so what, if you intend to keep it then it makes no odds.

CAT B jimbo so its a gonna. Agree with the plus value, but not an LE and you try finding a looked after LE for 2k. In fact Motormech had their CAT D LE up for £4k...appreciate it had half the miles but double the mileage shouldn't mean half the price.

It's been said a hundred times on here, don't buy a coupe on mileage alone...

Paul valued it at £1800?

Yep.

Shifty how much do you think it was worth?

It's a low value but away from the forum and lovers of all things Coupé Fiat a 13 year old, expensive to run, perceived un reliable, perceived rotten, and high mileage car that has yet to be recognised in the annals of time as a classic and the little gem that a well loved example is then it's a fair value.

You can always ask them to replace like for like?!?

Benje, v good question, I insured it for £4k but only ever thought it was worth £3k tops until I looked for other ones to replace it with. To be in a position to replace it I would need at least £4k. It is difficult to work out when there are so few available.
Big muzzie, unfortunately like for like is a myth.

Years ago, proof of servicing and maintainence, etc, used to add value to a car, even to insurance companies.

I know prices are low, but a looked after Coupe will fetch between £1500 and £1800 at least, so I would have thought add at least £1000 or more to that for a well maintained LE, regardless of mileage

Gutted for you Shifty

You might want to consider that Paul only answered the question he was asked, based on the information he was told. If he wasn't given the full story (cherished, resprayed, etc) then his valuation would be correspondingly lower.

If the assessor has been economical with the facts, this is ammunition for you. I'll ask Paul when I'm there tomorrow

You can be sure the Assessor didn't mention it was an LE

I owe Paul an apology for my recent post suggesting he gave a value of £1800 to the insurance company last week. He suggested a much higher value. I've raised this back into the insurance company and await their response. I have also enlisted my sister in laws help, she's a barrister who works on tax and insurance

Are you suggesting that your insurance company has been economical with the truth?

I'll let the judge decide that at the small claims court

So they flat out lied about what Paul said? Or am I misunderstanding?

Good luck in court.

It never went that far in the end, my legal aid explained that they use glasses guide against standard versions of any car, so it would seem you are after all better off modifying.... I accepted £2k. I know I shouldn't but they sent through the offically coupe values from glasses guide and one other, I'll wait for a Mod to give the all clear before posting...it's not very flattering tbh.

Just to put this thread to bed.

I have bought the car from Shifty and have taken it back to France so i can dismantle it for the useable spare's etc.

From what i understand happened. After the accident the Coupe was recoverd to a garage where it lay there for insurance inspection etc.
At a later date,unknown to Shifty it got moved to Copart in Sandy, Bedfordshire. That is where i collected it. Now i have it home,i find that the Hids ,bonnet stays,pinafarini badges and a one year old battery is missing. The battery had been removed and then replaced with a dud one.
It seems that the items have been removed at either place it was stored.
Its dam sad that you cant trust the security of your belongings when being cared for by registered contractors.

Surely this is theft? The car was never their's to dismantle?
Not shifty's fault but surely worth a complaint to the insurers.

Imagine if you were keeping the car and someone had already started stripping the good bits off.
Joe unfortunately got a raw deal it seems aswell as shifty not being paid a fat lot.

Yes it is theft but it happens all the time unfortunately

It may happen all the time, but just because it's not noticed all the time is no reason to encourage it.

Since in this case evidence can easily be presented as to which parts were present when it was handed over to the insurer, I'd be onto them to make good, or I'd see them in the small claims court.

Common Copart practice unfortunately. I'd love someone to do what Neil suggests, especially when they have the evidence to do so.

I tread carefully with anything I buy through Copart now, due to a couple of cars I purchased, unrecorded and covered only a few hundred miles since they were mot'd, but being delivered with shredded tyres, blown exhausts, and all manner of faulty parts. Does seem some cars are picked at by vultures whilst in their depots

Impossible to prove unfortunately, the car was moved without supervision from the crash site to a local garage, then onto a place near Heathrow and then onto Copart. Attempting to prove who took anything would be impossible. The bits that actually went i.e battery/struts and badges would suggest another coupe owner IMHO. I'm obviously not pointing fingers but wouldn't someone with a bit of scrap knowledge take the interior, after all they have the time and probably a few coupes lying around to use as donors (especially in Copart it's cocking huge!).
Good luck selling the bits off Joe.

No!! They would only take the easy to remove stuff . There are no other coupes in Copart ! In my opinion i think that the parts were of some value to thief.

agree with magooagain, bonnet struts, badges and battery are the non specific parts which can be used elsewhere, have spent alot of time in scrap yards and bits that tend to fly of any car are spoilers, batteries and any tuning mod such as filters, exhausts and wheels etc.
people used to try and steal gear knobs and anything they could get off from stored cat C and D salvage cars.
infact in my scrap yard the coupes are often stripped of rear lights, badges etc.