Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help me....

I was involved in a car accident yesterday afternoon, I has a transit van smash into the back of me, I was stationary waiting to turn into a side road. I don't know his exact speed but it was enough to jolt/move me forward and stall my car. Amazingly, visually there are only a few minor scratches/scuffs to the bumper which my dad has managed to t-cut out with a few remaining.

My car is due to be looked at by an garage ( insurances preferred choice ) on Tuesday morning, I am curious as to whether there could be damage under the body work which could be quite serious? The reason I say this is as my friend had a similar collisions a few weeks back no visual damage but the mechanic took the bumper off and they now have to replace a metal bar under the car which has been bent as a result?

I will for caring people of the forum, I am OK the usual aches and pains stiff neck headache and slight nausea.

Can anyone help me please or any thoughts?

Thanks

James

It is quite possible that there is damage under the surface.

Hopefully it'll just be a case of replacing the rear collision bar behind the plastic bumper. It's difficult to say without seeing the car.

My Dad had a minor bump a couple of months ago - needed to replace bumper and front cross/collision bar on his Matrix. The Galaxy he hit , right on the front O/S corner required one whole clip on the lower grill to be clipped back in - but to quote the owner "It does that anyway"

Fingers crossed for a cheap fix! Although, be aware that even a not at fault accident with no damage to your vehicle will still affect your insurance.

Now that I've commented on your main concern...

Just take it easy for a week or two, give those aches and pains time to heal, whether or not you go for compensation is up to you, but regardless of whether you do or not - make sure you get checked over by a Dr, unlike the car - you're not as easy to fix!!

Ahh really?? its been a right !Removed! month for me .....3 points now this its enough to put a 19 year off driving! my insurance keep telling me its not my fault don't worry third party are responsible for all costs blah blah blah.

I am going down the compensation route not expecting anything but you don't try you don't get!

thank for the response. Ill let you know what they find.

Well, lest your ok, could have been worse!

Think of it this way, The energy of a collision must go somewhere and moving you forward wont have taken it all so one of you will have some damage if your foot was on the brake, if your foot was off the brake when he hit and you still only nudged forward then its likely the energy was transferred in to flexing of the bumpers etc an moving you forward.

its the same reason someone stacking a car in to a wall at 100mph doesn't stand much of a chance, all that energy of the car and yourself shifting around with no where to go safely results in you being a crumple zone for your insides

I got hit in the back once, it was pretty bad an cost about 1200 to fix, near on write off. scary how much can get buggered that you cant see.

look under the boot carpet, check for any creasing around the spare wheel well, and the edge of the back panel. If that looks okay you won't really know until the bumper comes off.

Someone at work had a 'nudge' in an Alfa and needed a new boot floor!

It's the first place I look when buying a car, as people often have them pulled out with a jig, making them vulnerable in further accidents.

Take care of your back and neck!

Agreed with the above, a transit is a heavy motor and could well ding the back crossbar.

I had an accident in February, stopped and a zafira went into the back of me. To be honest, unless you are suffering whiplash (and I seriously hope you arent!) I wouldnt go down the line of claiming compensation. Regardless of who pays for this accident, you will BOTH pay for it in the next 5 years. You will have to acknowledge you were involved in a not at fault accident and this will increase your premiums.

Also just looking for compo for the sake of looking for compo is just going to make you another statistic where your putting everyones insurance bills up. A solicitor needs to get involved, there fees arent cheap, and if the other party is paying, then they will be paying for your solicitor, and their own drivers, on top of the accident fees etc, you would end up adding more money to a claim which the insurer will just parm off to any other customer.

Its a rubbish month for you, and I hope it improves! (I can feel your pain on this one!) but honestly, solicitors are too much stress. I am entitled to compensation from my injury and at points I wonder why I am bothering. It drags out (mines now at 7 months) and its just agro on agro.

cheers guys, I'll keep you posted for what they find on Tuesday. Fingers crossed nothing too serious!

There is a bolt-on rear bumper beam which is there for the purpose of absorbing rear impacts and (hopefully) preventing the energy being absorbed by the main body. Helps insurance rating having it as a bolt-on item as it's cheaper to replace when necessary.

As for premium going up even in the case of a no-fault accident where would the OP stand if he estimated the extra cost of this over the next 5 years for example and put that in as part of any compensation claim, as an uninsured loss?

I had a no fault bump several years ago but at the time was with Direct Line and they confirmed it would not affect my premium so didn't have to look further into it.

Hi troy

Sorry what do you mean by "OP"? I'm slightly concerned that my premium may now go up for something I am totally out of control of happening?

OP=Original Poster ;-)

It's not fair, I had similar. It's like you pay a fortune for insurance but are always scared to use it.

I think it's just the standard question of "have you claimed in the past 5 years?" you now have to answer yes.

You cannot get a reimbursement for future cost. Whilst insurers say outright it's not going to increase it, but at renewal time any insurer sees any knock as being a further risk it may be a fiver or 500 but it will affect the premium in most cases. To prove the point, go to any price comparison site, do a compare and with no accidents and with one, not necessarily all will but most will increase the premium

Adding to the previous comment above you need to have the boot floor checked. Boot floor damage can easily write off a car. The "bar" is called a cross member, it supports most parts on the back or front of a car some car have a upper and lower cross member, cross member is also apart of the mot and can rust away, it's often welded on, that and the boot floor can be a very expensive repair, definitely worth getting it checked properly

My cmax needed new cross member, boot floor, bumper and all cost 2200,shoild have by rights been written off but it didn't work, it was oddly repaired

as mentioned its being examined Tuesday morning (photos taken_ etc etc... they deal with insurance repairs daily so I assume they know what to check for but I mentioned the boot floor/ cross member so on...

I took a quick look myself under the boot carpet no visual damage not sure if I was look at right places or not.

If you were looking under the boot carpet, you were in the right area!! The fact nothing leapt out at you and yelled "HERE BE DAMAGE" sounds hopeful!

Hi Guys,

Right well, my car was just initially inspected this morning by the garage, they have found 3 or 4 dent in the rear bumper which I never picked up on along with some scuffs on the paint. Along with this he is quite concerned that there may be damage to the "collision bar" whatever you call it, the thing we've been talking about on above posts! sooo....estimate to come over today and then book me in middle of the month depending on availability.

its amazing when someone else takes a look at your car you start to notice things that you didn't beforehand. being a white car the dents aren't too visible and in the sunshine as well it was difficult to take photos for the insurance company but got there in the end.

cheers

Glad to hear is in the right place