Urgent Assistance Needed In France Following Crash

[the silver surfer]

Technically, the french highways, as we hit a pot hole followed by a bit of uneven tarmac which caused the caravan to snake wildly out of control. My mother-in-law was at the wheel at the time though.

[the silver surfer]

The value you give to the ins co is pretty irrelevant. I could have said 20k, don't mean they're going to pay me out 20k. They will give an engineers valuation based on various sources, I will then go back to them with the sales adverts I've been accumulating for similar ones to mine showing an average price of about 6k. If I can show that their valuation is not fair and the typical cost of an EXACT replacement is a greater value, they will accept that. I'm not new to this situation!

[blackpoolsparks]

I was thinking the opposite way.
I told them mine was valued at 2.5K
Isint that what they base the premium on?

[the silver surfer]

A very small percentage (tiny in fact) of your premium is based on valuation. Experiment with online quote sites. The biggest part of your premium is made up things like voluntary excess, no claims protection, additional drivers, high annual mileage, accidents, claims, convictions and of course, post code.

I should add that if you have a sports car or similar that tiny percentage will not be quite as tiny .

[dieselboy]

If your insurance company offer you 4K, I'll drive mine over a cliff.

I think you'll be suprised

Let us know.....

In June 2008 I got £2250 insurance payout for my LN130, no questions. I didn't even try to get more out of them. I was shocked.

[slobodan]

Technically, the french highways, as we hit a pot hole followed by a bit of uneven tarmac which caused the caravan to snake wildly out of control. My mother-in-law was at the wheel at the time though.

Wow, That's probably the second to last thing I would ever think of.

Letting my MIL drive my Surf.

The last thing would be letting her drive it with a caravan.

[the silver surfer]

I was in the back taking a snooze break at the time, as I was due to be doing about 90% of our emigration drive down to Southern Spain.

[dieselboy]

As long as everyone is okay. Could have happened to anyone.

[the silver surfer]

Accident update

Just thought I'd update you all on the crash repairs insurance saga;

After god knows how long now and one delay after another, the insurance co have agreed to the FULL repair of my Surf.

Now I remind you that it's a 96 SSRG with a few factory fitted extras (no dvd sadly), pretty standard bits, with 136000kms on the clock and mint condition pre-crash.

Estimated price for repairs?...............A tad under €6000
Plus, on top of that another 1000 for transporting it AND 1300 for storage.

So now we have about another 3-4 week wait while the parts are ordered, including a new rear axle, till we get our Surf back.

Thought the info on values might be of use to you guys.

[KERRSURF]

Glad it's getting sorted mate, remember to make sure every detail of the car is spot on, all the work and new parts will be under warranty for a while too from the repair centre.

Your truck will be nice when it's all done!

[the silver surfer]

The Surf Returns

I can now happily report that my Surf has been returned, almost fully repaired (got to take it back for bull bar fitting). The garage even undersealed it and repainted all 5 of my alloys
Can not tell you how good it is to be back behind it's wheel after 6 months of it being in the garage, and me being forced to drive my poor Cherokee into the ground. As the lift kit didn't arrive in time and things didn't really manage to happen as quickly as we hoped we didn't get that fitted, but when it goes back for the bull bar they'll do it then....Happy days!

I had 3 questions I wanted to ask, but can only remember 2 of them now and I'm sure they'll sound pretty dumb
1) The tracks I have to drive down are quite loose shingle and I want to quickly switch into 4wd (coming straight off tarmac), what mode should the 4wd selector be in? (I have it 2h4h at the mo).
2) I can buy "B" grade diesel or Agricultural diesel out here and want to know if it is any different to normal diesel and can I use it with no consequences to the Surf?
3) Just remembered it! When I get the 2" lit kit done what can I expect from the on and off road handling? How will it differ from standard suspension?

Thx in advance.

[Apache]

Good to hear you got sorted!

Cant help with 1) other than you can use 4WD on a 3rd gen whenever the hell you feel like.

2) This engine found its way into many vehicles all over the world, and mine ran on pretty shabbily filtered waste veg with no ill effects at all. Cant see anything masquerading as diesel of some sort causing any problems.

3) 2" wont feel much different to what you're used to, according to the wife.

[Smego2]

I

I had 3 questions I wanted to ask, but can only remember 2 of them now and I'm sure they'll sound pretty dumb
1) The tracks I have to drive down are quite loose shingle and I want to quickly switch into 4wd (coming straight off tarmac), what mode should the 4wd selector be in? (I have it 2h4h at the mo).
£rd gen just slow to below 60kph, wheels straight press the 4wd button then I find knock it into n and back to d and carry on do this on the road before you get home as 3rd gen ok as has open central diff

2) I can buy "B" grade diesel or Agricultural diesel out here and want to know if it is any different to normal diesel and can I use it with no consequences to the Surf?
Should be OK

3) Just remembered it! When I get the 2" lit kit done what can I expect from the on and off road handling? How will it differ from standard suspension?

Better on and off road as the standard shocks and springs are awful.....!

Thx in advance.

[the silver surfer]

Thanks for the replies. I actually thought the std suspension wasn't too bad - I am comparing it to my Cherokee though.
So will it be firmer? less roll on bends? smoother on the straights? more responsive through the steering? Just a bit anxious that it won't be as good as what I have now.

[slobodan]

I run my Surf and the Wife's Isuzu on low grade diesel, I give it the good stuff every 5th fill up, no problems yet.