Jesus thats bad. Over £7grand dammage and the Police sound like they have been useless.
Post #29
Further update, garage just been on the 'phone, the estimate they've given the insurance company is just over 7 grand. The garage seems to think they are liable to write it off owing to further issues down the line (as suspected) but i should know more on Wednesday.
Post #90
Hello all, i guess its time for an update to this sorry tale.
Firstly thank you all for your messages of support, i notice this topic is getting linked to around the world owing to the sheer scale of the damage to the car. When i got up Monday morning and couldnt quite believe what i was seeing, it still seemed to me i hadnt seen vandalism on this scale anywhere and guessing from the interest in the pictures i am not alone.
To address a few points raised, for those interested, i live in a small town in South Gloucestershire, England about 10 miles North of Bristol. There is supposedly very little crime here, evidenced by the fact my fully comp insurance is 400 quid and the nearest 24 hour Police station is nearly 30 miles away.
The Renault Clio you can see in the background is my 80 year old mothers and that was painted down one side but not covered in paint stripper like mine.
My insurance company have been pretty good to be honest. The car was booked in for assessment the same day, i took it there myself at lunchtime the same day so i didnt have to look at it any longer. I was telephoned at 3pm the same day to tell me that the damage was extensive (as if i didnt know) and the repair bill was well over £7000. I was also told that owing to the nature of the chemical attack there was the potential for the car to be written off. I was told to expect a call on Wednesday. I recieved a call on Tuesday. This was from a loss adjuster who informed me the body shop said they could successfully repair it but they might still write off the car. He told me that they would pay me £17000 if they wrote off the car, i told him if that was their intention they should think again as under the terms of my insurance they were going to replace my car if they wrote it off. The moral here being, know your insurance policy, quite naturally your insurance company is going to try and get away with the cheapest option they can. I cannot blame them for this, but obviously i wasnt going to accept their position. Much to everyone here's horror no doubt, i pretty much insisted they repair the car if at all possible. I have numerous reasons for asking for this but the main one is the fact that i really only bought the car to cheer myself up when my father was in hospital dying from cancer and i was sick of driving to the hospital every night. As everyone knows some cars are cars and some cars are emotional attachments. This one is an emotional attachment. The car is scheduled for finishing 14th November which i thought isnt bad seeing as they have to order over 70 body parts from Subaru to complete the repair.
Unfortunateley the same cannot be said for Avon and Somerset Constabulary. I have read the "no evidence" argument, well if they cared to come and look they might find some. The only contact i have had was a phone call onb Tuesday to say they were planning to photograph the car but it was now too dark so could they come tomorrow? I explained the car was already in the bodyshop but they could go there or they could have my photos. I also said they could meet me to take photos of the damage to the clio. The reply was "what damage to a clio?" it would seem they cant even record the information given them when a crime is reported properly. Anyway they agreed to come and meet me the next day. They didnt turn up and i havent heard from them since... except for. I had a letter from Avon and Somerset Constabulary, date 28th October, the day after the crime, saying, and i quote directly, "We have carried out a thorough investigation of the circumstances of this incident, but have not gathered enough evidence to be able to bring a successful prosecution at court". Well what can you say? Apparently not visiting the scene of a crime, not even viewing any physical aspect of this crime is a thorough investigation. An act that involves climbing over locked gates into private property, causing damage to two peoples property totalling thousands and thousands of pounds is not even a crime, its a bloody INCIDENT. Confidence in the Police force.... mmm not here im afraid.
