I was involved in an accident 7 weeks ago when an old lady drove into the side of me on a roundabout. She admitted full responsibilty and within 2 days I had received a courtesy car. Fast forward 6 weeks and I finally receive an offer for my car (after harrasing the insurance company (I won't mention the name of the company until someone tells me I can) everyday for 2 weeks). The offer I received was £500 for a L reg Renault 5 with 62 000 miles which is probably the market value but not nearly enough to replace the car given the prices in my local Autotrader.

I've complained to the insurance company and the solicitors appointed by my insurance company to handle the claim (who seems totally uninterested in helping) and have been told that this is a fair offer and what I am entitled to.

I read a letter in the Honest John letters section of the Telegraph dated 10th May (3 days after my accident) that in an accident that is not my fault "it is your common-law entitlement to be put back in the position you were in immediately before the other party damaged your property".

As before the accident I had a low mileage Renault 5 in perfect working order and with the £500 I can buy a Renault 5 a year older with twice the mileage I do not see this as a fair offer.

It is not worth me taking independant legal advice for the sake of a few £100 but if anyone out there has any experience or knowledge in how to procede I would love to hear it.


Cheers
PB
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My old man is looking at buying the following from a rover dealer its a pre-registered 52 reg

Rover v6 2.5 connoisseur se
with 12miles on the clock £16k

Is this a good deal? They are also offering him 3.2K for his old 1999(T) Rover 620Sli which has 30K on the clock and is in impeccable condition which I guess is reasonable given the obsoleteness of the 600.



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Hello everyone,

My car is currently in the VW garage being looked at after a breakdown this morning.

My Alternator (water pump and power steering) belt snapped whilst on the M1 this morning. The water temp rose to 120 degrees c before I had the space to pull over to the hard shoulder.

RAC came and replaced the belt, but when we tried to start it after, it wouldn't. After a couple of attempts, we got it going, but it sounded like a bag of spanners. RAC man immediately phoned his once Audi servicer friend who diagnosed that the timing may be out. After dropping the car off at VW garage to be fixed, I was told that the timing couldn't possibly be out after an alternator belt snapping and it could be more serious.

I am waiting for a quote to fix, but would like to know (before they come back to me) what the possible causes are.

Can Anyone help? Thanks in anticipation. Read more

Does anyone have experience of changing a Mk3 Cavalier headlamp switch? The Haynes Manual procedure is disconnect battery. Turn switch to dipped beam and pull out switch as you would to turn on interior light. Insert suitable rod into hole on underside of switch cap and release cap. Then squeeze release clips together at base of now exposed spindle and pull switch from dash. When my Cavalier was new 14 years ago, the original switch was replaced under warranty and I watched as the dealer struggled with the squeeze clips and in the end gave up and removed whole lighting panel from dash and released the headlamp switch clips from behind. Is this a common problem or hopefully is it unique to the old faulty switch? As you can guess I'm about to replace the switch again. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Read more

Sorry, but it's another "what car should i buy" thread.

I've been looking to upgrade my mk2 golf gti. Initially i was looking for a corrado vr6 storm, but can't seem to find the right one for a reasonable price.

Any other recommendations? i looked at a bmw M3 but they seem a little old for the money. Thought abouth an older type bmw 318iS but can't find one.

Impreza's seem a little bit suspect, trying to get a decent, older one.

I'm looking to spend up to £7k. Read more