Bugger

[Welly]

It's OK - I've just realised my mistake....

If you look loosely at the car (the left hand drivers side) it looks a bit like someone's siting in there holding up a piece of paper...at which the 'Woman A' is looking at - from this I wondered who took the photo, leaving 'Woman A' a possible by-stander albeit a very nosey one - but it is Croatia and you have told us how strange it is

I then realised no-one's in the car, Stevie must be taking the photo but then what's 'Woman A' looking at?

[steve_earwig]

Eh? Have you been taking those happy pills again? It's Woman B (for Božena). Woman B is staring blankly into space because she's a nervous passenger and it was her side of the car that just got rammed.

[Welly]

For the purpose of this excersise (and to preserve my credibility) try not to focus on the empty drivers seat (it spoils the effect) - if you imagine someone siting against the drivers door and turned to the side holding up the paper....

[steve_earwig]

Credibility?

[Welly]

OK I admit - the open door, the looking Woman, the left hand drive I forgot about, the reflections.........

If you squint you can just about.......oh, ok I failed

Next please.

[steve_earwig]

[teamster1975]

Hey it all happens in Lidls round your neck of the woods Steve!

[steve_earwig]

sh*t, that's nothing, you should see what's going on at the Konzum (bigger supermarket) down the road!

(Anyone else on this entire planet ever see They Live!? - "Eat, sleep, reproduce - Konzum!")

Incidently, the assessor came and looked at my car, he says the door can be fixed (bugger#2) and it'll be fixed at a local garage they have a deal with, so it looks like I won't see a penny He did say they'd replace the wheel though (do fuggin what??)

[teamster1975]

he says the door can be fixed (bugger#2)

Christ,I hope that doesn't mean they're gonna slap a load of filler on it

[steve_earwig]

My thoughts exactly. It'd better be unbelievably smooth and ripple-free

[teamster1975]

Well keep us posted matey. All this grief for something that's not your fault

[Welly]

Are you sure he meant 'fixed' as in filler and paint or fixed as in replace door? it would come down to labour verses materials I suppose. Can't you cave it in some more tonight when no-one's looking

To be fair though a modern bodyshop have got some fantastic ways of pulling out dents with only a tiny bit of filler used to smooth out any imperfections at the end - maybe not such a worry?

[steve_earwig]

No, fixed as in tonnes of lob - I asked him if they'd replace the whole door or just the skin, he said neither Now the guy's seen it and taken lots of digital pics it's probably too late to "improve it". What really gets me is they'll repair a badly mangled door but replace a lightly scuffed wheel

How flat they can get metal depends on how much it's stretched, you can get rid of some of the excess with heat and dollies but it's a lot of work (I once watched a guy repairing a rolled 911 this way). Then, look at the repairs on Supa's car, maybe it'll be ok. Still, I hope I get the option to reject the car if the repair's not good enough.

Well keep us posted matey. All this grief for something that's not your fault

Certainly shall. The biggest grief comes from not knowing how they do stuff here, the Croats do seem to have great skill in making things needlessly over-complicated (e.g. registering, MOTing and insuring a car takes 1 day, which is mostly spent queueing or driving between HAK and the police station).

[steve_earwig]

I've just been to see the bloke who's meant to be repairing my Pug, he says he's got no problems repairing the door. I was a little dubious so he showed me one he'd fixed, which was a Pussat that had been in a pile-up on the motorway and I couldn't tell how much he'd repaired. He then showed me a '99 Glof he's about to repair:

Obviously an interesting new shape, the roof is bowed up and the other side isn't much better. He says it would have been worth 6,000 Eurines before and will cost the owner about 3,500 to fix and take 2 weeks (don't they write anything off??!) He also said to buy one in this sort of condition would be about 1,000 Eurines!

I told him I found it a little odd that the insurers want my door to be repaired but will stump up for a new wheel and that all it needs is a paint, he said he'd paint it for me if that's what I want - NOOO! If the insurers want to buy me a new wheel I'll have it! (Can I have the old one?)

One problem: He has no reserve car to lend me while mine's being fixed and the insurers here won't stump up for a hire car or anything (bastards!! What if I needed my car for my job???) We told him that I still have my D8 which I'd not managed to sell and he basically told me I was nuts for not registering it, it'd make so much difference to what I got for it... So, I've got my dad coming from the 1st to the 7th May, we've booked it in for the 8th and guess what I'll be driving then

Btw does anyone know anything abou the little stone chip pad thingy behind the paint in the bottom back corner of the door surround? Can't find it on Service Pox

[Welly]

Bejesus! - that Golf's had a light roll by the looks.

Over here the lightest 'tap' will right off anythng worth less than £3,000.00

What do you mean by 'registering' the D8?

I've seen those anti-chip areas - it looks like a transfer under the paint? unless it's factory applied thick soft paint?