My disco got wrecked today :-(

Good to see you still walking and talking after what must have been an absolute nightmare.

Sh*t - full marks to Land Rover I guess, but really crappy luck all the same. Sometimes an incident like this can have a bit of a psychological knock-on effect a day or so later - so don't be too surprised if this happens to you (it means you're human!).

Hope you're soon back behind the wheel of a Disco :-)

Martyn

Pictures are at:-

That's not as bad as I originally imagined (I hope that doesn't sound trite or dismissive). 4.5K for a repair seems a tad high - as it doesn't look as though there's any chassis damage. See what the insurers offer you, offer to buy it back off them, then I know of a certain engineer who may like a little project :-)

Again, full marks for the build quality, but still bloody bad luck.

Martyn

It doesnt actually look that bad does it, but I can imagine that theres a fair few hours of labour there to put it right?

Sorry about your disco :(.

Is a defender really that safe? Do they have things like side impact bars and the like? I would have though that apart from the strong chassis, and maybe the bulkhead being a fairly solid bit you wouldnt be that safe in a defender.

If anyone can, Warren can :-)

Martyn

Do insurance companies work with quotes from real mechanics like warren when they work out how much a car will cost to repair?. I imagine that Warren would both be cheaper and do a better job than the sort of place the insurance company would use.

No

Yes

Screwed up old world we live in.

Martyn

Insurance company "Approved Suppliers". Another way to justify screwing the public, as a lot of these suppliers are part owned by the insurance company and as such the money that's paid to the supplier comes back to the insurer, but all you ever see is "Whoosp - that cost $REASONABLEAMOUNT*2 to fix" and we then get premium increases.

I ended up with a £1200 bill to replace the offside rear quarter panel on a SII disco at the main dealers bodyshop - the insurers place wanted closer to 3k.

£1200 is still pisstake for that panel, but hey-ho.

Now, when it comes to household insurance, I ask all insurance companies I get quotes from if they use Circle Britannia as a workforce. If they do then I bin the quote, regardless of how cheap it is. CB managed to cost me

5 days off work due to pissing around on appointments to patch a 4sq ft. hole in a ceiling. It eventually took them 7 days on site and 14 days elapsed to do the work that should have been 2 half days. And then they got uppity when I threatened to bill them for loss of earnings when they came looking for my £350 excess on a job that several local plasterers told me would have cost £120 at most from them. I later had the entire hall ceiling redone due to a burst water tank and it cost me £180 with a local company.

End of the tale - Circle Britannia will be charged with trespassing if they ever come on my property again, and if I find that my insurer uses them then I'll take legal advice on obtaining money by deception.

P.

Hi Steve, sorry to read about your prang. Looking at the photos shows just how good a job the low loader did, as it appears to have "only" damaged replaceable panels.

Doesn't look like any damage to roof or chassis, and with damage being on the one side, paint mismatch should be minimised.

Was the vehicle pushed sideways?

If so make sure that you get the swivel hubs and steering rods etc checked. Have seen a case where the swivel hub wasn't checked in a side ways shunt, and caused problems a few weeks later.

Cheers

Phillip Simpson

Apparently you are though according to the statistics.

I don't believe statistics anymore! :) I didnt think that a defender, especially if hit from the side would offer you much protection.. Ive dented the doors on my series when i've been trying to slam them shut!, and a defender isnt really any different...

When something hits your car side on its only got to bend the little monocoque sill and then its starts bending you. Unless you are hit in your defender by a very odd shaped vehicle all of whose bodywork is above the level of the LR chassis, it's got to bend the LR chassis, which by all acounts is not easy. . . . ;-)

That is true, i suppose that anything with a real chassis is better than your average monocoque(sp?) car!. I imagine that things like trucks though are above the level of the chassis (excluding the wheels obviously!), and would squish it pretty well :( Also, I wonder why a defender is safer than other LR products?, I'd have thought that the bodyshell on a disco or a RR was stronger than the bits on top of the defender chassis.

It's not in itself safer. More to do with the people that drive them and the kind of accidents they get into. They're not the best vehicles to drive head on into a motorway bridge.

Who says that it's the bodyshell that takes the brunt? If you're talking about a head on hit then I would have thought the defender bumper is a tad stronger than whatever they put on discos. If it's hit side on then the chances are that the wheels/axles are going to get in the way and present a fairly solid obstruction to whatever it is - and pass then brunt of that onto the chassis/put the energy into pushing the defender sideways. You also have outriggers getting in the way. Plus the fact that it's likely a car will dive under the defender side, as opposed to into. From the rear, I think again the defender presents a stronger rear end than any other product of LRs stable.

Regards

William MacLeod

Part of it is that the Defender is heavier than most other cars, but also, as you say, it is safer because of the way people drive it. A bit like the DC-3 aeroplane - generally considered one of the safest airliners built - but it operated (operates) under a dispensation from complying with post war safety requirements, particularly engine out performance and cabin exits! JD

Hi,

Vehicle was pushed sideways as it finished up wedged between the low loader and a double height curb. It seemed to steer OK afterwards, but I did ask the insurance engineer to note and consider this.

Also the front of the driver side side step is pushed in a couple of inches. Not 100% sure what has bent withour having a look underneath.

I guess will be properly revealed on Monday morning!

Steve

Unfortunately this means that the Defender will hold up well, but there is much more chance that the driver will get a broken neck, back injuries or whatever else. The car that suffers least damage in an accident is probably not the safest for the occupant.

It all depends what you hit. If you are hit by a modern, deformable car you may do OK. A tree still won't flinch, and all the deceleration will happen over a much shorter time in a Defender, causing serious injuries. Not to mention all the hard structures waiting to impale you behind the non-existent airbags.

Something above the chassis line (a large tree branch, flatbed truck) will meet very litte resistance and will cut you in half. Modern jap-crap cars will at the very least have a safety cage of some kind.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i