What made you happy today?

[Techyd]

Presumably you can also line up the side damage by height to that on your car?

[NAC63]

39 minutes ago, Alfa2Evora said:

Gotcha! Well, I'm pretty sure I have anyway.

Sitting today, literally in the space next to where it was last Thursday, a white BMW X5 with black alloys. What are the chances of there being several of those so I had a closer look.

Scraped along the rear passenger's door and wheel, but no immediately obvious paint transfer from mine although it does look like somebody may have had a session with some T-Cut lately. Then, I saw it. All those hours watching forensic examinations on TV paid off. On the rear wheel, a small amount of bright blue paint on the edge of the rim. I rest my case m'lud.

Local force informed and they're going to follow it up ASAP, and view the CCTV images for final proof. Sad thing is, for it to be parked where it is at this time of day, it must belong to a member of the hospital staff, .

That's great news . I would be sat on his/her  bonnet waiting for them to appear 

[Barrykearley]

I’d say block him in with the Evora - but he would likely just drive over it

[andydclements]

It may now be worth pursuing an insurance claim where you engage a claims loss company and they go direct to his insurer based on the registration, and bypass your insurer. 

[Mark Blanchard]

On 12/09/2022 at 17:01, Barrykearley said:

It’s a lovely car chap - hope you’re enjoying it. 
You could always spice things up by mentioning cambelts 🤣

Just got the 360 back.  It was £1700 for cambelt and major service.

[Rambo]

Shouldn't that be in the "unhappy" thread? 🤔

[Bazza 907]

2 hours ago, Mark Blanchard said:

Just got the 360 back.  It was £1700 for cambelt and major service.

That's really not too bad and much less than I would have anticipated. 😀

[Rambo]

Blimey, how much were you expecting? 😯 Hope the price included the water pump, tensioner, idler and associated belts?

[C8RKH]

Yup. Times I is very happy my performance cars were built by Lotus....

[Barrykearley]

I thought that’s reasonable for a fezza full belts service 💪

[Mark Blanchard]

It’s not engine out to change the belts on the 360. Yep a long list of replacement parts / fluids and tensioner.

A C service on my Esprit was usual £1500, so £1700 inc vat is ok in my book.

20 years ago I had a bill on my Esprit for £2500 for a C service.  Needless to say I didn’t go back to that garage again.

[johnpwalsh]

8 hours ago, NAC63 said:

That's great news . I would be sat on his/her  bonnet waiting for them to appear 

Great news David. Lets hope our police do something with the 100% evidence.

[Rambo]

8 hours ago, Mark Blanchard said:

It’s not engine out to change the belts on the 360. Yep a long list of replacement parts / fluids and tensioner.

A C service on my Esprit was usual £1500, so £1700 inc vat is ok in my book.

20 years ago I had a bill on my Esprit for £2500 for a C service.  Needless to say I didn’t go back to that garage again.

Apologies Mark. I hadn't realised we were talking Ferrari. I assumed when I read 360 it was a typo 🤣🤣

[Mark Blanchard]

32 minutes ago, Rambo said:

Apologies Mark. I hadn't realised we were talking Ferrari. I assumed when I read 360 it was a typo 🤣🤣

£1700 is small change down the back of the sofa in Ferrari land.

That price also included an mot and taxiing to the station and back.  I think it deserve to stay on the What made me happy page.

[Mark Blanchard]

17 hours ago, Alfa2Evora said:

I have that but didn't want to make it 'public' on here.

What a total plonker that BMW driver is, returning to the scene of the crime as well as damaging your car.  You could look under the X5 bumper and see if there’s any blue paint on it.  I hope you get it sorted.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I use these guys for my Mondial T cabrio. How does their price compare to yours? 

[Mark Blanchard]

44 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

I use these guys for my Mondial T cabrio. How does their price compare to yours? 

I don't think I've seen prices cheaper, these are all ex vat of course.  That's cheap even for a normal car.

[Rambo]

Clutch replacement "CALL" 🤣

It should also say "but make sure you're sat down first!" 🤣

[Mark Blanchard]

Owning a Ferrari is like walking on a lake of ice and hearing the cracks below your feet.  You never know when you're going to fall in.

[Barrykearley]

Yeah - but at least your living it @Mark Blanchard ♥️💪

[Alfa2Evora]

On 21/09/2022 at 16:36, andydclements said:

It may now be worth pursuing an insurance claim where you engage a claims loss company and they go direct to his insurer based on the registration, and bypass your insurer. 

I've done just that today.

After some online 'digging', I confirmed through MIB that it is insured - with UKI (formerly Direct Line) so it should be a relatively pain-free process to deal with them, being a reputable big-name company and all that. EXCEPT, it turns out that the BMW is on the road illegally. Maybe the owner can't find a screwdriver to change the incorrectly-spaced personal number plates and that's why it's not yet had the MOT it was due back in May, .

I just thought - more hassle so I'll let somebody else deal with it as I've got more than enough on my plate already.

[C8RKH]

Anything back from the Polis?  Given the CCTV and you have found the culprit this should be an open and shut case for them. And they can get the car for being illegal. My only worry would be if the MOT ain't done, does that mean the insurance is invalid? And I bet no MOT means no tax too?

[Sparky]

Failure to MoT does not invalidate insurance, although they love you to think so.

[andydclements]

Oh so true, but it might be a condition of the driver's policy in which case they could find UKI pursue the driver for the money after the event which would be nice.

[Alfa2Evora]

19 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Anything back from the Polis?  Given the CCTV and you have found the culprit this should be an open and shut case for them. And they can get the car for being illegal. My only worry would be if the MOT ain't done, does that mean the insurance is invalid? And I bet no MOT means no tax too?

Nothing yet. I'm going to chase them tomorrow again but it's just such a pain hanging on for an hour or more waiting on somebody answering the 101 number. Maybe I should just ring 999 and tell them I've cornered the other driver and I'm kicking 10 shades out of them,  .

I've put my own written request in today to view the CCTV images - it might be quicker than waiting for 'the authorities' and let the repair process get underway without too much further delay.

Bizarrely, the tax was renewed for a year on 1st May, 3 days before the MOT expired. It passed the previous 2 MOTs without so much as 1 advisory so I wouldn't have thought there would be any real problems this time around - maybe they've simply forgotten.

I believe UKI are one of the companies that have an indemnity scheme whereby they'll pay for my repair despite their client's car being technically illegal, but then he'll have some 'explaining' to do to them, as @andydclements suggests.