Here is the lowdown:
Before I bought my Ti, just after my Skoda Fabia was written off by another friend driving his m3 a little too fast down my road, I borrowed one of my best mate's spare car; a clapped out old fiat punto.
It was a woeful car, with a gaping hole in the exhaust manifold, but I kind of liked having to keep it above 3000rpm to avoid stalling and heeling and toeing on every corner to avoid this.
Anyway, this friend had this car as a spare as he had finally purchased a new clio, which he had been going on about for a few years, but never actually bought untill he totalled his corsa last summer.
On Monday he rang me to say that his Clio was in the shop, being repaired under warrenty, because all the electrics had gone funny, and could he possibly borrow my Ti for a week while they repaired it.
Naturally I said yes. I dont need a car to get to work and he does, he is a very good friend and also I owed him a loan of a car as he had generously let me borrow the punto when I was without.
Unfortunaly this Friday, on the way back from picking up the keys to his repaired Clio, he crashed it into a sign post. He was not used to driving a rear wheel drive car, and even with AST+T on, the tail kicked out as he exited a roundabout, and as he regained controll with some oppposite lock, the tail flicked the other way and he had a choice between either another car or a signpost; he chose the post.
This was the state of it when I viewed it later the same evening, a few hours after the accident :
http://www.ubiquity.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ti1.jpg This is a picture after we spent 3 hours this morning stripping off all the cracked bodywork, subframe, and a numerous list of other parts:
http://www.ubiquity.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ti2.jpg As far as I can tell, the engine is still alright, but the radiator and the entire front end needs replacing. I now have a tough decision over whether to claim on my insurance poilicy, who my friend was listed as a named driver as, or to pay for all the repairs myself and gain the cash back from my friend over time.
I have 3 1/2 years no claims discount, and the excess is £650, but I am quite sure the repairs will be over £3000
