Please bear with me guys, after some genuine advice. Mrsblonde swerved last night to avoid a fox on the way home, she'd been at work so hadnt had a drink, it was about 11pm. She was about 100 yards from home on the country lanes just down from our house.

She came home shaking like a dog, I calmed her down blah blah and checked the damage. My car is a 2003 TD6 so not worth a great deal (but we still love her, 11 years almost trouble free motoring). Damage is:

2 x 22" L405 style 8 alloys and tyres, pass side sidelight, lower wing trim panel and pass side headlight (the old square shaped one as its 2003). Unsure of damage to any suspension parts as obviously its undriveable at the moment (even though she limped it home last night).

Do we buy the parts ourselves, or claim on the insurance? We're a bit worried they'll say its not worth repairing? Also a bit worried as its got 22" alloys on it too, which probably werent 'standard issue' way back in 2003

Shes on my insurance as a named driver, both fully comp. My insurance costs about £250 a year (Im 43, she's 49)

I know she should of reported it, but I've seen the kerb and grass bank she hit and all there is is part of the mud missing (now covering our alloy)

Any advice, comments etc appreciated guys, good or bad.

Price to repair will probably equate to your excess. So do some quick homework before calling the insurance.

As no one else was involved it it purely up to you, some damage to grass won’t amount to much.....

Are the alloys completely ? Or just dirty, suspension damage, unless it’s bent the sub frame, you could be looking at an arm or 2, so that’s manageable.

Bit of paint on the outside.

Bear in mind if you notify a potential fault claim, but don’t actually claim, the evidence will sit on your file and affect next years premium slightly..... so work out roughly how much it’s going to cost you, weight that up against your excess and NCB years. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I'd be tempted to fix myself with a combination of Ebay purchased and a local spray guy to match any new bits Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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Cheers guys, started pricing up already and was coming in at:

2 x alloys with used tyres £300 each
side light (new) £60
headlight 2nd hand £60
lower trim panel £30
pass side wing mirror ???????

Thats without any possible suspension damage (if any). So looking at £750 ish so far plus wing mirror (no idea how much as i know theyre like rocking horse dung)

Say £850 total?
Or insurance and it goes up by maybe £200 next year? Plus excuess (I think its £250)

I think you really need to know what damage has been done to the suspension. That could be the critical aspect in your insurance company deciding on writing it off. It might also be the deciding factor in whether you make a claim.

If you want to keep the car it might sway you. John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
2005 TD6 Java Black Vogue - Written off!!
GAP iiD BT
2003 Discovery TD5 Auto, Nanocom Evolution - gone to a new home!
MasseyFerguson 152 - No electronics!! - Sold

If insurance goes up, it won’t be just for the one year, check your policy and see how much NCB you have, is it protected, how much that reduces for a claim/how many claims allowed in a period before it knocks your discount down, and then extrapolate that forwards....

Personally If there is no one else involved I would always try to fix it myself.

My 07 was hit by a bus while parked. I got it fixed myself but made the mistake of ringing the insurance to ask some questions. Every year for the next few years the “claim” cropped up on my renewal. I had to call each time to get it removed and explain it to them. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Post some pics?

But agree not to involve insurance, it'll be on record for years

If you are lucky you might be able to source the bits yo need in the right colour.

Check Facebook marketplace there seems to be quite a few breaking on there

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Insurance will right it off simple. If you don’t fix it yourself it’s gone.

It’s only worth a couple of grand book value, your bill without labour is nearly half already it’s a simple right off.

Did you tell the insurance that you car is modified? If you didn’t I’d definitely not put a claim in.

Being a pessimist for a moment, I’d be concerned that if there is damage to the suspension they’d exclude it as part of running on 22” wheels.

Other than the paint work it all sounds like doable stuff to do yourself. Suspension damage may be an unknown but can’t you take look and assess where there is any damage?

Insurance repair costs will typically be based on full dealer prices for parts, much higher costs than if you're sorting it yourself.
Be very careful about submitting a claim.
Beware that it's very easy to get the car written off if you contact the insurance to report - especially if they call out an assessor, who can tot up costs & make the decision that the car is beyond economic repair on the spot & then immediately input his decision to the Motor Insurers Database.

That happened to me a few years ago, while I was stupid enough to think I could compare costs via insurance or DIY.
The insurance assessment for my repairs was more than £3,000 (after my wife ran into the back of someone withour Disco2 in what was subsequently identified as a crash for cash scam.
The total mainly related to costs of putting the chassis on a body jig + dealer parts prices for headlights, bumper & various other external trim parts that are now very rare new.
Because the assessor immediately reported it as a write-off I had to go through the farce of a vehicle inspection (which despite the name only involved checking the chassis number matched the log-book) & on an ongoing basis my insurance is effected by the "previously written off" flag that increases premiums every year & also restricts which insurance companies will even cover the car.
In the end I told the insurance company I would repair the car myself, withdrawing the claim, but the claim flag & write off flag remain / can't be removed. The repairs cost me all of £350 ! The chassis was fine & the steering didn't even need re-tracking (I also had 1 broken wheel due to the car hitting a kerb Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 151,000 miles & now sold
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Insurance write-off level is much lower than you might think - often around 60-70% of the vehicles value.

As above though - as soon as you inform them, you might as well claim as it will affect your premiums for 3-5 years

Protected NCD is also a bit of a scam - you're protecting your discount, not your premium - so the premium will still go up, you'll just keep the discount....

If you haven't declared the wheels, then prepare for the double whammy - refused claim & your premium goes up as you had an accident.

IMHO, you only have one choice here.....

I was going to mention the scam that is a “protected NCB”. Yes your bonus may be protected by your premiums will almost certainly get loaded for some years to come.
In my case, I wrote a car off, had a protected NCB, so naively assumed all was well and replaced like for like. Imagine my shock when my premium doubled and some the following year, so the end result was the same discount off of a (much) higher premium. Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

Dont mention nothing to insurance until you have decided to claim they will still take it as a problem and it will go against you although you claimed noting I insured today so I know

As has already been mentioned you are better off not involving the insurance. Worse case scenario is that they null & void your cover as you haven’t declared your vehicle is not factory standard. You would have stated when you took the insurance out that it was and if you read the really tiny print it will say that failure to declare any changes will void the cover. Be thankful no one else was involved and that no one was hurt, had an assessor been called to inspect your vehicle they would have reported back that the vehicle is non standard and could put you in a whole legal nightmare.

If you do get it sorted then inform your insurance of the non standard parts to avoid any issues in the future