eisenach
pfm Member
It's some time since I've had a bump. This one is a bit unusual, in that no other motorist was involved, and it ocurred on a cross channel ferry. I'm not quite sure what my best course of action is.
The car is 16 plate Citroën C3 Picasso, with 80k+ on the clock.
Returning to England on the Dieppe ferry last Thursday, I was directed up onto deck 5, the flimsy mobile thing above the lorries. There's quite a lot of supporting ironwork to avoid, meaning you have to take it quite wide to get into the lanes. At the top of the ramp, I was greeted by a somewhat chaotic scene, with 3 crew members trying to direct cars into the narrow lanes, all giving conflicting and confusing instructions. I paused, and on moving off, failed to see a bit of bulkhead sticking out, damaging the front wing and bumper.
I've written to DFDS / Transmanche, and they're investigating, but I don't expect much from them, as I suppose the accident is my fault, despite their lack of clarity. The least I can hope is that they do some crew training and improve their procedures.
I've just had a quotation for £2.4k for the repairs, which seems exhorbitant to me.
The car is driveable, and is probably not an MoT failure once the fog light is replaced. Do I leave it as it is, polishing out the worst cosmetic damage ? Do I claim on my insurance ? Even asking for advice from them might put a flag on policy.
I'll get my usual garage to look at it, though they don't do bodywork repairs, and there's another outfit in town I can get a quotation from, so I'll try them.
It left a rather sour taste at the end of three-and-a-half weeks of great holidays in Germany and the French Alps, seeing friends. I normally travel Brittany Ferries from Le Havre, but they're not running at the moment, and as their service from Caen is twice the price, I thought I'd save a few bob by going from Dieppe. False economy !
Any advice gratefully received.
The car is 16 plate Citroën C3 Picasso, with 80k+ on the clock.
Returning to England on the Dieppe ferry last Thursday, I was directed up onto deck 5, the flimsy mobile thing above the lorries. There's quite a lot of supporting ironwork to avoid, meaning you have to take it quite wide to get into the lanes. At the top of the ramp, I was greeted by a somewhat chaotic scene, with 3 crew members trying to direct cars into the narrow lanes, all giving conflicting and confusing instructions. I paused, and on moving off, failed to see a bit of bulkhead sticking out, damaging the front wing and bumper.
I've written to DFDS / Transmanche, and they're investigating, but I don't expect much from them, as I suppose the accident is my fault, despite their lack of clarity. The least I can hope is that they do some crew training and improve their procedures.
I've just had a quotation for £2.4k for the repairs, which seems exhorbitant to me.
The car is driveable, and is probably not an MoT failure once the fog light is replaced. Do I leave it as it is, polishing out the worst cosmetic damage ? Do I claim on my insurance ? Even asking for advice from them might put a flag on policy.
I'll get my usual garage to look at it, though they don't do bodywork repairs, and there's another outfit in town I can get a quotation from, so I'll try them.
It left a rather sour taste at the end of three-and-a-half weeks of great holidays in Germany and the French Alps, seeing friends. I normally travel Brittany Ferries from Le Havre, but they're not running at the moment, and as their service from Caen is twice the price, I thought I'd save a few bob by going from Dieppe. False economy !
Any advice gratefully received.
