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It took 120 days to get the car mended. But the day arrived when I received a phone call from France. "La voiture anglaise, elle est prête!" I phoned the insurance company - they had no information! I told them that the car was ready and asked what arrangements they had made to recover the vehicle. After 4 months even my cool was wearing thin. "I will collect it on Friday". Now that put the cat amongst the pigeons. "We’ll call you back" "We have spoken to the Recovery company - they can't bring back your car - it isn't broken!!!!! "Ok, I will fetch it!" "There is no reason why you can’t fetch it - but we can only pay what we would have paid the recovery firm". A green light. One hour on the computer and telephone and I have a reservation from Gatwick to Toulouse, hotels booked at Gatwick and Mirepoix, and the ferry booked to come home. There is a train from Derby to Gatwick (change at Bedford) and all is arranged. Pick up the train tickets next day and travel the day after. It’s quite un-nerving setting off with only a train ticket - all the rest of the travel arrangements are to be collected en route, but with my suitcase, phone and computer I’m on my way. OK - so choosing to travel from Derby railway station at three o’clock on a Saturday with Derby playing at home to West Ham may not have been the most intelligent thing to do - particularly since I needed to return the hire car first, and that meant crossing the football traffic twice. I still think the route I would have chosen was better than the one my wife used, but I arrived in time for the train but the farewell to my wife was perhaps a little cool! A Midland Mainline Weekend First ticket ensured a comfortable and pleasant journey to Bedford. Thameslink provided the first excitement of the journey. We sat at Hendon for half an hour. A bus had run into the railway bridge south of Mill Hill Broadway and the bridge must be inspected and passed fit for traffic before we could proceed. Is this an omen for the future? I arrived at Gatwick, picked up my ticket and found the hotel. Time for dinner and an early night. Up with the lark tomorrow and see what the day brings. At 6am my phone and the hotel alarm call system burst into life, I stabbed buttons to try to turn them off but only succeeded in turning on the television. The new BBC 24 hour news service echoed round the room. I think I woke my neighbours - no - I know I woke my neighbours. The transfer to the airport, and the flight, were both free of incident. By 1100 I was in Toulouse and by 2.30pm in Mirepoix. The town was as attractive as I had remembered and the light dusting of snow on the high Pyrenees to the south gave a Christmas festive air. I strolled round the village in the warmish December sunshine. By 3.00 o’clock I was standing outside the garage looking at my car. It must have been all of 18 inches from the spot where I had left it 4 months before, but it looked beautiful. All the scars of the accident had been smoothed away and it looked fine. Tomorrow we shall see how it drives! Back to the hotel and a quick snooze - I think a celebratory dinner is called for tonight. I should have remembered that Monday is Market day in Mirepoix - or perhaps I did. Somewhere between the Salmon in leek sauce and the Duck a l’orange I lost a filling - why should it happen now? Phone home and fix an appointment with the dentist as soon as I am home - the hole in my tooth feels enormous. Up early Monday morning and down to the garage, a very heavy frost and the car looks like a wedding cake. The formalities are very brief and I am on my way. First things first, a gentle run round the town to check out the car then a walk round the market. A knob falls off the central heating control - I hope that isn’t an omen! That can wait till I get home. I park the car. "I don’t beleeeve it!!" The car in front has UK registration!! For the first time I check carefully inside the passenger door - there’s a little rust on the hinge mountings - that can wait till I get home too! Next to check out a campsite for next year. The narrow road winds endlessly up the mountain. There is a particular sadness to deserted campsites out of season, but the location is fine and the facilities look OK - I shall book it when I get home. All these thoughts of home have the inevitable outcome and soon I am wending my way towards the autoroute. A brief pause at Carcassonne - quiet and deserted and to my mind more enjoyable in the second week in December than in August and then I am really on my way home. A couple of miles of cautious driving to check out the car and all seems well. Twenty kilometres out of Narbonne, at 90 miles an hour I have a bird-strike - toughened windscreens are wonderful! I remove the remains - no obvious damage and away again. One of the pleasures of being quite alone is the ability to follow a whim. I had intended to travel up the Rhone valley through Lyon and Baune, but at Beziers I decide to turn left up into the Massif Central. A good choice - no traffic and beautiful scenery. I relax.
The light fades, I turn on the lights. It does not take long to realise that I have a problem. No dipped headlights. Well I can manage on fogs and main. I press on to Clermont Ferrand. Up with the lark and find the nearest Peugeot dealer. The showroom is across the road from my hotel. It takes me 15 minutes to get there!! After an hour and much head scratching the verdict is delivered - a cable fault somewhere, it can be sorted out next week!! I decline. I sit in the car and phone my own dealer in Burton. We arrange for me to deliver the car to him directly from the ferry. I set out for Orleans. The road is open and free of traffic. The slight shake on the steering ( at 80 miles an hour ) which I had complained about in July before the accident appears to have been cured. I increase the speed cautiously - in part through some concern over the repairs - more in concern over the Gendarmes. There is absolutely no shake at 90, 95, 100 or 105mph. My concern of the Gendarmerie wins out and I slow to a legal 85 (or so) The Montpellier-Orleans autoroute (out of season) and where complete, is wonderful, smooth surface, gentle bends and no traffic, would that all roads were like this. Orleans appears quite early. Time for shopping and an early night.
Define paranoia - no look it up yourself - I’ve got it, I know what it is, and I’ve got it. The shopping trip was unhelpful. I don’t have:- a) a present from this trip and b) a Christmas present for "she who must be obeyed"! Worse still, when I returned to the car - No side lights, no fog lights, no numberplate lights! I begin to recall all the science fiction stories and films of my childhood - electrical failure in motor cars usually preceded the scene where the hero was abducted by aliens. Good job I’m no hero. I ponder, and then drive back to my hotel with the hazard warning lights on. The Police de Ville ignore me. I walk back to the centre commercial and buy a torch. Why bother! There are a lot of wires and I’m a retired doctor! I turn off the torch, revise the plan for tomorrow - early start - not much site seeing and shopping and get to the ferry before the sun sets. Time for dinner. I had resolved to be good, but I feel another bottle of wine coming on. Then early bed. Up with the lark and round the town - get the shopping done. My mobile phone rings. "Hi, this is Paul, can we start the bathroom conversion tomorrow?" I point out that I am in the middle of Orleans and that next week might be more appropriate!! Much to my surprise the next two days were - relatively uneventful - apart from driving with no lights and I arrived home in Derby without any further incident.
My local Peugeot Dealer fixed the lights, and the passenger seat belt. Did I mention that we discovered that the passenger seat belt was jammed solid following the accident? I didn't think so - but now -131 days after the accident, the car is restored to me and appears fine. There is still the small matter of 131 days car hire and the recovery cost to be claimed back from the other party, but that aside all is well. I send all the bills off to my insurers. My mobile phone rings. It is my insurance company. There is a degree of confusion over who is handling the un-insured loss aspect of the accident. For the first time since August 11th I loose my cool! Some frantic phone calls later the Legal Expenses insurers have reopened the file and propose to instruct solicitors. I await the response Five days later, on Christmas Eve 1997 I drove to Llanberis to collect my son. It was a foul day, dipped headlights and careful driving the order of the day. As I passed through Stoke on Trent I became aware of a strange odour. I dismissed it as a hot kiln smell from the Potteries - but it was still with me at Alsager. I turned off the dipped headlights - the smell went away. I switched on the dipped headlights. They failed. I fiddled with the electric automatic headlight adjuster - the lights came on and the smell returned. I turned off the headlights and ran on fog lights. The weather improved a little. As I ran up the M6 the traffic thickened, then bunched, then stopped. I crawled past a police car, its red lights and "Accident Ahead" lights flashing in the rain. I took the next slip road off the motorway and headed west on minor roads. The weather worsened. I picked up my son and headed out of the village and up the Llanberis pass. The weather worsened - real hill walker weather. The rain filled streams running down the hill tumbled over the rocks to meet the rising wind coming up the valley lifting the spume vertically and blowing it back up the hill. We passed the Pen-y-Pass Youth Hostel and dropped into the relative calm of the lee of the hill and down to the Pen-y-gurd Hotel. The wind increased in force. I turned on the headlights. No dipped headlights - the smell returned. I touched the headlight adjuster, and snatched my finger away. It was hot! I turned off the lights. The smell disappeared and - feeling cautiously - the switch cooled down. I resolved to leave the lights off.
We paused in Betws-y-Coed. A mistake really, the wind increased. For those who don't recall Christmas Eve 1997 the wind in North Wales gusted at over 80 miles an hour. The car rocked in the wind, my son recalled an incident some 15 years before when a tree blew down in front of me. As we turned round the next corner a tree about fifty yards ahead leaned and fell slowly across the road. Like one of Fred Dibner's chimneys it collapsed across the road, its rotten trunk shattering into hundreds of small pieces in front of the car. It seemed to me that this was not a good place to be - if one tree here is rotten and falling, could there be more? I drove cautiously round the remains of the tree. In the dark, with the weather worsening we picked our way through the fallen branches and passed one more fallen tree before arriving safely home I parked the car in the garage, locked the door, and sat down to our Christmas Eve dinner and another bottle of wine. Back to the Peugeot Dealer as soon as he opens after Christmas!!
The car went back to the Dealer on 29 December 1997 - they found three more loose connections but needed to order a new headlight leveller switch - so back home with partial lights (and no hot smell) but a more pronounced noise which sounded as if was coming from the front suspension. Back to the Garage on 31 Dec 1997. The switch which arrived was not the correct one! Worse still a detailed inspection of the suspension had found no fault - but had revealed that the front near side wing had not been correctly secured after the accident and needed to be removed and refitted!! Rapid phone call to my insurers. They require an estimate. The garage will provide one next week, then a technical examination by the insurers engineer and then, we hope, a further repair. New Year's Day 1998 dawns with the car in our garage and still not right. Day number 144 and counting!!
Monday January 12th 1998. Day 155 Paranoia:- "Mental derangement; spec. chronic mental unsoundness characterized by delusions or hallucinations, esp. of grandeur, persecution, etc." Oxford English Dictionary I told you I was being persecuted The garage fitted the new headlight level adjuster switch. They turned on the headlights and the switch burnt out!! That was the third switch - it was also the last switch available in the UK. Put it on back order and wait for supply from France! I was tempted to offer to drive over to the Peugeot factory in Mulhouse in France to collect it, but common sense won out, in any case I need to meet the examiner from the insurance company tomorrow to sort out refitting the wing. "The new switch should be in in about ten days" Tuesday - the examiner agreed the refitting of the wing - the garage can't do it until 28 January 1998 - that will be day 170. Wednesday 21 January 1998, a letter from my insurance company. I had asked them to cancel one insurance policy on my very old Peugeot 305 which had finally expired. My son arrived home just before Christmas on the back of an AA Relay vehicle - again - and my patience with him and the 305 had finally snapped. The insurers cancelled all my motor policies. Urgent, frantic and slightly tetchy phone calls reinstated them. Why does it happen to me - and why did the insurance company send the letter to my son's address in Wales that he left two month age ??? The 605 is having a new switch installed today. The garage ordered two "just in case" I think my paranoia is infectious.
The lights are fixed! Wednesday 28 January 1998 - day 170 - dawned bright and cold. A letter from the insurers covering the uninsured loss aspects of the claim, they have appointed solicitors to handle the claim, I should communicate with the solicitor in future! I shall wait events. Four months car hire and a contribution to the costs involved recovering the vehicle don't come cheap. I am a pessimist! I drive the car to the dealer to have the wing refitted. "The insurers haven't authorised the work yet" Ho-Hum "Do it anyway" is my response. I phone the insurers. "Ask the garage to send the invoice to us" I tell the garage - they ask for the phone number of the insurer - is it possible that they do not believe me?? Friday 30 December. The wing is fixed!! Saturday 31 December 1998. The garage send the invoice for the re--fitting of the wing to me. I write to the insurers and send them a copy of the invoice. Thursday 5 February 1998. The statement from the garage arrives for payment. I phone the insurers. They do not know if I should pay it or let them pay it - they promise to phone back. In passing they say that they have paid the invoices for December - I wish they had told me sooner - in the absence of any information I paid the garage on 10 January 1998, They promise to phone back. No one phones back. I phone the garage. "Ho-Hum, the insurance company say that they have paid Decembers account as well as me. Have you been paid twice? The computer is unable to provide the information. "We will call you back" Why does my phone never ring?!! Friday 6 February 1998. Day 179. The phone did not ring. I called the garage. They can find no evidence so far of being paid twice. I called the insurers - they had not been able to check the file yet. I pay the fourth bill since my return to the UK. I do hope they are going to reimburse me!! Did I say that re-fitting the wing had not cured the nasty clunk from the area of the nearside wheel? I didn't think so!! Another long technical discussion with the garage - we decide that it might be a problem with the engine mounting - or perhaps the rather fancy, - and complicated automatic self adjusting front suspension. That sounds expensive!! The car is booked back into the garage on 12 February 1998. I tell the insurer. That will be Day number185 and still counting. Car still not fixed, uninsured losses not agreed, four UK re-repair bills paid and not reimbursed and several hundred pounds out of pocket with no hope of reimbursement. Just in case you started this story as long ago as I did - a simple accident in France, not my fault, the other party admitted he crossed on to my side of the road and hit me, agreed by the police, fully comprehensively insured and with full AA 5 star cover and after 6 months a car not properly repaired and seriously, I mean seriously, out of pocket!!!! 10 February 1998 A cheque from my insurance company settling the invoices for December! Since I must be completely honest, the situation as of today regarding the repairs to the vehicle is that I owe the insurers £6.00!! But of course the car goes back to the garage on Thursday for further repairs. 12 February 1998. A letter from the company handling the un-insured loss aspect of the accident, - they appear to have appointed a second firm of solicitors to act. This seems like overkill so I phone to query the letter. They will investigate and get back to me Friday 13 February 1998. You guessed!! The car is not repaired. Not the suspension, not the engine mounting, the hot money now is on a more fundamental problem with the bodywork repair - something to do with the new wing not being bonded correctly to the A frame - perhaps the A frame not pulled forward far enough - don't ask me, I'm not an engineer. The Manager of the bodyshop promises to talk to the insurance assessor and get back to me!! The uninsured loss saga. After three months of confusion when everyone except the French office of my insurers thought that the French office was handling the claim, they said they were not!! The legal claims insurers reopened the file and appointed a solicitor to handle the claim. I sent him all the details. He does not handle foreign claims. The company have appointed another solicitor - his name sounds French!! DAY 186 and waiting Wednesday 18 February 1998. Day 192. A full independent inspection by the Automobile Association. The result - the front near-side sub frame is set back by approximately 3/8th of an inch, this in turn means that the radius arm on that side is forced up against the body shell causing most of the problem - probably!! The inspector is a bit suspicious of the suspension!! The car is already booked into the garage next Tuesday. Could we be nearing the end of the saga? Tuesday February 24th 1998 Day 198. The written report from the AA arrives. The car is back at the dealers - I have a temporary hire car - saga not over yet! A letter arrives from the new solicitor requesting details of the claim and all the appropriate invoices. I send off all the details and photocopies of all of the primary documents. I'm getting canny, after all he is the fifth person who has requested this information. I begin to despair of seeing any restitution! Thursday 5 March 1998 Day 207. The car is still with the dealer - sitting waiting to go on the jig - no progress at all. I cannot say that I am enjoying driving a Nissan Micra!! A new problem has arisen. It's springtime and thoughts are turning towards holidays in France. I need to get my caravan out of secure storage and serviced, but to do that I need my car. Security is very good at the storage depot and unless I turn up with my car and the letter of authority they will not let me out again with the caravan. Call me a pessimist if you must but I spend fifteen minutes on the phone arranging a second letter of authority so I can collect the van with another car. 207 days since the accident - only 30 to go until we return to France for our next the visit. The ferry is paid, the camp site booked, the car had better be right. 13 March 1998 A RED LETTER DAY DAY 215 I have been driving a Nissan Micra for the last 18 days - it's not a patch on my 605, but I only expected to have it for 48 hrs. BUT, today my car came back - it appears to be repaired, the geometry has been re-aligned and the front near side suspension has been rebuilt. The noise has gone and all seems well!!! I write to the insurers - they have docked my no claim discount until this matter is resolved - I think it is time for them to resolve it!! The un-insured loss is still outstanding but the solicitor is working on it!!
Well, the car pulled the caravan all the way back to the South of France and home again with no problems - well that's not quite true - the weather was awful with rain, wind, hail, and snow - not a pleasant holiday but the car was fine!! We got back and the very next day I "brushed " the new wing against my neighbour's gate post. Only a small problem but back to the garage to have a small, and I mean small, dent pulled out. I didn't even swear! Wednesday 22 April 1998. A letter from the solicitor - he is pessimistic about recovering the car hire costs. He feels sure that the French Insurers will blame my insurers for the length of time taken over the repairs. Everyone appears to be blaming everyone else - no one wants to accept responsibility and who is going to left holding the baby - and major costs ?- you guessed it!!!! I felt quite sorry for the very helpful girl at Customer Relations at my insurers - but I am beginning to get annoyed. Seven months without my car, more than £2500.00 pounds out of pocket and NOT MY FAULT. I have written to my insurers - invoked their complaints procedure, time limited their response and made it clear that referral to Insurance Ombudsman is close. Watch this space. Perhaps Watchdog might find this cautionary tale useful in the run up to the 1998 holiday season!! The little dent has been taken out of the wing One crumb of comfort. My No Claims Discount has been re-instated. My insurers have apologised for the delay in effecting the repairs! I send my insurers £6.00!!
27 April 1998 1830. A phone call from the Departmental Manager at my motor insurers. He is very, very apologetic - and admits the delays are unacceptable and accepts responsibility. We agree that I will ask my solicitor to contact him. I am given an assurance that I will recover all of my un-insured losses. It looks as if Watchdog and the Ombudsman may not be required!!! 29 May 1998 Day 292. I have had no reply the solicitor following the letter which I wrote to him on 28th April and which was received by him and signed for on the 30th. I asked him to contact the Departmental Manager at my insurers to discuss the matter. It is clear that they have not done so!!! I got a long story about how the French insurers have not replied yet - and when they do they will not meet the claim. Since my letter to the solicitor made it clear that this was to be agreed between my insurers and the French I am beginning to become a little cross! One ray of hope for my insurers - this is clearly not their fault. I do begin to wonder if anyone ever reads letters that are sent to them!! They certainly never reply. I speak to the Departmental Manager at my insurers - He has agreed that if the solicitor does not contact him early next week he will phone them. 1 July 1998 Day 325 Well, the Departmental Manager sent me a copy of his letter to the Solicitor and phoned me! Then the solicitor phoned me and wrote to me - just to tell me that he is getting no response from the French Insurers!! I have offered to go and bang on some French doors!!! 16 July 1998 Day 341. I write to the solicitor to ask if he has had a reply to letter which he sent to the French Insurers in April. I send a copy to my Insurers. 17 July A fax and phone call from my Insurers - they are becoming as concerned by the lack of action as me. They have sent a fax to the solicitor asking for information. We agree that they will contact the Legal Expense Insurers who are instructing the solicitor and see if they can speed thing up. I promise to drive very carefully when we return to France - and the exact site of the accident in two weeks time. Shame we shall be short of spending money!! 22 July A letter from the solicitor dated 22 July 1998 which should have contained a copy of the fax which he had sent to my insurers- but didn't - arrived after we had left on holiday on the 28th of July. Do the Post Office hate me as well!!!
6 September 1998 YEAR 2 . Day 392 It's been a while since I brought this saga up to date. We have been back to France, 10 days on the Atlantic Coast, a week in Ariege - a mere ten miles from the site of last years accident, visited the accident site and completed the trip so untimely interrupted by the green Renault van last year and spent 10 days at the foot of Mount Ventoux in northern Provence. A splendid holiday, and in the fullness of time a fuller report with a link. Belezy in Provence But back to business. The solicitor seems pessimistic that we will get anything out of the French. Over the last six months he has written two letters and made a handful of phone call with no reply at all as yet. I could wish that he was exhibiting rather more aggression. The French insurers have a Web site with a great deal of information including an email address for complaints and a named photograph of their Chairman and CEO. I have therefore written a personal letter to their Chairman and lodged a formal complaint via email. I have told both my solicitor and legal expenses insurers what I have done ( after the event ) To my surprise, following my formal complaint to my insurers, the relationship between their departmental manager, his assistant and myself has flourished. They are as frustrated by the lack of progress as I am. Following a very cordial conversation on 4 September they have agreed to meet the costs of recovering the car and the additional inspection costs. I consider their action very fair. Once the solicitor has recovered the excess and a proportion of the car hire costs my insurers will consider the shortfall and we will discuss the way forward. The only remaining items are the excess and the car hire cost. We await some action from the French!
I Wait 19 September 1998 Day 406 Formal response from the Office of the President of the French Insurers.( In French) . He has directed the correspondent to chase the appropriate Direction which she has done "immediatement" and she will use her best endeavours to provide me with a response as rapidly as possible. ( My French continues to improve!!) I now also have the phone and fax numbers of the Head Office and a Direct Line number into the Customer Relations Department. I Wait 28 September 1998 Day 415 BUT ONLY 3 WEEKS SINCE I WROTE TO CHAIRMAN OF THE FRENCH INSURERS
To celebrate the occasion
I write formal replies to both the Chairman of the French
Insurers and the Qualite/Complaints department - and I am so
overcome - I reply in French. I told you that my French was
improving!! I Wait 7 October 1998 Day 424 A phone call from my solicitor ( who has clearly returned to the office ) to say that they have finally received an offer from the French Insurers. I loose my cool and tell him quite sharply that I KNOW, The French Insurers KNOW, his assistant KNOWS and ( now that he has read the note on the file ) HE KNOWS and he also now knows that everyone KNOWS, He promises to settle! 20 October 1998 Day 437. A cheque arrives from the French Insurers via my solicitor. Hooray. A letter from the solicitor accompanies the cheque. It is brief and to the point and contains only two salient facts - the date of the accident and the size of the cheque. Both facts are wrong. I ask my solicitor to issue an amended letter with the correct information!! I am still slightly out of pocket but I have written to my insurers who have agreed that once the sum from the French is known they will look at the file again. The end could really be very close now!! 30 October 1998 Day 447 A fax and a cheque from my insurers. The saga is effectively at a end ( apart from the letter from the solicitor ). I write a formal letter of thanks to the Claims Manager at my insurers - her friendly and helpful assistance over the last six months has kept me sane - and a formal letter to the Customer Relations department at my insurers to tell them that the matter is now closed. FINIS!! But the story goes on
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