My poor XC90 and its run in with a bus

[Torkrigare]

In the context of all the awful things happening in London and elsewhere, I know this pales into insignificance. However, my lovely new XC90 came off worst in a run-in with a double-decker bus this morning.

I was stationary at the head of the traffic waiting to enter a busy roundabout near home when a double-decker bus ran straight into the back of me - eyes on the traffic coming from the right instead of on me waiting in front of him.

The tail gate is a total mess, and the rear bumper is damaged too. Fingers crossed that's the full extent of the damage and there's nothing serious beyond that - the chassis for instance. Then it's a matter of how long to get the parts from Volvo.

Volvo Insurance and their claims handlers have been very good so far. The car's due to be picked up tomorrow morning and a replacement XC90 left with me while mine's being fixed by the local body work repairers authorised by Volvo.

I should get a clearer picture in a couple of days time as to the true extent of the damage and timescales for repair. The repairer has already called me and said that 2-3 weeks to repair is not out of the question but they're yet to have the car to make a full assessment.

On the bright side, the bus driver accepted full responsibility, so I shouldn't face any immediate cost. On the down side, it will inevitably impact my insurance renewal cost not to mention the inconvenience over the period of repair or replacement. I'm due to be away with the car in just over two weeks time; I'm really hoping things can get sorted in time for that...

[KNVXC90]

Sorry to see this happen to your new XC90. Hope things get sorted out soon for you. All the best.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine recently (not in an XC90). She was waiting at a roundabout, and a lorry ran into her car...obviously the lorry driver was looking at the traffic from right, and lost sight of the waiting car in the front.

[soupytwister]

One word. Pants!

Gutted for you on a car that is only 2 months old

[S60Chris]

Holy Crap. Sorry to read this.

1 - Glad you are OK
2 - This sort of thing is the reason (or one of the reasons) why we have bought these cars.

[AB-UK]

Sorry to read of your incident, and I hope you weren't injured in any way.

Did any of the XC90's safety systems activate, like seat belt tensioners, seat recline or anything else like that?

[Torkrigare]

Originally Posted by AB-UK

Sorry to read of your incident, and I hope you weren't injured in any way.

Did any of the XC90's safety systems activate, like seat belt tensioners, seat recline or anything else like that?

I couldn't say, to be honest. It all happens so fast, and I was out of the car pretty quickly. I'm totally uninjured, so perhaps that's attributable to some safety feature or another.

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by Torkrigare

I couldn't say, to be honest. It all happens so fast, and I was out of the car pretty quickly. I'm totally uninjured, so perhaps that's attributable to some safety feature or another.

Volvo's don't come with that revenue generating Whiplash Creation System commonly found in other makes & models of car....

[Fortune7]

Originally Posted by Torkrigare

Volvo Insurance and their claims handlers have been very good so far. The car's due to be picked up tomorrow morning and a replacement XC90 left with me while mine's being fixed by the local body work repairers authorised by Volvo.

Very sorry to hear about this but as others have said, at least you're OK. Can I ask about your experience with Volvo insurance please? I just took out a policy with them but they have an option for 'Courtesy Car Plus' which seems to offer a better level/size of replacement car in the event of prolonged repairs (up to 21 days) for the main vehicle. Clearly, most XC90 owners would want an XC90 as replacement, (I certainly would) and its good to know you have one. Was there any discussion about this or does your policy include it?

Thanks, and hoping for speedy repairs for you,
Andy

[Considered1]

Glad to hear you are ok... pieces of metal can be rebuilt.

please dont accept this insurance rubbish that you've had a claim not a non fault accident I didnt. Once your excess has been recovered from the third party and you have their admission in writing insist this is recorded as info only as you have then made no claim as it was all settled by the other faulty party.

They even tried to load my wifes van insurance when someone hit me from behind in my car, told them to take it off and record as info only as I had not made any claim, especially on my wifes van, flippin' racket, dont accept folks.

[Torkrigare]

Originally Posted by Fortune7

Very sorry to hear about this but as others have said, at least you're OK. Can I ask about your experience with Volvo insurance please? I just took out a policy with them but they have an option for 'Courtesy Car Plus' which seems to offer a better level/size of replacement car in the event of prolonged repairs (up to 21 days) for the main vehicle. Clearly, most XC90 owners would want an XC90 as replacement, (I certainly would) and its good to know you have one. Was there any discussion about this or does your policy include it?

Thanks, and hoping for speedy repairs for you,
Andy

My experience on day 1 with Volvo Insurance has been positive. They took my call before 7am this morning and dealt with the immediate concerns, and then their claims/accident management team called back at 8:30am as soon as they were open for normal business. Took approx 20 minutes going through all the details with them. They sent me a Statement of Truth form via email while I was on the phone which I was able to complete and email back to them. It's another Volvo Insurance / Allianz contract too, called Kindertons, and again I was pleased with the way that went.

By 10am, I'd received another call from their car fleet people arranging pick up of my car to take it to the approved Volvo repair centre and drop-off of a replacement car. I don't have the Courtesy Car Plus option on my policy, but they were happy to offer me an XC90 at no expense to myself. It is done on a credit hire basis, but with payment claimed from the party at fault - the bus company in my case.

By 11am as I was nearly at work I had a call from the repair centre to say they'd received a call from Volvo insurance/Kindertons, to introduce themselves and confirm they were expecting the car in tomorrow for assessment and repair.

So all-in-all it's gone pretty smoothly so far. Now the difficult part of waiting to see how it plays out over the coming days and weeks.