Potential problems after accident?

[Sadie]

Hi, I was hoping for some advice please.

My 51 plate cc was hit by a citroen C3 at the weekend, I was stationery, waiting to turn and the C3 was coming down a hill about 30mph, saw my car but failed to stop and hit the rear end.

The roof was down at the time but on impact the roof closed (not sure if this is normal). When returning to the car after discussing the accident with the police officer who was luckily driving past, I noticed a piece of black plastic (some sort of plug or pin) in the passengers seat - I have no idea what it is and was concerned it came off the roof mechaniscm.

The roof is working fine since the accident and the main damage was caused to the rear bumper (drivers side). The metal box underneath the car that the struts are bolted to is bent and cracked, the boot floor is dented and the boot is twisted forcing the lock out of place. The bumper and break light are cracked beyond repair.

The repair centre called yesterday and said the car is being repaired and that the roof works fine. I'm pleased by this news as its been a good car in the 2 years I've owned it and has only done 60,000 miles
However, I'm a bit worried about any potential problems that could have been caused due to the shunt, particularly to the roof - I don't want to get the car back for it to go wrong in a fews weeks/months and was hoping someone on here (if they've managed to read to the end of my long winded tale!) could offer any advise on questions for me to ask the repairers.

Many thanks

[Enright]

Hi Sadie,
Did you keep the black plastic piece? Could you take a pic of it and post it on here? Chances are someone could recognise it and tell you how important it is (or isn't!) And where it came from/goes back.

Sounds like you're lucky that the roof still works fine - shame you don't get to enjoy the car during the one bit of Summer we have, but that's life I suppose.

Any decent repairer should thoroughly check functionality before giving you the car back. Things I would check for would be panel gaps and shut lines being uniform around the boot lid. Or noisy operation of the motor, hinges and locks which could develop into problems if undue stress/strain was being put on the mechanism by it being out of square. Don't just take their word for it and sign the job off as being satisfactory - get THEM to thoroughly demonstrate that it works properly in front of you a few times, while you carefully watch, and listen for any signs that all is not well, before you sign anything. Then of course there is the cosmetic aspect - there should be no sign that the car has ever been in an accident: No overspray on trim, wheels or anywhere it shouldn't be, colour matched properly, no runs in the paintwork, and no "orange peel" like finish.

Oh, and watch out for your current/next insurers ramping up your premium at the end of the year. Even if an accident isn't your fault (which obviously this wasn't) they have a nasty habit of arguing that "statistically you're more likely to have another accident because you'll be looking behind for another one even more" - yes I know, it's b*ll*c$ but that's what THEY say. I would be prepared to fight their logic by pointing out that good observation REDUCES the chances of an accident - otherwise what's the point of taking an Advanced test, or learning to drive properly in the first place for that matter! Anyway, rant over.

[Sadie]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I'll note all your points and make sure I'm happy when I go collect it (estimated date 29th July!).
I dont have a picture of the 'pin' unfortunatley but I might pop down to the repair centre and retrieve it, it would be nice to have piece of mind if anybody could identify it. It might have even come from the C3, that was in a real mess, the front end was completley caved in - CC 1 - C3 0