I took a week off work and drove back to check up on my house in Germany on Thursday 24th August. On my return to England on Friday 2nd September, there were massive queues and delays at the Euroshuttle terminal in Calais.
Unfortunately, the woman in the vehicle in front of me decided that she wanted to jump into another lane that appeared to be moving faster, so she selected reverse and rushed backwards ....
.... until her Land Rover was stopped abruptly by the front end of my Jaguar.
The only apparent damage was to the grill and bumper bar of my car, but the impact pushed my car backwards about 15 cm (although my engine was switched off and the car was in Park), so I will find out what else suffered when I get a quote for the repairs on Monday.
No, pulling it straight will neither fix nor hide the damage, madam !!
Annoyingly, the only apparent damage to her Land Rover were a couple of small scratches on the bumper bar and tow bar .... and yes, they are reversing warning sensors fitted to the rear bumper bar .... such a pity that she never knew what that loud irritating bleeping noise after she selected reverse gear meant !!!
The Jaguar main dealers in Southampton (H.A. Fox) estimated the cost of repairs at £1625, her insurance company assessor estimated the cost of repairs at £1580 .... in both cases, significantly more than 60% of the value of the car, so her insurance company bought the car back from me as a Total Loss :-( for slightly more than I paid for the car 10 weeks earlier, saving me the hassle of readvertising the car for sale on eBay :-)
