Specifically, it was late November during the midst of the Storm Arwen cold snap. No snow here in London but wet and temperatures hovering not far above freezing. I was taking the 911 down to 9e for its annual oil change and... lost the back end in an greasy underpass. Only 30mph but sadly it put me into oncoming traffic also doing 30mph... so essentially a near 60mph impact.
Fortunately no-one was seriously injured but as you can imagine the car didn't look pretty. Driver's side was mostly undamaged but it had ripped off the NSF wheel, brake and hub assembly in one piece along with the radiator, stoved in the passenger side door and concertinaed the wing up like it had opened by a tin opener... plus a big gash in the rear bumper down the crash member to boot. Irritatingly the insurers still insisted it went to a specialist repairer for a quotation before they'd declare it a total loss. The quote was c£70,000. So that'll be a write off then!
Not sure I'd ever felt so gutted and still doesn't bear thinking about for too long even now. On top of the RR being stolen 4 months prior, it was a bitter pill to take, hence why I didn't feel like being part of a car forum for a while until I'd sorted my head out. Anyway, if we're really looking for a silver lining, I was so attached to the 911 that absent something like this happening I'd probably have never sold it - so I guess now I have the opportunity to try something new...
Which brings us on to what to replace it with. Although the insurance payout was £3,000 less than I paid for the car 5 years previously which is quite incredible really, realistically finding one exactly as mine, e.g. in Atlas Grey, manual, carbon interior with sports seats and exhaust isn't going to cost £40k even if you could find one - I would reckon it would be mid 40s upwards now. With the best will in the world I simply cannot wrap my head around spending a good chunk more that I paid originally to buy another one but this time with 20,000 miles more on the clock and over twice as old. A 991 GTS manual would be great but they're >£80k which is equally nuts and well, maybe its just time for something that isn't German... Not sure quite when it will happen either as a house move might get in the way this year.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, I haven't been tooling around in a Smart For Four for the last few months - that really would have pushed me over the edge. I'll update about that in a separate thread or in the fleet running reports rather than make this any longer.
Anyway, it's good to be back in the saddle (I think).
ETA: Profile pic probably needs to change
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