Blondes have less fun...

[Gob]

It was a line-up of the finest supercars in one of the world's wealthiest hotspots.

But what started as a parade of high-priced horsepower turned into an impromptu game of demolition derby - when a hapless blonde scraped her £250,000 Bentley Azure down the side of a £75,000 Mercedes S Class.

What followed in the Monte Carlo's Place du Casino was every insurance company's nightmare.



Her 2.7 tonne beast then crashed into a £140,000 black Ferrari F430, before going head on into an £80,000 Porsche 911 and a £140,000 Aston Martin Rapide.



The driver, and her two passengers, then had the humiliation of watching hundreds of tourists circle the scene as they were unable to open the doors of the British-built convertible.

It is estimated the crash will cost more than £40,000 with the Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin requiring new front wings and bumpers. The Bentley will need the same repairs, plus a new door.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1TLTTxF2S

[dgs49]

HIDDEN COST:

Here in the states we have a new phenomenon called the "CarFax."

The purchaser of a car can access all of the significant events of a car's "life" through a company called CarFax. It tells them when the car was originally titled, who owned it, who bought it later, and so forth. It also records any related insurance claims.

For people purchasing a high-end used car, the CarFax has become a "must," and no rational person will buy one without it. Furthermore, NO ONE will purchase a such an expensive car unless it has a pristine CarFax report. So if you are buying, for example, a 2-year old Bentley that would normally be worth, say US$125 thousand, with a fouled CarFax, the car becomes virtually un-sellable. If it is sold, it will bring half of its normal value, even if the damage has been completely repaired and "certified," whatever that might mean.

I'm thinking that Europe probably has pretty much the same set up, whether it's called "CarFax" or something else.

This phenomenon is the only rational justification I am aware of to lease such cars. If you buy one and have an accident, you could be losing tens of thousands of dollars in that instant, even though the car is fully insured.

Bottom line: The total cost of these accidents will be multiples of the 40 thousand pounds mentioned in the article.

[Long Run]

So Gob is a blondist, then? Why don't you ever post stories of brunettes or red heads crashing their rich cars into other rich cars?

[The Hen]

And those stories are ..... where?

[SisterMaryFellatio]

[Jarlaxle]

HIDDEN COST:

Here in the states we have a new phenomenon called the "CarFax."

The purchaser of a car can access all of the significant events of a car's "life" through a company called CarFax. It tells them when the car was originally titled, who owned it, who bought it later, and so forth. It also records any related insurance claims.

For people purchasing a high-end used car, the CarFax has become a "must," and no rational person will buy one without it. Furthermore, NO ONE will purchase a such an expensive car unless it has a pristine CarFax report. So if you are buying, for example, a 2-year old Bentley that would normally be worth, say US$125 thousand, with a fouled CarFax, the car becomes virtually un-sellable. If it is sold, it will bring half of its normal value, even if the damage has been completely repaired and "certified," whatever that might mean.

I'm thinking that Europe probably has pretty much the same set up, whether it's called "CarFax" or something else.

This phenomenon is the only rational justification I am aware of to lease such cars. If you buy one and have an accident, you could be losing tens of thousands of dollars in that instant, even though the car is fully insured.

Bottom line: The total cost of these accidents will be multiples of the 40 thousand pounds mentioned in the article.

Actually, CarFax is pretty much worthless. My F-350 was in three moderate to major wrecks, one before I bought it, two while I owned it. A CarFax report came up, while not truly "clean" (it showed, correctly, that it had been a fleet vehicle), showing NONE of them! Other than the obvious fact that what left Dearborn a pickup had aquired a Reading utility body, there was no sign of the damage.

My friend's Mustang showed no accidents...considering I personally helped him replace the entire right side of the car after a sideswipe (by, ironically, another Mustang), that is clearly, to borrow from Gob's countrymen, BOLLOCKS!

[Econoline]

Maybe the repairs have to have been done at a dealer or other licensed repair shop in order for the damage and repair to show up in the data base? (Just a guess.)

I doubt if the Bentley owner in the above story--or any other late-model Bentley owner for that matter--would enlist the aid of a friend and repair the damage herself....

[Jarlaxle]

But he/she might well be self-insured...

CarFax goes from insurance claims, not body shop work! (My truck was repaired the first time at a large body shop.)

[dales]

Pocket change to these people.

Buy another exotic <shrugs>.

[dgs49]

CarFAX is not worthless because you know of an incident or two where something didn't show up.

In most cases it provides exactly the kinds of information the purchaser of a used car wants.

Which is why it has become so extensively used.

[Jarlaxle]

Keep rereading my post until it sinks in.

I have seen many vehicles I KNEW had been hit with clean Carfax reports! I have run Carfax reports on TOTALLED cars and had them show "no accidents".

[Gob]

I wonder if he was blonde?

A mechanic had some explaining to do after he crashed a Ferrari supercar, worth at least £300,000, during a test drive.

Things rapidly went from awesome to awful for the unfortunate grease monkey, who last week took the classic Ferrari F40 for a spin in Houston, Texas, while the millionaire owner was away in Europe.

The car's original tyres are believed to have caused him to lose control and the 20-year-old car smashed into a fence, although police say the driver must have been doing speeds in excess of the 35mph posted speed limit for the area.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1VzYW2yLO

[Long Run]

although police say the driver must have been doing speeds in excess of the 35mph posted speed limit for the area

, when they found him sitting on a curb saying, "Bueller, Bueller" over and over.

[dales]