Car Written off and questions about it

[Tony_Simpson]

Just a few questions here.....

At 3am on the 6th May a drunk driver crashed into the side of my car. the Police got him and are looking after that part.

my car got taken to a body shop/ repair centre on the Tuesday and by Thursday they sent the photos and recommnedation to the insurers engineer that it was a total loss.

On tuesday this week they decided that it was borderline and are sending an engineer to look at the car in person to decide if it is a write off or not!!

the car was hit in the o/s rear, which hit the corner of the bumper, below the filler cap, and hit the rear wheel. it pushed the wheel through 45degrees, broke it and pushed the sub frame all over the place, the strut is visable. if looking from the n/s the rear wheel moved about an inch closer to the centre of hte car. there is some movement in the shell, as the panel gap around one side of hte boot shows movement.

my car moved about 6m with it in gear and handbrake on. his car landed on its roof after impacting my wheel.!!!! I'm fine as i was in bed asleep!!!.

my question is, if this car is described as being repaired and i do not want it repaired can i say that?? i know that the subframe and hence mounting points all moved, and every thing is not going to straighten up properly, etc. it might not handle properly.

My car is a Seat leon, on a 52 plate, worth about 7500-8000. so if it is repaired do i also have to mention it if i sell the car on???

hopefully this makes sense, and any help is greatly appreciated.

[rallycrosscraig]

if they decide to repair it then all is well and its unlikely that the next owner / buyer would notice, and no, there is no listing of the repairs eg from an hpi check if your insurer agrees to repair it.

by the sounds of it they wont repair it.

many cars have accident damage and are properly repaired and no one would ever know.

if its borderline in terms of cost and it does get written off - then it will probably be repaired independantly (bought at a salvage auction) and sold as a a cat D (lowest level of damaged repairable) at a low price.

If you feel its beyond repair and they tell you they want to repair it (rather than pay out then) you'll need to take it up with your insurer and get an independant report as to its post crash condition.

the huge cost of new parts is usually what gets bordeline damage cars written off, they then go on to be repaired (often perfectly) by an independant person who does not need to use all new parts from the manufacturer (in the way that your insurer would).

Roof damage normally spells the end, was the roof kinked above the drivers door?

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by Tony_Simpson

...so if it is repaired do i also have to mention it if i sell the car on???

As a private seller you are not obliged to inform the other party of the car's history but you can't be untruthful if asked a direct question. (well, you can lie, but that's naughty )

[Tony_Simpson]

thanks for the advice.

there was no visiable roof damage, just alot of suspension mount type damage. i think the front door was a bit tricky to open but then opened and closed the rear and the front opened, so......

i just have to sit back and wait i think now.

i know if someone asks directly then i need to give a direct truthful answer back......

i also have to have a wisdom tooth out in the next 2 weeks (lots of pain here!!!!) so its all a bit stressful here!!!!

thanks again for the advice

[StuiE]

Will never be perfect again.

If it's borderline you shuold be able to choose weather it gets repaired or not. My g/f's Mazda 121 would have been written off, but they let the company use a second hand rear subframe, so that it could be repaired for less $$$. I didn't agree with it, and then there was the problems that came with panelbeaters working on the car...I don't trust them, and they made some mistakes.

If it was an especially rare model, then yeh fix it, but it's not, so don't. You *should* be able to choose.

[glenn22481]

some posts here are very much against panel beaters...

Its the insurance co. that determines how a claimants vehicle is fixed not the repairer. They are the ones who authorise a repair and 'haggle' to lower the repair cost. Ok, cowboy repairers have been around since business began but repaires are required to follow a code of pratice and on occasion you get the ones that dont. This happens in every trade, but those that do it wont be in business for long..

I can say for a fact that bodyshops struggle to get fair business from insurers, £25per hour at some establishments. Bodyshops charge less for their services to insurers, A friend of mine in the same area as me charges £55per hour as an electrician, his overheads are a van, petrol and tools - a bodyshop has tools, workshop, electricity, water, oven fuel, staff training, courtesy cars (at a cost of £10 per day) the list goes on! They cant even decide how long it takes to repair cars nowadays as they have to use estimating systems approved by the INSURERS! As a result more and more bodyshops are targeting retail work and are trying to break free of contracts with insurers once they can afford to do so.

Blame the insurers, not just the repairer..

Enough said....

Anyway...

Let them repair your car and get it checked afterwards. If you have a problem with your car after a repair just take it back to who repaired it and tell them what the problem is. You wont need to argue with the repairer with they do try to fob you off, just show it to the insurance assessor and let them decide, if it is no good they will ask/tell the repairer on your behalf to rectify it...


Also...
You have the right to choose who repairs your car (even though the insurance company may try to tell you otherwise - and the ones that do are breaking fair trade laws).

HTH

[R59]

Tony,

If the insurers give the go-ahead, you ought to be able to get them to provide a competent engineer to over-see the repairs, IE: use a manufacturers jig sheet to ensure that the car is properly straight when they've finished it.

A friend of mine had his Nova repaired, this is going back to the early 90's, and I gave him a copy of the vauxhall/opel jig sheet. The car had sustained a fair hit on the right front, which was touch and go to a write off. The car was only a year old, and the insurers said "fix it". Before he took the car away from the repairers, he took a tape measure to the front of the car, and found that it was miles out!! The repairers said "That's how it is" the insurers were a little "lost" to start with, until he found a proper engineer amongst them, rather than just loss adjusters, and came down on his side. The it cost the repairer a packet, they had to rebuild the entire front of this car, and it would probably have been cheaper to buy him a new one, but the insurer's made them do it properly.

After all of that, he said it handled better than when it was new.......

So, your mission is: find a Seat Cupra Cup team who has the full jig drawings, and present them to the repairer & insurer, and let them know that you'll be checking it out before you take it back... (that should frighten them!)

Rob.
PS: Where have you been this year?

[Tony_Simpson]

the car actually is not a write off.... it has apparently £4300 worth of repairs!! car is worth 7500approx.......

The car is at an Accident Repair Centre, the cetre is linked with a main Citreon Dealership. It is going to go on a jig, and have new parts fitted. that place is meant to do lots of good work and have been doing so for a long time.

i spoke to the engineer who inspected the car. i mentioned about crash structure (i think it was missed...) and the suspension mountings. he said with the mountings it is on rubber mounts. yes thats true but there is metal near by that is all twist etc..... i will get a 3 year warrenty on repairs.

He did say that if the repairers find more problems with the car they will contact him and will reasses the car from there. they have jsut started to take it to bits the last couple of days, so who knows if they have found more parts wrong.

i will take a tape measure along and double check parts. i know the door shut line around the boot as i have a photo of that before they took it away.

i will also test drive it as well and give it a damm good drive to test the handling!!!!


Rob,

I have been busy karting and enjoying london life!!! also waiting for your car to finish a race no but seriously, i just have not had the time to wipe my own backside recently!!!! i need to slow down a bit and get along to a race or two!!!

[glenn22481]

A tape measure will be useless for checking. You will need a trammel bar to check it properly.

Also, a jig sheet will only tell you measurements for a jig repair, you are best to phone up citroen direct (or ask your local dealer) and ask them to fax you down a copy of body dimensions, these give you measurements AND shows you how they should be properly measured.

If you can't get hold of these measurements (which you should), use the trammel bar to check for squareness between a 0 point (away from the dameged zone ie: at the rear) and suspension pick ups - if it is not square then it has not been repaired properly. Allow a tolerance of 4mm between measurements.