My wife's Escort 1.6 estate LX has just been damaged in a accident,the garages say it is probaly a write off. The damage is only bumpers +front wing+and some damage to nearside doors.The car is a 1996 with 57000 miles. I wondered how much it is valued at and what would tip it over the limit.Thanks in advance.
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From your description, I would *probably* go the write-off route.
Paint/Bodywork repairs are so expensive these days, car values are so low, it doesn't take much to write off a car.
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From what you describe, the car is a write off. Depending how inclined you are to repair it, providing the damaged parts can be unbolted, then you can effect quite an economic repair by purchasing replacements from a breakers. The only thing thats going to cost is the painting but its worth shopping around- some small places can do a 'blow over' quite reasonably.
Hope this helps
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
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Wait and see what the insurance say as it will depend on the arrangement they have with the bodyshop, ie what discount they get.
My car is worth £3k tops (apparently!!) and has just had repairs done which would cost a member of the public £3800...but the insurance didn't write it off. That said - how much do you love the car... do you want a cheap repair for the sake of it not being written off, or would you like to take the money and get a different car?
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As PG says (and we have all heard her protracted story in detail) it will depend on how cherished the car is, and especially on whether you can be certain that the basic structure (chassis & suspension) is undamaged.
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OK,
So we have a car that has been damaged to the extent of two bumpers and a few panels.
Option 1 - Insurers decide to repair. Hopefully things won't go a bit Pologirl and you'll get a good repair and the car will go back to pre accident condition or better.
Option 2 - Insurers write off the car and you are made an offer, which you MUST check will get you an equivilent replacement, before you accept. Provided the offer is fair and you accept it you then have to go out and source a good replacement.
Option 3 - which not a lot of people think about, is that the insurers write the car off agree a pre accident value with you as in Option 2 - THEN you agree salvage value with them, £50 to £100 say. You get the difference between the two, stick it into a high interest account. Then you do the minimum to enable you to enjoy the car safely, eg couple of SH bumpers, straighten out the panels to allow you to open doors etc and have it MOT and road legal and run it into the ground over the next few years. Then scrap it/trade it in and take the money with all that interest and get a later model.
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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BTW AP - You weren't on your Mobile Phone were you??
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=16...9
Hugo
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Hugo's option 3 is the one I'd pick. Did it once on my stolen/recovered Fiseta, got a garage to quote for the repairs which came out at £900. Told the insurance company I'd accept £900 and arrange the repairs myself - after a visit from their loss adjuster who confirmed that £900 was reasonable for the work needed, they were happy to pay me as it closed the case for them. Then I sourced the new locks, steering column etc for around £300 and did the work myself. I touched-in the bodywork scratches, a proper respray of which had formed a major part of the £1000 quote. The £700 'profit' offset my loss of no claims and helped me run the car for another 3 years.
A colleague at work told me about this option and I'm forever grateful to him.
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