Advice on buying crash cars please.

kluivert

I saw a 2006 Vauxhall Astra Sportshatch 1.7 CDTi in the Autotrader for £5000

The car is sold but all it needed was new front end parts bumper, lights etc. chassis wasnt bent.

Would have been a nice project.

But does anyone have any advice about buying tipped cars and doing them up.

Henry Ford III

Yes. Don't.

If they are recorded on the regsiter they are damaged goods, and future resale, regardless of the quality of the repairs will be difficult if not impossible.

If they are a genuinely easy cosmetic only repair, somebody else will have bought it first.

Where you can do ok is searching for stolen recovereds with no damage and not placed on the register. These are available and are often perfect. They can be bought well if you are clever and fast enough. New keys, locks etc, and away you go.

kluivert

Yeah am talking about "Condition Alert" vehicles registered with the DVLA and HPI.

Also talking about stolen and recovered cars, flood damaged cars and cars with light cosmectic damage.

Looking to the North for this cars as there is plenty of good salvage yeards up there.

Your right about one thing you have to move very fast otherwise the car will be gone.

Ill only be looking for cars that are vastly available, Vauxhall, Fords VW's etc. Spares are cheaper and are also cheaper to fix as well.

Not BMW or Audi etc.

bazz26

kluivert wrote:

I saw a 2006 Vauxhall Astra Sportshatch 1.7 CDTi in the Autotrader for £5000

The car is sold but all it needed was new front end parts bumper, lights etc. chassis wasnt bent.

Would have been a nice project.

But does anyone have any advice about buying tipped cars and doing them up.

I think if all this car needed was a new bumper and lights then it would have been done already and sold for alot more. My thoughts are that there is something more serious wrong with this car. I would also like to know what hit it? A truck, a wall or a fender bender?

Chassis, steering, drive-train, axel, etc could all cause major grief down the road. How did you know for sure that the chassis wasn't damaged? I would not take their word for it.

kluivert

bazz26 wrote:

I think if all this car needed was a new bumper and lights then it would have been done already and sold for alot more. My thoughts are that there is something more serious wrong with this car. I would also like to know what hit it? A truck, a wall or a fender bender?

Chassis, steering, drive-train, axel, etc could all cause major grief down the road. How did you know for sure that the chassis wasn't damaged? I would not take their word for it.

It hit a pole.

I wouldnt take these boy's word for it.

I have my own mechanic to look it over, he buys crashed cars and repairs them every now and again.

My car was crashed at the back (fender bender moment) before I bought, the owner told me the full story and showed the repair bill. No trouble or problems with this car at all.

Girlfriends car was rear ended during the summer, fixed for 800e, Opel garage wanted 3500e. Great job done on the car, I was very surprised with the workmanship on it.

jimmycrackcorm

If you have a good mechanic then it is ok once he has ascertained the damage level and repairability. Sometimes the real damage cannot be seen unless closely examined. Also despite having a budget, you will likely go over it. You would be surprised at the cost of fiddly parts that cannot be gotten secondhand. Also you will have to likely wait quite a while to get it repaired. Also expect some adjustments and hassle post repair.

Mainly you need to have a good mechanic.

Do-more

Here's a few sites that might be of interest....

http://www.carwoodautosalvage.com/salvagelist1.htm

http://www.comiskeycars.com/index.php?page=Home

http://www.douglasvalley.co.uk/

http://www.eastcoastsalvage.co.uk/default.aspx (stock is mainly end of lease vehicles)

http://www.rdsalvage.co.uk/salvage.htm

http://www.rothervalleymotorsalvage.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.simpsonsalvage.com/

http://www.universal-salvage.com/

http://amlinternational.co.uk/index.asp

http://www.bvsf.org.uk/members_list.php