botched theft attempt

twanda

Hi all,
My b'friends car was broken into and the steering wheel is now loose and dangling :mad: I don't know what the hell the would-be thief was trying to do, but he/she managed to make a balls of it.. Now we are left with a car that cannot even be driven to a repair shop :mad:

The car is a 95 astra, and we were wondering how much it would cost to repair the damage - do any of you guys have an idea of the cost?
My b'friend has 3rd party fire/theft insurance from Quinn Direct, but as the car was not actually stolen, I am unsure as to whether this damage is covered by the insurance...

In your opionions, would it even be worth our while getting it repaired?

Volvoboy

Sounds like your steering column is broke, '95 astra, wouldnt be worth insurance involvement, high premiums on your renewal next year, on a car that wont be worth a whole lot, it would cost around 200-300€ to get fixed in a garage.


-VB-

overdriver

On the positive side, a breaker's would have one cheap enough, and it'd still be cheapoer than hunting around for new car,, the history of which you don't know etc. If it's been good enought to you and is in good order otherwise, fix it.

gary the great

I assume the steering wheel was dangling because he was tryin to break the steering lock. The astras are notouriusly easy to steel, but apparently in some opels the steering wheel comes loose/off if the steering lock is broken to prevent the car being stolen.

DId the thief go near the ignition? that can be messed up worse than the steeing colum.

He should of had a big chain around the steering wheel as a deterent, i suggest he buys one now to prevent this happening again.

Renegade_Archer

Mate of mine had the steering column snapped on his Diesel 89 Carina II twice in the space of a month(easy to break into? someone really needed parts? who knows....) - apparently he had a stop loc on it that gave the scum leverage to break the column. He has a Rather Large Chain(tm) on it now, hasn't been touched since

Victor

Isn't attempted theft counted as theft?

And as you haven't had an accident, some insurance companies will leave your NCB as is.

bugler

Something very similar happened my girlfriends '95 Micra the other night. The thief usually sits in the passenger seat and kicks at the wheel to break the lock.

Her wheel is intact and is driving ok (though she says it feels a bit different steering wise), but the cops said to make sure it's checked out as the lock could come on randomly some time while driving.

Does anyone know how much this should cost to be repaired? Thanks, sorry for thread-hijacking :-)

bugler

By the way OP, both the cops and the guy who repaired the window both rolled their eyes when they heard it was insured with Quinn Direct. Apparently they're not very helpful with such matters...

MercMad

You should be covered by insurance for attempted theft !

I have repaired many Astras and I would avoid second hand parts like the plague. You wont save much as these parts will have to be stripped out of a used car !

Also the steering lock assembley is held on with two shear bolts, taking them off an existing one would be a pain !

You will need a steering lock (you can transfer the existing barrel and retain the key) steering tube ( this is what everything is bolted to, it will be twisted) and a steering shaft ( these twist and are collapsable, they MUST be replaced)

I would suggest you go to your local garage, anyone/everyone has repaired an Opel before !

DO NOT DRIVE IT !!