Restoring a Cat C Write Off

discombobulate

My Alfa GT was wrote off last week with front end damage due to it being uneconomical to repair. I've been given a salvage quote of €800 which is quite low in my opinion.

The car was always well looked after and had a new clutch and timing belt / water pump done in the last 15000 miles. Only 55k on the clock and its a 2007.

I reckon I could try pick up a high miled 2004 for around the 2k mark and take the majority of parts from that and get at least 500 back selling whats left of that one.

So that would be a cost of around 2.5k before labour. If I factored in around €1500 for that and another €500 for unknowns I could possibly get it back on the road for 4.5k.

Just wondering what peoples opinions on this would be. Need to make a decision quick on whether i'm going to scrap it or save it.

listermint

If it looks like this save it.


If it doesnt... well i dont have an answer

Irishcrx

It's a hard one to answer. I had a write off a few years ago on a Honda Del Sol Sir , I went with my heart over my head and repaired it at the cost of 5k, took me quite a while to pay it back and there was times I was really regretting it. You know yourself with Alfa and the depreciation value that you will never see the money again....but knowing anyone who owns an Alfa includingn myself that's not really an issue because you ere probably planning on keeping her for the long term.

In saying that,you could save yourself the hassle and just buy another one. With front end damage depening on how bad it is even if you repair it and get it back on the road there might be more damage caused by the impact that will only start showing up in a few month's.

discombobulate

listermint wrote: »

If it looks like this save it.


If it doesnt... well i dont have an answer

Your pic didn't come up

Irishcrx wrote: »

It's a hard one to answer. I had a write off a few years ago on a Honda Del Sol Sir , I went with my heart over my head and repaired it at the cost of 5k, took me quite a while to pay it back and there was times I was really regretting it. You know yourself with Alfa and the depreciation value that you will never see the money again....but knowing anyone who owns an Alfa includingn myself that's not really an issue because you ere probably planning on keeping her for the long term.

In saying that,you could save yourself the hassle and just buy another one. With front end damage depening on how bad it is even if you repair it and get it back on the road there might be more damage caused by the impact that will only start showing up in a few month's.

True. I just think its a low salvage cost. If I had somewhere I could store it I could get the 800 for the seats and alloys alone i'd say. Hard to say goodbye and there's no others for sale at the minute that look clean and in the spec i'd want.

dgt

How bad is the front damage? If the rails are affected forget about it

Irishcrx

Yeah I get what your saying , the salvage cost is low it usually is as they will be looking to make a profit on the parts as well and again it's an Alfa , funny enough they are worth a bit in parts because people will always look to breakers for parts for these and they don't always come cheap.

I wouldn't take €800 from them, it's worth more. No chance of storing it on the driveway or something covered up, where abouts you living?

discombobulate

dgt wrote: »

How bad is the front damage? If the rails are affected forget about it

I wouldn't know a whole lot about the structure of a car myself so not too sure of how bad it is although the crash repair guy I have it stored with at the moment who was well recommended to me by numerous people reckons it doesn't look bad.

Irishcrx wrote: »

Yeah I get what your saying , the salvage cost is low it usually is as they will be looking to make a profit on the parts as well and again it's an Alfa , funny enough they are worth a bit in parts because people will always look to breakers for parts for these and they don't always come cheap.

I wouldn't take €800 from them, it's worth more. No chance of storing it on the driveway or something covered up, where abouts you living?

Living in Dublin 6 with on street parking so not really a choice. Parents house in Wexford close to where the car is at the minute only has a short driveway too. Its not that i'd be taking 800 from them. They'd be paying me the full pre-accident value and then I have a choice of buying it for 800 or else they'll sell it for the 800 to the salvagers.

dgt

Youd have a clearer picture with the front off. The GT has its front crossmember welded to the rails however is well padded inbetween the bumper. Hopefully the damage is cosmetic rather than critical.

Are the bags out?

discombobulate

dgt wrote: »

Youd have a clearer picture with the front off. The GT has its front crossmember welded to the rails however is well padded inbetween the bumper. Hopefully the damage is cosmetic rather than critical.

Are the bags out?

No bags aren't out. Only thing other than the front is the seatbelts as one has locked and the others limp.

discombobulate

This was her before the bang.

dgt

Pretensioner went off so.... Changing the belt will involve a lot of work!

Look under the bonnet and see if the rails are crinkled, is the crossmember bent etc. I'll take a few pics of different yet similar cars with the same format if you wish to compare

If you are wondering how I know this stuff I've done crash repairs and helped in welding in a rail, big big job

discombobulate

dgt wrote: »

Pretensioner went off so.... Changing the belt will involve a lot of work!

Look under the bonnet and see if the rails are crinkled, is the crossmember bent etc. I'll take a few pics of different yet similar cars with the same format if you wish to compare

If you are wondering how I know this stuff I've done crash repairs and helped in welding in a rail, big big job

I'm 70 miles from the car at the moment so can't look myself now before I make a decision. I should have taken pictures etc. but I was too sickened at the time and didn't realise that you had a choice of buying it back. It would seem such a shame though to let it go off to the salvagers and be ripped apart.

This is the cheapest GT in Ireland at the moment but still a bit pricy: http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/5126760

I don't want to be without a car for too long either so the wait for a suitable donor to pop up might be too long.

Interested in buying it as a project yourself?

listermint

discombobulate wrote: »

This was her before the bang.

Shes a beauty !

dgt

discombobulate wrote: »

I'm 70 miles from the car at the moment so can't look myself now before I make a decision. I should have taken pictures etc. but I was too sickened at the time and didn't realise that you had a choice of buying it back. It would seem such a shame though to let it go off to the salvagers and be ripped apart.

This is the cheapest GT in Ireland at the moment but still a bit pricy: http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/5126760

I don't want to be without a car for too long either so the wait for a suitable donor to pop up might be too long.

Interested in buying it as a project yourself?

Well I'm at a computer now, decided to take some snaps for ya

Here's a crossmember of a 00 156


Note the moulding of a dip and provisions for bolts


This is a Bravo. Note the lack of dip and the fact that this has been repaired, badly


Later pre facelift 156's have a swept back crossmember to accommodate the grille better. Note the beefyish padding


And here is a bent crossmember on a Tempra


The GT is built on the same platform as all these cars, hence the similar rails, turrets and crossmembers. I'm not that great of a cameraman but I hope this helps

And to answer your question I'm grand for cars thanks :pac:

discombobulate

Thanks for that. Its a slight bend in the cross member going by the photo's you have there although I suppose there is potential for further damage though as I didn't get a good look at it and won't be able to before I have to make a decision now.