Car Write off - take payment or buy back & repair?

A-Trak

I had a tip in stop start traffic, my fault, went into the back of the car in front. All amicable and details exchanged. Other drivers rear bumper needed replacing. They got a quote which seemed reasonable & I advised to go through my insurance. I have fully comp.
My car however seems to have taken far more damage, got a quote of 3K to fully repair. This probably puts it beyond economical repair as it’s approx. 80% of the cars value. (Car is driving fine, all repairs mostly body work.)

Insurance have been sound but looks like a write off. I’ll have the option of taking fully comp payout and buying back as salvage, then repairing with the payout at a cheaper price hopefully.
I’d prefer this option as I’ve recently had a load of work done on the car and a like for like replacement would be hard to find and probably the same amount of time/hassle as repairing.


I’m waiting on the insurance company & assessor to clarify all this, but I’m hoping anyone can give be their views if they’ve similar experience or opinions on what option would be best outside of the insurance & assessor. Cheers!

biko

Car model/year/work done etc?
I'd probably buy it back and repair the front (of course I don't know the extent of the damages to your car).
There is nothing wrong with chassis frame or steering or anything like that? Just cosmetic stuff?

A-Trak

04 Alfa 156

The cost is all parts. Labour comes isn't even 25% of the 3K.

Only non cosmetic part is the cross-member behind the bumper is bent slightly but recommended to be replaced. Others are headlight housing, bonnet and bumper, grill is fine. There's a slight kink in the bonnet I can live with but they said needs replacing as a crumple zone.

Tea 1000

A-Trak wrote: »

04 Alfa 156

The cost is all parts. Labour comes isn't even 25% of the 3K.

Only non cosmetic part is the cross-member behind the bumper is bent slightly but recommended to be replaced. Others are headlight housing, bonnet and bumper, grill is fine. There's a slight kink in the bonnet I can live with but they said needs replacing as a crumple zone.

Take the money. You'll pick up plenty of clean 156's if you look and are a bit patient, or if you have some means of alternate transport in the mean time.
Of all cars I'd trust a repaired Alfa less than most. I like Alfa's in general, but break one and it should stay broken really!

dantastic

If the parts cost is high you have the option to shop around the breakers. Should be plenty of 156's around with good front ends. If you can get hold of bits in the same colour you should be able to keep prices down even further.

The quote you got from the garage didn't include shopping around for cheaper parts but most likely brand new from main dealer and then spray as well on top.

A-Trak

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Take the money. You'll pick up plenty of clean 156's if you look and are a bit patient, or if you have some means of alternate transport in the mean time.
Of all cars I'd trust a repaired Alfa less than most. I like Alfa's in general, but break one and it should stay broken really!

A bit of sticker is that my wife is due in 2 weeks which puts a small bit of pressure on timewise. :pac:

I'd rather repair this one as I know the history, (Belts and oil change etc,) and the damage is nearly all cosmetic. Low mileage too.
I can actually source most of the parts from Micks garage and the rest in a breakers.

The bonnet is the only pain - opens and closes but there is a kink so would need realigning or replacement.

A-Trak

OSI wrote: »

Just bear in mind that if you do buy it back, it's pretty much yours for life. Will be very hard to shift a crash repaired Alfa.

Very hard to shift a non crashed 9yr old petrol Alfa as well I'd imagine!
Yeah I'd be driving it into the ground/

Dord

A-Trak wrote: »

A bit of sticker is that my wife is due in 2 weeks which puts a small bit of pressure on timewise. :pac:

In that case I'd say take the money and run. Find a suitable car with what you have. It could be a lot of messing around finding parts etc. at a time when you really need a working car on standby.

mullingar

The car is still yours.

The insurance pays out the value loss on the car and if they deem it a write off they will source a breaker that will buy it off you at the best price they can find as it reduces the pay out, but you don't have to sell it!