Car crash price- back axle?? panel beating

rachel1000

Hi there

a car crashed into me today and caused a bit of damage to my wheel and back door - I’m sitting here hoping it’s not a write off as it’s a 2012 and I don’t know if the pay out would be much, I’d rather my little car fixed up. 2012 golf TDI. Do you think this will be expensive fix ? The back wheel is bent in, alloy broken, door frame is wrecked, needs panel beating and respray

Speedline

You would get either the car repaired, or the cost of replacing it with a like for like model.

Let the insurance company worry about it. That's what you pay them for.

junkyarddog

That is a write off I'm afraid.

ongarite

Agree that's a write off.

That's structural damage to rear door c-pillar.

rachel1000

Yes thank you I’ve made the phone calls today, took around 4 hours but with the time of year haven’t got very far, it had to be towed to a repair shop

SCOOP 64

Agree if its down to the insurance company definitely a write off.

rachel1000

😒 do you wreckon, I was afraid so!

Speedline

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541854#Comment_121541854

Its a bit of damage to a wheel arch. I'm not saying it's not an economic write off, but it's certainly repairable and I've seen plenty of similar damage in that area of the car repaired.

I can't speak for the wheel damage as I can't see what's damaged.

rachel1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541857#Comment_121541857

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541854#Comment_121541854

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541840#Comment_121541840

that’s a bummer .. thanks for your reply !!

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541859#Comment_121541859

Just buy the car back off and them and fix it yourself

Casati

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121542097#Comment_121542097

This might end up your best option- but what you need to do is get a quote from a larger panel beater and send it to the other persons insurance. They might ask you to get their crash repair place to review too. My guess is that using all new parts and going through insurance it would be more than the value of the car - I'm guessing circa 5k, so in that case they will write off the car and offer you the value. You could then buy the car off them (probably for less than 2k and then you arrange to fix it up- but realistically to make it worth your while you'd want a small panel beater who would source secondhand parts (which are widely available).

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121542149#Comment_121542149

If you did decide to buy the car I reckon the bodywork could be fixed up for under €1000, it doesn’t really look like it needs new parts to me. Its a 12 year old car so you might not need an absolute perfect job. You’ll probably need a new wishbone too and a new set of wheels.

ahusband

No question that it is a write off, needs an axle, stub axle, bearing, benching, quarter panel repair / sill pull and a door plus painting.

ahusband

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121542555#Comment_121542555

Have you seen the angle of the rear wheel? needs parts no question, the rear subframe has got to be damaged

DJ5831

I was in a similar situation with my 2010 Audi A4, got damaged more or less the same amount as your car, insurance wrote it off and paid me 5.5k then they sold the car to a dealer for 2k, then the dealer fixed it and sold it online for €6k.

the insurance wrote it off because it wasn’t worth their time to continue paying for a hire car whilst they paid top dollar for brand new parts from Audi. I considered buying the car back myself and fixing it - priced it at about €1200 to source 2 panels, get them painted, and a headlight, and could’ve fit them myself.

my point being, they’ll write off cars when it isn’t worth it for them to fix it because they have to use top name garages with high labour rates using brand new OEM parts, whilst paying for a hire car in the meantime. But somebody privately fixing it could source the parts and get it fixed for much cheaper using 2nd hand panels etc, I’m not saying doing a half arsed or dodgy repair, but there’s no reason to go and pay huge money for things like a door when you can get one from a breaker for half nothing and get it sprayed

Btw, your car is 100% an insurance write off. However as I said above, it still may be viable for you to get it repaired.

one thing I didn’t see here already was the fact that if an insurance company decides that car is a write off, it is recorded on a national database against the registration number and VIN number, anybody looking to buy your car when the time comes to sell, will most likely use a site like Motorcheck or Cartell etc to run a history report, and the write off status will be flagged, this will significantly impact the value of the car, you need to take this into consideration.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121542627#Comment_121542627

Of course it needs parts, I never said otherwise. I’ve bought loads of crashed and a new wishbone usually sorts it. But like you say it could be the axle, who knows.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121542658#Comment_121542658

All valid points, but the car is currently 12 years old and it seems OP has no plans to sell any time soon so the chances of the write off status being discovered by a potential buyer or it even effecting the cars value is pretty slim considering it will probably be a 15 year old car by then only worth a couple of grand.

Hellrazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121541854#Comment_121541854

Thats not structural damage- that door surround comes as part of the quarter panel. To me it looks like the car was hit side on.

Rear axle could be as simple as a torsion bar / wishbone bent - I highly doubt the axle is gone.

Door is repairable without replacing / quarter panel needs to be replaced.

Its repairable alright but would probably be an economical write off either Category c or d but its definitely not a safety related write off - A or B.

Casati

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121543273#Comment_121543273

Impossible to say it’s not structural? Highly likely the chassis is dented behind the door full area

Speedline

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121543446#Comment_121543446

Have you ever carried out car body repairs? I have, and I suspect some of the other poster have too. I am telling you that is not structural damage. The car got sideswiped.

Casati

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121543738#Comment_121543738

If the chassis is damaged behind panel, does that not mean its structural?