1996 Corsa Broken in to. Do i Claim or Fix

misssarahleigh

Afternoon all,

I ahve a 1996 Corsa which was broken into last night. They have kindly prised my door open, leaving a 6 inch gap at the top of the door where it should close and snapped my steering wheel.

Rang my insurence but..... I have £350 excess on the car which is valued at £800.

What are the chances of them scrapping it? would i be better off trying and getting it fixed on my own.

Was just comming upto 3 years no claims.

Any advice welcome

Pictures below

http://img203.imageshack.us/g/dsc00335f.jpg/

JQ.

You could use Ebay to fix it, buy a replacement door (£60) and wheel (£20) and get your local garage to fit them. You may need to get the door painted which may add to the costs, but I'm guessing that you get it completely fixed for alot less than £350.

Wheel http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-CORSA-CLUB-1993-2000-STEERING-WHEEL_W0QQitemZ180437685883QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a02ec967b

Door http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Corsa-B-Drivers-Door_W0QQitemZ290403496071QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item439d65b087

misssarahleigh

JQ. wrote: »

You could use Ebay to fix it, buy a replacement door (£60) and wheel (£20) and get your local garage to fit them. You may need to get the door painted which may add to the costs, but I'm guessing that you get it completely fixed for alot less than £350.

Wheel http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-CORSA-CLUB-1993-2000-STEERING-WHEEL_W0QQitemZ180437685883QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a02ec967b

Door http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Corsa-B-Drivers-Door_W0QQitemZ290403496071QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item439d65b087

Thats what i was thinking. Just don't really have enough knowledge about cars to feel confident enough getting something sorted.

wazza

They will write it off. Don't forget they will price for new parts and spray the door etc and that will easily exceed £300 when you take into account the labour charges.

If you want to keep the car then pay a visit to a breakers yard and get a door and steering wheel and repair it yourself or have a local garage do the work.

Had someone bend my door years ago, i simply bend it back. Invest in stoplok or other antitheft device that fits over the steering wheel.

JQ.

The Ebay sellers are likely to be professional breakers (scrap yards) - so if you're not sure, just ask them if it fits your car, via Ebay.

Alternatively, just go to you local bodyshop and ask them to source replacement secondhand parts and do all the work - still likely to be much cheaper than your excess.

anewman

If they have snapped the steering wheel they have probably bent the steering column too (in an attempt to break the steering lock).

wazza wrote: »

Had someone bend my door years ago, i simply bend it back. Invest in stoplok or other antitheft device that fits over the steering wheel.

As you can see stoplok type things are useless on most cars. They have tried to break the steering lock on the car and broken the steering wheel instead.

misssarahleigh

Do you think i have a fair chance of getting somebody to bend the door back???

petrolhead69

Itll never go back straight. you should be able to find a door the same colour cheap from a breaker, and if i remember correctly the pins just knock out on those and the wiring is a twist to lock plug so changing the door is a 5 minute job even if your inexperienced. add half an hour if you want to swap your old lock into the new door so you dont have 2 different keys. does the steering wheel still turn ok lock to lock?

anewman

misssarahleigh wrote: »

Do you think i have a fair chance of getting somebody to bend the door back???

I'd try DIY it, you won't cause any more damage than the unprofessional thieves already have. I would start off by winding the window down then trying to bend it back with the door shut. You won't get it to bend all the way back though in that position so do as much as you can, then with the door open, another person may be handy to hold the bottom of the door as you bend it. Do a bit at a time and keep shutting the door to check how much you need to bend it. I don't think you'll get a water/air tight seal though so will get noise on the roads and a wet car.

Bear in mind if the steering column is bent enough to render it un-MOT-able/usable this will be more difficult to replace than just the steering wheel.

misssarahleigh

my neighbour said the same about bending the door back. Even if it isn't perfect, so long as it's good enough. Only prob with getting a new one is it will be the wrong colour cos i can't see a nice metalic green door being within a 100 mile radius with my luck at the mo, might as well try put the door back first, then get one if it doesn't work

about the wheel, it does look like the bottom has just snapped off, but like i said, pretty limited knowledge in how cars work. Don't mind having a go at the door, but gonna need somebody with some know how about the wheel.

petrolhead69

leave the steering wheel to a professional as it will need a puller to get it off, hammering the centre nut ruins the column plus if your car has an airbag you need to disconnect the battery and refit the clock spring wiring assembly exactly right.