Body Repair Needed - Advice Please

opinions4u

My eldest got his first car (£2,500) 3 weeks ago ... big excess on the insurance policy ... and promptly ran in to the back of a Land Rover (which won).

There doesn't appear to be any engine damage, but the bonnet is crumpled and sporty headlight broken.

Estimate given by a local body shop is £700, which makes it worth paying without involving the insurer.

Are there any potential pitfalls that this could create?

- with insurer
- additional costs cropping up over and beyond the estimate
- anything else you can think of

Additionally, how to you select a reputable body shop?

Batchy

huge premium next year... and the year after and the year after ... for basically 5 years!

hartcjhart

£700 for a bonnet seems bl@@dy steep to me what sort of car is it,and are you sure it is only the bonnet that is damaged I would try to get one from ebay/scrappie/etc

atrixblue.-MFR-.

opinions4u wrote: »

My eldest got his first car (£2,500) 3 weeks ago ... big excess on the insurance policy ... and promptly ran in to the back of a Land Rover (which won).

There doesn't appear to be any engine damage, but the bonnet is crumpled and sporty headlight broken.

Estimate given by a local body shop is £700, which makes it worth paying without involving the insurer.

Are there any potential pitfalls that this could create?

- with insurer
- additional costs cropping up over and beyond the estimate
- anything else you can think of

Additionally, how to you select a reputable body shop?

ok what car we talking about how fast did he hit the 4X4, have the insurers seen it, taken it, declaired write off?

with insurers good possibility itl be written off.
additional cost maybe that there is hidden damage chassis, bulkhead, cross member, slam panel,light cage, subframe.

only other thing i can think of is to strip down the front end if wings are bolted them too, if not it will have to be stripped at a garage as most are spot welded seams. take out lights indicators and check for creasing in the frame.
the garage will have to check the front engine bay (what i call the front frames "legs" that the engine mounts and passenger side mounts are bolted to) inner sides with the wings off and wing inserts the outer of the "legs" can be seen properly and suspension check for creases bends dents compareing each side to the other any differeces it maybe bent and need a jig to pull them straight again, you can buy most if not all the parts second hand from salvage, ebay, pistonheads, if supplied to the body shop this will help cut the cost of the repair, leave all structural work to the body shop but at least youll know and have a better estimate or quote if you can tell them that it may need jigging in certain areas.
if the support "legs" are bent so severly that they cant be jigged out then the only option there maybe to cut and replace the "legs" in wich case engine removal is a must and again more cost to you.

if £700 is the estimate given to you and you happy with this estimate you could authorise the work to this value by telling them when it hits £700 contact me before anymore work is carried out, but have a larger budget in mind if your prepared to spend up to £1000.00 or more, this ensures that when they hit that 700 they should know how much it will cost to complete.
if you not prepared to spend no more than 700 you could tell them to fix the structural work but not to paint and try and source same colour parts from salvage or ebay.

blue_haddock

If it is just a bonnet and headlight to be replaced you mau be as well as trying to find used stuff and bolting it on yourself.

What car is it?

EdGasket

What if the other party decides to claim for damage and/or whiplash? Then you will need to go through the insurance so may be best to wait ans see if the other side will be making any claim as it was your child's fault. £700 sounds about right for a body shop repair; labour, spraying etc. Of course you can probably find another bonnet and fit it yourself even one of the right colour if you are lucky enough to find it.

opinions4u

Cheers guys. The car is a Corsa. The speed was extremely low. No damage (appraently) to the other car or passenger in the Corsa.

blue_haddock

If its a corsa you can definatelyt pick the parts up a lot cheaper than £700.