Side impact in Clio - possible write-off?

Wee_Willy_Harris

Remember, we haven't seen the car so the comments on here are sight unseen. If you have a pic of the damage, a more accurate opinion could be offered.

katebl

Thanks Wee Willy, I will try and upload some tomorrow if possible.

cyclonebri1

The stuff about the chassis is correct. We had Clio, the earlier model. That was side swiped, both the outer and inner sill were well bent. Took a whole oe sidepanel, + door + interior trim, etc etc. £2k (no airbag damage) in total.;)

vaio

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

The stuff about the chassis is correct. We had Clio, the earlier model. That was side swiped, both the outer and inner sill were well bent. Took a whole oe sidepanel, + door + interior trim, etc etc. £2k (no airbag damage) in total.;)

sounds a bit cheap to me for a new side & door but even so add in another grand plus for airbags and you are well over £3k which pretty much guarantees a write off

OP, as there is an obvious and strong sentimental attachment to the car it might be worth getting a few quotes for repairs on the basis that you might be able to buy the salvage off the insurance company.

katebl

Well as it goes vaio, I'm glad I took your advice and asked around - insurance company said repairs would be £7k so is a Cat C write-off... but funnily enough could recommend somewhere that would repair it - no airbags - for £3,200 cash. The assessor must have plucked the £7k figure out of the air just for the fun of it! I told the insurance company we weren't interested in it being repaired without airbags, and went to see a local-ish bodyshop who I've used before, and they're coming to look at it tomorrow but it could end up only costing about £3,500 to get back on the road completely repaired, with a payout from the insurers of nearly £3,000 towards it (after excess deductions). They've won some pretty big awards in the past year or two so if I'm to look at the option of having it repaired I guess they're a good place to start.

I have warned her that if he says the repairs will still leave it structurally questionable, she will have to accept that and look for something else.... She is stubborn but not stupid thankfully. It will be put to bids for salvage companies for the next 48 hrs and then she just has to top that by £1 apparently (anyone know if that's common procedure?!) but when the woman from the insurers said the same estimator that though £7,000 repairs estimated £600 salvage I had to laugh - I think he was trying it on a bit surely! Considering it hasn't even been taken from her house yet I'm not really sure what they're up to...

Thanks everyone for your help and advice, I will let you all know the outcome.

king100

katebl wrote: »

Well as it goes vaio, I'm glad I took your advice and asked around - insurance company said repairs would be £7k so is a Cat C write-off... but funnily enough could recommend somewhere that would repair it - no airbags - for £3,200 cash. The assessor must have plucked the £7k figure out of the air just for the fun of it! I told the insurance company we weren't interested in it being repaired without airbags, and went to see a local-ish bodyshop who I've used before, and they're coming to look at it tomorrow but it could end up only costing about £3,500 to get back on the road completely repaired, with a payout from the insurers of nearly £3,000 towards it (after excess deductions). They've won some pretty big awards in the past year or two so if I'm to look at the option of having it repaired I guess they're a good place to start.

I have warned her that if he says the repairs will still leave it structurally questionable, she will have to accept that and look for something else.... She is stubborn but not stupid thankfully. It will be put to bids for salvage companies for the next 48 hrs and then she just has to top that by £1 apparently (anyone know if that's common procedure?!) but when the woman from the insurers said the same estimator that though £7,000 repairs estimated £600 salvage I had to laugh - I think he was trying it on a bit surely! Considering it hasn't even been taken from her house yet I'm not really sure what they're up to...

Thanks everyone for your help and advice, I will let you all know the outcome.

Dont accept 1st claim from insurance.

katebl

Thanks king100, the woman dealing with the claim did try and give me a line about "it was an independent valuer, not the insurance company that had come up with the figure", and so could not be argued, however I'll be doing my research tomorrow on glass's and parker's etc, I haggled the price up on my OH's written-off fiesta last month so know what to make my comparisons on! To be honest my sister's insurers, (Quinn direct), have been nothing but nice to my sister but are obviously trying to take the mick a bit. Some of the stuff they have come out with is laughable.

KillerWatt

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Remember, we haven't seen the car so the comments on here are sight unseen. If you have a pic of the damage, a more accurate opinion could be offered.

Call renault tomorrow (today really) and get a price on 2 airbags, 2 seat belts, and 2 pre-tensioners - the price for them alone writes it off financially.

cyclonebri1

vaio wrote: »

sounds a bit cheap to me for a new side & door but even so add in another grand plus for airbags and you are well over £3k which pretty much guarantees a write off

OP, as there is an obvious and strong sentimental attachment to the car it might be worth getting a few quotes for repairs on the basis that you might be able to buy the salvage off the insurance company.

This was about 8 years ago and done entirely at my cost, (don't ask). I did get an as new door shell for the body shop to keep costs down, forever the money saver :money:

mcjordi

with damage like that im not suprised its a write off.. i personally wouldnt want it back.. at the end of the day its a lump of metal that can be replaced.. your life cant.. it did its job protecting the owner/driver (she/he died for a good cause)