Just discovered...

DCFC79

Why not get a second opinion,

societys_child

"shoddy welding as well as a number of other factors"

Shoddy welding does sound bad but what he's referring to and is it a structural part of the vehicle - what other factors?

"The mechanic came up with the analogy of 'if a head gasket blows the car has a heart attack and dies, your car is dying a slow painful death' "

If a head gasket blows, it's caught flu, not had a heart attack, it can be replaced. Like I said, he sounds very over dramatic.

Did you get an MOT cert with the vehicle or is this it's first MOT?

KillerWatt

cherryblossomchris wrote: »

Well we know the airbag went off at some point because they never fixed the sensor

Yes you know the airbag went off, I'm sure your mechanics £200 OBD reader from China was capable of confirming that.

What your mechanic can NEVER know is what speed the vehicle was travelling at when the bag deployed, what part of the car (if any) collided with something else, how hard that impact was if it occured, whether it was a full on frontal or just a glancing blow, etc, etc.

I'm in agreement with societys child, your mechanic is definately over-egging the mixture.

bob_a_builder

he has no reason to lie.

going to have to be careful here .... I nearly said, well he's a mec....

suppose its actually in cracking condition very little rust etc etc and he's in the market for a cheap run around for his son/daughter/wife/etc
he might be gong to make you an offer once you've been fully spooked, " ... take it off your 'ands guv "

wouldn't be a worlds 1st

Keith

harveybobbles wrote: »

Not to mention pieces of trim, seat belts, sun visors, speedo head, radio, aircon, wiper motor, electric window motors, seat runners, pedal boxes, steering wheel, head rests, all seats, complete carpet, spare wheel, tools, jack...

No, they must all be left at the garage so that they can be [STRIKE]sold on ebay at a later date[/STRIKE] safely disposed of.

Strider590

Everyone's covered most things I would have said......

So..... My question is (drum roll), what has the mechanic suggested to remedy the "problem"?



And no it's not a Boeing 747, it doesn't have a black box flight recorder, it cannot scream out "OMG I hit a truck, I hit a truck, I HIT A TRUCK!!!! hello? hello? I HIT A GODAMN TRUCK!!!".
Unless the ECU was reset your speedo would probably not work, because the ECU would have recorded the impact speed for the emergency services to view as they hoover you out of the footwell.

mikey72

cherryblossomchris wrote: »

What confuses me is that (this is my other halfs car) the insurance company had no problem insuring it, would that indicate that (if it were as serious as the mechanic is making out (and there is no reason why he would lie)) it hadnt been reported through an insurance firm or just that something even more dodgy going on?

They don't normally have a problem accepting the insurance.
It's when they come to pay out they find it's suddenly uninsured, or worth half of what it was earlier.

Kilty_2

Strider590 wrote: »

Unless the ECU was reset your speedo would probably not work, because the ECU would have recorded the impact speed for the emergency services to view as they hoover you out of the footwell.

Lol no, it just stores information relative to the crash that can be read with the right kit.

Even cars like the Astra H which go into "crash mode" with permanent hazards and sometimes horn due to the airbag forcing the switch closed will have a working speedo afterwards.

I did :rotfl: at the black box thing though

highshorting

They wint tell you why they were deployed...

Alias_Omega

Could be many things..

Cat D - Repaired
Cat C - Repaired

or even

Had an accident, not used insurance company, repaired and unrecorded which wont show up on HPI register.l