Should I scrap or rebuild?

[wales1975]

Yesterday some clown let her 10 year old daughter play in their Landrover Discovery, as a result it rolled about 40 metres down a shallow hill and smashed into the front of my 206cc.

As expected she didn't want to go through insurance company and has already paid me £1600 cash to repair or replace the car. Trouble is I have spent good money on the car and it was almost in tip top condition with a FSH and new MOT, it has 90,000 miles but had an engine rebuild at 75,000 miles. The car is 2002, 2 litre SE. The damage is major cosmetic damage and after removing all damaged body panels I have driven the car and it drives perfectly, no leaks (other than a small leak on radiator), no noises, no fault codes either.

The parts needed are:

Both wings, inner wings, bonnet, bumper, grill, headlights and possibly a radiator. A friend has offered a complete respray for £650 on his downtime.

£1600 could buy me a 2004 model, and I would still have my car to break for parts, but it could cost me money in unknown problems. To repair my car would cost me about £1100, at worst £1300 and my car would have a new paint job, I really don't know what to do.

[Namrood]

Chances are if you went through the insurance company the car would be written off.

My mates wife has an old ford escort which had a headlight smashed and dent in front wing from someone pulling out of a road. Both cars must have been going between 5 to 10 mph, her escort was written off, but to buy the parts it would have cost £50.

I would break your car and then buy a new one. Chance are you will get more money and may even get a newer car.

Yes it's hard to let go of a car you have spent money on and got just how you want it. But even if you got it fixed would it be the same as before the accident in your eyes? After all every time you look at the car you will know the front if the car has been squashed.

A new car may have unknown problems, but even if you fixed your car, you never know it may develop problems.

But at the end of the day, the final choice is yours

[gazza82]

Go for the rebuild.

Better the devil you know ...

[Luditus]

On the nail Gazza - rebuild and make better than before.

[wales1975]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I have decided to rebuild. I have bought a donor car for £450 this morning, different colour though, that has a blown engine and the boot will not open, but its in lovely condition. The donor car has a full stainless exhaust too. I have already stripped all the body parts from the donor car and will start the transplant tomorrow.

I think I went the right way because I think I will still have £400 cash at the end of the rebuild plus I will still have a lot of decent parts from the donor car, I will be picking the best parts from both cars to hopefully make a better car than I had before.

I am taking pics as I go along and will post a few before and after pictures.

Thanks for your help all.

[Luditus]

Wow! A full stainless exhaust, all for £450! I've just spent more than that on a part stainless exhaust. Effectively, you have got the rest of the car for free. Hope you enjoy the rebuild - its more satisfying than arguing with insurance companies.

[gazza82]

I think I went the right way because I think I will still have £400 cash at the end of the rebuild plus I will still have a lot of decent parts from the donor car, I will be picking the best parts from both cars to hopefully make a better car than I had before.

And the experience of the rebuild. I think the profit may go tok but if you end up with the car you lokk .. Who cares?

This is from someone ewho owns an Alfa with nearly 195,000 on the clock ... So to hell with the money :-)

[wales1975]

I think I went the right way because I think I will still have £400 cash at the end of the rebuild plus I will still have a lot of decent parts from the donor car, I will be picking the best parts from both cars to hopefully make a better car than I had before.

And the experience of the rebuild. I think the profit may go tok but if you end up with the car you lokk .. Who cares?

This is from someone ewho owns an Alfa with nearly 195,000 on the clock ... So to hell with the money :-)

Gazza your right there, I can now guarantee I will have spent all the cash, plus a little more. I have decided that all the money deserves to be spent on the car and will be upgrading everything. My alloys have gone in for a refurb, I have bought a windbreaker, chrome hoops, cold air induction kit and will be having the front end clear plastic wrapped to protect my new paint job. I did want a JBL subwoofer, but cannot find one for sale anywhere!

The car will be a huge improvement and should look almost factory fresh. I was considering selling it a few weeks ago to buy a 207cc, but now I will be keeping it for a while longer.

[gazza82]

Don't bother with cold air induction kit ... they make a lot of noise for very little improvement ... sometimes they actually make the car worse!