Crash repairs

[Craig the Princess]

About five years ago my first car was rammed up the 'Arris at a roundabout by an MGF. Not wanting it written off I stupidly said no damage to her insurers and that was the end of it. (I really didn't want to lose the car). The garage estimate was around £2000 for a new boot floor and lots of other stuff. Or for £30 they could pull it out and the boot would shut. Guess which option I went for...

 

It still drives Gr99.99% but it leaks like a sieve and that has caused two rust holes in the floor pan. But that could be the windscreen leaking, I'm not sure. It also needs a patch on the inner wing by the windscreen washer top up. I know the car is worth the square root of bugger all but the 50+ MPG would be useful right now and I miss it, mot much beats a 1.1 litre 4-speed AX to 30 MPH. So do I weld the the MOT points and drive a damp car (it's passed about 3 MOTs since the crash) or do it properly and fix everything?

[wackywacerwill]

Guess it all boils down to how much do you love it?

[Station]

Boot floors are a pain in the 'arris.

I bought a GSi in 2004 which looked great on the surface. It came with a smoothed boot. A couple of weeks later I bought a new normal boot and when I came to fit it, the boot edge jutted out about 2 inches.

A new rear panel and part of the boot floor had been welded in, but the person who did it had avoided pulling out the left hand quarter (which would've taken about 5 minutes), and to correct this I'd have to cut the welded bit out again and then weld it back in (ie. a right auld mess). I left it and a couple of years before it sold, I lobbed a load of filler over the guilty party and it looked fine.

 

You can see the space in this pic:

 

 

I don't mind rust, but I'll never have another car that's been crash repaired or cat-C.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I know it doesn't help you right now, but people should keep in mind that write offs only happen as a matter of course when dealing with own damage claims.

Somebody else's insurance company doesn't get to decide whether my car needs scrapping. They have to put you back in the position you were before the accident, and that's not achieved with a payment of a couple of hundred quid for a car on which you've invested considerable amounts of time and money. If they don't want to pay for the repairs, tell them that you'd settle for a near-identical replacement. I'm sure they 'll have loads of fun looking for a beige VDP aggro, a 4-speed AX or even an LPG converted 2.3 Scorpio.