Repair or write-off

[Mike Austin]

Last week, an angry drunk dove into the back of my Fabia while it was parked. He hit the nearside rear at a slight angle. The light cluster was totally smashed and caved in and the boot lid, rear door and rear column bent rather badly. It looked like the impact may have gone as far as the wheel. The car was taken to a repair yard for assessment, arranged by my insurance company. They intend to repair it. They have not yet checked alignment on a jig but say they will do this as part of the repair process.

My question is: is a folded rear column really repairable or does it indicate that there is too much misalignment? I am concerned that I will not get a satisfactory repair done.

[mannyo]

As long as the chassis shell is ok, (I guess it must be otherwise it will be written off) Then all the parts you mentioned can be fitted. If you look at ETKA you can see all the parts listed separatley. Alignment issues are usually obvious by looking at panel gaps around doors, the roof etc.

Another Fabia with simillar damage on this forum is currently undergoing repairs.

[Mike Austin]

Originally Posted by mannyo

As long as the chassis shell is ok, (I guess it must be otherwise it will be written off) Then all the parts you mentioned can be fitted. If you look at ETKA you can see all the parts listed separately. Alignment issues are usually obvious by looking at panel gaps around doors, the roof etc.

I needed to look up ETKA: Elektronischer Teilekatalog (Electronic Spare Parts Catalogue)

If the impact was high and the wheel was hit, that could lead to misalignment and maybe no panel gaps would be visible. Is that possible? Would they try and pull it straight? That is my concern: a weakened structure.

[mannyo]

The structure should be fine, if the wheel was hit hard enough to bend the chassis I would be surprised.

[Mike Austin]

Originally Posted by mannyo

The structure should be fine, if the wheel was hit hard enough to bend the chassis I would be surprised.

The other driver's offside front was mangled and his wheel pushed back into the bodywork. He tried to drive off but parked it into a wall a few yards away and then ran off. If that happened to his car, it may have happened to mine.

[Stuart_J]

Originally Posted by Mike Austin

Last week, an angry drunk dove into the back of my Fabia while it was parked. He hit the nearside rear at a slight angle. The light cluster was totally smashed and caved in and the boot lid, rear door and rear column bent rather badly. It looked like the impact may have gone as far as the wheel. The car was taken to a repair yard for assessment, arranged by my insurance company. They intend to repair it. They have not yet checked alignment on a jig but say they will do this as part of the repair process.

My question is: is a folded rear column really repairable or does it indicate that there is too much misalignment? I am concerned that I will not get a satisfactory repair done.

If its being done through Insurance they will give you back a structuraly sound car, the Insurance company wont risk anything else.

If you are worried express your concerns to the Insurance co & the bodyshop & reserve the right to have an independent check done after its repaired. This will at least keep them on their toes.

You could also ask the bodyshop to let you inspect the car when its on the jig, its not a 5 minuite job so will be there far a couple of hours at least, they will have a set of figures for your particular model & its basically a case of running through the dims, even if you dont know what you are looking at you will at least know its been done.

[westyRS]

Depending on age and milage (basically car value).
Sounds to me like it will be wrote-off.
Skoda parts are expensive + Labour and materials, if it needs Jigging thats will be alot of labour.
Then i think if all that comes over 75% of the vehicles value they'll write it off..
Sorry.

[Dmac1969]

You would be surprised to see what can be repaired , have you ever seen Wrecks to Riches (the British one) on Discovery Turbo? The one with the Celica on it , it had a huge dent in the A pillar and it was well buckled , I watched the show and it was good as new when they finished. As others have said the insurance co wouldnt give you an unsafe car back , it would be financial suicide in the event of you claiming off them due to their negligence.

[mannyo]

Originally Posted by westyRS

Depending on age and milage (basically car value).
Sounds to me like it will be wrote-off.

The insurance company have already stated the car is going to be repaired.

[FAST FITZ]

i bought my vrs fabia damaged, the insurance wrote it off for the previous owner and i bought it and fixed it, good as new,

she was hit that hard that the passanger seat was buckled.just put a new side in it

[Chrispy]

Yup, you'd be surprised what they can repair. My old car had a buckled C pillar on both sides and the boot floor was poking up through the boot lid (saloon) as a result of a rear end smash, yet they managed to jig it out (Minster Coachworks in York) and it's still on the roads to this day (my folks now own it). You look underneath and you simply cannot tell. Tow bar took the brunt of it I think, making a large mess of the other guys front end.