Gouge to Mini roof - what the bloody hell has caused this?

[Artey]

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

[mwstewart]

Blaster72 said:

I'm not sure what structural damage you mean, I can only see panel damage on the photo. A straightforward job to fix.

I can see the structural A frame has been punctured. It's the etch primed member under the skin.

The skin itself is an easy fix but that A frame is more labour intensive.

[skyrover]

Drunk russian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrZ9akBswC4

[Artey]

skyrover said:

Drunk russian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrZ9akBswC4

Amazing.

https://youtu.be/VrZ9akBswC4?t=35s

I'm waiting for someone to get offended by this. Human Right activists where are thou.

[V8RX7]

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

Yes if you mean employing men who have a skill rather than a fitter who just replaces parts.

[Willy Nilly]

what ever hit that was big and heavy and probably the driver didn't notice, but he would have been aware that he was very close to it. I'd have thought that the roof skin is considered to be structural in a modern monoque (no way I can spell that) car. I had a car of mine hit, more like nudged by a farm trailer years ago and it made a hellova mess of it.

[Artey]

V8RX7 said:

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

Yes if you mean employing men who have a skill rather than a fitter who just replaces parts.

No I mean doing a bodge job and pretending like the car will be as good as new.

[V8RX7]

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

Yes if you mean employing men who have a skill rather than a fitter who just replaces parts.

No I mean doing a bodge job and pretending like the car will be as good as new.

Yeah welding and filling is a bodge job - you've never built a car nor worked on one have you ?

I had some Eastern Europeans cut, polish and fit 10m of granite worktop for me - the forum experts on here said it couldn't be done by hand as they'd just spent thousands on a machines for cutting and polishing - I saw them do it in front of me - obviously it wasn't because they were skilled - they clearly bodged it.

[jamiebae]

V8RX7 said:

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

Yes if you mean employing men who have a skill rather than a fitter who just replaces parts.

We are talking about an insurance claim here. There is no way that's repairable within the normal processes of fixing a damaged car. Yes, it could be fixed, but not in a way to guarantee the longevity of the repair.

Imagine this was your car and it wasn't your fault, but the insurer insisted that they could pull, weld and fill the dent and you wouldn't be very happy. I expect at that particular point on the roof skin there would be a potential for any filler to crack and distort over time too making it even harder to affect a decent repair.

[Artey]

V8RX7 said:

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Artey said:

V8RX7 said:

Mercky said:

All this talk of write offs and replacement roof panels? I'd have that knocked out welded filled and painted in no time

Agreed.

PAUL500 said:

Exactly, I doubt due to the cars age that the insurance company will do it, but you can guarantee if it ends up on the copart website that is exactly what will happen to this car and it be out on the forecourt a few weeks later with any potential buyers none the wiser, other than the car being on the register.

I could tell the three of you enjoy Eastern European approach to fixing cars.

Yes if you mean employing men who have a skill rather than a fitter who just replaces parts.

No I mean doing a bodge job and pretending like the car will be as good as new.

Yeah welding and filling is a bodge job - you've never built a car nor worked on one have you ?

I had some Eastern Europeans cut, polish and fit 10m of granite worktop for me - the forum experts on here said it couldn't be done by hand as they'd just spent thousands on a machines for cutting and polishing - I saw them do it in front of me - obviously it wasn't because they were skilled - they clearly bodged it.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't say they wouldn't be able to pull it off. Quite contrary, the st they pull of with damaged cars at home, it's like art. Many heads would explode if they knew what's "possible". Doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Like in this instance the amount of st that needs doing I guarantee you once you put everything back together it won't be as good as it was before accident. Especially that the damage doesn't seem cosmetic only.

[mwstewart]

jamiebae said:

We are talking about an insurance claim here. There is no way that's repairable within the normal processes of fixing a damaged car. Yes, it could be fixed, but not in a way to guarantee the longevity of the repair.

Imagine this was your car and it wasn't your fault, but the insurer insisted that they could pull, weld and fill the dent and you wouldn't be very happy. I expect at that particular point on the roof skin there would be a potential for any filler to crack and distort over time too making it even harder to affect a decent repair.

It is perfectly repairable. It is minor damage. Whether it is economically viable for the insurer is a different matter.

[V8RX7]

jamiebae said:

We are talking about an insurance claim here. There is no way that's repairable within the normal processes of fixing a damaged car. Yes, it could be fixed, but not in a way to guarantee the longevity of the repair.

Imagine this was your car and it wasn't your fault, but the insurer insisted that they could pull, weld and fill the dent and you wouldn't be very happy. I expect at that particular point on the roof skin there would be a potential for any filler to crack and distort over time too making it even harder to affect a decent repair.

I would buy the car back from the insurer - fix it and keep it.

OP - if your insurer want to write it off ask how much to buy it back - I'd happily buy it from you, giving you a profit.

[AC43]

jamiebae said:

AC43 said:

Well if the assessor thinks it's a £4500 job then surely the car would be saved.

Assuming the car's in good nick trade-in would surely be £5.5+k. Late MCS's (assuming sensible miles, etc) retail for up to £7k. Split the difference and you're still north of £6k.

That's how the assessor worked out the value of my car a couple of years ago when someone rear ended it.

If repair cost is £4.5k, retail is £7k and salvage value is £2.5k it's going to get written off as a write off is much cheaper to process than dealing with a repair, the cost of which could go up if other damage is found later on.

I guess it varies but in my case the assessor look at trade in values and retail values and landed on a value half way between one and another.

Then again the other guy's insurance were paying*

• Or so they thought at the time anyway. Turned out he was just another tt without proper cover when his insurers subsequently voided his cover. He's now being chased for the £5k bill.....

[Alistair1990]

V8RX7 said:

I would buy the car back from the insurer - fix it and keep it.

OP - if your insurer want to write it off ask how much to buy it back - I'd happily buy it from you, giving you a profit.

I may have to hold you to that! For those asking, I paid £5.5k for the car last year.

Does anyone have an idea of what it'd cost me to buy the car off the insurer? I'd definitely look to explore this option if it's available. I like the car, it's my first (yes, I know at 26 that seems crazy), and I'd like to keep it if I could. Hopefully I'll have more to share in the coming days.

[marmitemania]

Has it cracked the windscreen? If it hasn't then I would say that there is no damage to the A pillar. The screen is bonded in and takes very little movement to crack it. Also check the door fit against the A pillar and also check for any paint cracking around the A pillar area. If this all checks out OK then I would say it's just the roof skin that need repairing. If the roof had just a dent and not the hole everyone would say get it filled and re painted, because it has the hole people are saying it's unsafe. The roof provides no structural strength in a roll over, if it did how can you have drop top cars, all the strength is in the A pillar and screen surround and that looks ok. Get it tapped out, welded, and painted job done. If you're unsure take some measurements from the other side and check nothing has moved.

[405dogvan]

Bear-in-mind that getting access to CCTV (assuming it's even active/they keep recordings) might not be as simple as you'd expect - and even if you get the recording, that's only part of the process of proving what happened.

This might be one of those cases where a 'call us before you call your insurer' claims company might actually help - they are generally more motivated to get a result (insurers aren't always keen to do detective work) tho generally less keen on claims which don't have a personal injury aspect (they would chase lose of use/earnings and expenses tho)

As for the write-off question, entirely depends if the shell of the car has been damaged and the cost of the work at full rate/BMW-MINI parts prices really - 40% of the book value of the car is your 'oh dear' price.

Edited by 405dogvan on Monday 30th May 20:39

[justanother5tar]

Alistair1990 said:

Does anyone have an idea of what it'd cost me to buy the car off the insurer? I'd definitely look to explore this option if it's available. I like the car, it's my first (yes, I know at 26 that seems crazy), and I'd like to keep it if I could. Hopefully I'll have more to share in the coming days.

Ive had 2 written off.

1st one I could buy back for 18% of the write off value.

2nd I was offered for 10% of the write off value.

[405dogvan]

Alistair1990 said:

Does anyone have an idea of what it'd cost me to buy the car off the insurer? I'd definitely look to explore this option if it's available. I like the car, it's my first (yes, I know at 26 that seems crazy), and I'd like to keep it if I could. Hopefully I'll have more to share in the coming days.

Getting WAY ahead of ourselves but that's a "depends" question - they generally hate selling cars to customers and generally ask too-much-money for them to deter this.

If you find a third-party to blame, you can almost certainly forget buying it back because they'll want even MORE money - certainly you want to haggle hard and not get attached to the car and lose on the deal overall.

[PAUL500]

justanother5tar said:

Ive had 2 written off.

1st one I could buy back for 18% of the write off value.

2nd I was offered for 10% of the write off value.

Those are typically the ball park figures, Use about 15 to 20% so you should get the car back for about under a grand.

Then the same again for a good independant to strip out the roof lining internally, straighten and weld the tear, which would then make it stronger than the original metal, light skim in the corner and paint the whole roof, very easy job for a skilled craftsmen, wherever they were born

Edited by PAUL500 on Monday 30th May 21:11

[PAUL500]

405dogvan said:

Getting WAY ahead of ourselves but that's a "depends" question - they generally hate selling cars to customers and generally ask too-much-money for them to deter this.

If you find a third-party to blame, you can almost certainly forget buying it back because they'll want even MORE money - certainly you want to haggle hard and not get attached to the car and lose on the deal overall.

Until they write the cheque and hand it too you, then you still own the car, dont take any messing from them, if you want the car then insist on keeping it along with a settlement, they cannot refuse.