Can this damage to car roof be repaired?

[bass2rez]

We were unfortunate enough to lose some of our roof in the high winds last night, and it all fell on our 2007 Saab 9-3

Is this sort of damage to the roof repairable?





The bonnet, wing and door were also damaged:



We have an insurance evaluator booked for early next week, but I'm trying to gauge opinion on how successfully this can be fixed.

Thanks,
Steve

[McWigglebum4th]

I guess write off due to needing a brand new roof, brand new wing, brand new bonnet etc and so on

Then buy it back for washers and never ever worry again parking in a supermarket

[itz_baseline]

Yes it can be repaired. The question is more around is it cost effective enough to be repaired or is it quicker and cheaper for the insurance company to write it off.

Bad luck there though....looks nasty.

[ohtari]

Have you tried pushing it up from inside the car?

[E30M3SE]

Can be fixed, but insurers will probably deem uneconomical to repair.

[ejenner]

you use a bit of wood and a jack to push it up from inside.

[trickywoo]

Quite a lot of damage there.

Its hard to see the roof damage clearly but I'd say your bigger worries are the roof rail and bonnet which seem to have very deep dents / perforations.

It is repairable, at a cost. You could probably get it fixed using fillers for not too much but that wouldn't be ideal.

Good luck.

[Codswallop]

The damage can be repaired, but is very labour intensive.

Several years ago, I had a drunk student climb onto my Honda civic's roof causing similar damage (luckily caught on CCTV, and made to pay in full for the damages! That was a result for the books). The bill was about £150 for the roof skin itself, plus about £1300 for the labour. Lots of interior trim and spot welds take time to remove... Combined with the other damage, the insurance might well decide to write the car off.

[backwoodsman]

Didn't someone on here have a Porsche that had the roof damaged far worse than that, and got it smart repaired.

[loose cannon]

I think that is a write off tbh and would you ever be happy with the repairs if it's not !
Real shame bet your a bit cheesed off

[bristolracer]

Older SAABs used to have a reputation for the headlining sagging

[backwoodsman]

Slight off topic.

Do you claim for this off your house, or car insurance?

[Superhoop]

There was a thread on here a while ago, where some scrotes had jumped on a Porsche roof whilst it was parked in a car park overnight - it was worse than that... The owner found a paintless dent repair guy who spent a good few hours on it, and when finished it looked as good as new - it might be worth looking up the thread

That wing however; well that's cattle trucked as it's creased the swage line

ETA: link to the thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=122...

Edited by Superhoop on Tuesday 24th December 16:21

[standardman]

"Do you claim for this off your house, or car insurance?"

He can probably claim for the roof damage off home insurance but car will have to be from car insurance. In general terms if it had been a neighbours roof I believe the roof would have had to be poorly maintained for their to be liability.

[bass2rez]

Thanks for the replies. I tried to take better pictures of the damage, but its hard to see in the photos what it looks like in real life due to the reflections, so the photos above are the best I've managed.

I note that there appears to be a small puncture mark in the roof, and the roof rail has a dent. Would this make the car dangerous, or can I fill the puncture-dent and the roof rail? I'm thinking along the lines of whether its worth buying it back as a write off and trying to "make good" the damage myself.

What's also rather disappointing is that Parkers Guide reckons on the car being worth £3000, but the classifieds on Pistonheads have the 9-3's selling for nearer £4000 so there is a £1000 difference I will have to find to get an equivalent replacement.

@ backwoodsman, the house insurance representative said the car damage cannot be claimed on the house insurance.

[bass2rez]

Superhoop said:

There was a thread on here a while ago, where some scrotes had jumped on a Porsche roof whilst it was parked in a car park overnight - it was worse than that... The owner found a paintless dent repair guy who spent a good few hours on it, and when finished it looked as good as new - it might be worth looking up the thread

That wing however; well that's cattle trucked as it's creased the swage line

ETA: link to the thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=122...

Edited by Superhoop on Tuesday 24th December 16:21

Thanks for the link, I'll have a read of that.

[Private Pile]

Bass, i would imagine your car could be fixed to a good standard fairly cheaply. If you were happy with the car pre accident then i'd be inclined to keep it.

PS There is a black Saab breaking on ebay now ( not mine ).

Keep us updated.

[Dogwatch]

bass2rez said:

Thanks for the replies. I tried to take better pictures of the damage, but its hard to see in the photos what it looks like in real life due to the reflections, so the photos above are the best I've managed.

I note that there appears to be a small puncture mark in the roof, and the roof rail has a dent. Would this make the car dangerous, or can I fill the puncture-dent and the roof rail? I'm thinking along the lines of whether its worth buying it back as a write off and trying to "make good" the damage myself.

What's also rather disappointing is that Parkers Guide reckons on the car being worth £3000, but the classifieds on Pistonheads have the 9-3's selling for nearer £4000 so there is a £1000 difference I will have to find to get an equivalent replacement.

@ backwoodsman, the house insurance representative said the car damage cannot be claimed on the house insurance.

I recently had a MINI bounce off my N/S/R door in a roundabout. Slight damage to sill and door was still quite usable. However the general trade rule of thumb seemed to be that if the car was worth less than £4k then it was an economic write-off.

[ejenner]

I've found in the past if the insurance company is trying to fob you off with a settlement which won't replace the car you can get them to raise the offer by sending in printed-out examples of cars like your one.

I managed to push a payout up from £500 to £2700 for a Saab 9000 Aero which got written off after a truck rolled into it.

[Shadow R1]

Dogwatch said:

I recently had a MINI bounce off my N/S/R door in a roundabout. Slight damage to sill and door was still quite usable. However the general trade rule of thumb seemed to be that if the car was worth less than £4k then it was an economic write-off.

An almera threw itself at my 318, that needed a bonnet and wing but was fixed by insurance.
Car was a 93 L, so not worth alot.