Bugger...likely to be a write off? Saab 93 front end damage
Discussion
Arse, managed to stick the Saab front end into a hedge and a ditch in the fog tonight. Got hugely disorientated on a B road and f
ked up. Airbags didn't deploy so not a huge impact,but it grounded on the sills and I had to have it towed out as the front wheels were in the air.
Majority of the damage is to nearside front, fog lamp hanging out, underside of bumper knackered, left headlight broken (but beautifully kept in place by the headlight protector!), sump guard knackered but steering rack looked to be intact from first examination in the dark. The front of the bonnet appeared to be slightly kinked but the wings appeared to be straight.
Retail the headlight appears to be £200 and I guess the whole bumper is £800 plus? I'm a bit worried that it might be a borderline write off ...It's a 9-3SE TDI MY 2002 on an 02 plate,120,000 miles, one careful (until now...) owner, no previous damage, full service history.
Any thoughts on repair cost and value of the vehicle?
ked up. Airbags didn't deploy so not a huge impact,but it grounded on the sills and I had to have it towed out as the front wheels were in the air. Majority of the damage is to nearside front, fog lamp hanging out, underside of bumper knackered, left headlight broken (but beautifully kept in place by the headlight protector!), sump guard knackered but steering rack looked to be intact from first examination in the dark. The front of the bonnet appeared to be slightly kinked but the wings appeared to be straight.
Retail the headlight appears to be £200 and I guess the whole bumper is £800 plus? I'm a bit worried that it might be a borderline write off ...It's a 9-3SE TDI MY 2002 on an 02 plate,120,000 miles, one careful (until now...) owner, no previous damage, full service history.
Any thoughts on repair cost and value of the vehicle?
That's better news.. so at worst I guess it's a Cat D write off and I buy it back and fix it? I'm going to have to claim off the insurance as the breakdown co are going to charge me £200+ for the recovery as it was an accident not a breakdown. I've got a £250 excess but protected NCB...
O/T, Boosted, you have a Ruby don't you?
Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
I usually use Simply Saab in Bristol who do a good line in old parts, but the car is in Devon as I was on my way home (I work and live in Bristol in the week) and I'm going to struggle to get it to them.
I guess I just have to wait until the insurers get an engineer out to have a look at it and see what their assessment is.
I guess I just have to wait until the insurers get an engineer out to have a look at it and see what their assessment is.
Why bother with insurance?
If you can pick up those parts and fot them for under £1k your well away.
Insurance will only be interested in fitting new parts, and so write off the car. ok it may be useful if you decide to have it written off.
Beware. There's a thread in SP&L where the assessors wrote the car off, classified it as cat D without repairing it or paying out for it as the guy decided he would do the repairs himself. If you do have it inspected make sure they take it no further without asking you first.
If you can pick up those parts and fot them for under £1k your well away.
Insurance will only be interested in fitting new parts, and so write off the car. ok it may be useful if you decide to have it written off.
Beware. There's a thread in SP&L where the assessors wrote the car off, classified it as cat D without repairing it or paying out for it as the guy decided he would do the repairs himself. If you do have it inspected make sure they take it no further without asking you first.
NiceCupOfTea said:
O/T, Boosted, you have a Ruby don't you?
Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
Thanks for that. Lot of gaps aren't there? I thought saab made 300 ruby's?Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
Boosted LS1 said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
O/T, Boosted, you have a Ruby don't you?
Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
Thanks for that. Lot of gaps aren't there? I thought saab made 300 ruby's?Have you seen this thread?
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&...
saaby93 said:
Why bother with insurance?
I'm going to have a £200 plus bill for the tow and recovery, my excess is only £250 and I've got protected NCB. I've not claimed in 23 years of paying for insurance so I'm hoping that the loading for one fault accident (given that I'm now officially old) isn't going to be too huge so I might as well claim. I'd just rather they didn't write it off, I've had it from new and I'm quite attached to it...
saaby93 said:
Meanwhile might be useful to try an intensive course at a driving school, say one with a DSA qualified instructor, or former race/ rally driver or co-driver! There's some that do weekend and evening lessons and offer PHers BOGOFF for first lesson, two hours for the price of one.
Husband is a DSA driving instructor and a former rally navigator! I just got it wrong, it was absolute pea soup, probably the worst I've driven in, about 10 metres of visibility, I'd been navigating by the white lines at both edges of the road and was worried about sticking it in the ditch on either side. I got to a odd junction with a fairly tight left, and a road to the right but no give way lines as they are worn out. Stupidly I think because I could see tarmac to the right, I thought that I'd got it wrong and was veering to the left (because I could see the "road" to my right). Over corrected, hit the brakes and skidded on loose ground and found a ditch and the hedge. I'd done about 50 minutes in the fog on B Roads and I think I just lost concentration at the wrong point. It's clearly the danger of listening to the Archers whilst driving!
Edited by Piglet on Saturday 20th March 06:51
*Al* said:
I own a recovery truck and i'm based not far from you in Swindon and could pick up and return your car for reasonable money? Can do it this weekend also to help avoid storage costs? Al.
Cheers Al, I might take you up on that. The recovery guy said there will be no-one at their compound this weekend so I don't think I can do much before Monday. I'll phone the Insurers and Simply Saab, I've also got a buddy that runs a bodyshop down here (Devon/Dorset border) so I'll give him a call this morning.
I think the plan is to let the engineer inspect it, preferably before it's moved from the compound and then if it's borderline try to cut a deal to take it somewhere where they will use second hand parts to keep the cost down. That's assuming that there is no steering rack damage or similar
Yet another post to say a big thanks to the BiB who came out, nice guy, had a go at getting the car out with me, directed the recovery truck so that he could find us, then waited around for the recovery as I was blocking the side lane. There were having a busy night with a another couple of similar accidents at the same time. If you're around chap, thanks very much for your help 
Right update time in case it is of interest or of use to anyone else in the future....
The Insurers wanted to take the car to Exeter to their approved repairer which I initially agreed.
I then spoke to Simply Saab (who answer their phone and are helpful on a Saturday) who advised that I should get it moved up to them even if I had to pay that recovery fee as in their view, given the damage I was describing, it was going to be a borderline write off and once it was in the approved reparirer system I was going to struggle to get any other decision out of an engineer and to avoid the car ending up in a salvage compound fairly quickly.
SS arranged for the car to be collected yesterday and taken up to them at a charge of £80 for around 90 miles of recovery.
They looked at it this morning and advised that I'd done more damage that I thought, the front nearside corner is twisted and the sill is damaged BUT it'still repairable in their view although clearly a write off at new bodyshop parts.
The engineer came out today and they have persuaded him to agree a contract repair so that Simply Saab can repair it, using second hand bits if necessary.
So a huge sigh of relief that it isn't going to be written off and a very big thank you to Simply Saab.
On the down side (although the insurers will pay) - the recovery charge for Friday evening for being winched out the ditch and the car being recovered 10 miles was over £400
The Insurers wanted to take the car to Exeter to their approved repairer which I initially agreed.
I then spoke to Simply Saab (who answer their phone and are helpful on a Saturday) who advised that I should get it moved up to them even if I had to pay that recovery fee as in their view, given the damage I was describing, it was going to be a borderline write off and once it was in the approved reparirer system I was going to struggle to get any other decision out of an engineer and to avoid the car ending up in a salvage compound fairly quickly.
SS arranged for the car to be collected yesterday and taken up to them at a charge of £80 for around 90 miles of recovery.
They looked at it this morning and advised that I'd done more damage that I thought, the front nearside corner is twisted and the sill is damaged BUT it'still repairable in their view although clearly a write off at new bodyshop parts.
The engineer came out today and they have persuaded him to agree a contract repair so that Simply Saab can repair it, using second hand bits if necessary.
So a huge sigh of relief that it isn't going to be written off and a very big thank you to Simply Saab.
On the down side (although the insurers will pay) - the recovery charge for Friday evening for being winched out the ditch and the car being recovered 10 miles was over £400
Looks like it will turn out OK then?
InsCo pay out, you get car fixed with s/h parts (properly, by a specialist, not by a dodgy unknown place) maybe with a bit of cash over for "upgrades". OK, it gets recorded as Cat C/D, but it's not worth much anyway and presumably you'll drive it into the ground.
InsCo pay out, you get car fixed with s/h parts (properly, by a specialist, not by a dodgy unknown place) maybe with a bit of cash over for "upgrades". OK, it gets recorded as Cat C/D, but it's not worth much anyway and presumably you'll drive it into the ground.
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