Someone drove into me while they were trying to dangerously overtake a cyclist last week and the evaluators from the accident management company for my broker have said it’s a write off. The other bloke has accepted 100% fault.

The car is a Skoda Fabia VRs from 2013. It took a lot of effort to find this particular car at a price I was happy to pay as earlier models of the car (pre Sept 2013) have an engine that is a bit of a ticking time bomb. As a result the car I bought was an 18 month old car that was already a repaired Cat D, so the value is low and I can see essentially no small hot hatches of a similar condition (3 years old, 30,00 miles, >175bhp) for the £6k they have offered.

The damage is likely to involve repairs to front wing, doors, rear wing, a new tyre, wheel refurbishment and, most expensive sounding, the rear wheel is off line. I’m not sure if I’d be allowed to put up photos by my insurer but I’ve got some.

Am I right in thinking I can ask the management company to fix it with pattern parts? I was hoping to keep this til it died.

If not, I can buy it back for about £1.3k then fix it. The car’s already recorded as Cat D so I’m not too worried about resale.

Or there’s a 2014 Fiesta ST, which is what I actually wanted originally, for £6,400 that I’ve seen.

WWSTWD?

2014 current model ST? At £6k is it also a Cat D or something?

I’d get the Fiesta ST

You’ve always wanted it and it’s a better car

You say you’ll keep the Fabia till you die, but will you really? 2 Cat Ds on that will turn off nearly all buyers, so selling will be a nightmare or you’ll get a shocking trade in price for it

If you really want the ST then you might as well take the £6K and buy it, no? I think the only real alternative you have is to buy the salvage and fix it yourself, as insurance companies – in my experience – insist on using genuine parts for repair. Our T5 was rendered not economically repairable by potential gearbox damage that didn’t actually exist, but could – if it had – have been fixed with a £1k reconditioned box. The potential cost of a new OE VWAG box was enough to technically write it off. In reality, it was fine, we bought the salvage, fixed it and pocketed enough to offset the potential reduction in value due to it being Cat D.

I dislike the way cars are written off while still eminently repairable, it seems like a colossal waste of resources, but if that doesn’t matter to you, then it seems to make sense.

You really want to drive a Fiesta though?

ST and a crook lock.

WWSTWD?

Post a series of threads over a year agonising over the minutiae of the relative merits of various different leftfield options before buying the Audi anyway because they feel the need for external validation and acceptance from society by conforming to a lazy stereotype?

Post a series of threads over a year agonising over the minutae of the relative merits of various different leftfield options before buying the Audi anyway

Heritage Italian estate with matching shades?

Find out how expensive the rear wheel alignment is to fix. But if they’re wanting £1.3k from you to buy it that suggests they think it’s got plenty of inherent value, so shouldn’t be too hard to fix. I expect you can get it all done for way less than the £4.7k they’re going to hand you.

I was hoping to keep this til it died.

It’s dead.

Buy the ST.

If the ST is what you wanted in the first place and you’ve got the opportunity to “trade up” for £400 it sounds like a plan.

Part of me is suspicious of why the Fiesta is so cheap, it is the outgoing model, 2014. ST-3 I think it is. Just noticed it’s a zero feedback seller on ebay, so it probably doesn’t exist anyway.

Perchy – Brace yourself 8)

Repairing it myself will, unless it’s catastrophically knackered (which I don’t think it is), surely leave me better off?

Just. Buy. The Audi. 😉

Are you sure the frame/chassis isn’t knackered? Could be spendier than you think to put right…

perchypanther – Member
Just. Buy. The Audi.

Macan, shirley?

munrobiker – Member
Part of me is suspicious of why the Fiesta is so cheap, it is the outgoing model, 2014. ST-3 I think it is. Just noticed it’s a zero feedback seller on ebay, so it probably doesn’t exist anyway.

Just buy three Clio 172s instead

I already own a Porsche 8)

It’s also the one that wasn’t a real Porsche (924). 🙁

I did think about the Clios last time. They seemed a bit high-strung to live with.

Jim- not sure and they’ve not had it on ramps to confirm. It was a slow impact, about 15mph each.

The catastrophically knackered status is the important thing here – you need to find out the situation with the rear wheel and what is bent there. The rest is just cosmetics and should be easy to price up.

MX5 obvs

If the floor pan or rear subframe (or both) is twisted it’ll be a right sod to repair and get right. Even with the right workshop tools and “all new parts”
Even when it’s “within manufacturers tolerance” it’ll still quite possibly have some unusual handling traits.

I was hoping to keep this til it died.

Well, it has died hasn’t it. If i were you i’d get something more bike friendly than a fiesta ST, something like an Octavia estate. The only Ford ST drivers I know/ have seen are either a bit of a d*ck in person or drive like bell ends, usually. Not that i’m saying you aspire to be one of them…

do you have space/time/skills and or money to put this back together ?

personally if it was my daily id take the money and run.

there’s a 2014 Fiesta ST, which is what I actually wanted originally, for £6,400 that I’ve seen.

Eh? Surely that’s wrong. Even a ’14 St(1) is at least £10,000.
The ones below this are all cat c/d or stolen recovered, so I wouldn’t touch those.

trail rat – when I say “myself” I mean “send it to the very good accident repair shop up the road”.

bomberman – I already have a bike car.

cokie – indeed. Not sure how far I trust it.

So get them to quote you, and you have your answer (or at least more info to base it on). Though it’s still going to come down to what needs fixing for that wheel alignment.

If you always planed to run it into the scrapyard yourself it’s possibly worth buying it and repairing it.

You’ll need a quote from a body shop, they might say £2k – if so you get to keep £3k ish and have the car back, as long as it’s a decent repair the fact it’s a Cat D is of no matter, scrappy won’t care in 10 years or whatever.

All depends on how much to fix it.

Ugh. They won’t pay to store it past Monday evening. That essentially gives me no time to sort it all out.

If the floor pan or rear subframe (or both) is twisted it’ll be a right sod to repair and get right. Even with the right workshop tools and “all new parts”

TBH that would be my concern.

Let it go….
Let the ST go too, sounds far too cheap!

Have they written it off CAT C or D. If it’s D it will be easy and cheap enough to repair (repair more than 50-60% of current value) CAT C will be more than current value to repair, but that’s using original parts too so could be sorted cheaper.

Just clocked the CAT D in the original post.

Repair it, piece of cake. A woman I work with’s car got written off because it had a decent dent in the door. Nothing else wrong with it but the car was only worth a grand so there it goes.

I wouldnt buy it back.A shunt hard enough to put back wheel out of line will most likely IME cause lots of other little problems with tyre wear and bearings.

Well, the quote from our local accident repair place was about £4.5k. Looks like it’s a goner 🙁

Sounds like you’ve made the right decision, if it’s damaged all down one side paint alone is likely to be in over £1k.

Have you considered a Megane sport? Slightly larger than a clio but with extra poke

Indeed. Time to move on. That Fiesta sounds too cheap to be true, but if it is then hell yes. Image wouldn’t put me off having driven one but eventually settling on an equally-image-challenging (for a bloke, going by the recent thread on here) MINI.

That is the question – where to go from here? I think it’ll be a small thing with a bit of investment (Fiesta ST or 208 GTI probably) or a hatch thing (no idea of prices, but probably a Focus ST or Megane Sport).

Also remember the £6k is only there opening offer. Put an argument together as to why it’s not enough. I guess the cat d status is your issue….which is an issue I need to think about as was idling considering one.

I’d definitely buy a Cat D again. I will probably look at a few this time.

I’m not sure where I stand on the valuation – this is my insurer’s valuation, not the guy who hit me’s. They’ve taken Glass’s guide and knocked off 20% for the Cat D status. There aren’t any Cat D Fabia VRSs I can see of this age to compare it to.

Car written off twice. Bye bye birds eye. I know there’s the whole economic write off but it looked like a long list of fixing to me and no guarantee it will drive properly once it’s screwed back together.

It’s a hot hatch too so it’s not a cooking car that’s not going to get a bit of enthusiasm once in a while I would assume because if you drive real slow and economical you’d have bought the diesel probably!

I’d get something else.

This being singletrack I’d suggest you get an Octavia estate as they’re very good (you’re clearly too tight to buy an RS6 estate). 😛

Disclaimer.. I don’t actually think you should necessarily get an octavia.

If you want a properly fun toy, may I do that thing of recommending what I have? 😆

Smart Brabus Roadster – incredibly fun to drive, great fuel economy, looks cool. Impractical but who cares? The garage I use are experts in Smart – forget Mercedes dealers, these guys know their onions and also have two stock in black. Mail me if you are tempted?

Am I right in thinking I can ask the management company to fix it with pattern parts? I was hoping to keep this til it died.

It has died. Move on.