Cost To Repair Body Damage

[Sam29]

Hi All,

Great forum, and inspired me. Finally after reading a lot, I made my move and bought Avensis 03 (on 53 plate) last tuesday. It was in mint condition and therefore I bought it.

Everybody who looked at it, praised the condition.

Unfortunately very next day while coming back from my home, truck ran into left (near side) quarter panel and left rear passenger door. The truck was Europian reg and left hand drive. Moreover I was taking exit from round about and he wanted to go straight and trying to come out of inner lane (for exit) to middle lane. He denied any wrong doing.

To cut the story short, my car is with insurance people and the guy who came for recovery mentioned that it could be 'write off' or 'total loss'.

I am not into car repairs and just wanted to share the photos of car damager, and wonders if somebody can put me in right direction and tell me how much it would cost to repair and if it really seems total loss.

I live in london, and any help/ advice will be appreciated.

[Pat2u]

I would not think that damage warrants a write off, if its the third parties fault why are you asking how much ? Surely the claim will get sorted via the insurances.

I have had worse damages in the past, yours looks worse than it seems, a good body shop will have it looking like new take to a few shops and get quotes if you do not want to claim on your insurance.

[Sam29]

I would not think that damage warrants a write off, if its the third parties fault why are you asking how much ? Surely the claim will get sorted via the insurances.

I have had worse damages in the past, yours looks worse than it seems, a good body shop will have it looking like new take to a few shops and get quotes if you do not want to claim on your insurance.

Thanks mate for reply. The reason I am asking is, as I do not want to see it written off. Hence asking, is it real bad damage.

I do not have the car with me, otherwise I would have taken the car to local garages to get the quoatations, and am waiting to see Engineers report on extent of damage.

Hope for the best.

cheers.

[t-spiritpete]

I would not think that damage warrants a write off, if its the third parties fault why are you asking how much ? Surely the claim will get sorted via the insurances.

I have had worse damages in the past, yours looks worse than it seems, a good body shop will have it looking like new take to a few shops and get quotes if you do not want to claim on your insurance.

Thanks mate for reply. The reason I am asking is, as I do not want to see it written off. Hence asking, is it real bad damage.

I do not have the car with me, otherwise I would have taken the car to local garages to get the quoatations, and am waiting to see Engineers report on extent of damage.

Hope for the best.

cheers.

Why have they got the car, from the photos it looks drivable to me? Also from the pictures it seems like an easy repair but main dealer bodyshops charge a fortune and along with the cost a hire car they could write it off as daft as that may seem. If that is the case tell the insurance to pay you out providing you can keep the car or salvage as it's known in the trade because believe me that car will be back on the road before long, you could have the car repaired by a reasonably priced local bodyshop. A friend of mine had light damage to the rear of her Avensis, they wrote it off 5 years ago but it is still being used as a Taxi in our town today after being repaired somewhere!

Good luck and best regards, Pete.

[Phoenix999]

I had not too disimilar damage to my car just over a year ago.... the bill came to a little over £2500.

I live on the border of London and Essex so I reckon the bill to repair your car will be about the same.

Good luck

[Sam29]

I would not think that damage warrants a write off, if its the third parties fault why are you asking how much ? Surely the claim will get sorted via the insurances.

I have had worse damages in the past, yours looks worse than it seems, a good body shop will have it looking like new take to a few shops and get quotes if you do not want to claim on your insurance.

Thanks mate for reply. The reason I am asking is, as I do not want to see it written off. Hence asking, is it real bad damage.

I do not have the car with me, otherwise I would have taken the car to local garages to get the quoatations, and am waiting to see Engineers report on extent of damage.

Hope for the best.

cheers.

Why have they got the car, from the photos it looks drivable to me? Also from the pictures it seems like an easy repair but main dealer bodyshops charge a fortune and along with the cost a hire car they could write it off as daft as that may seem. If that is the case tell the insurance to pay you out providing you can keep the car or salvage as it's known in the trade because believe me that car will be back on the road before long, you could have the car repaired by a reasonably priced local bodyshop. A friend of mine had light damage to the rear of her Avensis, they wrote it off 5 years ago but it is still being used as a Taxi in our town today after being repaired somewhere!

Good luck and best regards, Pete.

Thanks mate, basically, that is why asked the price to repair.

As you can see the damage, I thought it would be repaired, but the guy who picked it up told me that this one would be write off, as whole panel, cost of repair and hire car would be more than the amount which they could pay me.

Honestly, I loved the car on day one, and it gave me 61.8 MPG on motorway over the distance of 250 miles. Also it was mint condition.

I thought if they write it off and if I could get it back by paying them salavage, how much would be the cost to repair and would it be worthy of having back with Cat D or C?

Thanks for your reply.

[Sam29]

I had not too disimilar damage to my car just over a year ago.... the bill came to a little over £2500.

I live on the border of London and Essex so I reckon the bill to repair your car will be about the same.

Good luck

Do you have photos of your damaged car, as I wanted to have an idea?

cheers.

[Phoenix999]

This was on the day of the accident

and this is after :)

[Sam29]

This was on the day of the accident

and this is after :)

Thanks mate.

That sounds like mine, except my door is not badly damaged as yours.

so did you get it repaired from main dealer?

2500 for this repair....

cheers.

[Phoenix999]

Regardless of the door damage it will be replaced, they simply do not repair them anymore

[Sam29]

Regardless of the door damage it will be replaced, they simply do not repair them anymore

Thanks mate....lets see if they write it off or get it repaired.

Waiting for wednesday when my car will be inspected by independent engineer.

Thanks to everybody who contributed.

Cheers.

[Sam29]

Just to update on this topic.

finally got my car repaired. Bill is about 2250 pounds. Like Phoenix999 said, they changed the whole door and changed the whole N/S/R panel.

I will give them 99/100 for thier job, loved to have it back but cant drive in this lovely weather.

Thanks to all of you who contributed positively.

[Phoenix999]

Just to update on this topic.

finally got my car repaired. Bill is about 2250 pounds. Like Phoenix999 said, they changed the whole door and changed the whole N/S/R panel.

I will give them 99/100 for thier job, loved to have it back but cant drive in this lovely weather.

Thanks to all of you who contributed positively.

Thats good to read.... well it seems that both of us received similar service at a similar price

[Sam29]

Just to update on this topic.

finally got my car repaired. Bill is about 2250 pounds. Like Phoenix999 said, they changed the whole door and changed the whole N/S/R panel.

I will give them 99/100 for thier job, loved to have it back but cant drive in this lovely weather.

Thanks to all of you who contributed positively.

Thats good to read.... well it seems that both of us received similar service at a similar price

Yeah and thanks for your help mate.