Crashed GTI - What to do next?

[bert]

Hi all,

Unfortunately I had an accident this week in my GTI (my fault, and the insurance has lapsed )

Thankfully the Golfs are well built because my girlfriend was in the passenger seat and we were hit at around 55 kph. She walked away with a bruised head (hitting the window) and some minor whiplash only.







I have a local mechanic preparing a quote, he has told me that it is likely to come to around $8000. He is doing everything possible to keep the costs down and I trust him fully that I'm not getting ripped off. Unfortunately this is more than I am willing/able to pay to get it fixed at the moment so it looks like I will be leaving the VW scene for a while at least.

So the question is - what can I do to at least get some value out of what's left in the car?

The car's details are available here: http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...ad.php?t=28027

Front/left panels and steering/suspension and some left-side interior parts are cactus but mechanically the car is OK so there should be plenty of value left on the carcass.

EDIT: Preference at this stage is to sell it as a whole car. If I don't get sufficient interest then I will consider parting it out.

Any thoughts/comments/suggestions/offers more than welcome.

[JVLR32]

M8.... long as everyone is ok!!!!!!

$8000 ****tttttttt

[OEM G60]

Man that sucks.

I would put a 'Wrecking Mk4 GTI' ad up on here and eBay and see what interest you get, i'm sure someone would take the engine for a conversion off you.

[intensem1]

Not good news when insurance won’t cover an accident like that. Glad everyone is ok tho!
8k is a lot for a repair.

[Treza360]

Yeah I'd be putting it up to part out. Things like the leather interior would be a pretty good score for someone who has an old cloth interior etc.
Bad luck too mate.
Glad everyone is ok.
Cheers,
Trent

[HOLEIN1]

good to hear everyone is ok...

im sure its the question youve already answered a hundred times, but what happened?

[Golf Loon]

Work out the amount you will take for the car as is and sell complete.
You woint get the money if you wreck it out and will have bits and mess everywhere.
Panelbeaters would give you a better quote than a mechanic by the way.

[AusScare]

Bad luck mate, accidents happen.

You've only had it since April and the insurance has already lapsed? 6 months exactly since you bought it correct?

[YellowDieselGolf]

Couldn't you get insurance now than in a month or two make a claim??

Yeah, that's called insurance fraud. Let me know which insurance company you're with so I'm not paying for your future dodgy claims.

[VOLKSMAN]

good to know everyones safe.if the side airbags on seats have deployed your leathers seats would be useless.

your better off fixing her then selling.
that teaches us guys to not own a car without insurance(especially germans) at least third party.
do you have third party?

[Manaz]

do you have third party?

Regular compulsory third party won't help here either - needs to be third party property. If not TPP, then the OP will be up for the repair costs to the other car as well if deemed at fault.

[JustCruisn]

Sounds like he has no accident insurance at all. So is up for 8k for his car and how much for the other car ??

If you can't afford insurance you can't afford the car.

[bert]

I signed up for third party insurance (with RACV) the day I bought it but in the surrounding chaos (changing the rego over, arranging cheques etc) never got around to paying for it. So it was insured for about a month, but when I never paid for it they canceled the policy. Not a case of being unable to afford it or deliberately driving uninsured, I simply f*cked up.

The other car was a 93 Corolla which will likely set me back $4k-$5k, waiting for their quotes.

Also the guy doing the quote for me is a panel beater/smash repair place too. Once I get the full quote i'll pass on the details to anyone who wants to pick through it.

For the curious, I was turning right off a main rd into a side street through a "Keep Clear", the oncoming driver on the inside lane stopped to let me through (even though traffic wasn't backed up), I went through but I didn't see the car coming down the outside.

From now on please only constructive posts helping me deal with the mess. I already feel sh*tty enough as it is.

[DaveToyostar]

8K seems a high.

Just from the photos it really only looks like you need a door and front guard. Then a little bit of panel beating under the mess.

Most accident damage look a hell of a lot worse then they really are.

My 2cents are

Take it to a couple of places get a quote tell them payment would be is cash as they will quote cheaper then if it was via insurance.

Workout what you need and start hunting around for the parts.

Start pulling the car apart your self (not as hard as it looks)

Tell the repairer what parts you have and what work you have done then work them down on the price and have it towed to them for final repair and respray etc.

[gavs]

For the curious, I was turning right off a main rd into a side street through a "Keep Clear", the oncoming driver on the inside lane stopped to let me through (even though traffic wasn't backed up), I went through but I didn't see the car coming down the outside.

Hey Bert, all the times that we wish people were more curteous on the roads and it never happens, then the one time that someone is curteous to you, this kind of thing happens.....That sucks.

When I first crashed my commodore, that looked rather innocuous, except for the the diff and axles being off centre, pretty evident the control arms were bent. The problem with cars is that unless the assesor knows what to look for, you could be in for a world of headaches! Not only were my control arms bent (which was the only thing they replaced and did a wheel alignment!) I had a low speed shudder through the car. Turns out that the drivetrain took such a whack from the gutter, the hit knocked counter weights off the drive shaft, screwed the centre bearing, lunched part of the transmission and bent the rear anti roll bar!! Plus the car needed to be put on a stretching table!

On top of that, the top shock mounting points were twisted, so the shocks didn't line up which buggered them up too! I won't mention the name of the insurance company that refused to pay for all this extra damage, all because the initial assesor didn't pick it up!! Let's just say they currently use a black golf with red car bra in their ads!!

Moral of the story, get a proper VW person to look at your car to asses it. My suggestion is to ask one of your fellow dubbers to take a look or give Dean at VolksPower a ring and see if he can have a look at it. Thewy're located in Burwood so it's not too far from you in Glen Iris. My guess is not only door and quater panel damage, but also front suspension / strut tower problems, maybe drive shaft and steering also, depending on the hit, it might have damaged your diff also....