How bad is the damage?

[CHB100]

That is awful, I'm thinking a £5K job so unlikely a write off on a 16 plate, but worth pushing it. Rotten luck mate.

[Booth11]

An assessor and good body shop looks beyond the bodywork and will assess any damage to suspension etc and advise accordingly.

[Mustabuster]

Sorry to see your accident. It's an awful feeling. Some of my previous cars have been driven into a number of times. One time I got rear ended again just a few days after it came back from being repaired after an initial rear end collision.

I agree with the others. Although it looks bad I doubt it's a write-off. If it comes back from repair, make sure the bumper is properly fitted with no sticking out bits and check the panel gaps as well are ok.

[fredgroves]

Aren't there criteria beyond cost that cause a writeoff? Roof or pillar damage for example that compromises structural integrity?

[dipstick]

Aren't there criteria beyond cost that cause a writeoff? Roof or pillar damage for example that compromises structural integrity?

Absolutely yes.

In my instance I'm not sure there's such damage that would apply, the only question is what if any damage has been done to the underside - suspension, arms, chassis etc?
All doors and boot open and close fine and there doesn't appear to be any rippling to the floor, so I don't think there's any major/unrepairble structural damage really.

I'll see what the repair shop says - it's now going to my local approved VW place. If it wasn't leased I would be more specific about where it goes, but now I'll definitely be handing it back in 18 months time and because of that it needs to be up to spec to prevent any potential penalty fees when it comes to handing it back.

If there is any chance of a write-off, I'll be going for it - I just don't think there will be.

Thanks all for the kind words, I'll update when I know more.

[mkviken]

The pick up points for the suspension are designed to be stronger than the control arms so that they don’t get damage hitting curbs etc. The control arms are sacrificial to some e tent

That wheel has been pushed forward enough to distort the wheel arch liner, blow out a tyre and damage a wheel

I would be worried about how much strain was transferred to these mounting points. Personally I wouldn’t want it back

[mcmaddy]

All this talk of write off is nonsense, that'll be repaired with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

[SRGTD]

OP; it’s never nice when your car gets damaged, especially when it’s not your fault. IMO it looks like it’s repairable. Most insurers use a write off repair to value threshold of 50-60%, so if repairs don’t exceed 50-60% of the car’s value, then it’ll be repaired rather than written off.

Currently, early 16 plate non performance pack 5 door manual GTI’s are up for sale on VW’s website for £20k - £22k. Using a £21k value figure and a write off to repair threshold value of 50%, repairs would need to cost more than £10.5k for the insurer to write the car off. Based on your pictures, I wouldn’t expect repairs to cost that much; just my opinion though, and I’m not an motor insurance damage assessor!

[barrym381]

All this talk of write off is nonsense, that'll be repaired with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

Agree with you on that I see worse everyday being repaired and most cars on the road these days have probably seen worse yet most people wouldn't know

[wakey1512]

Don't have X-ray vision but as far as the alignment is concerned I can't see it wanting any more than a offside rear trailing control arm and possibly the upper control arm and at a push an anti roll bar too. The strength of the control arms is deliberately weakened in ways to fold under strain from the wrong direction. These parts aren't normally excessively expensive or labour intensive to fit. It'll be a bolt together process and alignment can be done by a specialist afterwards.