Goddamn. Rear Ended And Insurance Company Mention 'Total Loss' To Me. [UPDATE 2]

[mookie]

I think I'm getting settled on the idea of getting my own bumper and sorting out the repairs for the rest myself if the only alternative is to write off the car. I'll have to see what happens at the bodyshop first, but it looks like a pretty realistic alternative at the moment. Fit it myself, get it sprayed the right colour and have the bent bashed out. I've already been offered one potential GTi bumper, but I may end up procuring one from these boards instead...

[mix]

you could always get the bumper from a scrappy and then get it sprayed, or just get a black one form the scrapp

[mookie]

Forgive the stupid question, but whats the crack with scrap yards? Should I ring them up from the Yellow Pages and just ask if they have Mk2 bumpers or what? Or should I do a crawl round all the local ones and see what they have on offer. They seem like pretty scary places to me... 

[mix]

try ringing first as you could spend all day burrowing around in one, but then again, that is all the fun

[Thom89]

Assuming that your boot floor is still straight, and the gaps on the rear doors are as they were, then this is approx a 10 hour repair.. thats £250.00 at £25 per hour, £100 materials, and the price of a new bumper, plus VAT.. your going to be somewhere around £600 in total, thats allowing £200 for a new bumper (I don't know how much they are) that would put it beyond economical repair!
I would ask the insurance company, because of the type of car, and the problems replacing it for another one, if they could send out their engineer to view the car (speak to him personally) with the possibility of repairing it for a contract figure, as the damage is only cosmetic, and of course you locating a second hand bumper to keep costs down,. you may even be able to save the one you've got! just remove the bent steel backing, and replace with a straight one, after giving the plastic cover some heat to get it back into shape
Try and avoid the "buy the car back" route, you'll be buying back a write off!
90% of all the Insurance companies that I deal with, are very accommodating to this type of repair, ie, you should get somewhere with it! just be extra nice to the engineer, and the garage that the car would be inspected at!
Hope this helps!
Tom

[mookie]

Went through the phone book on Friday and the closest I got to locating a Mk2 big bumper was a 20mile wild goose chase to a scrappy who couldn't tell the difference between a Mk2 and Mk3 

I'm pretty much resigned to getting the cheque and driving a Cat C/D write off. Ho hum. Car's due in on Tuesday for a check up so I'll know more then I hope.

[[han]]

i really ope it works in your favour, luckily a yeasr ago tomorrow i wrote off my 106 (some guy in a scooby did) and it woked in my favour, cos the damage to car gave me enuff money cover car (was for sale at the time) and tey reckoned i'd get £125 for it to sell it cat C, i sold it Cat C for 525, plus the 500 insurance gave me for ca, i bought, taxed, mot, vic checked my current golf!

hope it goes i your favour!

[Dub_Dude_16v]

Sorry to hear of your troubles matey! Know how you feel 

A new rear bumper from German Swedish & French Car Parts is about £45 inc. vat. They aren't a bad fit either. A VAG one will set you back over £200!

[mookie]

(Famous last words, I know...) ...but I love my Golf so much I can't really see myself thinking about selling it so the write-off scenario is something I'm becoming less and less bothered by. Even if I decided to get another/better Golf, I'd just keep it and 'give' it to my girlfriend who has a rather tired Corsa at the moment. Aside from the buggered bumper and the odd tiny spot of rust in the usual places, it's a totally sound car (fingers crossed).

Just as you say *han*, if it does come to it and they do just send a cheque for the value of the car, I'll almost certainly buy it back, get it fixed for less (I'm sure I can find a bumper for less than the £200+ quoted by the bodyshop during the week), and spend the rest on doing all the jobs on it I want to but haven't the funds for at the moment (new backbox for one).

Of course I'd be chuffed to bits if they just cough up and fix it for me 

[[han]]

you can agree a settlement with the insurance cmpany in which they pay you, but do not take the car, this is what happened with me. Luckily (or unluckily) the guy who came to assess my car, was also dealing with my dads written off ww2 jeep which he rolled!  so when i aske him, i was cheeky, i pushed him for more  money (which he didn't do - but you should always ask) and i got to keep the car, even if u break it and sell it yoursellf, or restore it.

not that my opinion is overly important, but my 106 was cat D when i bought it, i don't think the cat d/cat c can deteriorate the value of a car that much, especilly on older cars. obviously you dont want something that is badly damaged, but a lot of t he time hey writ them ff cos it's easier than them paying for the repairs! make sure you get them for as mmuch as you can, i tod them i wasn't happyy with them repairing the car and that i wwanted to do it myself (sold it)

keep us informed!