Crash Damage - Advice Needed

Had a nasty crash into a hedge + fence post on black ice on Fri night. Front end is a right mess. My once-mint 83 Gti might be gonner :-(

I could get it written off under the agreed value (£3000) classic car policy, but that would be giving up on a car that I've lovingly maintained and used everyday for 7years. I could do with some advice from you guys….

Aside from a load of body work being bent (wings, front panel, bonnet, dent near petrol filler) , the front offside wheel was left at a bad-looking angle (bottom-in.) Basically I need to figure out if the chassis leg is bent so I can decide which way to go on this. I jacked it up and it looks like that angle is due to alignment of the hub and strut being out; ie. either the hub is bent on the elbox that reaches up to join the strut or the bottom of the strut is bent. The wishbone looks totally straight and the chassis leg shows no obvious signs of being knocked out, but how do I check?

Are there some critical measurements I can take to check the chassis leg position, like distance between the two big wishbone bolt heads?

Anyone have experience of getting a car written off under AXA classic car policy? Do they give you a chance to buy back the salvage?

Dan

Some before and after pics. Does anyone want to make me an offer for the salvage? The car was in excellent condition before as you can see. No mechanical faults whatsoever and chassis totally rot free (Ziebart wax injected from new.) Just one area of rust on the bottom of one of the wings (which is now needs replacing anyway.)

After:





Before:

everyting is repairable,mine was 10x worse and i fixed that, i think the bently manual has all the chassis measurements so you can check but it takes a lot to actually bend the chassis, usually its the wishbone or strut first. were you running a lower strut brace? how good are you with spanners, welder? all depends if your prepared to start ripping your pride and joy to bits.
i would love to buy the salvage but i am trying to cut down on cars at the moment

If it was my pride and joy I'd run for years I'd try and have it repaired. You may have to look around for find a body shop that will re-jig it and repair it without charging industry norm insurance rip-off prices that write off cars that only need a new headlight and bonnet respray.

Hmm its not too bad from the pics mate, Have you taken it to a garage or are you just guessing it will be written off? £3000 agreed value means the insurance will done a fair ammount of work on it first.

More than likely that the front suspension is bent rather than the chassis, even if the chassis is a bit bent it can be straightened.

Also there is the buy back option if the insurance do write it off, Then you get the money and can buy the car back cheap and fix it.