RIP Rivage???

Hello everyone, I have a question!

Unfortunately, my Golf Rivage is about to be written off due to some idiot going into the back of me at traffic lights. The car is still in fully working order but they've decided it's not worth fixing. The repairs have been quoted at around ?1700 - new front and back bumpers, front grille and a new headlight.

Luckilly I had an agreed valuation for the car so will get back what I could have sold it for, but I also have the choice of taking a grand less for it, keeping the car and selling it myself (rather than it being scrapped).

So, my question is, do you think anyone would be prepared to pay more than a grand for a written off, green Rivage with beige leather interior and 138000 miles on the clock? I would get the DVLA check done so I'd have a new logbook. OR, shall I let them take it away and squish it……?!

Thanks.

Firstly, is it a Cat C or a Cat D write off? Secondly, is the damage confined to the rear bumper, panel, bootlid or have the rear wings been squished too? The front end isn't too much of a worry (I take it they went into you and pushed you onto the car in front?) but would obviously need to be taken into account with the rear damage too.

Basically, is the car repairable easily (just that they decided to write off) or is it only really fit for spares? If the former, probably ?600-800. If the latter, more like ?300-500.

Can you fix it yourself?

If so, I'd haggle on the price they'll give you (i.e. get them to knock off less than a grand) and do it up yourself.

Or even just run it as it is…

This happened to my daily hack (Pug 306) - in the end they knocked ?80 off the value, and I stuck a new bumper on the back, and called it done. It's not the prettiest car in the world, but it does the job, and was much cheaper than me finding another in the same condition as it was pre-crash…

how much for the interior???

i could swap my interior b4 the car gets collected (mines a rivage cloth int)
  

pm me if u wanna chat  :wink:

You're right Paul C, the car behind shunted me into the car in front! I think they said it was a cat c write off but I'd have to double check to be sure. The damage to the rear is just the bumper - the tailgate, wings etc have not been included in the repair quote so I'm assuming they're all ok. It seems it could be fixed easily but the labour's expensive and apparently so are the bumpers!

Unfortunately Andunp, I don't think I would be able to change the car seats if they were taking it away as the agreed valuation was based on photographs. They might small a rat if the seats changed material!

It's a shame but it seems that I'll end up with more money if I let them take it away. I'd rather sell it on to someone that would fix it but I need to get as much as possible to buy the next one! I can't afford to fix it myself unfortunately. God, I'm being so sentimental!!! :cry:

If you have an agreed valuation, it would be silly to keep the car from a financial point of view. You could ask what the insurance company is planning to do with it. For example, there are a few large firms which deal in salvage like this and would possibly list the car in their lists of "damaged cars for sale", rather than send it straight to the crusher. So you could buy it back from them (no doubt, for less than ?1000) and 'break' it for spares if you needed. Or perhaps the info would be useful to another forum member.

They're 'trying it on' by offering you a grand less plus the car. If they sold it to a salvage place they'd get next to nothing - certainly nowhere near ?1000. I'd go back and say you want the car, but not for ?1000. Try ?500 and see what they say. From their point of view it's loads easier if you keep the car as they don't have to handle it / sell it on. You'll probably pick the bumpers up 2nd hand reasonably easily - could be a nice little project !
Good luck,
Mark

Go for allot less than a ?1000, when my midget was written off,(Turned upside down!) I payed ?200 for it. I also got the full value of the car as well. Be ruthless with the insurance company they like to try it on.

Rob  

Hello

Thanks so much to everyone for all your suggestions. After thinking long and hard about it, I've decided to take the whole amount of money and let them take the car.

If anyone is interested in parts or whatever, the company collecting the car are called HBC Salvage. They're based in Canvey Island, Essex and their phone number is 01268 696444. I would imagine they'll pick it up at some point this week.

Thanks again to everybody for all the help I've received aver the last year. Great website and great members!

Take care :clap:

Blauster said

If anyone is interested in parts or whatever, the company collecting the car are called HBC Salvage. They're based in Canvey Island, Essex and their phone number is 01268 696444. I would imagine they'll pick it up at some point this week.

I thought it would be this firm. They auction the salvage online: http://www.hbc.co.uk/