Worth buying back? Anyone help breaking?

[andydckent]

Hi guys,

My Legnum VR4 was badly damaged in an accident and I have a few questions regarding breaking it should it be written off.

The entire panel above the right wheel is crushed in as far as the hood. The right front alloy is broken around the rim and tire has a hole in it. I could not inspect the front bumper as it was up against a wall in the recovery yard but I suspect this is cracked, but not crushed in. The drivers door is a little damaged close to the front. The rest of the car looks okay but has a number of deep scratches on the hood and other body work.

My question is whether or not it's worth buying it back for the parts? And if so at what cost?

I assume the well maintained engine and gearbox will still be fine and it has new stainless steal downpipes as well as a good stereo installed.

I don't have the equipment to remove anything substantial either so I would probably need to find someone that would be able to do it for me. I don't know if anyone on the forum does this kind of thing?

I am in Edinburgh, tired speaking to Peter Thomson who's helped me a lot in the past but he hasn't been online in ages.

Thanks for advice!

Andy

[adaxo]

Is it manual? And what downpipes you got fitted?

[andydckent]

It's just a good old auto unfortunately. The downpipes are the ones that fassi1 makes, only fitted in about September.

Additionally it has three remaining Evo TME edition alloys....

[Erni902]

Personally I would buy it back with a view to either putting back on the road or breaking for parts. It may only be in dribs and drabs but in the long run you will get a decent amount back especially as the downpipes are fairly new and if the engine and gearbox are in good condition well serviced etc then there is a fair bit of dosh there. Not to mention the diffs etc. Oh and I will take the wind deflectors if you decide to buy back and break

Im sure there would be guys up your neck of the woods that would enjoy a 'workshop day' to help you take bits off, especially if you fuel them with bacon butties and brews lol.

[adaxo]

If you decide to brake it i will be interested in downpipes.

I think you be able to sell bits of it and get may 1k for all
Engine with good history 400+
Good auto box 300+
Wheels if with good tyres 300+
Diff 100
down pipes ??? :-)
what suspension setup you got?

That's just my idea of pricing, but to sell all that it could take few months and if you had to pay someone to disassemble parts and storage it may not be worth the hassle, but let it rot on scrap yard will be a bit of shame too as they become rarer and rarer every year. If I had enough storage I would buy it off you disassemble and keep for black days when we struggle with parts for vr4.

[andydckent]

Thanks for advice so far and will take note of those interested in the various bits and bobs. It seems like there is probably a good value left in it and to me it would seem a total waste to see all of what has been such a great car on the scrap heap.

I guess the question then really is (if the car is in fact written off) who if anyone would be able to assist? I have a driveway but it's not got space for work really and though I could unscrew all the little bits I couldn't remove larger parts.

It does have wind deflectors but only a standard suspension set up.

Andy

[TAR]

stripping a car is a huge undertaking and will consume much of your time. Once you remove bits, they will take up more space than when on the car!
Parts will only sell when people want them so you may have an engine and gearbox kicking around for quite some time so it needs careful storage.
The parts are heavy and awkward to move as well.

I'm not trying to put you off, but its a lot of work for a small gain over a long period of time. I still have quite a few parts left from a car I broke several months ago.

[swinks]

If you decide to brake it i will be interested in downpipes.

I think you be able to sell bits of it and get may 1k for all
Engine with good history 400+
Good auto box 300+
Wheels if with good tyres 300+
Diff 100
down pipes ??? :-)
what suspension setup you got?

In recent market quite optimistic.
Tiptronic half the money.
3 evo wheels... 100 quid.
Just my few pennies.
But there are also few other parts which can top up whole estimate to 1 grand.

[adaxo]

If you want to sell bits next day then yes half the price but if you prepare to wait for right buyers then that's the value IMO

[andydckent]

Hi guys, yes I appreciate that such a project could take a fair bit of time and effort which is why I would really need some help or for another member to buy the whole thing from me and sell the parts themselves. As I say, it just seems such a waste for all the good parts to get scrapped, plus the fact that the insurance money can never truly compensate for all of the time, money and effort that was spent to keep the car running and in great condition. No expense was spared on all the right oils, ATF and parts.

[andydckent]

Update:

Well I've just received the inevitable news from the insurance company that the car is to be written off as it is uneconomical to repair. Market value assessed at £2,300 minus £350 excess so total £1,950. This value is naturally lower than I would have hoped for and certainly lower than I would have parted with the car for but it is higher than I feared they might offer. Got the news by text message so I've yet to ask about buy back.

Andy

[adaxo]

Thats not bad, keep us updating as I need to made decision about replacement of my current not so fresh downpipes soonish.

[andydckent]

Update:

I have bought the car back with a view to repair or break (or perhaps someone located nearer may now wish to buy from me to break or repair themselves). It was a Cat C write-off. I will make a decision on which route to take after I've had a good look at the vehicle.

The problem now is that the car has been moved to Newcastle, 100 miles from me and I need to get it up to Edinburgh somehow...

Andy

[andydckent]

Updated:

Car is now back on my driveway. To add to the damage I knew about there are scratches up the windscreen from barbed-wire fence, one in front of drivers view so maybe MOT fail. Also the drivers side headlight unit is damaged but glass intact. The steering works but wheels not pointing fully in the correct direction as one and other or the steering wheel. There is a small ding in the A pillar, don't know if this is significant.

Car runs fine and drives, let the engine tick over and no problems. Warmed up normally. Engine bay appears undamaged. Warning lights on dash for ABS and TCL but to be expected.

Here are some photos.

Decision time soon. To fix, break or sell as is? All advice appreciated as always.

Andy

IMG_1839_2.jpgIMG_1841_2.jpgIMG_1842.jpgIMG_1846_2.jpgIMG_1853_2.jpgIMG_1840_2.jpgIMG_1844_2.jpgIMG_1845_2.jpgIMG_1848_2.jpgIMG_1849_2.jpgIMG_1850_2.jpgIMG_1851_2.jpgIMG_1852_2.jpgIMG_1843_2.jpgIMG_1854_2.JPGIMG_1847_2.jpg

[giblet]

Ouch. How much was the difference between the pay out and the buy back cost? Might be worth repairing it if you can find the parts. All depends on how much the cars now owes you and how much the parts will be. If you decide to break I would be interested in the engine cover, looks to be a CF one?

[Nick Mann]

A cat C VR4 is never going to be worth a huge amount of money, so the question is do you want to repair it and keep it? Repairing it if you intend to sell in the future is not a sensible option IMO.

It's difficult to be sure from the photos, but I would imagine that £200-300 would get you the body parts required, possibly that much again for mechanical stuff damaged on the suspension for that side. Then body shop costs. You might repair for under £1k if there is nothing significant I have not spotted. Having said that, I'd budget £1500 before embarking on the project. Is there enough value in the car for you to go down that road? Only you can say that I guess.

[adaxo]

Being pearl white it's not helping (and certainly not be cheap) to spray it in right shade/pearl or to find panels in this colour either, as said above its only owner decision what to do next with it as every one has different attitude/skills. If it was my car I would try to put it back on the road as all damage seems like its only bolt on parts.

[andydckent]

As above, bought back for £300 out of a total payout of £1950 (£2,300 valued minus excess). Can also now deduct £120 transport cost from Newcastle which was not too bad I thought for 120 mile run. Obviously the car is worth much more to me than payout. Yes that is a CF engine cover, small crack around where it screws on at bottom though I think.

I currently have a quote of £120 for bumper, wing with lining and mirror but need to confirm these are for a VR4. Obviously they are in the wrong colour so would need painted along with repair to door, possibly removal of ding from A pillar and paintwork on hood and other wing. I don't know whether it is best to fit these parts unpainted and see if I can get the lot done or to paint them first?

Then there are mechanical issues which I hope are not too hard to fix.

There is also the issue of the alloy wheel and tire. I do have the originals in a pile outside but would need new tires.

Finally the windscreen, I suspect the scratches might mean it needs replaced but need advice on this? I assume you can't really fit a second hand windscreen?

There's also the value of 10 months remaining insurance riding on this unless I can swap a new car on to it. I'm not really in the position to do so though unless there was a very good, known one coming up on the forum for cheap (or maybe a 99-01 GTO).


Naturally feeling quite down about all this, I shouldn't be it's just a car. Plus the accident itself was a not very nice one.

Cheers for all help!

Andy

[Nick Mann]

Have a chat to the body shop, but I would imagine that they would prefer to paint fitted, with the possible exception of the bumper. Exact replacement wheels might be tricky/pricey, but there are plenty of Evo wheels out there for not much money. The mechanicals shouldn't be too bad to fix - if the wheels are out of alignment then you have possibly bent the track rod or the lower banana arm. Even if you needed to replace all the lower arms and the hub carrier it shouldn't be too pricey (unless you want original Mitsy arms) so I still think my guess of cost to put back on the road should be fair.

In my opinion that windscreen scratch is not an MOT fail, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Fitting a second hand screen is tricky at best - removing a screen without cracking it is quite tricky!

[Pugme]

Because of the colour the panels will need to be blended to the surrounding areas, so you will end up also painting the other wing and a rear door.

From a fellow pearl white owner, i wouldn't expect the paint job to be less than a grand on that seeing as your painting nearly half the car, but I appreciate your in Scotland and prices vary across the country and I'm near London.

But there's at least £300 of primer, paint and lacquer there. So if someone quotes you £500 think about the type of job they will do when an average hourly rate in a bodyshop would be 40 quid an hour.