ICEDVOVO
V70R has been written off - Insurer is letting us keep the wreck and we have 8k left from the insurance money to fix it. No chassis or suspension damage , not much engine bay damage , front apron panel /reinforcing, bonnet, radiator , condenser, a few hoses maybe, windscreen cracked from bonnet impact, Guards are OK but drivers side guard touching drivers door . Spoiler OK. Havent got time to do the work but can source all the parts from wrecking yards etc and maybe replace with some nice headlights etc. Front always looked a bit shabby with peeling clearcoat on the bonnet and faded xc70 grille hedl on with zipties. So while we are sad it happened it may be an opportunity to give the old girl a nice facelift.
Anyone know any good repairer who will take this on with some degree of finesse and enthusiasm if we source all the bits? And any facelift ideas/suggestions?
Ex850R
My 855R had similar damage ans quote was over 8k to fix years ago.
Spac
You’re going to have to find a retired bloke, or skilled back-yarder.
If you can find the time to strip it down, chase the parts, cart it to various specialists and then reassemble, it could be viable.
But if you simply take it to a panel shop and ask them to fix it, then I reckon that they will either turn you away or quote silly money. Even as a cash job.
If I was in your position, I would:
1. remove the bent bits, and then take it to various beaters to get quotes on fixing/replacing the radiator support and inner guard;
2. Buy a complete x70 donor car;
3. Get the panels painted by someone competent;
4. Refit those panels and the cooling/AC stuff;
5. Take it to an AC specialist to get the AC regassed.
But if you don’t have time, then you’re probably better just sell it it off.
Ex850R
Inner guard is main unitary body so repair is not advised.
As @Spac says, get another good body.
So much easier
BTW, I scrapped my pristine 96 855 manual R with low kilometres as I didn't want a hacked up car.
ICEDVOVO
Thanks. Great advice from Spac and Snoopy.
Weighing up the options.
My son is shattered by this - he zoned out for a second and was almost home when a girl suddenly propped to turn into a driveway ; with oncoming traffic and a parked car in the near lane he had no escape route.
Emotional attachment to the car is preventing rational decision
This car is factory manual and as immaculate interior as you can get
Was first registered to Volvo Australia MD
Mechanically perfect and 210k
Mark Iceton sold it 3 years ago to guy in Wollongong
My son bought it just over one year ago and has loved it.
Sounds and feels terrific. Just spent $1500 on numerous "just in case" preventative maintainence items, new abs module & $900 on new tyres only done 5k
But not without the usual ECU gremlins - intermittent mav and abs lights and coolant gurgle overflow on short trips only, door lock actuator to rear door. Those minor probs were going to be sorted when we had the time, but not essential.
He drove a brand new Lotus Exige 410 to Bathurst 12hr in February and the day after did the same trip in this car.
He said the V70r was much better fun to drive on a public road than the Lotus Exige!!
That being said, it would be a totally different story on a race track where the Exige had a chance to open up and show its true colours.
Ex850R
You can always get emotional about any other car..
I got my R with about 68K klm on the clock in near perfect condition. I had slowly done what I wanted to make it mine, just got the volans refurbed and Bridgestone Adrenelin put on, I kept the wreck under a tarp at a paid lockup space near my place for a few years.
It was never going to be right again.....
Find a good body and make it an R or get a v50awd manual T5... It will blow him away how much better the v50 is and he will fall in love with it....
iceton1975
Easy fix I have all the parts
ICEDVOVO
Thanks Mark.
It's too good a car to go to the wreckers
My son thought of taking the payout and buying a 2004 v70R auto.
A beautiful car and well cared for by its current owner but somehow lacking in soul when compared to the 98R
The older boxier R wagons have more street cred and they seem to sound better and feel better than the newer more powerful ones. I'm talking about stock ones of course.
Maybe it's just the lack of soundproofing or the manual box but when I first got inside that 98R and threw it into 2nd gear put the foot down you knew were in something special even though it wasn't the quickest of cars. I think my V70T auto is quicker than his car.
I have to get hold of the assessor to get it sorted and push this along. The wet weather and recent hailstorm has created a backlog of hundreds of cars. One repairer reckons he has 6 months work ahead of him. None of the repairers I spoke to are even vaguely interested in receiving the car at the moment and the assessor won't make a write off call until he sees the car at my chosen repairer's shop. No-one has the space to receive the car and given the likelihood of a write off they don't see the point in taking it and wont take on private jobs - just insurance jobs.
The only shop that will take it has done work for me before but even they are being a bit cagey about it.
ICEDVOVO
I was talking about the V50 with my son. He likes the bigger cars. Likes mountain biking and camping so the bigger the better. I get the last say since it's my car anyway; he just gets to drive it occasionally but lately more often than I get to drive it. I'd just rather keep it. The bigger wagon is great for camping , just nice to be in a big car anyway.
Ex850R
Doesn't insurer have a assessment t point?
Or its assessed at your place.
ICEDVOVO
Has to be assessed at a repair shop and its up to me to tell them where to take the car. Insurer's tow company is holding the car in their yard along with hundreds of others stuck in the backlog. Trouble is the repairers don't have the space and time to deal with anything extra at the moment; especially one where the owner doesn't want the car written off or hopes to strike a deal with the insurers.
ICEDVOVO
If this dilly dallying around keeps up another week I might have to just ask the assessor to make a captains call on it so we know exactly where we stand
egads
ICEDVOVO;c-156440 wrote"Find a good body and make it an R or get a v50awd manual T5... It will blow him away how much better the v50 is and he will fall in love with it....
"
I mentioned the V50 to him before. He likes the bigger cars. Likes mountain biking and camping so the bigger the better. He was even considering a V8 XC90.
[/quote]
I have a v8 xc90 for sale at the moment......keen?
Ex850R
Berry's is wrecking a v70r. Silver, body perfect, manual gearbox rapped itself.
ICEDVOVO
Mark says he has all the parts.
Still trying to get somewhere with the insurer.
Telephonists won't put me in contact with the assessor until I choose a repairer.
But which repairer? They say use google!
The one who did my daughter's C30T5 did a great job but says its a write off based on the pics but might be able to undertake the repair privately if we source the parts. I am scared his price to fix it privately might be way over the insured value and has been in touch with the assessor who is supposedly checking out WOVR implications . Seems a little weird as you would think all assessors would know that WOVR does not apply to vehicles 15 years plus. But that repairer said he a WOVR issue with an old bmw in similar circumstances so he wants the assessor to be absolutely up to speed before he promises anything. I think what may have happened with the BMW is some idiot in the insurance company on hearing the car was written off automatically stuck the yellow sticker of death on the windscreen , lodged the WOVR paperwork and cancelled the rego.
Spac
ICEDVOVO;c-156493 wroteMark says he has all the parts.
Still trying to get somewhere with the insurer.
Telephonists won't put me in contact with the assessor until I choose a repairer.
But which repairer? They say use google!
The one who did my daughter's C30T5 did a great job but says its a write off based on the pics but might be able to undertake the repair privately if we source the parts. I am scared his price to fix it privately might be way over the insured value and has been in touch with the assessor who is supposedly checking out WOVR implications . Seems a little weird as you would think all assessors would know that WOVR does not apply to vehicles 15 years plus. But that repairer said he a WOVR issue with an old bmw in similar circumstances so he wants the assessor to be absolutely up to speed before he promises anything. I think what may have happened with the BMW is some idiot in the insurance company on hearing the car was written off automatically stuck the yellow sticker of death on the windscreen , lodged the WOVR paperwork and cancelled the rego.
Does depend on the repairer, but one of the reasons why they are so eager to write off older cars is the hassle in getting parts and potential warranty issues (things like if the AC gas leaks out in three months time - they're always going to get the blame, regardless of where the problem actually is).
So if you source the parts, and they're not held to insurance company warranties, then they are much more likely to repair the car at not-insane prices.
ICEDVOVO
Well yes, that's part of the problem but when the insurance industry did a deal with our legislators to keep insurance premiums under control ago they assess the vehicle using a formula that is now laid down in law and is across the board:
An "economic" write off is allowed when "Salvage Value + Cost of Repairs > Market Value of Vehicle (pre-accident) or Sum Insured"
So a car that is insured for agreed value of 20K that is going to bring 12k in salvage value will be written off if the car will cost anything more than 8k to fix. The salvage value is a fuzzy figure but auction houses usually have records of what prices the wrecks sell for at auctions and I think there might be something on redbook.
That being said some of the cars I've had repaired have still been repaired by the insurer. I once owned a ford fiesta (don't ask why) which was insured for 16K and got sandwiched between a ute and 4WD. Extensive front and rear damage,with radiator, grille and even the elaborate air intake housing and intake manifold were smashed and everyone including assessor said it was a write off and we kind of hoped it was a write off. But to our disappointment they fixed it but like SPAC said 3 months later air con failed and insurer had to wear sending it off to several ac guys until problem was finally found and replaced condenser and compressor which must have cost them at least another 2K.
I think in that case the insurance assessor was trying to look after us since we were not at fault.
The really sad situation is where you only have 3rd party insurance you reckon your volvo that you spent years looking after and improving is in such good nick its worth 10K and it would be hard to find as good a car as that again. Than some idiot runs into you and does maybe 5k of damage. Their insurance company says your car is only worth 2k and that is all you will get as that is all they are required to do - pay you the cost of repairs up to the market value only.
If same car was insured under a comprehensive policy for 6K and there is 5k of damage they will write the car off as an economic write off and cancel its rego. But if you ask if you can buy back the wreck because you reckon you can fix it for 2k yourself they will say no; it's a comprehensive policy - read the fine print! And then some idiot buys the wreck at auction for $7500 because it's not on wovr and he reckons he can fix it and get it registered again. So 2 months after your pay out you get another cheque for $1500 because the wreck was worth more than they thought!
If it was a car 15 years or older insured with Classic car insurance or with Shannons or Lumleys the terms of those policies normally let you buy the wreck back at salvage value and they would not cancel the registration enabling you to retain the vehicle and fix it yourself however whatever.
So if you have a volvo 15 years old or more and you don't drive it much (ie not daily driver) insure it as a classic vehicle so you have the option of keeping the wreck at their determined salvage value. If you cant agree on the salvage value you can google recent sales results for similar damaged vehicles to prove your point.
Car insurance gets complicated and I've never really paid it much attention other than ensuring my cars were comprehensively insured. But it seems there might be better ways to insure your car depending on the age of the car and how you use it that might allow you the option of retaining the wreck .
If anyone else can enlighten me on car insurance dos and don'ts I would love to hear about it as there is a lot of stuff I don't know.
I've copied this to a new thread as this is going off topic here.
iceton1975
Send it down to us we will fix it
ICEDVOVO
OK Mark, we've finally got the car back and will work out a proper parts list once we start disassembling it.
Unfortunately the repairer who liased with the insurance assessor to get the car towed to our place is supposed to assess and arrange for the insurance assessor to also inspect and discuss salvage value. Insurer wont put us in touch with the Insurance assessor until he has seen the car. But towing company which was supposed to bring car to us last Friday brought it on Tuesday because car was buried behind other cars in their yard. In the meantime the repairer/ assessor liasion person has taken a week off so nothing will happen for another week.
Anyway after a quick poke at the car it looks like we need: (I'll work out the proper names whenI go on VIDA)
Bonnet only; brackets look ok
The big plastic Radiator support panel
Drivers side and centre bonnet latches
Drivers guard,
Windscreen,
Radiator,
Drivers side headlight assembly
Spoiler skin.
Bumper external plastic shroud that has the tongues for the spoiler to slip onto . Two of the tongues near the headlight have sheared off. The bumper does not look bent at all, when the car slide under the other bar the top of the spoiler has been caught in the impact and has distorted near the headlight and cracked at the lower air dam.
Drivers side headlamp washer assembly
Fan shroud.
Condenser - top of plastic shroud is cracked but condesnser may still be usable; if it ends up being a budget repair we will test it.
Top engine mount looks like it has buckled ever so slightly - could be just a manufacturing dimple - will have to compare to new .
Cant see any sign of structural damage or ripples to inner guard; point of impact was on drivers side of bonnet.
Because car was braking heavily its' nose was down ; the bumper slid under the back of the other car's near side back corner with impact taken on the bonnet and tip of the drivers guard panel. Bonnet absorbed impact by crumpling and radiator and radiator support panel got cracked and pushed in. the drivers guard has slid back 3mm on its fixing holes. No damage to cables or hoses or electrical wiring.
Car will have to go on Car-O-Liner to check chassis is not twisted but I think it will be within spec and wont need any pushing or pulling. Other than that it all looks diy bolt on except for fine tuning/ panel fitment and spraying.
Will have to wait until we get final word from insurer before anything happens
Ex850R
The thing that gets damaged is the box sectulion that runs back to firewall area from front, the bumper aluminium bar bolts to it. It deforms, can be pushed out ok usually.