Cons Of Driving A Repaired Crashed Car?

[dreamresult]

Hi there,

I've been in the market for a car, and I've seen heaps of advice surrounding what to look for when purchasing. A lot of people seem to emphasis the fact not to buy a car that has been crashed and repaired. Excuse my ignorance, but what is the stigma against this? I thought that as long as it was repaired by a decent mechanic, it should be as good as non crashed cars?

Any info would be great.

[adamskill]

its not a "stigma" per se, but good luck getting any one to insure a) an import, and b) one that is a repairable write-off. just wont happen. ive never done it myself, so i cant say exactly, but i dont see it being a very good idea at all.

[jawrgy]

ehhh how do insurance companies know? i mean u do everything online and it only asks if the car has any existing damage. I think that people dont like buying repaired vehicles as the repair may cause problems latter down the track. But saying that if i knew the car had a major repair i still wouldnt buy.

[TurboDoseBro]

I've also heard this. Just incase, I do tend to stay away from accidented cars. Apparently it's about a crushed frame that will never have the same rigidity as an uncrushed one.

[ichizora]

Say you have a front end crash, all that metal gets pushed back from the impact. You're always gonna have more damage on one side no matter how slight. Unless the repair was done properly, ie pulling the metal back to factory dimensions, the car will have uneven shock tower distances on each side... which will affect handling and so on and so forth...

[Daleo]

its not a "stigma" per se, but good luck getting any one to insure a) an import, and b) one that is a repairable write-off. just wont happen. ive never done it myself, so i cant say exactly, but i dont see it being a very good idea at all.

That's completely incorrect, I've bought my own car back from an insurance company, it was a repairable write off (due to the cost of repair exceeding the value of the vehicle).

I then had it professionally repaired, took it back to THE SAME INSURER, and they happily re-insured it for more than it was worth before the accident. At the same time I put on a new roof skin to get rid of a poorly fitted sunfoof. All they wanted was evidence that the repairs had been done in a professional manner. This was easy as I had reciepts for all the new parts and for the repairs.

The car looked brilliant and drove perfectly, because the job had been done properly.

If your repairer knows what they are doing, there is no risk in driving a repaired car. The risk that people are referring to comes from poor quality repairs, done by cowboys in their backyard. Most of these types of repairs are easily spotted if you inspect the car carefully.

The hallmark of a well repaired car is, the repairs are normally indistinguishable to the unrepaired part of the car. If I didn't know who had repaired a car I was looking at buying, I would probably avoid it, but that would only be in the case of a major (structural repair) fix up.

Most cars of a certain age will have had a parking dent repaired, or a bumper replaced, normally you can use these kind of things as bargaining chips when negotiating price.

At the end of the day it's a bit like the old "never been driven in the rain" kind of thing, just because someone tells you a car has never been crashed; doesn't mean it hasn't. Conversely, just because a car has been crashed; doesn't automatically make it an uninsurable deathtrap.

If you're not sure, have the vehicle professionally inspected, if you're still not sure, keep looking. Better to wait and get something you're happy with, rather than buy someone elses problems.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Daleo

[GTR-N1]

^^^ very well said

[mad082]

i think a hell of a lot of skyline owners would probably be rather upset to find out that their cars have been in accidents. might not have happened in australia though, so they sort of forget that the cars had a life in japan before being here. they sort of just take it for granted that the car was never crashed in japan and that the kms on the clock are legit when they get it.

as for buying a previously damaged car, it really comes down to how bad the damage was. there can be cars that are classed as written off with no structural damage at all, purely panel damage. my mothers car was nearly one of these. it was temporarily written off after an accident before the insurance company changed their mind and fixed it. the damage was confined to the passenger rear 1/4 panel, tail light, bumper and boot lid.

[alr33x]

thought u couldnt import cars taht had been in an accident and get them complied?

aside from that id personally stay away froma repairable writeoff unless it was dirt cheap but something thats had some panels changed big deal its liks changing ya clothes

[GHOSTrun]

Say you have a front end crash, all that metal gets pushed back from the impact. You're always gonna have more damage on one side no matter how slight. Unless the repair was done properly, ie pulling the metal back to factory dimensions, the car will have uneven shock tower distances on each side... which will affect handling and so on and so forth...

In order for a repairable write-off to get registration it has to pass an inspection. If the repair was as shoddy as you describe (uneven shock tower distance to the extent that it effects alignment and handling etc) it will not pass inspection because it is not safe.

Edited November 16, 2010 by GHOSTrun

[mad082]

you could get cars that have been in an accident that weren't written off like that though. i've seen a few cars with coil-overs fitted where the camber adjustment one 1 side is maxed out just to get standard camber, while the other is normal. one had obvious signs of front end damage, the other had no visible signs.

[TurboDoseBro]

Also what about the panels that won't line up again. Some accidented cars have massive gaps in their bumpers etc that won't line up because the brackets were crushed or broken.

[R31Nismoid]

^ That is because it was a shit job.

There is no real stigma, It's just that most of the time it costs more to fix properly. I mean take a R33 GTS-t, to fix one tahts been in a reasonable hit to the left/right front you'd be looking @ upwards of 6-8k properly done with a bent rail etc.

So i say - AS IF someone is going to spend that money fixing properly when its over half the value of the car.

I've seen personally SO many poorly repaired cars, and not just skylines either. It happens all the time and a lot of people are unsuspecting/don't know what to look for and the end winner is the workshop making easy money of half assed work.

2 years down the track you find out the rails are bent, parts replacement has been skimped on (2nd hand wrecker parts that are clearly poor) and stuff doesn't line up properly

[mad082]

^ That is because it was a shit job.

There is no real stigma, It's just that most of the time it costs more to fix properly. I mean take a R33 GTS-t, to fix one tahts been in a reasonable hit to the left/right front you'd be looking @ upwards of 6-8k properly done with a bent rail etc.

So i say - AS IF someone is going to spend that money fixing properly when its over half the value of the car.

I've seen personally SO many poorly repaired cars, and not just skylines either. It happens all the time and a lot of people are unsuspecting/don't know what to look for and the end winner is the workshop making easy money of half assed work.

2 years down the track you find out the rails are bent, parts replacement has been skimped on (2nd hand wrecker parts that are clearly poor) and stuff doesn't line up properly

if it was done under warranty then it isn't easy money for half assed work, it is often shit money so they do a shit job. most insurance companies tell the panel beaters how long it should take to fix the car and how much they are going to pay per hour to do it and only pay them that, even if it actually takes a few hours more. a good mate of mine is a panel beater and said that the days of over charging insurance companies for work done is long gone. the insurance companies even pay the same rate per hour for a pearl paint job as a flat colour, despite the pearl requiring more time to do. the insurance companies will even tell them not to fix some damage if they don't think it was caused in the accident, even if it obviously was.

[R31Nismoid]

To an extent, however one of my good mates runs a panel shop and has no mind blowing issues with insurance companies and this isn't some low grade/cheap panel shop either. Ye there is some here/there but that's part of it all. You win some, you lose some. I fail to see how its shit money even half the time.

Granted he is looking after imports/resto's which basically means Just Cars/Shannons, but that's the topic at hand here mostly.

He's even done work on a friends Mazda 626, was AAMI. He has no issue making good profit on it, and it was repaired perfectly without much issue from them either. Charging his normal workshop rate which i can assure you is higher than the "cheaper" places around that do $1500 "resprays"

They do not pay the same rate for a pearl paint that requires more time. That is costed and factored into quotes.

If its not, then that's the panel shops management as opposed to Insurance companies.

I've seen some BIG hit's fully repaired. Brand new everything from Nissan as part of the repair. And this is on cars only worth 30-35k agreed.

Well over 10k being dropped by insurance companies without question.

Now if one workshop can get 10k for a job, but another couldn't - nobody's fault but the shop in question.

[mad082]

To an extent, however one of my good mates runs a panel shop and has no mind blowing issues with insurance companies and this isn't some low grade/cheap panel shop either. Ye there is some here/there but that's part of it all. You win some, you lose some. I fail to see how its shit money even half the time.

Granted he is looking after imports/resto's which basically means Just Cars/Shannons, but that's the topic at hand here mostly.

He's even done work on a friends Mazda 626, was AAMI. He has no issue making good profit on it, and it was repaired perfectly without much issue from them either. Charging his normal workshop rate which i can assure you is higher than the "cheaper" places around that do $1500 "resprays"

They do not pay the same rate for a pearl paint that requires more time. That is costed and factored into quotes.

If its not, then that's the panel shops management as opposed to Insurance companies.

I've seen some BIG hit's fully repaired. Brand new everything from Nissan as part of the repair. And this is on cars only worth 30-35k agreed.

Well over 10k being dropped by insurance companies without question.

Now if one workshop can get 10k for a job, but another couldn't - nobody's fault but the shop in question.

he may be dealing with insurance companies that will pay extra, but the ones my mate does work for pay the flat rate. he will quote them for the time it should take, however they can turn around and say "no, we are on'y paying for XX amount of hours to paint it".

i'm also not saying they aren't making a profit as they still would be, but it certainly isn't like what people think where they charge double what they would charge a regular customer. often they don't charge much more at all.

as for the cheap respray bit, why is it that the moment you tell someone about cheaper priced place they automatically think that it is going to be shit. i've had some cheap work done in my time and it's been better than some of the work i've seen from places asking twice the price. a cheaper place may do just as good of a job as a more expensive place, just simply not have as higher hourly rate because they aren't as greedy. look at car dealer workshops. they often charge a lot more per hour than other workshops, but that doesn't mean they will do a good job. a lot of the time they will do a worse job because they simply don't give a shit, yet a smaller workshop will do a good job because if something goes wrong it's coming out of their pocket to fix it.

[mico]

if its been in a smash and repaired right, then you're not going to know anyway. 99% of all cars out there have been in mishaps - accidents are un avoidable. i know of quite a few cars under a month old that have been smashed, and come back from the repairer with straighter bodies than new. panel beaters are good