Had A Little Bump

[sercombe]

Well its happened to me again. Driving a long and the woman in front braked suddenly causing the girl behind to smack in the back of me pushing me into the car in front. Unfortunately for me I came out the worse. The other 2 cars (front car and back car) were fine but the front of my Is200 just caved in yet the back of my car just had little scratches? not major damage but the bonnet bent up and the grill got pushed back. The bumbers fine but the radiator and the frame that holds it has been pushed back into the engine. I just dont understand why that happened and yet the bumber and chasis all remained fine. Why can the bonnet curl up when its set back from the bumber?

The insurance company has said it will cost £5k to fix so they have written it off. im convinced I could fix this within £1000 so im buying the car back for £1k.

Does anyone think I would stuggle on the following:

- Drivers Side Headlight

- Bonnet

- Radiator

- The frame that holds the radiator that is attached to each wing. Inner frame - Not sure what this is actually called?

Whats the going rates on these new or second hand. Places that people can point me in. Repray on front end is going to cost around £200 from a back street spray shop.

[Gord]

Well its happened to me again. Driving a long and the woman in front braked suddenly causing the girl behind to smack in the back of me pushing me into the car in front. Unfortunately for me I came out the worse. The other 2 cars (front car and back car) were fine but the front of my Is200 just caved in yet the back of my car just had little scratches? not major damage but the bonnet bent up and the grill got pushed back. The bumbers fine but the radiator and the frame that holds it has been pushed back into the engine. I just dont understand why that happened and yet the bumber and chasis all remained fine. Why can the bonnet curl up when its set back from the bumber?

The insurance company has said it will cost £5k to fix so they have written it off. im convinced I could fix this within £1000 so im buying the car back for £1k.

Does anyone think I would stuggle on the following:

- Drivers Side Headlight

- Bonnet

- Radiator

- The frame that holds the radiator that is attached to each wing. Inner frame - Not sure what this is actually called?

Whats the going rates on these new or second hand. Places that people can point me in. Repray on front end is going to cost around £200 from a back street spray shop.

WOW mate not again.

If you look on eBay, you will see someone selling everything you need :winky:

[sercombe]

yup... Lexus just seem to bring me bad luck. lol. Oh well.

Standard bonnets are not very common on eBay. Cant say ive seen many Radiators either.

I think asking here is a good start. I will get on the phone tomorrow and start ringing about.

[Gord]

yup... Lexus just seem to bring me bad luck. lol. Oh well.

Standard bonnets are not very common on ebay. Cant say ive seen many Radiators either.

I think asking here is a good start. I will get on the phone tomorrow and start ringing about.

Someone has hole front end for sale on eBay £950 ono.

Bonnet, wings, lights, bumper, rads(water+air con) and more :winky:

[lee_iceman]

Sorry to hear that mate, must remember to pay extra careful attention when driving around Manchester

Should be able to sort it out for around a grand. Most of it will be on spraying though.

For non common parts, try 247spares. Handy little search site :)

[Kazi]

Thats some ******* luck mate, hope you get a good result from buying it back. Best of luck to you dude.

[Chris.S]

the bonnet is designed to bend like that in the event of an accident for safety. Its part of the crumple zone.

It it didnt the bonnet would probably end up entering the passenger compartment through the windscreen

[WylieCoyote]

That's some shocking news mate. 5 grand? Just who does their figures? Probably the same person that works out my income tax haha. Try www.japparts.co.uk for some body panels and stuff. Might be worth a shot. Keep us posted.

Keith

[Sang]

Sorry to hear what happened, it really takes the P.

You know, if i were in your shoes i would look apon this situation in a different light... This is a great time and opportunity to scratch that Modding itch of yours and replace the standard parts for nicer or better ones... like... i don't know... a carbon bonnet with PHAT vents on it to keep the engine cool or say... a C-West front bumper... and change the front lights to those later spec dark ones... Your car will DEFINITELY be better than what it was...

[Rikos]

Really sorry to hear this mate and the insurance companies are useless!!!

Hopeully you'll get it all sorted quickly and cheaply and have your lex back again

[Continunity]

sorry to hear of the accident, glad your o.k.

I do wonder if insurence companys make it up as they go along.

[Parthiban]

Obviously can't tell without looking at the car, but could easily cost £5k to repair at a Lexus dealer.

When I had a similar accident a few years ago, it cost £4500 to repair - car looked pretty ok on the outside but internally it was a mess!

The main part of my damage was on the rear end, so with yours being on the front, there may be more bits to replace.

Be careful if you decide to do a bodge repair, because at the end of the day, you want to make sure that if the same happened again, the car would behave in the same way to minimise injury to whoever is in the car..........

Good luck with it :)

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Firstly. really sorry for you buddy, especially as it wasn't your fault at all.

2 things:

Firstly - your car has been officially recorded now as a w/o, so no matter what you do, it will never ever be worth what it was before...no where near!! So if you do repair it, you really will need to keep it longer than you ever planned. Legally you will have to tell who-ever you sell it to....

Secondly, the damage appears light, and costs £5k! It's the reason why we pay so much fro our policies. Too many companies charging stoopid labour and repair rates...

You probably need the inner front panel - just be sure that there isn't any damage to the inner wings, front cross members etc. Even a smallish kink could prove difficult to fix properly. It might not matter too much...

It's up to you, but unless they paid a measly amount, I would be very careful and get a professional to look it over and give you a quote before going any further...

The other option is to scrap it yourself...surely someone somewhere needs all the other bits?

[sercombe]

Well Ive been to the accident repair centre for the report. There alot of stuff on the list that doesnt need replacing such as lexus IS200 badges for £11 etc.. - They probably decided that they were going to spray the whole back of the car. The guy showed me a little damage where the spare wheel is. Its not visible from the outside but the back has pushed in a bit. Can this be seen as unsafe to drive.

If i repair visible damage can it then be driven? Written off beyond ecoonomical repair is a Cat D? does this need to be inspected once the work has been done and how much does that cost? who does it?

[Continunity]

Well at a guess it will still need to pass an MOT...

and as the other guys have said it will now be marked as a CAT-D write off. If their is damage to the internal structure of the car i wouldnt go near it (as a prospective purchaser) and i would guess alot of people wont either..

Might be worth remebering that IS200's are getting cheap now, so if someone wants one they will probibly purcahse a non cat-d one over a cat-d anyday.

Hope that helps

[sercombe]

How much you value an 2000 W Reg SE on 105k miles. Looks immaculate inside and out. Full service history. Cat D light front end repair?

Id put £4k on it. what do you think?

[Tuff]

sorry to hear about your misfortune, it is a bit a mess mate , personally i'd take the money from your insurers and buy a younger lex like one the lads said they are cheap to buy

[Tuff]

is this value from the insurers or for resale

[Unregistered_User]

Gutted to hear this mate. I hope you resolve things at a decent cost compared to what the theives, sorry, insurance company have quoted you.

From some of the responses of members on here it seems as though you will be able to, but you need to be aware of the implications of 'road-ifying' the car again.

All the best and do keep us posted.

Jamie

[sercombe]

has anyone got a picture of the condenser. I dont know which bit this is and the insurance report says it need replacing. If its located on the passenger side then I think it wont be damaged.? please post pictures of engine bay if anyone has any please?

Also Here is a pic of the Rad on the drivers side. Apart from this being pushed back on the front panel, this appears to be the only damage to it. Do you think I culd get away with not replacing it as its not leaking and the car it drivable?

[Rory]

gutted to hear about the bump, I had no idea how much damage can happen from a seemingly minor bump, i'll be leavin more room in front of me from now on I can tell you.

I don't know much about writing cars off, but if you buy the car back to repair yourself, do they still pay out to replace the car anyway?

[Tuff]

if the rad or any other pipes are not leaking you should be ok. i take it your buying the car off your insurance company then. good luck with putting her back to normal :)

As for rory's ? they still pay you out, but they deduct your offer to buy the car back from the money they offered for the value of the car

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

How much you value an 2000 W Reg SE on 105k miles. Looks immaculate inside and out. Full service history. Cat D light front end repair?

Id put £4k on it. what do you think?

£4k is about right I supose, but that would be for a non Cat D. Take another 20% off - remember anyone trying to HPI the car will get the shock, and dealers won't touch it ('cos they will not be able to sell it on). You'll be OK to get it repaired, but be prepared to keep the car for a long time. If your motivation to go down this road is that you had no intention of selling it then great.

Not trying to put you off, but you really need to be sure you're doing the right thing here!

My mate used to have a body shop, and when he started he fancied fixing up a w/o car, and we used to trawl salvage yards for stolen reco's. He got stung by a 7 Series BMW (a 735i) which had light front/rear damage - fixed it for £1700 himself and the car was totally perfect. Totally honest chap - so he always made it clear it was a fixed car with photographic evidence. Purely a panel replacement and spray job. It was valued at £10,000 but he couldn't get £8000, it cost him £6000 all told, and eventually sold it to a friend for £7700 who ran it and ran and then scrapped it. Was it worth it...??? He didn't think so.

You will need a proper inspection done too, else you may not get insurance on it either for the same price as before!! Remember - they always ask you:

"Has the vehicle ever been written off or damaged?"

[dibsLPG]

has anyone got a picture of the condenser. I dont know which bit this is and the insurance report says it need replacing. If its located on the passenger side then I think it wont be damaged.? please post pictures of engine bay if anyone has any please?

Also Here is a pic of the Rad on the drivers side. Apart from this being pushed back on the front panel, this appears to be the only damage to it. Do you think I culd get away with not replacing it as its not leaking and the car it drivable?

Sorry to hear about the bump: But look at the brighter side at least you can repair it to a higher spec, If I was you keep it standard has you are already done so, looks sweet and if needs be sell better too.

Just note that it’s not all the time necessary fo rthem to written it off (CAT-D), it just that it is not economically viable to repair. Just ask the insurers or better still do a HPI check to play it safe and print it out for reference. :winky:

I had a similar shunt a few years back (Honda Legend) and since it was a Honda the parts + labour made it expensive to repair (£3.5k) so wrote it off but it was never recorded. bought it back got a all the main parts from the scrappers (1 place so a big discount) and handed them over to a professional body shop. 1 week later the car looked mint and drove like a dream. (IMPORTANT make sure your car does not require any jigging or the geometry of the chassis is out / bent and hence not worth repairing).

Best buy back i ever did: the car stood me at : - original price £4.5k / bought back £800 - parts £400 labour/spray £300 cost £700 on road + new rims £250 pocketed and bought a sound system too + toad 1 cat alarm. So final price: £1.5k on the road. not bad if i say so my self :winky:

:D Best place I came across is Dewsbury Auto Salvage 01924 466666 (plenty of Lexus IS200’s)

Web: http://www.dewsburyautosalvage.com/BreakCa...;CCaption=LEXUS

Good look and keep us posted

Dibslpg

[j_jazzy777]

Much as I hate to put this, I really think you are better off getting shot of the car.

I never used to believe in such things as a "cursed car" although it has been bandied around a bit. That was until I owned the Alfa I just got rid of.

In 7 years of driving I have had 4 major crashes/accidents and all of them were in the Alfa, which I owned for 2.5 years. With the car I managed incredible feats of hitting everything- a petrol pump, a lampost, a 4x4, and shunted a car up the back. Magnetic bodywork?? I pondered.

Not all of them were my fault, and some of them could be blamed on circumstances, but the fact remains that I had major problems with that car from the moment I bought it to the time I handed the keys over.

It was EVERYONE else who was telling me to sell it cos its cursed and I just thought nah. I'm not naturally superstitious, but to be honest, looking back, it does seem that I had an extraordinary amount of problems with that car and was just throwing money at it all the time.

Now I believe there may well be such a thing as a "cursed car".