Hello All and thanks for reading.
Just over a week ago I had my car, a 2001 Vectra 2.6 SRi, stolen as a result of a burglary. The car was recovered after a police pursuit but was involved in a RTA when the thieves lost control of the car on a busy ring road. Unfortunately the thieves got away.
The car has suffered what I consider to be severe front end and nearside damage. The engineer has assessed that the car will need:
New front bumper and grill. New nearside headlamp cluster New nearside front wing. Both front rear nearside doors Sill covers Wing mirrors Bonnet The list does go on.
He couldn't comment on the state of the engine area as the bonnet would not lift high enough, nor the condition of the underlying structure. The front suspension does look rather suspect as the nearside front wheel is turned into the front of the car where as the offside front wheel is turned in a different direction.
One of the officers involved in the pursuit considered that the car was a write off as did the company responsible for the recovery. However the engineer considers the car to be repairable.
My concerns are that the car, if repaired would now be listed as stolen and recovered and therefore any chance of a suitable trade-in with a dealer would be difficult if not impossible. Also the amount of twist in the chassis, friends have said that the car will never be the same. If written off this will enable me to pay off any outstanding balance on the finance and also put down a suitable deposit to finance a new car. How would I go about insisting that the car be classed as a CAT D write-off.
I'm not a mechanically minded person, evident from my description above, but I can appreciate what happens when two or more large bodies (there were three other cars involved) collide at high speed.
I have taken pictures of the car but I don't have web space to upload them to and thought it best not to post attachments to a non- binary newsgroup.
Thanks for reading.
Regards
Nidge.