I had convinced myself that I had parked in the middle box of three between pillars and that it was OK the swing the Saab out. Unfortunately I was wrong, doh!. Maybe it was because the pillar had reflective steel wrapped around it like a mirror, so you didn't notice it in the side mirror. My mind must have been wondering astray. Extensive damage to near side front passenger door, but nothing beyond. Side mirror sheared off of course.
:-(
Similar happened to a friend two days ago (but not on a saab)
Find local botch up garage (for respray job); Find used door from another saab ... I was looking yesterday on ebay quite a few 9000's the age of yours. See if there is one near you ... buy the complete door and replace/respray.
I am sorry for your bad news.
Charles
Yes, good idea. My natural instinct was to call up my fully comprehensive insurance, LOL!, but was told that there would be a GBP 575 excess plus 2 years loss of NCB! I could cope with the loss of CNB, but the excess charge is plain silly. Secondly, It would have to go to the insurer's repair shop, which I somehow don't trust very much. It might even be totalled, considering how the insurer would view of the market value of a 15 year old car. Chances are that they would send me a cheque GBP 1000 less 575 less NCB and then take the car off me. Insurance = licence to print money IMO.
That is a lot of excess ... I won't ask why but your excess is fixed the time you bought your insurance. It does not change through the year.
I could cope with the loss of CNB, but the excess charge
I think the mirror alone might have been enough to make your car a write-off. I would say the car would be worth £500.
Whilst you don't have the passenger side mirror the car is classed as unroadworthy (it would not have passed an MOT) so look for a 2nd hand door asap.
Only other option is if anyone makes door skins for saabs, a completely new door is going to hurt you a lot.
Take care Charles
It might not pass MOT if not in original condition, but is it really unroadworthy? Older cars had only a rear view mirror. Sometimes a "wing mirror", but that was a luxury item. I will of course fix the car when I find the parts.
a 2nd hand door is original, it is just 2nd hand.
I "believe" if the manufacturer has fitted a passenger mirror it has to be there. (I can be wrong tho). You know you can ask in the uk car groups but you may be flamed if you ask an MOT related question.
Charles
Next time I will switch to TPTF insurance; the comprehensive is really useless at this stage.
I guess it would fail MOT, but it just passed a couple of days ago before the accident. But does a failed MOT necessarily mean that the car is unroadworthy? I know e.g. that you are allowed to drive a MOT failure if the car is safe and it is on the way to a repair shop. Anyway, that is probably OT.
Charles C. ("Charles C." ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
Not at all - plenty asked there. The standard answer, though, is "
Anyway - the only things I can see that it'd fail on are if there's any sharp edges (danger to pedestrians), or the door won't open/close from interior and exterior handles.
The passenger door mirror only needs to be there if there's no interior mirror.
Got hold of a complete door from ebay £40, though wrong colour. I bought it anyway since I guessed that there would be little chance of finding the correct colour. Had it re-sprayed to correct colour; the guy who did it is a genius; the color is an exact match for the eucalyptus. A complicated procedure, since everything had to be come off. Original glass (etched reg No) and door handles/lock fitted. Everything now works again.
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