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Auto Salvage, damaged repairable cars – The better option. |
Auto Salvage or Damaged Repairable vehicles are a great means for someone to acquire an almost new vehicle at the fraction of the cost of the same model bought from a show room. The thought of buying a damaged car can put a lot of people off as they fear the unknown and it could also turn out to be a nightmare if some simple steps are not followed before making a decision.
After a car accident, the insurance companies have to decide whether it is economically feasible for them to actually get their customer’s car repaired or simply pay the customer the market value of the vehicle. It’s quite shocking but most insurance companies will actually decide to go for paying the customer the market value of their vehicle even if the damage was superficial. Insurance companies have to go for original body panels from the dealership and in most cases have to replace the complete panels even if the panels in question have a small dent etc.
Insurance companies have contracts with companies called auto salvage yards, breakers yards etc. and all these salvage yards sell the damaged vehicles back to the public where they can be repaired at a cheaper cost as compared with the Insurance company had to incur and put the vehicles back on the road. An example of different auto salvage vehicles can be seen in our Auto Salvage section. A brief look at some of the prices will show the difference in prices for almost brand new salvage cars as compared with the same model on a dealer forecourt. An example would be the Citroen Picasso Auto Salvage page where some almost brand new models can be sourced for under £2000 GBP. Our Citroen Body Panels section gives an idea of what Brand New parts for the models involved would cost.
A few important points have to be kept in mind when deciding on buying a damaged repairable vehicle. The extent of the damage to the vehicle has to be on top of your list. If you are hoping to save the maximum amount of cash, the damage should be such that it should only involve replacing bolt-on panels which require simple tools to do the job. With almost all the new models now coming with more than one airbag, its also very important to make sure you will not have to replace any airbags as the costs can mount massively.
The chassis legs at the front of the vehicle should be as straight as possible if you wish to get the lining up of the new panels to be as painless as possible. Taking off the damaged panels one by one and bolting the new panels and lights in place is the most exciting part of the job where you learn by trial and error e.g. bolting a new bonnet onto the hinges, bringing it down to close it and finding out that the hinge position needs moving a cm or so. It can also prove to be quite a frustrating task but once you have achieved the desired results in the end, it leaves you with a very nice feeling of achievement.
The best rewards may yet await though in the form making a decent profit when it comes to actually selling the vehicle. Once you have put the vehicle through an MOT, got it taxed, it may be worth trying your luck and advertising the vehicle for sale at slightly below market value. With most damaged repairable vehicle being quite a low mileage, the overall condition once repaired properly should be pretty good and bound to get a good response from customers looking for a bargain. Honesty is the best policy so it may even be worth showing potential customers exactly what has been replaced on the vehicle to put their mind at rest.
In short, auto salvage or damaged repairable vehicle can be the key to owning your dream car without spending a fortune and if you can get over the first obstacle of actually repairing your auto salvage car yourself, it may even become a nice little earner on the side as a part time business.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Another important factor is the colour of the vehicle you choose. Light colours like silver are very hard to paint match where as darker colours tend to blend in with older panels nicely. You don’t want newly resprayed panels to stand out like a sore thumb if the paint does not match with the older panels.
The new salvage category system with the VIC check is also an important consideration. Category C vehicles require a VIC check which involves taking the vehicle to a VIC station who issue you with a VIC certificate and only then can you actually apply for the logbook. The logbook will also have a stamp on it to say that this vehicle has been damage repaired. category D vehicles do not require the VIC test.
Great information. I have repaired a few of my own cars in the past but never thought of making it a part time/ full time busness. Salvage cars can definitely be picked up very cheap sometimes and I must say that if I had known about your site www.NiceDeals.co.uk earlier, it would have saved me a lot of money in repairs. Well, I’ll keep you in mind when I decide to buy me a Merc next
hi..fantastic website with very helpful tips. i had a question in mind which will help me to persue a part time business opportunity, could you advice me if its possible to buy damaged cars from insurance companies as a trader as oppose to owning a salvage yard or a breakers yard. as i am an individual will these insurance companies give me the time of the day or will it be a waste of time? many thanks
Glad you like our website Kamran. My understanding of the whole process is that Insurance companies tend to deal with major Auto Salvage companies only especially the ones involved in auctioning the vehicles on a large scale. It’s understandable because as you can appreciate, big insurance companies could be settling hundreds of claims at any given time and they would only opt for a streamlined process with the least bit of hassle involved where the vehicles for which the claims have been settled are collected by the auto salvage auctioning companies and then auctioned off to the highest bidding auto salvage yard.
Having said that, there is also the fact that most insurance companies when settling a claim tend to offer their claimant the option to buy the damaged vehicle at a fraction of it’s market price and settle the remaining amount in the form of a payment for the claim. This procedure makes the insurance companies a bit more money than the former method as the auto salvage auctions don’t tend to fetch as much for the same vehicle. You could always try your luck by phoning a few insurance companies and advising them that you are willing to pay a bit more for a damaged car as compared with what they will get from an auctioning company and you never know, they may strike a deal with you.
what gets checked on the VIC test
The VIC ( Vehicle Identity Check ) sounds scarier than it really is. Most people are under the impression that the VIC checks how well the vehicle has been repaired which is untrue. Although the authorities do require the vehicle to be well into the repair process, it doesn’t need to be fully repaired to be put through the VIC.
VIC was introuduced to deter people using stolen cars as clones of the original damaged car and putting the stolen cars back on the road using the identity of the damaged vehicle. Some people were buying very badly damaged high quality cars for example a black Mercedes S Class and then put an order in the stolen car market for the same shape black Mercededs S Class. Once they have their stolen black Merc, they would simply change the registration plates of the stolen vehicle to show the plates for the damaged Merc they bought and also get the chassis Numbers for the stolen vehicle changed to show the numbers of the damaged Merc.
One thing to note is that the VIC is only required for category C damaged vehicles which have substantial damage. The VIC involves checking the chassiss number of the vehicle being repaired and once confirmed that there has been no illegal activities involved, a VIC test certificate is issued to the owner. The onwer can now apply for the logbook and tax the vehicle provided it has already been MOT’d.
So in short, the VIC makes sure the vehicle being repaired is actually the vehicle that was initially damaged and not some stolen car being used as a clone.
could you please tell me any good online damage repair auction websites in UK
Please check our Auto Salvage section on http://nicedeals.co.uk/autosalvage.php
It has listings sourced from major auto salvage companies from all over the UK
I have thought about buying a damaged repairable vehicle but every body tells me not to bother because insurance companies will not insure them unless you know different.
There is no problems at all with getting a repaired vehicle insured. If there were issues, the massive auto salvage industry could not exist. Category C damaged vehicles under go a VIC ( vehicle identity check ) after substational repairs have taken place and category D vehicles don’t even need a VIC. You then get the vehicle MOT’d as you would with any other car and get it taxed, insured etc. just like normal.
I have found a few interesting cars in your website, at very good prices. The problem is, that I live in a foreign EU country. What are the possibilities to take a Cat C or Cat D car to overseas, on its own wheels, with the minimum cost and administration? Is there a special plate or insurance for this like in Germany?
Please check the following website for further details on exporting vehicles from the UK ( Exporting a vehicle from the UK )