Accident Repairs Early 1980's vs Today

[Grumpy Northener]

So 30 odd years ago in the late 70's / early 80's I was working in a classic car restoration workshop but the business was allied to an adjacent accident repair centre all owned by the same family - dependant upon workload the staff in the classic workshop would get seconded for the odd accident repair on what were moderns in those days and occasionally it would see me putting front ends on Mk1 & 2 escorts, Mk3 & 4 Cortinas, Princesses / Allegro's / Marinas etc - and what a faf it was, I think the Mk 3 Cortina had something like 8 panels that just made up the front panel structure i.e. inner cross member, inner front panel, lower valance, upper valance, headlight mounting plates on either side then the bonnet landing panel which was another two parts - it took hours to split them off the front inner wings / chassis legs and then hours to align the new panels back up holding them in place with grips or self tappers prior to loosely bolting on the front outer wings and the bonnet to ensure that the shut lines and apertures were correct before anything got welded back on. Most bodyshops were still on with gas welding & brazing, Mig & spot welding had not really taken off in those days - so it came with the added problems of heat distortion as the panels got stitched back onto the car.

Compare it todays built cars and its a complete revolution - I say this because for the first time in 30 odd years I have just accident repaired / replaced a front end on a modern - and it really is simplicity - most things are bolt on - there is a awful lot of plastic but it is all there for reason - having completed the repair I have to say both from a practical and impact energy absorbency todays vehicles have never been better built - so rather than have large lumps of metal fold up and in doing so carry the force of an impact into the vehicles cockpit - the metal panels are of a thinner construction that fold but absorb the energy of the impact rather than carry it through into the cockpit - with a large part of the front bumpers / frontal panels now all being plastic and all absorbing the majority of the impact energy - couple this with the multiple air bag & seat belt arrestors along with ABS, side impact protection systems that we find in modern vehicles of today and there is no doubt that vehicle cockpits have never been safer.

So case in point - I was recently in the market for a newish modern and managed to purchase this unrecorded damaged Vauxhall Mokka - less than a year old and a few thousand miles on the clock at a sensible price

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All panels / parts were bolt on and was not very long before the car was back together.

[Grumpy Northener]

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Its turned out to be a great motor that owes me less than half of its retail value but having said everything that I have just said - give me a classic with a chrome bumper any day

[suffolkpete]

If they are so easy and cheap to repair, how come modern cars are written off so readily? I assume you bought that Vauxhall as salvage. No insurer would authorise anything like the amount of repairs that you described on 80's cars these days. That said, I've nothing against modern designs, three of us walked away from this collision without a scratch..
I was still glad of a chrome bumper when an old codger reversed his Korean tin into my P6 though.

[JPB]

If they are so easy and cheap to repair, how come modern cars are written off so readily?

Insurance companies pay much more than direct customers to body shops, so costs come closer to vehicle values. Example: Dad's Toyota Verso as side swiped by a 4x4 driver who simply hadn't realised how large her car was when she tried to park by the narrow Toyota. It needed a new n/s/r door and its paint had to be blended in both directions along the affected side. The door cost a reasonable £240 from Toyota but the cost of the labour, including transferring the glass and all electrics across from the damaged door, paint, materials and the cost of sending the engineer out to do the assessment came to an eye watering £2600 with the hire car adding a further £800 to that for the four days that Dad had it, so a total of at least £3640 for a repair that could have been completed in half an hour at home, using a door of the correct colour from a breaker which would have come with the electrics, leaving only the glass to change if it had to come from a version with clear glass, all of which would have cost the dear old lady who did this a mere £200 at most, so less than the extra premium she has to pay at renewal, plus her £500 excess, payable regardless of the total cost, which I hadn't realised, erroneously assuming that the excess would cover the cost and no more but no, she and anyone else in her situation would have to pay that even if they didn't claim as insurance companies communicate instantly these days!

So Dad's car wasn't written off as its current value is around £8500, but the threshold is only just above 50% of retail value of the vehicle as I discovered when my own car narrowly avoided being put into category D last autumn, so if a modern car is worth £10k then anything over a £5k repair estimate is very likely to write it off, in spite of not being above its value.
That said, Chris was, IMHO, a right jammy bugger to find a modern car whose suspension attachment points and other shell data were either able to be teased a little or hadn't moved at all, I would suggest that the Vauxhall hadn't been hit with a significant amount of force or the crumple zones would have been compromised. It's impressive just how much energy can be converted by all of that recycled plastic.

[Grumpy Northener]

If they are so easy and cheap to repair, how come modern cars are written off so readily?

Ah - now I didn't say that they are that cheap to repair but it helps if can buy the damaged motor in question at the right price - secondly it helps further if you have the right contacts in the trade that can apply some genuine and meaningful discount on the supply of OEM parts (the Vauxhall was repaired using all new parts) - nothing used - I just managed to have a good contact in a Vauxhall dealers that has a pricing strategy in order to supply the parts at discount rather than loose the sale to the spurious non OEM or breaker / second hand market - and thirdly it very much helps if you undertake all the work - including the paint yourself - which I did with exception of the air con regassing.

Now the reason that most new motors get written off in moderate shunt - well a front end on a decent family car with outer panels / trim / rad pack / bits of plastic / labour / paint / recovery / specialist services (electronic diagnostics / air con regass etc) hire car etc starts at circa £5k minimum and creeps upwards depending upon brand pricing / parts pricing / so for example outer front end - a few structural members / trim etc on a Mondeo front end will be circa £6 / £7k - but hang on the air bags have deployed so it needs a new steering wheel centre - new dash - seat belts & seat belt arrestors - may be the seat air bags or the curtain side air bags have triggered - so that's new seats & curtain bags (which wreck the headlining upon deployment) and you have another £6 / £7k on the bill - so 18 month old Mondeo with 15k miles - new was £20k - used value now £13 / £14k - there is good chance that it's a write off with the above damage as it will take a month to repair and the hire car costs rack up daily - and this is the reason many newish motors get written off / broken.

That said, Chris was, IMHO, a right jammy bugger to find a modern car whose suspension attachment points and other shell data were either able to be teased a little or hadn't moved at all,

- Well all moderns lack structural panel work after the suspension mountings nowdays - inner wings are just lumps of plastic - the whole front panel / bonnet landing panel / rad mounting / bumper on a new Fiesta is just lumps of plastic - its just two rails / chassis legs with a bolt on cross member on collapsible metal mountings - most moderns are primary all plastic for the first 400 / 500 mm of the front end - the Vauxhall I repaired had no structural damage - no suspension damage - but the anchors had been firmly on when it hit whatever it hit - has I had to replace both rear tyres which had only done 4k miles due to heavy flatspotting !

[harvey]

but the anchors had been firmly on when it hit whatever it hit - has I had to replace both rear tyres which had only done 4k miles due to heavy flatspotting !

So, no ABS then?.......

[JPB]

..So, no ABS then?.......

Not on a dry, metalled surface. In that case, cadence action won't stop the car as effectively as the wheels being locked up on the brakes, so ABS will let the wheels stay locked. Same in fresh snow, the build up of which will bring the vehicle to a stop sooner than cadence action.

[Grumpy Northener]

John - many thanks for clarifying the situation has the only thoughts that I had after Harvey's comment was that the car had been dragged with the handbrake on by the recovery company (sounds harsh but you will be amazed how some recovery companies treat damaged motors / clients vehicles)