DISASTER - Crashed My Ibiza. Help Needed.

[Wallis22]

Hey guys. As the title suggests, i have a major problem on my hands... I crashed my baby.

Without going into too much detail, a guy pulls out of a junction, there's a slip road about 50 metres long, i'm in heavy traffic, the guy tries to negiociate the traffic pulling out. He cuts someone up in the left lane, they slam on their brakes to avoid him, then he jumps straight into the right hand lane for no reason what so ever, there was no one infront of him. The car infront of me performs an emergency stop, my brakes lock up (no ABS) and i go into the back of her. The guy who caused the crash just drove off. We got his plate but the police said as no one hit him nothing will happen to him.

In the guy's defence, the car infront of me didn't need to perform an emergency stop, she just needed to let off the throttle or dab the brakes, but ultimately it was my fault for driving too close. Even with ABS i don't think i would have stopped in time.

Anyway, i'm now looking to either sell or fix my car. I've took some pics but can't remember the name of the site that hosts pics to upload them. Anyone know what it is?

When i upload the pics i have a couple of questions, so i might as well ask them now too.

From what i can see, it needs a new front bumper, slam panal, and rad. I'll upload pics as soon as i can so you can see.

1. Is it worth fixing?
2. Will £1000 fix the damage?
3. Should i sell the car as it is or sell it for spares?
4. How much (roughly) could i get for my engine? (It's a 1.9TDI 90 with about 100k miles on the clock.) Should i sell the transmission with the engine?

Many thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

Oh, and i can't get my bonnet up to see the damage properly. Any ideas? Cut it off?

 

[Brummy]

use something like www.tinypic.com or photobucket to host... difficult to say on repairs without knowing if the chassis legs etc are straight..

 

[Wallis22]

Cheers. From what i can see, the chassis is fine. The doors open like normal too.

 

[Wallis22]

Ok. here's the car from the front...

And here it is from the side...

The car still drives. I've even performed a scan on the engine and it doesn't list any faults.

So... Please allow me to ask the questions again...

Is it worth fixing? Could i fix it with £1000?
should i sell the car as it is or should i break it and sell small things seperatly?
How much (roughly) could i get for my engine (1.9TDI) and should i sell the engine and transmission together?

And again, i can't get the bonnet up. Any ideas?

A million thanks in advance...

 

[surcalation]

£1k you could probably buy another ibiza. But if your adament you want to keep it then best bet is to go to scrapyards to source parts.

Guessing you know what you need but I still think it will come in at over £1k once you have finished.

 

[Wallis22]

I can't find another TDI 'Beeza for £1k

Does anyone know how much it costs to get the airbag set up up with the ECU?

The guy who toed the car said the main problem was the air bag and steering wheel. Can i get an airbag and steering wheel from a breakers yard and then have SEAT set it up to work with my ECU?

The AA guy said i could probabaly fix the damage with £1k, but the air bag would cost about £1k too. Maybe if i go to SEAT for everything, but if i can get an airbag and steering wheel from a scrap yard, surely it won't cost that much... Will it?..

How do i make the pics smaller? They were scaled down earlier, but now they are huge.

Anyway, i think i'm going to have to get rid of it.

Is it worth selling the car as it is, or should i list it on EBay as breaking?

 

[beezertart]

Can't advise you i'm afraid but just wanted to say hope you're ok and that you get everything sorted out

 

[Mckellar]

This might not be top of your list, but if you're wanting to pay £1000 out to repair a car that has 100,000 miles. i think you are off your head, unless you go through the insurance company (whats your excess)?

Buy a cheap run-a-round for now, save up and sell the run around and buy another car later on.

 

[Wallis22]

Can't advise you i'm afraid but just wanted to say hope you're ok and that you get everything sorted out

Thanks a lot. Yea i'm fine it's just the car.

David, i only had 3rd party insurance. My thinking was if it costs more than £1k to buy another TDI 'Beeza, and i can fix mine for £1k, then i would rather fix mine. I know the history with my car and i could end up buying a lemon for £1k, but i can't even find one for £1k anyway...

But i think i'm going to have to go with what you say. Just get a little run around and save up to get another Ibiza. That's the aim anyway. I love the Ibiza, especialy the TDI, it's got so much torque!

Cheers for the replies everyone...

 

[Mckellar]

Good luck.

 

[Cupra Kid]

Fix it!!!

Airbags easy to sort, if its gone off just get a new centre for the steering wheel or a whole new steering wheel I paid £30 for one working fully. Or just scrap the airbag and unplug the light alltogether. You dont need one for an MOT so if you can't be arsed don't bother with it. One piece of advice, unplug the battery before even touching the airbag!

If it only needs new bonnet, slam panel, rad and bumper i bet you could get all that for around £300.00 (scrappy/ebay) then just have to get them sprayed which would probably be another £300.

I reckon its do-able for a grand

 

[Wallis22]

Fix it!!!

Airbags easy to sort, if its gone off just get a new centre for the steering wheel or a whole new steering wheel I paid £30 for one working fully. Or just scrap the airbag and unplug the light alltogether. You dont need one for an MOT so if you can't be arsed don't bother with it. One piece of advice, unplug the battery before even touching the airbag!

If it only needs new bonnet, slam panel, rad and bumper i bet you could get all that for around £300.00 (scrappy/ebay) then just have to get them sprayed which would probably be another £300.

I reckon its do-able for a grand

That's music to my ears. I wont get my hopes up yet though as i still can't get the bonnet off to check properly. the underside of the car looks fine though.

Cheers for the help.

 

[ibiza_95]

yea, id say youll manage it for under 1k.
If you buy from the same scrappers youll get it cheaper, but i wouldnt jump into buying it al now, id wait until you can find one in your colour... might take a while like, then at least the colour match will be similar and the panels will look as dated as the rest.

 

[m0rk]

agree - fixable for 1k no problem with the exception of the air bag controller.

parts are cheap, labour is free if you do it, as it's all bolt on stuff. Paint will be the costly thing.. but you can mitigate that cost.

You can pick up high mileage tdi90's for 1k though.... but if you know your car - why bother.

 

[Tom B]

Stripping the front end on a MK2 is easy and fun, you just need to make sure them chassis legs are straight.

Front panels are like hens teeth, you need to buy one that has the same dimensions as your radiator or else the radwon't fit properly. Aircon makes a difference too.

There are some Memory/Volcano Red front end parts on eBay right now...that'll save paint costs!

 

[Hayz]

It's easy enough to take apart and swap over..

But you should be able to actually claim from his insurance even though no body hit him.. If the lady you hit says it was his fault too then you should be able to do something.

I've dealt with cases like that at work.. It maybe that she claims through you insurance then your insurance company gets it allback for the idiot that actually caused the accident.

x

 

[Wallis22]

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone. I'll bear it all in mind.

I'm going to try and source all the parts before buying anything.

Anyone know how i can get my bonnet open? Thanks.

 

[m0rk]

crowbar it.

or get at it with an angle grinder

 

[Cupra Kid]

A coal chisel and a big hammer has worked previously.....

 

[Wallis22]

Thanks. I'll have a go at it tomorrow.