write off ? - RIGHT ON! (UK Car Prices and Importing)

Member Name: timtom

Product:	UK Car Prices and Importing
Date:	17/09/01 (1302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheapness

Disadvantages: can be dodgy, can be DODGY, CAN BE DODGY!

Write or Right ? On or Off?

Buying any second hand car can be a dodgy and desperate business. Speaking as someone who has only ever bought used cars, ( despite having what may be seen as a 'good' job, this being a senior academic lecturer, no matter what you do in the public sector you are never going to make a fortune, hence the need to buy used cars), I think I am able to voice an opinion from a position of knowledge.

I have bought and sold a variety of cars from the 'lower' end of the used car market, from £200 nails from shady auctions, through 'modern' classic to renovate & rejuvenate into a more 'street cred' motor, ( ie a Mk 1 Escort), through to cheap & cheerful family saloons through classified ads in the local rag.

However, I have found another avenue of getting more for your hard earned penny, and that is to buy insurance 'write-offs' from local salvage yards and then repair them and return them to fully roadworthy, and safe, vehicles. Now obviously this is not an activity for the novice, there is a definite need for a good 'eye' to ascertain the likely extent of the damage, ( which is, very often, much much less serious than it first appears, lots of damage is purely cosmetic and can be readily repaired by the replacement of a panel or two). Care also needs to be taken when gauging the likely expense of the renovation, as some models & makes of car are exorbitantly costly to source parts for & hence repair.

The other pressing need is a degree of technical & mechanical proficiency, as removing panels & doors and replacing same needs a degree of comfort with wielding the required tools, as does the replacement of these important things in the overall project. There is, then, a likely need to have access to a range of other skills, ( jigging, spraying etc), as it is unlikely that any one individual will have all these skills to hand, and the option of commissioning a normal
garage or body repair shop to do this work negates the reason for attempting this in the first place.

Should it all come together though, you will end up with a roadworthy, safe and stylish car that costs about half the book price! I am now driving a very nice Golf Gti Cabriolet which cost me a total of around three thousand pound, less than half of similar cars for sale in the classifieds! Be warned though, in the interests of safety and honesty, geta good rteam of people around you that you can trust in order to get the work done properly, take the car for its final MOT yourself and then enjoy!

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