Long story short, a stray tyre carcass reshaped my Octavia the other day. Thankfully no major mechanical damage, but lots of nasty scraping noises when on the move.
After a good look it will need a new bumper and lower grills, undertray and fixings, and whatever the panel is that the undertray connects to..... if anyone knows what that part is or where to get them it would be most appreciated! (and prices too)

Reckon the insurance company will try to write it off, but I don't want that, its done over 110k without a fault in my ownership so want to keep it for another 100!

The car is a 2006 pre-FL elegance in Sahara Beige, no front parking sensors but has fogs and washers.

Thanks all for your help in advance!

Try online breakers like findapart. 

Also eBay always breaking full cars. Same colour, clip on and you are back on the road. 

images can be found in the other thread here

 

If you're lucky, the condensor has catched the damage. The radiator is located directly behind it, but based on the picture I think its only the condensor.

 

With this amount of damage, its likely your condensor is leaking, or is going to on a short term. Ends up with no refrigerant in the aircon circuit, which can cause your compressor to fail also (due to lack of lubrication - which is done by the oil in the refrigerant)

Since you have to take off the front bumper anyway, I highly recomment replacing the condensor also. (even its not leaking....yet)

 

So yes, als you said, this is indeed something which is needed.

 

Replacing condensor can be pretty expensive, mainly due to the time involved (It took me 5 hour to do). But a good car mechanic can do it faster (especially since parts from your bumper needs to be replaced anyway). Also need to refill your AC.

 

Refitting a condensor and refill would be probably around 300-400GBP I think. Condensor ranges from 60 to 150GBP I guess (Depending on the brand, I took a cheap one since I've an 05 car, not really something which will last another 10 year, so i bought the cheapest one). Remove refrigerant, vacuuming and refill would be around 70 GBP.

Some shops offer it cheaper, but thats usually based on a top-up: They will extract the refrigerant, and refill it with the correct amount. With an empty aircon, they have to fill it completely (= more costs). I've seen some limits of the amount of refrigerant in these deals, which usually only covers a 'top-up' and not a full fill.

 

Main costs will be labour. Think around 2-3 hours, if they can do it in the same job as replacing the other parts (otherwise they need to remove bumper twice - more costs)

 

For the other parts: Looks like only the black plastic parts of the bumper need seriously fixing... so you might get that from another car, even if its not the same color (since the painted parts seem pretty fine)

Broken plastic peases and attachements.. can be a PITA, but with an older car, unless your insurance is paying for it, might be fixed with a dirty way: good usage of ty-raps. If you do it a little smart, it might be barely visible.

 

If the insurance is basing on new prices (replacing bumper, labour, repainting and so on, even temporary car rental during renovation), they probable will scrap the car based on its current value.

 

In my case I would try to keep the car, fix it a dirty way, grab the insurance money as saving for a new car, and sell it later on. (but my car is an 13-year old one, with scratches, so I won't care about 1 more...)

 

Edited 23 February, 20188 yr by DJSmiley