I am a happy owner of a 2015 Skoda Superb Estate. I mean, happy with the car overall, not so much with it's condition now...

 

Long story short, I am currently abroad, let's say stuck due to current calamity. Few months back I was involved in an accident not of my fault, which left the car without much of the front. Mechanics involved caused it to be still structurally sound, but every bit of body on the front needs to be replaced. Since it was already some time into overseas my cover is reduced to what local resident is entitled to. In addition, due to car being RHD insusrer wanted to be cheap and played dirty, offering less than 30% of the estimated damages. As it is right now estimate is literally couple of hundred short of a write-off, but that we will know once rebuild starts, but that shows the scale of my problem. Litigation is already started, but until it's concluded, all I have is my own resources.

Which means fixing cheap, which means used parts. Best in same color.

 

So question is: with my car being what it is in black (code: LF9R), are there different variants of black the car was available in?

LF9R is a pretty common colour for the Superb so you shouldn't have too much trouble sourcing used parts.

 

Depending on your resources, and how far the car is from home, it could be cheaper to have the car brought home on a truck and do your repairs there. It's certainly worth investigating.

 

Also worth considering is what is the bare minimum which can get the car on the road home, even if it's a bit ugly.

10 hours ago, chimaera said:

LF9R is a pretty common colour for the Superb so you shouldn't have too much trouble sourcing used parts.

 

Depending on your resources, and how far the car is from home, it could be cheaper to have the car brought home on a truck and do your repairs there. It's certainly worth investigating.

 

Also worth considering is what is the bare minimum which can get the car on the road home, even if it's a bit ugly.

 

Is LF9R "fairly common" truly? I can't find the data for my model, but cursory search on new Skoda Superb shows that there is only one black colour available from manufacturer. Obviously, Superb 2021 is not Superb II 2015 FL, but if this is the case I'm golden

 

Bringing it back across half of Europe (it's in Poland) is doable and not that expensive overall, but adding about 500GBP to the costs - which will not be covered by insurance - sounds painful. However, with the conditions overall on international travel as they are now I can't afford that time-wise, especially since Dec 31 travel in and out is more inconvenient. I'm in Schengen and when I need to travel again, it's better for me to stay where I am.

As to bare minimum to fix: there is nothing left of the front, destroyed are also fenders and bonnet. Pretty much what needs replacing is everything inside engine compartment right to the point where engine itself starts. Basically guy ripped off front of my car clean. I can attach picture but you can imagine it - it's like front crash into a wall, except no structural damage.

 

I can opt for buying brand new parts of "asian origin" on warranty and get them painted here, or source used parts here, and cost is maybe GBP 3000 on former and GBP2000 on latter. GBP 500 for towing, cancelling rest of the insurance and excess I will have to pay is a little less than cost of repair here (cheapest option). Seems a no brainer to me... I think I can afford it if I space the work - it will be few months of work anyway, I can pay in... tranches, let's say, in the meantime. 

11 hours ago, chimaera said:

LF9R is a pretty common colour for the Superb so you shouldn't have too much trouble sourcing used parts.

 

Sorry, one more thing to mention: quite often sellers disclaim offers with "colour code unknown". That is why I'm asking about this one specifically and in detail. Maybe call to a Skoda dealership? Not sure if they will help if they're NOT the ones doing the work, though...

What country was it insured in where the insurer is reducing the payout because it is RHD?

3 hours ago, Ace78 said:

 

Sorry, one more thing to mention: quite often sellers disclaim offers with "colour code unknown". That is why I'm asking about this one specifically and in detail. Maybe call to a Skoda dealership? Not sure if they will help if they're NOT the ones doing the work, though...

LF9R is also known as Black Magic Pearl. I'd wager that any black metallic Superb 2 you find will have this colour on it.

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

What country was it insured in where the insurer is reducing the payout because it is RHD?

 

Insurer is UK based, of course, but accident was in Poland. Since according to rules governing my insurance (I'm still under EU rules, as i left UK before 31.12.2020), after 90 days my cover reverts to basic cover natives are entitled to, which is 3rd party only.

Insurer of the driver responsible disregarded the fact that my car is UK registered and reduced the payout based on the fact that the car is RHD. illegally, I might add, that's why courts are handling it right now, but they did it nonetheless.

Of course, right now all that is moot, as me being over 180 abroad I need to register the car in Poland, but that needs to wait until it's fixed..

Thanks, that makes sense now.

 

Its a similar deal for RHD cars here in France, I registered mine in France but only insured it for the minimum TPO knowing that my insurer or the Third party insurers would do the same thing in the event of an accident, some people paid a huge premium for fully comp cover and their insurers only paid them out €120 for a total loss on the basis that a RHD vehicle had no value other than scrap value.

 

If they devalued mine by 50% from the LHD values I would still be ahead of the game but I dont trust the batsards, if I have a total loss then I walk away and buy a new car, an accident & I repair it myself, job done & dusted instead of paying lawyers and experts for decades to argue with each other.

 

Good luck with your repairs, you are in the right place for second hand parts, my Yeti was an insurance write off and the expensive parts in 2019, dashboard, airbags, seat belt pyrotechnic charges etc came from Polish and other Eastern EU nationals set up in the UK, most late model accident damaged UK vehicles were then going to Poland etc to be broken & then the parts re-sold in the UK, most were very concerned for their livelyhood post Brexit