Complete Rebuild?

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R

Radiant

Member
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53
Location
Austria
Sunday last week i had an accident with my 2004 defender td5 90, came off the road (due to a deer and me not properly paying attention) going around 60-70 kmh and hit a tree. As you can see, the tree was between the engine and right front tire, also hitting the frame and front diff and bending both.

Now, my poor defender is a write off and i have 2 options:

Option 1: Sell it for around 2500 Euro.
I would not really like to do this as defenders are pretty expensive in my country. Mine was worth about 22K before the accident, had NO rust, all modifications legal, engine has 150k kilometers and a perfect service history. I would be losing a lot of money selling it, but it has alot of damage.

Option 2: Complete nuts and bolts rebuild with a new galvanised chassis, maybe even repaint it myself and modify it slightly more.

According to a friend who is a defender mechanic this is everything thats broken or bent at the moment:

  • Frame bent at the front (upwards) and where the front right trailing arm connects to the frame is also bent
  • Wing & Bonnet
  • Windscreen is cracked and front right door wont open so a suspected bent bulkhead as well
  • Cooling system/heater core
  • Front diff is losing oil so suspected bent front diff (wasnt losing oil before)
  • Steering rod
Engine, trans and the rest should be fine, although he said if the front axle was pushed back far it could be that the transfer case has ripped out of the trans, but as there is no fluid leaking that probably didn't happen.

If i rebuild it myself, could i get away with 6000 Euro for parts? I have the time and the space to do it myself and with friends its more really just a question about money and if it is worth it.
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No idea how much parts are over there, so difficult to say how much it would cost. There's obviously some unknowns too about what might be broken. It all adds up. However, If you sell you stand to loose 19K. If you rebuild 6K. I know what I'd do :)
 
As long as everybody is fine it did it’s job.
It’s a shame to see 1 like that, sorry.

Now to the money.
1 sell it lose a bunch
2 insurance no go
3 spend some more and have a really great defender:)

You won’t know how bad the chassis is till you get the front bent bits off. You might get lucky.

I know which of those options I would choose.

Good luck whatever you choose.

J
 
marjon said:
As long as everybody is fine it did it’s job.
It’s a shame to see 1 like that, sorry.

Now to the money.
1 sell it lose a bunch
2 insurance no go
3 spend some more and have a really great defender:)

You won’t know how bad the chassis is till you get the front bent bits off. You might get lucky.

I know which of those options I would choose.

Good luck whatever you choose.

J
Click to expand...

I rebuilt mine when I had an accident. Similar situation although the re-sale was even less! Insurance would not have given me much, black mark against the vehicle, increased premiums due to accident etc so not worth the claim. I rebuilt from own pocket, Thankfully all I needed was a Chassis and bulkhead, plus everything associated with replacing the chassis on a normal vehicle (bushes, brake pipes etc.). I would go down this route if I was you. It might also be worth hiring a van for the weekend and coming to the UK for one of the shows/spares days and picking the parts you need second hand at significantly better prices (I assume) once you have a list of everything needed.
 
Shippers said:
Don't understand how a 22k € insured vehicle is not repaired by insurance company or written off and paid out on...don't tell me you only had basic third party on it...
Click to expand...
Unless you have an agreed valuation what it is worth on the open market and what the insurance company claims it is worth on book price can be hugely different, that was the issue I had.
 
I'd rebuild too - they are just nuts and bolts after all. I doubt 6000 would cover it though, given the cost of a replacement chassis and front axle - and getting them delivered to you. I think if you budget for 8000, spread over a couple of years, that would be more realistic. It will be a great project, you will get to know every nut and bolt of your vehicle. As already suggested, a trip to the UK will get the axle and body parts pretty cheaply, you might even get lucky and find someone selling a new chassis on-line and collect it at the same time. Good luck!
 
go for it. It's a ripe candidate for a rebuild. 6000 euro is definetely not doable though. You're looking at 8-10 at the very least and that's if you do everything yourself.
 
Not worth getting rid 2500 wouldn’t cover your winch and kit. If you have the room and time good opportunity for uprated chassis etc - many have to do this out of course without the tree.

As Marjon says, everyone’s okay bar the tree so everything’s fine, just needs a little tlc - what Landy doesn’t? :)
 
Rebuild it.
After it’s finished it will be worth more due to the galvanised chassis and other new parts.

So long as you have somewhere to do the work on it.
 
Before you get too carried away, I would remove the damaged wing and have a good look at the chassis, it may not be as bent as you think, particularly as the impact appears to have bent the suspension and missed the chassis leg.
 
Given how far to the side the front wheel is I would say something is bent, however I would do as Rougharse suggests and remove the battered body work for a proper look.
 
The front axle has been displaced sideways and the point of impact looks to be between the chassis rail and the front wheel. The suspension components may have taken the brunt of the impact.
I wouldn't be surprised if the chassis is not bent.
If the front axle casing is bent a second hand front axle case from a 300tdi era Discovery should fit as would the suspension arms etc.
Time to get the spanners out.
 
Last edited:
+1 on rebuilding it.

And, assuming you weren't just insured third party, I'd also suggest a metaphorical big stick to your so called insurance company - they love to weedle out of paying :mad::mad::mad: :rolleyes:. Do you have loss assesors over there ?
 
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