i have just recently crashed my 96 300 tdi the garage has quoted £3100 to repair so insurance co has called it a cat c write off i have bought the vehicle back from ins,co do you think the chassis is damaged it don,t look it to me but 3100 to repair the pasenger door rubs as door opens wing bonnet need replacing as do headlight ind and plastic trim any advice please thanks ray
Mark Disco
New Member
that is an impossible question to answer on here, made even harder without pictures of the car.
wanna know if the chassis is bent - get underneath and look. if its bad you'll see stress cracks in the paint on the chassis. either way get a tape measure and start measuring. you need to know the 2 halves of the chassis are an equal distance apart all the way along. then you need to know the chassis is actually square and not twisted in 1 part so you'll need to measure diagonals.
wanna know if the chassis is bent - get underneath and look. if its bad you'll see stress cracks in the paint on the chassis. either way get a tape measure and start measuring. you need to know the 2 halves of the chassis are an equal distance apart all the way along. then you need to know the chassis is actually square and not twisted in 1 part so you'll need to measure diagonals.
rollin danny
Well-Known Member
Sorry about the accident but how can we tell you if we think its repairable without a photo 
rollin danny
Well-Known Member
Beat me to it
Martin Spamer
New Member
It would cost more than £3100 for a Garage to replace the chassis, so presuming you're confident of their assessment of the damage you can be reasonable sure its OK. Did the Garage provide you with a copy of the repair estimate ?
Mark Disco
New Member
a chassis with a slight bend wont be replaced, it will go on a jig and be straightened. jigging a chassis is NOT something that can be done safely and accurately by the average joe at home. so the price of the repair isnt really an indication that the chassis is ok.
dont forget that insurance approved garages also charge between £25-30 an hour for labour and this soon mounts up.the prices for the required parts also come from your land rover dealer and are genuine new parts and last but not least the paint which is used is also very expensive so it does not necessarily mean it needs jig work.a cat c write off can still easily be put back on the road but needs a vic check to make sure that the vehicle is the same vehicle you have a crashed and not a donor or stolen.this is not a check on the quality of repairs and also the log book will state that it was subject to being wrote off.
A lot would depend on how much it cost to buy back. After all a very decent '96 300 Tdi with fsh, MOT, and no rust, low mileage and running well will barely fetch £2k anyway ...
Having said that there is no way on earth anyone can answer with reasonable accuracy. The chassis neeeds measuring pretty accurately to determine if it's tweaked. And .. having said that, a lot would also depend on how it crashed and whether it rolled, flipped, whatever ... pictures and a crash description might help ...
vivnap
Banned
the jigging garage i worked in would not have attempted to jig a land rover chassis, it would be near impossable to realine it. we had a toyota MR2 mk2 on a caroliner jig and the repair was very difficult do to the strength of the chassis and this is only a car.
we also did a repair on a £29 000 rolls royce (write off value) and this was easier to put straight than the toyota.
a land rover chassis is a whole lot stronger than a toyota chassis. you might pick up on a damaged chassis but it only need to be ten millimeters out to cause problems on the road.
trax99
Well-Known Member
If it helps I';ve just rebuilt mine after a head on with a Nissan, I was quoted £2800 to repair and as with yours it was a Cat C.
Now for the good bit, there was NO chasis damage ( you're ok as long as this stands) but there was lot of low level mangling ( inner wings, headlight surround, plastic trim etc) I bought the car back for £315 and they gave me a cheque for £1650 ( after taking out the £300 excess). Ive rebuilt for about £800, that includes a winch + bumper so as long as you or some mates can fix it dont give up on the old girl
pics attached
Member Profile - Land Rover Photos
Now for the good bit, there was NO chasis damage ( you're ok as long as this stands) but there was lot of low level mangling ( inner wings, headlight surround, plastic trim etc) I bought the car back for £315 and they gave me a cheque for £1650 ( after taking out the £300 excess). Ive rebuilt for about £800, that includes a winch + bumper so as long as you or some mates can fix it dont give up on the old girl
pics attached
Member Profile - Land Rover Photos
