Romanian rebirth!

[MarkG14]

I Recently had the unfortunate experience of writing off my 2007 C-Class C220 CDI Sport.

Front damage was the bonnet, bumper, grill, slam panel, headlights. Due to the cars age and mileage (290,000) the insurance company wrote it off and paid me £2,000 for the wreck. My insurance company sold the wreck to a local breaker, who again sold it on for £200 in an auction. Unbelievably I have just seen my old car for sale in Romania - fully repaired - for £2,850! A panel-beater friend of mine says this is quite common whereby UK write-offs (mainly Mercs, BMW’s and Audis) are bought and exported to Eastern Europe for repair and resale. Anyone else experienced this?

 

[DSM10000]

I Recently had the unfortunate experience of writing off my 2007 C-Class C220 CDI Sport.

Front damage was the bonnet, bumper, grill, slam panel, headlights. Due to the cars age and mileage (290,000) the insurance company wrote it off and paid me £2,000 for the wreck. My insurance company sold the wreck to a local breaker, who again sold it on for £200 in an auction. Unbelievably I have just seen my old car for sale in Romania - fully repaired - for £2,850! A panel-beater friend of mine says this is quite common whereby UK write-offs (mainly Mercs, BMW’s and Audis) are bought and exported to Eastern Europe for repair and resale. Anyone else experienced this?

At least it seems to be in Romania legally

 

[markjay]

I Recently had the unfortunate experience of writing off my 2007 C-Class C220 CDI Sport.

Front damage was the bonnet, bumper, grill, slam panel, headlights. Due to the cars age and mileage (290,000) the insurance company wrote it off and paid me £2,000 for the wreck. My insurance company sold the wreck to a local breaker, who again sold it on for £200 in an auction. Unbelievably I have just seen my old car for sale in Romania - fully repaired - for £2,850! A panel-beater friend of mine says this is quite common whereby UK write-offs (mainly Mercs, BMW’s and Audis) are bought and exported to Eastern Europe for repair and resale. Anyone else experienced this?

Yes. The key issue is cost of labour in the UK, which makes panel beating commercially unviable (plus, we no longer have the skills). Cars are mostly being repaired in the UK with replacement panels.

I have seen in other countries - in Africa, and in the south of Italy, for example - where labour is cheap and people still have the skills, that crashed cars are being repaired again and again and kept on the road for decades, virtually.

The same applies for mechanical faults - a failed head gasket will write off an older car in the UK, it's only £100 for the parts, but the labour costs mean that the repair is not commercially viable. In some other countries, you can have the head gasket replaced for £100 - parts and labour.

It's all part and parcel of living in the 'first world' where we have employee rights, and a higher standard of living for working people - nothing wrong with that.

 

[tony gee]

Yes. The key issue is cost of labour in the UK, which makes panel beating commercially unviable (plus, we no longer have the skills). Cars are mostly being repaired in the UK with replacement panels.

I have seen in other countries - in Africa, and in the south of Italy, for example - where labour is cheap and people still have the skills, that crashed cars are being repaired again and again and kept on the road for decades, virtually.

The same applies for mechanical faults - a failed head gasket will write off an older car in the UK, it's only £100 for the parts, but the labour costs mean that the repair is not commercially viable. In some other countries, you can have the head gasket replaced for £100 - parts and labour.

It's all part and parcel of living in the 'first world' where we have employee rights, and a higher standard of living for working people - nothing wrong with that.

its a shame how easy it is to write off a car (and bike) here in the UK !!! ive seen a nice tidy car get written off because the ECU needed replacing.

 

[Darrell]

Back in 2015 one of the Skiathos taxis which was a W210 so it must have had a least 400000 on the club was involved in a mental crash near the airport involving a Suzuki Jimney and a tree.

I commented to my wife that the summer was over for that particular driver.

About a month later after a trip to the mainland it was back in action!!

 

[SpikyMikey]

Back in 2015 one of the Skiathos taxis which was a W210 so it must have had a least 400000 on the club was involved in a mental crash near the airport involving a Suzuki Jimney and a tree.

I commented to my wife that the summer was over for that particular driver.

About a month later after a trip to the mainland it was back in action!!

It's a feature of many Greek bigger towns that has always interested me; a small garage tucked away with a collection of badly deformed motors all being straightened out using hammers and dollies.

 

[Darrell]

It's a feature of many Greek bigger towns that has always interested me; a small garage tucked away with a collection of badly deformed motors all being straightened out using hammers and dollies.

And scrap yards with huge storage shelving full of body panels and even shells. Mind boggling.