[airbusA346]

I have just found this on eBay:

mini bmw parts wanted for r56 cooper on eBay, also, Mini, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 19-Mar-08 14:14:53 GMT)

And from reading the "auction" is sound like he wants to repair his MINI, which is probably the on in the photo.

Hmmm..... Some how I don't think it is worth repairing in my opinion.

[Hugo]

Roof is bent surely it wouldn't be worth your while fixing.

But I know someone who rebuilt a JCW Cooper S a couple of years which was rote off and made money on it .

[ALD0]

Think it looks worse than it is, although that roof is gonna need a lot of filler, it wouldn't be structually as sound in the event of another accident...

[thebadun]

I actually know a couple of people who have had their MINI roofs replaced, one through vandalism and the other through rolling the car! I wouldn't fancy it though...

[Lawrothegreat]

This is a difficult one. I'm no expert on repairing cars but I'm guessing that once a car is declared a write-off, its structural integrity will never match a new example of that car. This means it will be less effective in protecting its occupants in any future crash. I'm not against cars being repaired, but I would hope any such repair would be fully checked - suspension alignment / under-car visual checks of all components for signs of failure (bending / fracture / buckling etc), and that any future owner would be fully aware of the car's history.

In this car it doesn't look as though it was involved in any form of frontal collision (unless the front bumper has already been replaced etc), and could the roof / door damage just be cosmetic/panel and not structural?

Later edit: looking at the photo again, it looks as though the grill and bumper would have already been replaced as I can't see how the bonnet would be in that shape on its own.

[Hugo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lawrothegreat (original)

This is a difficult one. I'm no expert on repairing cars but I'm guessing that once a car is declared a write-off, its structural integrity will never match a new example of that car. This means it will be less effective in protecting its occupants in any future crash. I'm not against cars being repaired, but I would hope any such repair would be fully checked - suspension alignment / under-car visual checks of all components for signs of failure (bending / fracture / buckling etc), and that any future owner would be fully aware of the car's history.

In this car it doesn't look as though it was involved in any form of frontal collision (unless the front bumper has already been replaced etc), and could the roof / door damage just be cosmetic/panel and not structural?

Later edit: looking at the photo again, it looks as though the grill and bumper would have already been replaced as I can't see how the bonnet would be in that shape on its own.

Your probably right, no ripples in the rest of the roof. If your good with a welder won't cost much.

[Randall Raines]

Believe me that's a light one and as previously stated a lot of the damage would be classed as panel / cosmetic damage, not structural although their may-be some structural & would need checking, the thing with making sure the car is straight most body-jigs straighteners only straighten the the lower part of the chassis, ie, the lower part of the shell and the chassis legs etc... etc... the roof & top half of the car is down to the skill of the repairer .

Now a days if the damaged is classed as repairable but the insurance decided not to repair it in some cases it is stated on the log-book (there are loads of different groups as I'm sure someone will point out at some point) and once repaired it would need to go for an Identity check (this is not to check the standard of repair), however the insurance can also decide not to repair a car and these are not, and don't have to be recorded on the log-book and don't need an identity check in this case it's recorded but you would need to do some sort of check to find that out (HPI check etc... etc...) and in others no damage etc... etc... is recorded at all, in all the above cases the only checks that these cars need to go through to be put back on the road is possibly the ID check and an MOT and an MOT only shows that it's roadworthy at the time of the MOT, this does not however mean that it's been repaired properly .

There is a check to check the quality of the repair and once it has passed this check it's classed as as safe / to the standard of an equivalent undamaged vehicle of the same year on the road. But this check is only voluntary and is normally only done on the more expensive cars as it's quite expensive (as Insurances will pay out the full value of the car in the event of a payout if it has passed this check ).

The worrying thing about the classing of damaged vehicles In My Opinion is that it's all based on cost whether this be the repair or how long the person will need a hire car for while the repair is being carried out and everything is in favour of the cheapest option (for the insurance) etc... etc... and not the damage to the vehicle (but saying that the more damage the greater cost ), hence you can have new vehicle that is almost beyond repair but it may not be recorded at all and then get an older vehicle with a slight scrape on a bumper (very easy to repair) and it's recorded on the log-book as having been extensively damaged and having had an identity check (it's also simply down to the opinion of the vehicle assessor what category the vehicle goes in), or getting classed as a Breaker & needing to be dismantled for parts although it was a perfectly good car.

So IMO the system is based on money £££££ & cost £££££ and not safety as it should be (just My Opinion).

Also as previously stated it's not beyond people and the dodgy salvage seller to replace damaged parts with good ones to make the damage look less without doing the repairs properly (again all money £££££) and if the purchaser doesn't have the vehicle checked properly the damage could be missed by someone unsure of what they're looking at and the damage may never get repaired properly.

Unfortunately people these days sleep better knowing that they have nice things & money in the bank rather than what they could be doing to get the money could be dangerous to someone else .

Any vehicle repaired properly could be safe again but that costs money £££££ .

[Jack678]

thats a pretty easy repair...mini roofs are quite easy to change. if u remove the gutter round the edge of the roof you will see all the spot welds which you can drill out and then put on your new skin and spot weld again. as for structural integrity afterwards there should be no problems aslong as it is put back together correctly. as some of you may know a weld is much stronger than the original sheet metal. this is just my view on things as me n my dad have a lot of experience of repairing cars, hes been doing it for 35 years so knows his stuff

[emmahilton]

offt gutted

[airbusA346]

I wonder if he has bent any of the chassis seen as he has managed to do that to the bonnet and has probably changed the grille and bumper already.

[Randall Raines]

I was just going to comment after a closer look at the pic, but it's been removed / ended .

So this comment is for those who've seen it, it depends on how the MINI rolled, it may not have damaged the bumper & grille, but on rolled cars the fire-brigade normally turn up with the biggest crow bar you've ever seen & prise the bonnet up to cut the power cables so that may have accounted for the strange damage .

When the BMW MINIs 1st came out I used to see plenty of MINIs where the fire-brigade had wedged their very large crowbar in the centre of the bonnet to get too the catch, but as wee all know MINIs have a bonnet catch at both sides so all that this did was cause further damage to the bonnets rads & plastic front panel etc...and then they had to do the catches on each side as well .