i bought a salvage car too, it was not an insurance write off .. the previous owner had given the bumper a knock, - the painted plastic bumper and the headlamp were cracked and needed replacing,
- the owner chose not to go through the insurance as they were changing the car anyway, the trade in figures they were given were very low - so foolishly they took the decision to sell it at auction..... i viewed the car prior to going and bidding,- i got the previouis keepers details from the logbook, i verified the 36k mileage from the supplying dealer/garage who serviced the car from new... all was looking good...
the damage was light, the bumper was an easy job to fit a replacement- the only bit i was unsure of was the 2 tone paint scheme on the bumper...i knew the headlight was about £100 from the local motor factors,-ok it would take a little bit of time to sort it out, it needed a new MOT, but if i could get the car for the right price it was going to be a good little runaround.... the car in good condition booked at approx £6000...
i went on the day of the auction with pound notes and a idea of what i wanted to pay....... i am not sure if the fact was it was damaged that put off bidders or no one wanted it as its a 'french postman pat van' as SWMBO calls it - but i walked away with my new car for a mere £1200...
i paid the buyers fee of about £100 and stuck it on a trailer and away i went....
the bumper cost me £120 to buy, the foglights that are set into it were another £50, the headlight was £105, the grill was only slightly cracked but i found one on ebay which luckily was the right colour for for £20....
i and a pal masked off the bumper and sprayed it, keeping our fingers crossed for no runs or sags and the results are perfectly acceptable, - so i now have a car that took about 3 weekends to sort and was a very cheap purchase- and i have the bonus that it was never recorded as accident damged or a write off-
i guess the previous owners just did not want the hassle...
after a few weekends under it, it was fixed.... the end result is below,