Is a car a write off with B Pillar damage?
 

Looked at a car this week and was pretty shocked how badly repaired it was.

Both front wings didn't line up at all - OS bowed out. NS drooped down.

New slam panel welded in place with no effort to cover new weld.

Front NS wing had washers between it and body to make it line up with door.

Most worrying was that the NS front door had hit the B Pillar and put a crease in it - at the top under where the rubber starts. The rubber on the door hadn't been replaced and there was a big chunk missing where it had struck the pillar.

Now I don't know how to tell if a cars structural rigidity has been compromised but to see damage on the B Pillar suggests that whatever happened to it was a hefty impact.

I could be wrong but I have always been under the impression that if damage had been sustained to either the A, B or C pillars then the car was a write off due to the structural integrity being compromised, as regards if the car were ever in a situation where it were to roll over onto the roof.

Agree with MrRA

Sounds like you want give that one a wide birth m8....

BTW. whereabouts was this car?

Also, a car is not neccesarily /automatically a write off if the damage is to a particular area of the car.
There are a lot of factors involved in writing a car off, not just the extent of the damamge...

nope not at all my car had a new A and B pillar and mine drives in a stright line.

It depends. You can get whole replacement side sections to a car which usually come as one or two sections, so it is possible to safely repair A B and C pillars by replacement of the damaged areas. If it was considered unsafe, you would not be able to buy these new side sections from the manufacturers, as they are structural components.

Even the roof can be replaced if it has flexed - providing you can actually get new a roof panel (a complete bitch, and very very rarely done as welding distorts it and the hours involved usually make no economic sense)

In most cases a car is only written off as it is consedered too expensive to economically repair. Extensive structural damage would only be considered if the floopan and chassis rails of the car was severely distorted to the extent that rejigging would not correct the damage and in that case, the car would never see the road again (category B).

Sounds like the car you looked at is an example of a bad repair done by a someone who hasn't a clue as to what they are doing. If it was done right, you wouldn't notice.

It was an STI RA. I saw the OS front wing was completely out from about 5 yards. Found the rest just looking round.

lets just remember just because its been in an accident doesnt mean its been written off, may have been 3rd party, track day accident with no cover , repaired before import,

true m8, if its a 3rd party claim then insurence dont get involved, my m8 looked at a car once, not a scoob, he hpid it , come up clean, went to look at it and it looked like it had been repaired by mr bean.

be careful though cause when you go to mot it next time they will prob throw the book at it.

You can have a deathtrap car bent to hell and it would still pass the MOT - just so long it had no sharp protruding parts or rust and doesn't produce more than 0.3 % CO - thats how stringent MOT is, unfortunately :rolleyes;

Where is the car?

Definetly a third party damage with no insurance company involved.Lets face it theres plenty of scum bags out there who would try a quick makeover to get rid to try recover some money and theres plenty of inexperienced buyers out there just waiting to part with their money...remember Buyer Beware

All cars can be writen off it depends if the cost of the repair ends up being over 40% of the value of the car. (the %age vairies between insurance companies, also the age of the car has alot to do with it too)
Dan

Regardless what category the car has been, they can all end up back on the road! Some legit som not!

I repair A & B post damage all day long :)

A car will only get written off, if the cost of the repair is within a certain % age of the cost of a replacement car

Hope that makes sense :)