Sbradley

Some of you may remember that I wrote my bugeye off back in August. Some of you even bought bits of it...

Now I've just been contacted by the guy who bought the wreck and did it up. He got my address from the V5, which is cool and I'm quite happy to talk to him and tell him the history of the car.

My problem is this. The car was written off because without replacing the shell it was going to be almost impossible to get straight. The towbar had transferred the impact direct into the shell and as well as collapsing the rear offside wing and boot floor (it was a rear impact) there was a kink in the floor under the passenger footwell and the shutlines were all to **** at the front of the cell. Basically it was knackered. Now this chap has also been in touch with the supplying dealer trying to geta copy of the service history, which they declined to supply. They inform me that all he has done by way of repair is replace the obviously damaged panels, so although the car may look OK it almost certainly isn't.

Reading this back, I can't believe I'm asking this question. But I have to know what you lot think. Do I send him the service history, manual and everything, which kind of legitimises the whole thing or do I refuse?

I know my gut feeling but I'd like to hear your opinions. I think.

SB

mbc

id personally send him sweet fa, if he wanted a full history/straight car then he should have gone to a dealers to get one

mike

RON

Decline, say you've trashed it or something, some unsuspecting person could easily buy the car totally unaware that it's been in an accident, let alone written off.
And we don't want that do we????????????

stevem2k

No.

Someone could buy that motor off him in good faith and kill themselves due to the problems you have outlined.

wouldn't want that on my conscience.

Just tell him you have destroyed the documents.


Steve

skoosh

SB, I recently bought my first scoob and I also got in touch with both previous owners asking a few general questions, I was on tenterhooks until they rang and confirmed the car was indeed mint. I have subsequently had this confirmed by Subaru much to my relief!

Look at it this way, if you bought a new pride and joy but underneath it was a "hazard" wouldn't you want to know about it!

What if he's got kids?

I think you know the answer mate, give him the info and let him decide what to do.

Don't forget, he may also have read this in which case he's already
been told.

Sorry to get on my soapbox, but I'm sure that for the simple fact that you asked the question proves you want to do the right thing after all you could save somebody alot of pain and/or money.

Us scoobs gotta stick together, we are a breed apart.

Regards

Skoosh ( the righteous one ).

trugoy

FOR SALE, seriously unsafe Subaru with history of very bad damage and crap repair job, full service history (before crap repair job) but otherwise lovely car, will probably cause fatal incident due to bad workmanship but the previous owner said it was OK, would you buy this car????? Sorry for harsh reply but a lot of people buy second hand Subaru's and would not want this one....

BOB.T

I'd let him have them, there's nothing shonky about it, the book was stamped up cos that's what it had, nothing more, nothing less!

I presume it was officially written off? In which case it'll all be recorded anyway. It will be illegal to sell the car without the new owner being made aware of it's history.(I think!)

I can sort of see your concern though, how's about this for a compromise, send him the docs but write, actually on the service book, on the stamp page that the car sustained heavy damage at X time, X miles etc etc, the car was sold to mr X yada yada

Bob

Sbradley

Thanks guys.

Skoosh, this guy already knows the car is a write off - he bought the wreck and fixed it. My first concern was to make sure he knew, for the reasons you said. Now I'm just worried that he may want to sell it on and with the history it will all look pukka.

I'm sure the bloke is completely on the level but just in case...

SB

Brun

Yep, what Bob said sounds fair

ScoobyWon't

Asuming the car is still on the same number plate, won't the HPI check show up any damage? I'm sure back in 96 when I bought my XR back off the insurer and repaired it myself they HPI document recorded it as damged but repaired. Not sure if that's how it works but my excise is that i've been out of the UK for 4 years if you're willing to spend teh monet on a HPI check it might tell you and then if it's not recorded you can put the record staright. If it shoulb be recorded on HPI but isn't I'm sure you'd feel better knowing that the few quid you spent on the report is likely to save someone's lives at most and someone a lot of anguish at least.

Although I did sell my MX, which was £30 short of being written off, to my ex boss back in November. Before it was repaired. it should be fixed by May...

bug-eyed wonder

Do 2 number plate transfers still fool an HPI check?
Was told by a nice lady at the Birmingham motor Show a few years back that I had a mint GSI Nova when she kindly offered a free check on their stand!
Was reshelled twice due to my stupidity but 2 number transfers hid the history!

bug-eyed wonder

ps Send him FA! Why should you supply someone with the docs to help sell this shed unless he's offering to buy them from you!

stu200

iTrader: (1)

At least the exhaust wasn't bent

I'd agree with Bob's earlier comments - send a copy of the history, clearly identified as such, but with overwritten notes giving the date of the write-off that would be near impossible to remove through judicious use of Tippex and a photocopier.

softwizz

No he didn't. What he did was he bought it and kludged it. A fix would be to rejig it or replace the shell. If you follow your conscience you *cannot* provide him with the original documents unless you modify them as has been suggested.

Bug-eyed wonder, I think HPI must be a lot tighter these days, compared to your experiences years ago. They ask for the engine and chassis number as well now, you know. I can't imagine that the matching process is driven by the reg number, because even us punters know that wouldn't define the identity of the car.

RobinSherwood

Hi SB,

Had a similar dilemna when a car of ours was written off about two years ago. We were quoted £20,000+ for repair of a Silver Shadow, so the car was declared a total loss. This guy bought the salvage at auction, 'repaired' it and contacted me for the Service History and other documentation which adds seriously to the value as the car was mint and VERY low mileage etc.,.. I took advice from the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club who advised me I should forward on the paperwork but that I should mark each page of the service history in red biro with "Car declared total loss after heavy rear end impact on DD/MM/YYYY and is recorded as such on the R-REC Register" We were also asked to request the servicing dealer (the car was full 22 year RR History) added a similar note to the cars record they hold in case any enquiries were made to them in the future.

This way the guy got his service history but I can feel happy that no one else will buy this car thinking it is the mint car it once was.

Hope this experience helps

Regards

Robin

BlueSimon

I would send him all the documents, but write 'Written Off' accross all of them.

Simon

Franx

You could tell him you'll only give him the documents if he's going to get it done properly; rejig, inspection and all that. It might come out looking ok, but how pi55ed off would you be, if you thought you were buying a goodun, and it turned out to be nothing of the sort. Ok, he might get done for selling something not at face value, but it would still be a right pain for whoever bought it.
Looking at it the other way though, it could be that the guy just wanted it to drive himself...it has been known...but then why would he want the FSH and all the other stuff?
Don't do it.
C.