"p cooper" wrote in message
k...
after the discussion when my old corsa was totalled, Im looking at a
replacement. As far as haggling is concerned whats the usual markup these
guys start at.?

Ive also seen the old car - it looks like the impact was in the rear part
of
the passengers door. The whole passengers doors side has been pushed in
about a foot. The gap that existed between the drivers and passengers seat
doesnt exist any more and the floor in the rear passenger space is
buckled.
Still no useful pointers to guessing impact speed from the other guy ?
As soon as adolescent teenager gets up & sorts his camera out I can
upload
some pictures smewhere.

That sort of damage can be done with a speed less than 30mph, the side of a
car is not that strong (compared to the front and rear), the damage that you
describe sounds like it's reparable if the cars market value made repair
economic - what I would really like to know is what the door gaps [1] are
like on the other side, this will tell far more about the structure of the
car, rather than what the bent bits look like [2].

[1] the gap between front wing and the gap between the door / rear quarter
panel.

[2] panel work is designed to bend in an accident, the damage often looks
worse than it really is.