What is crash damage, and how to fix it?

Crash damage is damage to a vehicle after a collision or accident on the road. Common crash damage is bumpers, wing mirrors, or doors.

A reputable business such as Premium Components can help you, especially with items such as bumpers and headlights, which is what they specialise in.

Premium components car bumpers are factory items from the manufacturer, and as such come with that extra level of quality that you may be looking for.

How do you fix crash damage?

Where advisable we’d always suggest going to a reputable dealer, or crash damage centre local to your area.

Most times the insurance company will suggest a few different retailers they work with to get the work completed in a timely fashion and in a time frame that both the insurer and client expects.

Having been involved in this process personally, the dealers themselves will also request that they repair any damage in one of their approved workshops, mainly for the piece of mind that they will provide you with a separate warranty specifically on the part of your vehicle that was crash-damaged.

Personal experience of crash damage

I’ve personally been through the crash damage/insurance process with BMW when a young inexperienced driver crashed into the side of my car as they left a junction (see pic at the top of this page).

The damage wasn’t structural (looks up and thanks my lucky stars), however, it was bad enough that I needed the rear door, the rear sill, and the alloy wheel replacing and I was off the road for around a month.

Thankfully the insurance level of the driver was covered by their parents, and they had the highest coverage available, which included a rental car for that month.

Types of crash damage

Crash damage covers a lot of specific areas, and the term would generally be used to specify that a vehicle, has in fact been damaged, but it doesn’t specify the type of damage it’s sustained.

I alluded to this earlier when I said I was thankful my BMW didn’t have structural damage… so let’s run through each one for clarity.

Structural damage

Like a building, if the damage is structural, it’s pretty significant.

Structural damage will generally involve the frame or structure, and integrity of the vehicle.

Just take a look at Mat Armstrong’s McLaren 720s which was rejected by McLaren themselves because the damage was too significant. Ultimately making the car a write-off.

Body Damage

This is exactly what my BMW had.

Think of dents, scratches, and significant imperfections that take away from the factory look of the vehicle.

Body damage can be repaired or replaced depending on the severity, and this decision will ultimately come down to the insurer, and the body shop doing the repair.

Mechanical damage

Some would consider this a worse outcome than body damage depending on who you ask.

This involves anything mechanical on the vehicle, be that the engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes, or otherwise.

There may be many factors that affect the mechanics of a car, including general wear and tear, but the most common is certainly accidents or collisions.

Interior Damage

Less common than exterior damage, but if your steering wheel airbag goes off, that would be considered interior damage as you’ll now need a new steering wheel.

Depending on the impact location and force, could mean replacing things like the curtain airbags, as well as the pyro fuse; which completely disables any high voltage current in the car instantly.

Functional damage

Functional damage would be considered anything that impedes the basic function of the car, such as headlights, indicators, electronics and sensors.

These generally come about from electric failures, software clutches, or physical damage to components.

Functional damage can be a war of attrition in trying to diagnose because the damage may not be able to be seen, or is within the vehicle chassis or engine.

Can anyone fix crash damage?

We wouldn’t advise it, but depending on the damage you have you may be able to replace some components such as the headlight unit, which are generally only held in with a few screws and the electrical wiring needed to power the unit. Other items, such as bumpers we would advise a reputable garage to fix.

Is a car still drivable after crash damage?

This depends on the extent of the damage. If the vehicle is fundamentally not roadworthy, then you shouldn’t drive the vehicle. In some cases, the car may become inoperable if the pyro fuse has also been triggered.

Light damage, to a bumper or such, would be fine to keep driving, but anything structural or with an airbag activation would be inadvisable.

How much will it cost to repair the crash damage?

This depends on the route you wish to go down. Either via the insurance company or not.

If you don’t go through the insurance, and depending on the extent of the damage; long term you might be better off paying out of pocket so that you don’t get the longer-term price increase on your insurance policy.

This will all depend on you and the 3rd party agreeing on costs, and also who was at fault.

Going through your insurance provider, if you are at fault will generally increase your insurance premium going forward, not to mention you’ll need to declare that you’ve made a claim on your insurance for a number of years, even if you switch provider.

If you go through the 3rd parties insurance, and you were not at fault, then you generally won’t see an increase in your insurance, unless your insurance was going up anyway due to the average cost of repair to your vehicle going up.

Will insurance cover the cost of repairs? 

This depends on your type of coverage. If you have comprehensive or third-party fire and theft. Are you at fault, or is the third party?

If the accident was caused by a third party, their insurance may cover your damage. If you were at fault, your insurance, (if you have comprehensive insurance) would take care of the bill.

However, this then plays into how much “excess” you want to pay. This means you’ll need to pay an amount agreed upon when you took the insurance policy, which may be something like £250, £500, etc

Do you have any policy exclusions?

For instance, there will likely be something written about purposefully getting into an accident to make an insurance claim, either medical or otherwise.

What is a total loss/write-off?

If the cost of repairs exceeds the market value of your vehicle, it might be considered a total loss/write-off.

Do I need to get multiple repair estimates?

This will be determined by your insurance provider, and some insurance companies will insist that you get multiple body shops to assess the extent of the damage before processing your claim.

Can I drive my car without repairing the damage?

This depends entirely on the severity of the damage. An alloy wheel, if curbed would likely be fine to keep driving on depending on how deep the gauge is.

Same with a scuffed bumper or door ding, but more severe damage would likely be unlawful, as the vehicle needs to be roadworthy.

A broken bulb in a headlight or taillight would be deemed unroadworthy, and you’ll likely be pulled over by the police to rectify it at your earliest convenience.

Famous Crash Damage YouTubers

Seemingly overnight, the crash damage scene has become a huge part of the social media universe. Making YouTube stars out of people like US-based Tavarish, who is currently rebuilding a 2 million dollar McLaren P1, alongside his other builds like a Mclaren 675LT, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, and Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

On this side of the pond in the UK, we have Mat Armstrong, another YouTuber who originally started posting videos about BMX riding, and transitioned into the crash damage scene by buying and modifying a MK2 Audi TT. He’s since purchased an Audi RS6, Porsche 992 generation GT3 and a McLaren 720s. All crash damaged.

Car Spec Check