Well..unfortunately my sister took my car out for a spin and got into an accident.no structural damage from what i can tell in the pictures, but most of the front is gone. Bumper, hood, headlights, grille, and bent the crash bar in a bit so wouldn't doubt that the coolers/radiator may be damaged as well.

Had the car for just under a year and it's already gone.. For what it's worth even though it may not be much, almost everything was replaced mechanically on the RL. Is it worth buying back and repairing? or buying back and parting it out? or just let insurance take it and call it a day?

 

Pic plz? Year, mileage, and what replacements?

 

Let it go.

From your other post, it's an 05 with over 120,000 miles on it.

Parts to sell would be stuff like the headlights, maybe some interior stuff it was in good condition, but it's a 10+ year old car worth less than $10k and I'm sure with all that damage it would be totaled.

 

Let it go.

 

Depending on where you live, you may have to go through inspection to make it road worthy again. Even after you do that, your title will be branded. Meaning it will say salvage or restored salvage or something similar. It will be worth about 50% less than the same exact car without a branded title. And if you get in another accident, the insurance companies will use it against you.

You must decide if that's worth it for you. Depending on the damages, how much insurance will be paying you, how much it will cost to repair, and what you can buy it back for.

Parting out is a bad idea, you may not break even and you'll be stuck with a wrecked car.

 

 

This is the problem with having an old car in meticulous condition -- the insurance payout is practically nothing.

 

from the sound of the damage it's going to be an expensive fix if you do it correctly. you could probably find someone to fix it on the cheap side but then it's going to look like a cheaply fixed car. probably not worth investing that much into the car unless you are totally in love with it and just HAVE to keep it.

would also make it very hard to resell if you ever wanted to and the value would be greatly diminished.

 

I went through this exercise last year albeit it with a more unique car when a person who is no longer my friend totalled a low mileage but 9year old car. I stripped that damn thing except for engine and transmission thinking I would find another and could use parts and sell others.

Well my basement looks like a chop shop as the parts dont end up being as marketable as you think. Some of the big items (seats, wheels/tires/steering wheel and air bag) will sell quick but most items are slugs.

I wouldnt say I regret doing it but I wouldnt do it again for sure unless the parts are that marketable and unique.

 

Something to consider... a friend of mine has been driving his 2005 RL since he bought it back in 2008. He loves the car. Sadly, he got hit sometime last year, but due to his love for it, he was able to persuade the insurance company to not write it off (no idea how that happened).

Anyway, so the car went to the shop to get fixed... what he and the insurance company didn't know is that his RL is largely made of aluminum. Yup, the hood, trunk, trunk lid frame, fenders and many suspension components are all aluminum, meaning they are MUCH more expensive to fix.


The repair bill for his RL ended up being crazy high. I couldn't believe it when I saw the invoice!