Sup everyone!

My awesome no car payment car is done... (check the pic)

Some lady made her left turn in front of me. But the kicker... shes uninsured!!
off course right... but long story short i got my uninsured motorist check from my insurance which isnt much compared to value.

But simple question... can you help me price what you think a sold as is value would be? I need ideas for what i'm gonna do

2004 with 150000 in SoCal. Car does drive but radiator shot in crash. No airbag deployment

Besides the accident everything else is fine expect the interior leather on the front seats is ripped and the dash has some cracks.

Any input would be helpful

 

use money to fix? ANy frame damage? is it considered a total loss aka salvage?

 

fix it and sell it?

its def. fixable.

 

Damage doesn't look THAT bad, just judging from the one pic. If no frame damage- new hood, new bumper, new grill, new rad... Good to go!

 

a little over $1000 if you buy all new.

but i bet you could score stuff used for a lot less than $1k.

 

Yup. Hit up an auto wrecker. Paint will likely be the most expensive part of the fix. Sounds like you wouldn't get that much money for the TL, due to the cracked dash, torn leather and mileage. Might as well fix it and drive it until the wheels fall off.

 

^radiator support might be busted too.

 

if AT Transmission will take a shit before the wheels fall off

 

Yes, likely. Might be salvageable with welding though. I'd probably get the body panels from a wrecker and a new rad support from Acura.

 

No frame damage however the insurance adjuster and body shops repair numbers are right at the value of the car. I dont think its worth putting that much into it

 

What else will you buy for the money?

 

if through insurance, you're not putting that much into it...
you're only out your deductible.
then once its repaired, you'll have a no-payment car again for just the price of your deductible.


Not sure if i follow what you're doing here

 

Adjuster is also pricing a shop to do the repair. Shops charge labor. You can do the labor yourself and fix this for cheap.

 

the car has to be worth more than $3k
not sure why you wouldnt take the deductible of either $500 or $1000 for them to make the car whole again.

 

I don't think he's confident in his own ability to fix it up is the problem.


My last car was 'totaled' when it was rear ended a few years back. I took the check and used less than half of it to pay a shop to fix it.. Beater car ftw.

I'd go this route too if I were you OP, it's definitely not as bad as it looks, you might have a salvage title on it though but hey , sure beats car payments..

 

sorry forgot to mention i don't have collision on my policy. So all i get from insurance is the check for uninsured motorists

 

So better question, does she go to jail for being uninsured?

 

You my friend are correct lol. I dont have the time or space to do these repairs myself. I know its not that bad but if i have shops do it i think the cost vs value isnt on par

 

the insurance side just closed so that battle has just started haha

 

That seems like a bad oversight on your part. Driving a vehicle you can't afford to replace without collision is a problem waiting to happen...

 

Cost vs value is highly subjective in this case though. If you have money to buy a new car, then by all means go for it, we're just giving your options and the likely scenarios we would go with.

 

this.

 

Ehh it's okay, he probably drives in LA, where we have more chances of people rear-ending him .. :


/sarcasm

 

i'll buy the car for $2k lol

 

I'll pick it up for you and drive it to TX for ya too!

 

dont let it overheat!!

 

I'll take off the hood and bumper so it gets all the cool air it needs

 

good, it needs new ones any way

 

Maybe its just the angle of the photo, but the roofline looks jacked, the drivers side looks low to me

 

Would collision insurance have even played a part here? With underinsured and uninsured coverage, they pay when the other person is at fault.

I thought that collision coverage is when YOU are at fault and it pays to fix your car.

 

keep the money, part out whats left and buy another one. Doyou really want to sink that much money into an 04 AT Base with 150k?

As is you can probably get a couple grand for it. Parts value would be higher. Repaired its probably worth 5k tops with accident history, ripped seats, and cracked dash.

 

That's a good question and I can't answer it, I believe that's probably a state/country difference in this case.

 

If you can't do the work yourself it's an uphill battle and if the insurance co. didn't come up with enough money to cover the repair, or total the car, sell it as is and get something else. It will turn into another try to fix but never completed project.

 

Here are the values:



The insurance company should pay out between $9650 and $4150 depending on the condition it was in.

The damage to the car is about $1500 to fix. The insurance company may or may not total the car but the chance isn't that high.

I would have the shop refinish the headlights while you are getting the work done. Repainting of the front fenders will be necessary.

Nothing looks to badly damaged.

 

how much u got from your insurance company and did they total it?

 

Without a doubt there are differences from state to state (or country) in how auto insurance policies work. I know in Missouri, our un-insured coverage pays the same as regular coverage. My wife's last car was hit by an un-insured motorist. We had to pay our deductible, but everything else was taken care of by our insurance company no differently than if she had been at fault.

We carry un-insured and under-insured coverage for this very reason. Even on our beater/commuter (which is what her previous car was) we never dropped all of the coverage even as the car was paid off and aging. Even if the car is only worth $5k, that is $5k I would rather not have to spend due to some idiot driving without insurance. Could I save that $5k by dropping coverage to liability only? Sure I could...in about 5 years maybe. One or two accidents from other parties, and any savings I had are gone.

To the OP, hopefully this all works out for you somehow. It sucks when things like this happen. Hopefully your insurance company works with you and something good comes of it all.

 

Not to be a wise guy, but if you know of a shop that will fix that damage for $1500, let me know, I'll send them more work than they can handle.

 

If you don't feel you can fix it and just about everything else is good on it, maybe you should part out instead of trying to sell whole. You'll make more money that way. I know of a group on Facebook that will automatically start offering you prices on parts if you announce you've been in an accident.

 

Name of said group??

 

Honestly if it still drives, try to get it saved.

I doubt it'll cost a little over a grand. I'm guessing 2 grand when you factor in paint of all the individual parts and labor.

Anyways good luck OP, sucks that all these women are killing our TLs