Well last week I got a TL that was on a flatbed....I was thinking prob no start or it got into some water (we had lots of rain than). Come to find out it was sort of in an accident. The insurance adjuster told me that her client was ran off the road due to whatever reason.

To make the story short..I went over with the adjuster on what needs to be done so we can begin working on the car. After going over all the parts with her and having the parts order...today I began to work on the car. Here are some pics.

Headliner and passenger side curtin air bags removed:


Glovebox and center console removed to get to the SRS unit:


Another pic of the SRS unit:


Cracked front driver's rim, the whole spoke is cracked along with some missing chunks:


Another close up of the front driver's rim:


New passenger side curtin airbag in:


Pic of the rear driver's rim:

 

By the day's end..I was able to get install the new SRS Unit, Side Airbag, and Headliner.

Tomorrow I will begin working on the passenger seat (new OPDS unit and re-covering the pack partion of the seat), engine cradle, lower control arms, rims & tires (alignment will be done after the body shop fixes the frame).

 

After the "body shop fixes the frame"? Why wasn't it totaled out? Sounds like your fixing a car that shouldn't be fixed but rather shoudl be liquidated. She's gonna have trouble (in the future) reselling ANY car that's had prior frame damage.

 

That's not my place to say on what should be total or not. It's up to her insurance company.

To be realistic...the damange cost is no where near close to what is still owed on the car itself.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a wheel crack like that...even from collision damage. That's kind of scary! Actually, the whole thing is kind of scary. She must have gone for one helluva ride...

 

I have 2 friends that work for insurance companies and a body shop. Say you have a car with a said value of $32,000, the damage incured during a accident will total $10,000. Which do you think the insurance company is going to take. Pay out the 10k, or replace the car for 32k. Most insurance companies will not total a car unless it has over 2/3 the value of the car in damage.

It sucks in the long run, the car will always have that "wrecked" status on the carfax. A lot of times its hard to tell that a car has been repaired, if it was done correctly.

As for the rim, that is insane, I have never seen a rim do that. I have seen them warp, bend or get a ding, but to snap clean through a spoke. Thats crazy!!!

 

This is very true....a couple of weeks back we had an 06TL with 5,000 miles on it that got hydrolocked. My friend got almost 50hrs of work on it. We had to get a complete short block along with a crap load of other things. This was also an insurance case.

 

It's not your place to say. I can understand that, you're just doing a job. But is the damage bad enough that it shouldn't be done? If it was your car, what would you do?

Will this be one of those cars that shouldn't be back on the road, all but to save the insurance company some money now?

I wondering if the cost savings now will ACTUALLY save lives if another accident happens with this car?

 

Sounds to me like the suspension took most of the hits... I speculate that the frame damage is contained to where the front sub member/engine cradle mounts to the uni-body.. As with anything, if done correctly all will be fine.. Would most of us "car nuts" want it afterwords... Probably not..

One thing I know from talking to a few "reputable" insurance company adjusters,, they are always tasked to look at the extent of damage, probability of a good repair, and any and all issues with future liabilities due to issues with a major repair. If future liability issues are a factor, they will most likely lean toward and seriously consider a "total"..



PS - thanks for the pics.
I always like seeing a vehicle (same as mine) taken apart so I know what to expect if I tear into that area myself... Hopefully under different circumstances however.....

 

The bulk of the damange is in the cradle and suspension area (besides the air bag system which is all getting replaced with new parts). It's no where near the point of it being "un safe to drive". All in all I'm a tech and not an insurance adjuster, it's no my duty to tell the insurance company if it should be totalled or not. I went over the damanged areas and they where the ones that made the decision. If I was to put myself as an adjuster, I wouldn't total this out either. The damanage is roughly $7,000 in parts and labor.....yet the owner prob still owes well over $20K.

If it was my car...if the insurance didn't total it out than I have two opitions:

01. Live with what I caused and accept that I cause the damanage and it may never be the same again.

or

02. Sell it after it's all fixed and take my losses.

 

It just scares me when people start talking about having to straighten the frame. I've seen enough cars and vans on the road, that when you look at them from behind you can see the side of the van and the front axle doesn't line up with the back one.

And of course this was the owners fault in this case.

 

That rim is insane. If that thing steers straight down the road when its back together, I will be impressed

 

I agree with you 100%. I hate seeing those cars on the road and I try to stay as far as I can from them.

I'm sure with enough time me and the guys here at the shop will get this as close to specs as possible. The adjuster is getting daily updates as I work on the car. I should be able to get most of the stuff back on the car today...latest tomorrow depending on what else comes into the shop and how often I get pulled away from the car.

 

If the car dog tracks down the road, it wasn't straightened correctly. Take the car back to the frame shop and have it fixed right. If they can't get it right, refuse to accept the repairs. Eventually, they will have to total the car. As much as the insurance companies would like you to believe they don't have to live with improper repairs, they indeed do. Take them to aribtration and they will lose. They have to give you a car that's safe and put together correctly.

 

carfax isnt as reliable as many people believe it to be, Ive seen so many cars with horrific frame damge that still carries a clean title and no record of an accident on carfax......

 

This is very true. There are shops and individuals out there that will to repair work and not report it. If your car is taken to a dealer or a reputable company, they WILL report it. Even your stupid oil changes at the dealer get reported!! Had a friend that did all of his own oil changes and when he pulled the carfax to sell it, the last mileage on it was from when his brother had the oil changed at the dealer. There was like a 40k mile gap in the carfax.

 

This is a plug to get insurance from a good established company rather than the guy that advertises on TV quoting $79.00/ month or whatever.

FWIW we went through a $10,000 repair on a newer $36,000 car a few years ago. I wanted it totaled of course but that didn't happen.The repairs are guaranteed for as long as we own the car by my insurance company and the shop. Half of the sub frame was replaced and a ton of other things including drivers airbag. We still have the vehicle and it looks and runs as it should. we may take a financial hit when we sell but nothing can be done about that after the fact. The accident was not reported to Carfax.

 

Wow. Where to start.

First, if a car is repaired properly, it should be "good as new". Note I said "repaired properly".

Secondly, the TL is a unit body vehicle, so there really isn't a "frame". But reputable, well-equipped body shops and/or "frame shops" have straighteners that operate to tight tolerances, and can realign a body to original specs.

Thirdly ... yes, most of us wouldn't want major work like this done on our cars, but the body shop industry has gotten pretty darn good at repairing cars. After all, it ain't like the Bondo days of just filling the holes with body putty, sanding 'er down and sending 'er out.

Last but far from least, if this happens to you, make SURE you get reimbursed by your insurance company for Diminished Value. This is the dollar amount that the value of your car is reduced after being damaged and repaired. For example, I wadded up a BMW 540 a few years ago and got a check for $5500 in addition to getting the car completely repaired at my BMW dealer. That money was to compensate me for the fact the car would be worth less as a result of the damage ... even though repaired.

 

Thats what I was really getting at but on a side note I bought a car last year that weas totalled by the insurance company but still had a clean title. I fixed the car and got near full value for it even though I told the buyer that it was wrecked before. I made like a 70% profit. There are alot of cars out there that their owners dont even know that it was wrecked before. A buddy of mine traded his car in to carmax that was wrecked before and still had a clean title. he got full value for it too.

but on a side note dealers are kinda shady too, Ive seen alot of them repair nicks and srcathes and dents on brand new cars and still sell them as brand new when the should atleast knock a couple hundred dollars off...............

 

Just because the guy sold/traded in his car at CarMax is no indication what CarMax did with his car. I can almost assure you they let the car go to one of their wholesale outfits that come in to buy the trash they won't sell on their lots. I can promise you that any car dealer's appraiser can, within 30 seconds, tell that a car was repaired no matter how professionally the repairs appear to be done.

 

That's all well and good in Texas. California and most other states specifically will not allow you to go after diminished value. Look back at other threads where we have discussed this over and over. At least mine was repaired properly.

 

Update:

Today I finished the car. It's going to the body shop in the morning to get the straighten out. During the test drive the car has a hard pull to the left as expected it. I will be waiting for the body shop to do their thing than for me to get it on the alighment rack to see how straight I can get the car.

Here are some more pics for everyone's enjoyment.....

Passenger seat with side air bag deployed:


Old passenger seat cover and side air bag unit:


Bear passenger seat with new side airbag unit installed:


New seat cover back into the car for testing:


Another view of the seat back in the car:


Close up of rim damange: