A Mournful Monday - TL Type S wrecked
 

Hi all,

Im not one to post, but I wanted to get people's opinion that have had their TL wrecked. Long story short, this early morning, my TL type s 6-speed was parked on the side of The road with hazards on and a Toyota pickup lost control on an icy road and completely destroyed both passenger side doors and the rear quarter panel.

Luckily, no one was hurt and I was not inside my TL. It is still drivable and I was able to drive it home. This is the first time I have ever had a car wrecked and am currently going though the claims process. Any advise from people that have have gone through a similar situation? I have the claims adjuster coming tomorrow, but Im pretty confident it will be declared a total loss. I'm thinking of purchasing The car from The insurance company and having some family members help me fix it that flip salvaged cars. This will of course be for me to keep, since I will have no plans to sell The car.
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:cry:

this breaks my heart. sorry to see

I’m sorry that you had to go through that, but also glad no one was hurt. I hope the insurance company does allow you to buy your car and fix it back up.

That's a $h!tload of body work needed, but the location will likley not affect the car much after a rebuild. Maybe door seals won't be aligned, other than rear door, not much electrical would be affected, plus, the harnesses would be replaced with the door, most likely.

You're pretty much definitely going to get branded though.

If this were a few years ago, I'd say take the check, but now that they're 10+ years out of production, another one saved is important.

Most importantly, whatever suits you best! Is it driveable? Did the rear axle take a hit?

if you intend to keep the car make sure the frame still straight, if not you will need access to a frame machine puller.

The rocker looks pretty straight, so the frame may be ok, but definitely something to look out for.

Every time I seen Mournful Monday, I think of something different. I hope you get a laugh!

that sucks, do you own the car or making payments?

I have grown attached to my TL. I'm the type of person that likes to keeps a car in tip-top OEM shape. I drove it home from the crash site and it drove just like normal, except that the crushed lower rear quarter panel would occasionally rub against the wheel. I looked online and there are plenty of doors for sale in NBP. I think I can also save the interior door panels, specially the front passenger one. I also saw rear quarter panels for sale for around $600 brand new and around $300 used. Anyone have any experience on how much it will cost to have this changed?

I'm inclined to think that car is very fixable; in your shoes, given how rare 6MT Type-S models are, that's exactly what I'd do.

I am still making payments, but owe around 4k.

Rear quarter panel is not a small job. $thousands probably just in labor.

Unless you are going to come out ahead after insurance pays out, loan is paid off, buyback costs and repair costs are taken into consideration....I would walk away unless you know for sure your family help knows for sure what the level effort and cost will be to repair.

The damage doesn't look to have affected anything structurally, it's just ugly. Too bad the rear quater took a hit, but honestly, I'm thinking if it was hit closer to the B-piller, the damage would be far worse and encompass the roof.

OP, there is no way of telling whether or not there is structure damage, ESPECIALLY from pictures.
As mentioned before, if there is structure damage (which there is a high possibility of), that will be a big pain to correct.

You are fortunate to have family in the industry. I would obviously speak to them first and have them assess the damage and see if they are willing to take on the job.
Sourcing the parts will be the easy part...

I had the insurance appraiser come out today to take a look at the vehicle. He seemed very knowledgeable and was familiar with the TL-S and the rarity of the 6-speed. According to him, doors are easy to source along with the rear quarter panel sheet metal. He is worried about interior damage to the quarter panel that might need replacing and can be very expensive. I told him I would be willing to reuse salvageable parts from my car to reduce the price tag. Right now it's looking like a 50/50 shot on whether they will have it repaired or declare a total loss. We did not talk about price yet, so I'm still a little worried.

chance are they gonna total your car because the age and mileage, not because the damage was severe. Looks like you decide to keep the car which a good choice, a few years back we got a member rebuilt the entire rear end of a KBP MT and there a thread about the rebuilt somewhere.

Quick update. The appraiser said they will pay for the repair. I'm having it towed out tomorrow to The body shop. Should I try to have them salvage as much as possible from my car. The interior door panels are intact and I would prefer they use mine jnstead Of spending time hunting down type s panels with that red led window switches. Any other advice?

thanks for everyone's input.

if they fix it let they replace all the thing, if you want to retain the old part for spare make sure you let the body shop know which component you want to keep.

:party:

So what was the estimate? How close are you to the edge of total if they find "hidden" damage when tearing in?

I had The car towed and I'm currently waiting on the body shop for their estimate. The one from insurance came out to be between 5-7K to fix. Well see what The actual body shop says it will be. I'll keep you all posted. I'm hoping for the best.

I am stoked that it's looking good for your car! I'm glad that TLs are valued and respected enough to warrant repair despite age. To me, age doesn't matter. The best cars out there are older!

Update - After even taking the car to a preferred shop for the insurance, The body shop estimate ended up being too high. I still don't have pictures, but after they removed the doors they discovered damage to the inner structural panels that would require cutting into the roof to replace. Basically they priced it out and doing everything according to spec would put it past the value of the car. It's very disappointing to have to come to this. I'm not sure if I should buy it from them for the salvaged value of $2400. Is this a fair price? it has 109,000 miles with no mechanical problems.

structal damage is a headache seem like you will need to find another half TL tail end somewhere. I would ask the shop how much they would charge if out of your pocket?

BTW how much is the pay out if they take the car? if you don't mind...

I do admire you believing that there is a future for the TL!

This is the news I expected and was afraid of man. I stand by my initial reaction fight for good payout and walkaway. Lets do some simple math...
2400 buyout
7000 repairs (best case) I think it will be every bit of this if done right
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$9400 and likely a lot more is my guess you can get a unbranded car for what youd be paying, I just dont think juice worth the squeeze IMHO. Now if you dont ever plan to sell then its your call but to me your throwing good money away. I went through this same scenario 3 years ago, body shop talked me out of it.

My case was different in that in VA since damage was over 90% of value it could only be deemed as parts car according to regs so in the end I walked.

Work on the price of the buy back form insurance. You could easily part it out for a decent amount of cash if you have time and room to store parts. I parted my 05 Base for roughly $6500 and still have a couple parts left. Only thing is, its been 2 years since I had the car removed and still have parts. The left overs have been making their way to the trash can little by little every week.

I second Breezy's suggestion.
I don't think buying the car back in order to fix it up is the economical route to go. I've known people who have spliced the back end of another TL to the front of another, it does work but man is it costly and a headache.

I would buy the TL back after negotiating with insurance and then part it out. Since your damage was only on one side, you can get good money for wheels, seats and headlights etc.
Or try and get insurance to give you a bigger payout, if they come up to a number that will find you another TL in today's market, I would take that.

You know your car is properly maintained, so if you got a different TypeS, you would so peace of mind there.

Has the depreciation plateaued yet? I'm guessing not yet, except for 6MT, but will soon.

Either way, I admire how everyone is fighting to save the car. I went through a similar scenario back in 2016. Although I joined AZ after taking the buyout and finding a replacement, I tracked it through CoPart. In retrospect it was hilarious, that thread can be found HERE !

+1 on the negotiate buy back and part out route! Might as well get your money back as they'll just do the same.

Op,

​​​​​ FYI

There is structural damages... B, C pillar, and probably right side length is shorter than left side. Frame machine require for this repair to square the car.

Parts and paint repair about $5000. The rest is labor cost... About 80 professional labor hours.

I would let the car go and buy another.