New lenses are under $400 on Fleabay...


Dave

 

Good luck. But if you can purchase the car back for a grand or two, fix it for a couple grand if possible. Then you'll have a nice car and save the$ difference.

 

As stated by George
I've got mine insured with Hagerty. You can drive as many "Pleasure Miles as you want" ,but he's correct on all other aspects, and other companies do limit your mileage. Hagerty's main concern was because it was a newer vehicle they wanted to make sure we had enough vehicles to have a replacement if our main vehicles went down so we wouldn't be using it for a every day car. The cost per year is around $400.00 a year with a stated value of $30,000.00

 

Grundy's MVP program will do an agreed value on all your cars, daily drivers, classics and any others so if you drive it or it doesn't have an enclosed litter box they are an option.

 

I think the insurance "totaling" thing is sometimes unpredictable and it depends perhaps on where you are and who the insurance company is. I twice had situations where I thought the car would be totaled. Once was when I was tee-boned in my 1970 Roadrunner in the early 1980s. I think the damage was mostly cosmetic (passenger door was shot) and somehow the insurance company did not squawk at all about repairing back to new looking. The second was in 1993 when I had bought my son his first car (1987 Honda Accord Coupe). He was also smacked pretty hard when he erroneously turned left at in intersection not seeing the oncoming car. That time I was even more sure the insurance company would total but there was no arguing at all about getting it repaired (I don't recall the exact price but it was quite a few thousands).

If you really want to keep the car and have good evidence to show you kept it up in good or excellent shape I would keep pushing to get it repaired.

Doug

 

Since most cars no longer have frames, this is referred to as "Structural Damage." If they total it, you would probably end up with a salvage title. One of the reasons is that the insurance company doesn't want to insure a car (at least for collision) with structural damage.

One way to approach this is to prove to the insurance company that the car is worth way more than they think it is. Do this with comps and appraisals from qualified dealers or appraisers. If it is above the threshold for a total, they might fix it.

 

You are in a bad situtation

 

Structural damage and salvage titles have almost nothing to do with each other.

I am a used car dealer and deal with this constantly bc of auction condition reports.

1) structural damage. Any time a WELDED on portion of the chassis has been repaired or replaced, the car is considered to have structural damage. Rear quarter panel, front frame rail, radiator core support, even a rocker panel. If the part cannot be removed with fasteners - it's considered structural damage.

This does not mean the car is or will automatically have a salvage title. There are millions of cars out there that have had these panels repaired / replaced due to collisions and do not have salvage titles, many even have clean carfax histories.

Take a look at this description from the Manheim auction site of a car that was running yesterday:





Now onto salvage titles. The rules vary by state but generally a title is branded salvage if a car is sold by an insurance company to a new buyer after being acquired as part of a claim settlement. Usually through a different series of auctions - copart and iaa bring the big ones. This is what happens to your totaled car after the insurance company takes possession of the car, Many states allow only dealers to purchase vehicles with current salvage titles.

Now the car cannot be sold to a member of the general public and or registered / titled for public road use until one thing happens. The car is repaired and a "salvage inspection" is performed.

Usually there is not much of any safety inspection. Some states don't even want to see the car at all. You know what they want to see? Receipts for all the replaced parts, including vins of the cars that the parts originated from. This is why most salvage yards list vins in their for sale ads these days and include them on their invoices. You know why? To try to put chop shops out of business. They want to make sure the car was not repaired with parts from a stolen car. These laws aren't out there to protect the public as much as to stop the black market stolen parts business.

Once the inspection is complete. Depending on the state the car is either issued a salvage inspection certificate, or a "rebuilt" title. Which you can use to register / drive the car as normal.

I have NEVER seen a car that had a clean title and was retained by the original owner as part of the insurance settlement (by deducting salvage value) be issued a salvage title or have to go through the process, Simple reason why? The car never changed ownership. The insurance co never took legal title to the car. And I've been around a few.

Some states are better at this than others. Nj has different title brands based on how the ins co acquired the vehicle. Salvage for a total loss collision. Flood, and theft recovery. If your car is stolen, and 30 days go by, the ins pays you out. If that vehicle later is found by the authorities, the Ins co takes legal possession. They aren't going to try to give you your car back and ask for the check back...

NY next door brands all ins vehicles as salvage, and issues a salvage history title after the inspection.

I have seen a brand new Porsche 911 with a few hundred miles on it that was flawless that had a salvage history title, It was stolen off a dealers lot, brand new. And recovered during a random inspection of shipping containers at the port of Newark NJ on it's way to Russia 3 months later.

There is also the issue of title washing, by running the title through several or specific states one can acquire a "clean" title bc each state used it's set of criteria and coding and sometimes it doesn't carry over, they have been trying to make a federal standard for years, but getting politicians and states to all agree on something is like winning the lottery...

Hope this clears things up.

George

 

It's true that most cars branded as having structural damage are just fine. This designation usually comes from auto auctions. They are so afraid of liability issues that they will announce structural for almost any kind of body repair or alteration. So if a quarter panel has been replaced, a trailer hitch added, or if someone put a floor jack under the car a left a mark, they will announce structural damage.

The rub is that if I buy that car, I had better disclose to the buyer that it has structural damage or I might incur liability. Once I make the buyer sign something acknowledging the damage, they might think twice about the purchase or want a much cheaper price. That's why I never buy cars that have been announced as having structural damage.

Most of us have had cars with repaired body damage, and there is nothing wrong with those cars. But if the work was not done right, there could be a problem.

And yes, there are a lot of cars with salvage titles that are not the result of wrecks. But if you do not have 1st hand knowledge of the reason it received the salvage title, you are taking a big risk buying one. Never take anyone's word about this, you must have documentation.

Brett

 

My car will be repaired !!! Should be back together next week. I'm not sure if I feel differently about the car now? I have a friend with a beautiful Audi, looks like new, but he says its been hit 3 different times!! I never would have guessed ! I'm also looking into Diminished Value. Although its 15 years old, it only has 34,000 miles and has been garaged kept.

 

mick99,
That's great news. I bet you'll get your car back before I do. I miss mine so much even with driving around the 2010 XKR in its place. There is something special about these cars, and I can't wait to get back into mine.

 

Congrats, and keep us posted....