Well yesterday I rear ended another car in stop and go traffic. Fortunately no one was hurt and it was fairly low speed, but given how things are designed to crumple I suspect that my 01 VDP S/C will likely be totaled. I planned on keeping it for another 4-5 years, just had the front seats reupholstered (black with grey piping), new battery and alternator in the last 3 months. I had collision so we will see what they will give me. The car has almost 200K on it and was really in very good condition.

Any thoughts or recommendations on how to deal with the adjuster? I have never totaled a car.

I have had this car for ~12 years and have really enjoyed it, this community has been great! Need to figure out what the replacement will be.

 

Well that sucks. Glad no one was hurt. What to replace it with, would seem to be directly related to one's budget. As if I could afford it, I would have one of those F Type's In Red, although the BR Green. is also beautiful. But alas I have Champagne Taste, and a Beer budget. So an 89" XJS is the best I can do for now. Someday??????

 

Unless you have agreed value ... most companies use a valuation company.

 

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That does suck! But not as much as if it was you who had been rear-ended!

Hey, there are some nice replacements out there at not too much money, you could "step up" to a another X308


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That's always a possibility -- but caution is required. last year my sister hit a deer while using my older MB wagon -- the deer went through the grill -- damaged the hood, radiator and condenser. The insurance company totaled it. The car was in fantastic shape w/140k ... just had spent a fair amount of money on it. I bought it back from the insurance company as they only wanted $350 -- since it still ran and everything worked .. it was not required to get a salvage title -- they call it "uneconomic to repair". I inspected the car closely and determined that no structure was damaged -- only bolt on parts and both fenders were OK. I was able to find a same color car hit in the rear and got the body parts I needed -- ordered the mechanical parts to fix the radiator and condenser ..etc. I actually ordered a prepainted bumper cover from a seller on ebay. My local independent replaced the hood grill and fixed everything for about $600 labor ... I bought new headlights on e-bay and installed the bumper cover myself. With no painting it still cost me $3100... The insurance had paid me around $5500. I could not get another wagon like this for anything less than $8 .. and not in my cars cosmetic shape. Had the damage been even slightly worse or any paint work needed .. it would not have worked out.

 

The car I hit had a hitch receiver and my bumber basically went under his bumper.

It would need a hood, 1 fender, a radiator and I'm sure a lot more.

 

My thought would be to kiss her goodbye and find yourself an 03' SC model. But if you must you need a good donor car to either put your parts in or for the parts to rebuild yours. You must replace the tensioners, and I should know, I came just short of ruining my engine. And, what about the status of your A drum in your transmission. I would probably do the donor route and put my engine and total drive train in it, that is if I was dead set on keeping this car. Will P


Will P
2000 XJ8 vanden plas

 

All the tensioners and guides have been replaced. It's a S/C so it has the MB transmission which is theoretically pretty reliable. The heads we're rebuilt about 2 years ago. I could see doing an interior swap with another car, but engine and transmission swap is probably more than I have time for.

 

I say donor car if you are capable of doing the bulk of the work .
ill be doing very similar work I did the same thing you did to my daily mark viii.

 

Frankly, minor damage. The issue is the car isn't worth much on the open market. So they probably will total it. Make sure you are compensated for any recent work, tires, battery, etc. Take the money, buy it back (this depends on state laws), fix it for your settlement, and retitle it.

Most good body shops can repair this damage. The problem is availability of some of the soft parts. Lots of insurance companies hesitate to reinsure a car they have totaled, tho.

 

If you buy it back be sure that you can get it with a clear title. In California a "rebuilt" title is the kiss of death for resale.

 

That is much more damage vs my wagon -- there is no question about it being totaled. My MB's hood was damaged .. but the hinges Ok. Both of my fenders OK . Had no welded structural damage. I got lucky finding a local donor. The used body parts are often very cheap -- the hood and grill for my MB was only about $150 bucks. Think I paid around $500 for all the bolt on supports from the junk yard. I was able to get the electric fan as well. The difference is with the MB you can get new OEM parts for reasonable cost ..... the AC parts and radiator are all available. I actually went overboard and replaced a few hundred $$ of soft parts from the dealer ... all the plastic radiator surrounds etc. Stuff like the trans hoses are reasonable priced. Aftermarket headlight are $200 -- for the set!

Hitches can do a lot of damage ... The other reason I fixed the MB ------ my sister again. She was parked and was backed into -- truck cracked the bumper. She go all the info and was driving home and the car stoped moving -- the hitch had bent the trans cooler line and a few other items -- fried the transmission. So, my wagon had a rebuilt transmission.

The title is most important. In my case even with the radiator and condenser looking like a potato chip and the fan surround broken -- it all still worked including the AC. With no title transfer it was simple and no additional costs.

It becomes a math problem. Without buying the car back I would have had about $5500. I paid 3k to keep it on the road. What could I really get for the car? 3-4k ... if I'm lucky ... but I did not do it for value ..... I often need a wagon .. so it's utility. The used ones around are not as nice as mine.

With really good XJR examples available for 10-12k ... it's silly IMO to put 4-5k into a car with that many miles. And I don;t think you can do that for 4-5k. Get one with 65k on it ....

 

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Sorry to see this. Clearly a fine example prior to this happening. I hope you don't take a second hit from the adjuster.

Graham

 

Still haven't heard from the adjuster, but I'm considering buying it back and parting it out.

I did do some research on removing the fender, was surprised that its only held on by just a handful of nuts. I plan on going out to look at it and hopefully I can get the hood open enough to see what all got bent and smashed, if the AC condenser was damaged (likely) than any sort of DIY fix gets even more unrealistic.

Their hitch pretty much missed my entire bumper, so the bumper really didn't get to do its job.

 

Anything can be fixed -- it's the structure that's costly. Here is my wagon -- that's a pre painted e-bay bumper. The hood/ grill is used the fenders original. The points where the hood locks down were somehow not damaged -- that area is a welded part of the structure.

 

Sorry for your loss. It reminds my loss of my own limited edition xjr100 I crashed 2 years ago.

Itsnfronyial impact is not all bad but bad enough to bend the subframe.

So I decided to swap good of the goodies to my another 2000 XJR including entire breaking system (brembo) ,BBS wheels. Red stiticing interior and I am keeping most of the parts for spare in future use.

unless it has a lot of sentimental value and you have a thick pocket.

It's wiSer to let it go and just part the car for spare parts.

If one day 40 years later XJR100 will be sold for millions, at least I could tell my grandchildren I used to own one and most importantly that I crashed one.