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Bad Luck

4K views 35 replies 15 participants last post by  57tim 
#1 ·
I was just notified by my cousin that her beloved 08 TC WPC got totaled a few hours ago while she was at church today . She only had it since March of this year .

It was a replacement for the 06 TC Limited that got T boned by someone going through a stop sign . Today it was an elderly lady in her 80s got the brake confused with the gas .
No I'm on the hunt for another one for her .
 

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#4 ·
Yeah church was just letting out she was standing next to it on the right side talking to members. Two other vehicles were hit before hers . So she had time to move out of the way .

To loose two vehicles in the same year ( no fault of hers ) has got to be devastating . I don't think I'll have to hard of a time finding another for her . I all ready have a Limited spotted . Have to wait till the dust settles insurance and all that .

She diffinatly wants another TC
 
#3 ·
That's not good. Anyone hurt?
Looks repairable though.
 
#7 ·
I told her it looks worse than it really is . And it can be fixed, I'd fix it . But they will most likely total it . Shame though it only has about 120k on it . I'm might ask her to see if they'd sell it back to her and I'll buy it
 
#8 ·
Some time ago, my Lincoln was totaled, but the insurance guy told me that he was going to pay me like if it were totaled, but allowed me to keep the car and didn't reported as totaled. As a matter of fact, no report whatsoever was made, accident didn't showed on carfax.

I had Geico back then
 
#10 ·
Well I'm going to wait till tomorrow see where it's at after the dust settles See what they're going to do . If I can get it with a clean title I'll fix it . If not I'll part it out it has a young engine mileage wise .
Who knows if I can get it cheap enough with a salvage title I might still fix it .
 
#12 ·
Because the cost to repair (especially if there is any frame/subframe damage, which might be the case here), exceeds a certain threshold in relation to the % of value of the vehicle, it's just cheaper/quicker to write them off and cut a check.
 
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#13 ·
Yeah, this can be an issue with rare cars and why I maintain a "declared value" rider on my Acura. Yes, third generation Acura TLs are a dime a dozen, assuming an automatic transmission, however, there was only something like 4.3% of these cars made with manual transmissions, and not surprisingly, they command a premium on the used car market. Lots of folks on the Acura forum have crashed their 6MT cars and have them totaled by the insurance company, only to find out the settlement is only half to three quarters what it would cost to buy a comparable car.
 
#14 ·
Case in point, the 2004 - 2006 GTO's (like my '04), people were getting what many here would consider "minor" damage and insurance was writing them off. Why? Body parts had to come from Australia. Shipping fenders, quarter panels, hoods, etc, from down under under isn't cheap. So costs to repair rise to a point where it isn't feasible any more.

Anyway, in the case of these vans, Chrysler made a ton of them. That drives down the overall value of the vehicles. Yet with all the airbags, blind spot monitoring, etc, etc.. on top of higher quality paints colors, etc, the cost to fix them isn't going down in relation to the value.
 
#15 ·
Insurance companies total vehicles these days, with less damage, for the availability of parts. The parts market is lucrative. That policy change occurred in the last couple of years.
 
#16 ·
Those totaled town & countries are bought from salvave auctions, shipped to Germany, fixed and sold while still making profit. We have a lot of them where I live. Basically all of them have the same history. Some of them have mino damage.
It doesn’t make sense that it’s more expensive to fix them in the US than exporting them to Europe and fixing them here.


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#17 ·
So, I'm just getting texts from my sister, down in Flo-Ride-a. They had a 2015 T&C touring. It was pushing 150k, and they, in general, don't take care of things. Anyway, dealer gave them $3,700 for it on a new Pacifica. Yea, I get that's trade in so it's considerably less than outright market value, but still. These things just aren't worth much. So you scratch them, insurance totals them. :D
 
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#20 ·
Exactly right I've been scouting Pick & Pull & salvage yards all spring and summer of this year . And some of the TCs & DGC I've seen geeeze was a darn shame . Some were in such good shape (cosmetically) I almost couldn't bring myself to dismantle it .

Some were very heavily optioned like the limited I got my roof rack from it had every option I think was ever offered . I was hit in the front not even as bad as my cousins TOTALLED.
 
#18 ·
They're writing them off early:

If the value of the damage typically approaches 50 per cent of the value of the vehicle, the insurer may decide to write it off and say it's a total loss,” said Pete Karageorgos, director, consumer and industry relations with the Insurance Bureau of Canada
What is a write-off? It's a term commonly used when the insurance industry determines your vehicle to be a total loss. In other words, the cost to repair your vehicle after a collision is more than its value after subtracting the recycle or salvage value
 
#21 ·
It is not illegal or unethical to take the insurance payout and do as you please with the car. Most insurance companies want to make checks out to you and the body shop, buy it's not a requirement if you ask. Now, if there's a loan or lien on it, that can be a different story because you don't own it outright.
 
#23 ·
It's a 2008, so not very highly valued. Of course it's fixable, as long as the frame rail didn't get bent in. One could haggle with insurance to buy it back, still get some money and repair it. At least it was parked and no one was in it, so there wasn't other damage from people opening doors. When my wife's van was hit/totalled, a police officer opened the passenger door because of the smoke from the airbags going off. That damaged the front fender and door, which would have been just fine if it was left alone. That's what helped to total the van. Damn shame. Simply opening a window would have sufficed - or open the sliding door. The van took a glancing front end hit that ripped off the bumper cover and grille, but didn't really damage the frame. I can't remember, but I think the radiator was even spared. It was just sheetmetal parts and bumper/cover. We had just finished paying it off and had gotten the title in the mail that day. I think we only lost a few hundred $ from what we paid for the van.

Insurance doesn't care how much parts are. They just auction the vehicles off and collect the money. It's the dismantlers that make the money on parts, depending on what the damage was and what is still good/how much parts value is there.
 
#24 ·
Up here in Canada most insurers sell a waiver of depreciation endorsement. The time ranges from 36 months to 60 months from when you take delivery of the vehicle new...and if it's totalled you get back what you paid for the vehicle. The endorsement is not expensive, usually bundled in with replacement rental car coverage. If you don't have the endorsement I highly recommend you look into the waiver. The cost will likely not be more than $35 or so.
 
#26 ·
Our 1996 Voyager was hit harder on the side and further back by a guy who ran a red light in 2000, spinning the van around 90 deg. The left strut was bent, fender and hood crunched, and transmission case cracked. I fixed it all and still driving in 130K miles later. GEICO only paid $2500 and only after we filed a lawsuit. Initially, they said both drivers (both insured by GEICO) were 50% at fault, so under GA law they didn't have to pay either (slimy lizard). It looks like your hood might not even be dented, nor the headlamp cracked. Actually a fairly minor hit that just cracked the plastic bumper and bent the thin sheet-metal. Since in front of the wheels, nothing in the suspension or main frame was harmed. You might need to bend the front bumper back. I wedged my Voyager in my concrete garage and used a Chinese Porta-power for that. A junkyard bumper cover w/ grill might cost $150 and $50 for a fender. I bought a new fender for $70 and painted it myself. These vans are so common, you can even find a junked one with the same paint code (check VIN online). I'd take the insurance payment, keep it, and fix myself.
 
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