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What would you do? Prius was in a fender bender that will likely total the car. Should I buy back the salvage title and get it repaired? Or let it go? How much life is left in it with an original HV battery and 200k miles?
Here's the deal. We bought it new in '08. Those miles are all ours. We know how its been maintained. No real issues. It does burn oil now. Maybe 1-1.5 bottles between oil changes. The hybrid battery is still the original one.
We gave it to my 17 year old to drive. She was involved in a fender bender last week. A car cut in front of her to turn left in a school zone, and the other driver admitted fault. The accident tore off her bumper, impacted the collision bar which pierced the radiator. All internals under the hood were unharmed. Headlights are fine too.
It was towed to a Toyota dealership collision center, and their visual inspection came to $4200 of damage. But they say things like "you need a new hood" The hood has a ding but its otherwise fine. And its a dealership collision center. So they worry about matching paint and things like that.
I'm still awaiting on the insurance adjuster. Best case scenario is insurance agrees to fix it. But theres a good chance it will be totaled, based on the value of the car. So I'm trying to decide what to do in that scenario. A friend knows a small bodyshop that works on salvage titled cars. KBB value is about $4k. How much would you say I should invest in repairs?
An added wrinkle. I live in Houston. So Hurricane Harvey has made an impact on the used car market. I don't think I can trust anything out there in our price range. This is a 3rd car... the kid car. At most I can afford $6-7000. Although my husband has a lead on a nearby town selling their fleet of old cop cars for $5k.
So, do you think I should repair the Prius with a salvage title? Or let it ago (Assuming it gets totaled)
What would you do? Prius was in a fender bender that will likely total the car. Should I buy back the salvage title and get it repaired? Or let it go? How much life is left in it with an original HV battery and 200k miles?
Here's the deal. We bought it new in '08. Those miles are all ours. We know how its been maintained. No real issues. It does burn oil now. Maybe 1-1.5 bottles between oil changes. The hybrid battery is still the original one.
We gave it to my 17 year old to drive. She was involved in a fender bender last week. A car cut in front of her to turn left in a school zone, and the other driver admitted fault. The accident tore off her bumper, impacted the collision bar which pierced the radiator. All internals under the hood were unharmed. Headlights are fine too.
It was towed to a Toyota dealership collision center, and their visual inspection came to $4200 of damage. But they say things like "you need a new hood" The hood has a ding but its otherwise fine. And its a dealership collision center. So they worry about matching paint and things like that.
I'm still awaiting on the insurance adjuster. Best case scenario is insurance agrees to fix it. But theres a good chance it will be totaled, based on the value of the car. So I'm trying to decide what to do in that scenario. A friend knows a small bodyshop that works on salvage titled cars. KBB value is about $4k. How much would you say I should invest in repairs?
An added wrinkle. I live in Houston. So Hurricane Harvey has made an impact on the used car market. I don't think I can trust anything out there in our price range. This is a 3rd car... the kid car. At most I can afford $6-7000. Although my husband has a lead on a nearby town selling their fleet of old cop cars for $5k.
So, do you think I should repair the Prius with a salvage title? Or let it ago (Assuming it gets totaled)
I was in a similar situation a few years back. If I can get straight to the point. I would buy it back at salvage and see if you can sell it as a mechanic's special for about $1000. Let's say the salvage buy back is about $400. You get the car + $3800, and you turn around and sell it for about $1000, maybe $1200 if that can get you to $5k. Then you have a decent amount of money to replace the car without having to take out payments.
Salvage titles are essentially worthless, vehicles that are neigh impossible to sell for much more than scrap value. This is only an issue if you're looking to get some resale value out of the vehicle.
If it's going to be the "kid car" that they take with them to college and on into life (meaning you have no plans to give the kid something else, either a completely different purchase or hand down one of your other two when you buy new), then salvage probably doesn't matter. It *might*, depending on where they plan to move as some states do not allow "salvage" titles to have plates (a few flat out ban them, more will charge you to have it inspected and then get a "rebuilt" title).
Point being, the only value in buying back salvage is if you plan to run it thoroughly into the ground with ZERO plan to sell it for more than scrap. Generally speaking, it's a bad move to buy back salvage vehicles.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
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I'd fix it. Here in Seattle you see Prius taxi cabs all the time with 900k or more miles. When I talk to the drivers they tell me the batteries are good for at least 600k miles and the engines for 500k. It's a little warmer in Houston so the battery may not last quite as long but that is still a long time.
I'd let it go with that many miles and significant damage. You'll never be able to trust it again. You did good, getting it this far; time to sell the stock, take your profit (as in, you got a lot of driving out of it, presumably mostly trouble-free), and move on to the next.
Buy it back throw a radiator in it and bumper. If there is nothing else wrong with the car that's what I would do. Let the kid drive it into the ground.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
2,254 posts, read 2,735,540 times
Reputation: 3203
Quote:
Originally Posted by j_k_k
I'd let it go with that many miles and significant damage. You'll never be able to trust it again. You did good, getting it this far; time to sell the stock, take your profit (as in, you got a lot of driving out of it, presumably mostly trouble-free), and move on to the next.
Significant damage? A bolt-on bumper and a radiator? At that mileage it probably needs a new radiator anyways and they would have to take off the bumper to replace it. Shouldn't cost much to fix as, besides $300 for a new radiator, any wrecking yard will have a Prius bumper and support and probably in the right color too.
Broke people throw away perfectly good stuff. No need to be broke. Fix the car.
Significant damage? A bolt-on bumper and a radiator? At that mileage it probably needs a new radiator anyways and they would have to take off the bumper to replace it. Shouldn't cost much to fix as, besides $300 for a new radiator, any wrecking yard will have a Prius bumper and support and probably in the right color too.
Broke people throw away perfectly good stuff. No need to be broke. Fix the car.
I agree. 200k on a car today, especially on a Toyota, is like 75k was on a 60's US model. Add to that, you KNOW this car.
Negative possibilities (cons):
Does it have rust?
Does your mechanic say you had problems before this accident that should have been fixed but you didn't?
Pros: any "No" answer to the above. You know the car.
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