Is it Totaled?

[jliehr]

If the frame is bent, it will be totaled. You can’t repair that. It compromises the integrity of the whole vehicle.

I had an 07 F150 with mostly frame damage a little body issue, came from swerving to miss another car and going up on a median and having the frame damaged, they literally ordered a new frame and swapped everything over.

You just never know

 

[Immadismom]

I really don’t know. It is a big vehicle. Can you look up the book value on it? Do you know anyone who works with cars?

What does @Immadismom say now that we have more info?

I can understand why you don’t want to total it.

I agree with Klayfish. With this vehicle, would definitely want to see pics before making an educated guess. And, agree that frame damage would not necessarily total that vehicle.

 

[tvguy]

Well went to get stuff out of the vehicle and to take pictures but of course it started pouring down rain and I hated to keep the lady at the wrecker company out in it. She said that she understood that the other man involved only has liability and was supposed to come settle with her today. I will be calling my agent on Monday with details and then I guess we wait about 7 days for the accident report and adjuster etc and go from there.

Probably Tuesday since Monday is a holiday

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well, there is the whole salvage title car sales industry. They buy totaled cars from places like Co-Part and fix them. They pass state inspections and are back on the road. I know more that one person who won't own anything BUT a salvage title car that has been fixed because they believe they ARE better than when then were new. Several work in the auto repair industry. One guy just retired after 45 years as a Toyota Dealer mechanic. I've known him 23 years and he is still driving the same 1981 salvage title Toyota pickup. It was rolled over. Still no rattles, starts and stops straight, doesn't chew up tires. Of course he has the skills to fix things himself, or trade labor with someone else if he doesn't have the skills.

Here in the Northeast the problem with old cars is that they get eaten away from rust due to road salt (and to a degree, ocean salt air for those near the coast), even when you try to wash it off after storms and such. We have had so many issues from it. A family member was also a mechanic for over forty years and he regularly complained about it, and often worked with welding things back together over and over, etc., but sometimes things get past the point of no return. He was training a younger mechanic once and gave him an old station wagon. Kid went to town fixing it up to the point it looked pretty nice and refinished and he was using it for his main car. Until oops, there goes the frame from rot! RIP. We had an eleven year old car ourselves that two years ago was shaking on the highway. Brought it in and turned out the engine cradle (the platform the engine sits on, as I understand it) was hanging on by a thread, being all rusted out. The engine could’ve fallen out. We authorized the repair, which was quite pricey, then held our breath until we finally traded it in earlier this year. There have been so many problems like that in cars here, they often don’t last a super long time.

 

[tvguy]

Here in the Northeast the problem with old cars is that they get eaten away from rust due to road salt (and to a degree, ocean salt air for those near the coast), even when you try to wash it off after storms and such. We have had so many issues from it. A family member was also a mechanic for over forty years and he regularly complained about it, and often worked with welding things back together over and over, etc., but sometimes things get past the point of no return. He was training a younger mechanic once and gave him an old station wagon. Kid went to town fixing it up to the point it looked pretty nice and refinished and he was using it for his main car. Until oops, there goes the frame from rot! RIP. We had an eleven year old car ourselves that two years ago was shaking on the highway. Brought it in and turned out the engine cradle (the platform the engine sits on, as I understand it) was hanging on by a thread, being all rusted out. The engine could’ve fallen out. We authorized the repair, which was quite pricey, then held our breath until we finally traded it in earlier this year. There have been so many problems like that in cars here, they often don’t last a super long time.

I'm in California, so no rust issues. But I thought with modern rust proofing from the factory rust hadn't been a big issue in decades. I know my father-in-law who lived outside Houston got his cars Ziebarted and they guaranteed they would not rust for as long as you owned the car. He did have a few rust spots on his 1980 Chevy when the car got to be 13 years old. Ziebert fixed it for free, but suddenly after that my father in law was getting phone calls at home from car dealerships asking when he was going to trade in that Chevy!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm in California, so no rust issues. But I thought with modern rust proofing from the factory rust hadn't been a big issue in decades. I know my father-in-law who lived outside Houston got his cars Ziebarted and they guaranteed they would not rust for as long as you owned the car. He did have a few rust spots on his 1980 Chevy when the car got to be 13 years old. Ziebert fixed it for free, but suddenly after that my father in law was getting phone calls at home from car dealerships asking when he was going to trade in that Chevy!

Idk about that. I do know that buying a "Florida car" is a selling point here.

Check these out:

https://raybuck.com/salt-rust-corrosion-by-state/
https://www.autotrader.com/car-news...careful-when-you-buy-car-extreme-north-265563

 

[Klayfish]

I'm in California, so no rust issues. But I thought with modern rust proofing from the factory rust hadn't been a big issue in decades. I know my father-in-law who lived outside Houston got his cars Ziebarted and they guaranteed they would not rust for as long as you owned the car. He did have a few rust spots on his 1980 Chevy when the car got to be 13 years old. Ziebert fixed it for free, but suddenly after that my father in law was getting phone calls at home from car dealerships asking when he was going to trade in that Chevy!

Rust still is an issue, and will be for eternity. No matter how well you try to protect it, if you expose it to salt and water, rust is inevitable.