haha, keywords....according to the insurance company. it is obvious they are trying to raise the damage level above the 70% line so that i will be forced to basically take this car off the insurance, and add a new one...at that point they will raise the insurance like mofos !
Don't be stupid. Get the money for the car, haggle with insurance for more, tell them you had aftermarket parts on it, make fake receipts if you have to and then buy a car that you really like.
A couple of things here: 1) Most insurance carriers would rather fix a car (if it cab be done safely), rather than total it because it is more cost effective. So if your carrier is telling you your car is totaled, walk away. 2) If you decide to keep, fix and resell, consider otherwise. You will be competing with hundreds of 2nd hand dealers that do this all the time. 3) Probably most important, if you have a loan/lien on the car, then the decision to keep the car is going to be up to them, not you and I can tell you from experience, they are going to say total it since, well, if you keep and fix, you won't be able to carry coverage for it that will protect them.
Huh? This is not really correct. The bumper supports that you are referring to are actually called absorbers, and they are absolutely critical in managing collision energy in a collision. The radiator/core support is part of the unibody structure, and is also critical since it ties the upper structure to the lower structure. They absolutely add rigidity.
if airbags deployed, insurance will most likely total the car out and if there is frame damage like you said, then it's almost an automatic salvage. I've had this happen in the past and my insurance paid me retail value for the car, which was more than enough to cover everything. there is no way I would drive the car again if there was frame damage to the point where another car would have to be used a a donor. good luck.
Well to and extent yes, but front end rigidity has more to do with the K-member (Engine cradle) and firewall. Core supports are thin stamped steel while the K-member while also stamped is welded usually 10ga steel and weighs about a hundred punds. All the suspension hangs off it as well. Unless he bent strut towers and shifted the K-member it won't affect performance. Even then I've seen guys put cars on frame machines and get them cars back to spec but I wouldn't recomend that.
Front end rigidity has nothing to do with those parts. Zero. Bumper isolators, absorbers (crash boxes), lower rails, upper rails/aprons are all specifically designed to manager collision energy in a unibody vehicle. On a side hit, a pillars, b pillars, c pillars, and rocker panels serve this role and rear lower rails, inner quarters, rear body, rear isolators, rear reinforcements serve the purpose in the rear. Core supports are not just stamped steel (at least, on most newer vehicles). The majority of them are aluminum, cast magnesium or composite, with some of the more advanced vehicles using carbon fiber. K-member? I think you mean crossmember. An engine cradle/crossmember does nothing as far absorbing collision energy as it is a cast part (on unibodys) that supports the engine and suspension. The firewall is just laminated steel, and is mainly there for NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). It has little collision energy absorbing purpose. Bent strut towers/cradles are not the only thing that affect performance. There are numerous other things. I've seen thousands of frame/unibody damaged vehicles in my career, and yes, any moron with a wrench and knowledge of hydraulic forces from a bench system can technically, make the dimensions true. The concern, from a vehicle owner standpoint is, not whether something can be repaired, but SHOULD it be repaired. There are certain materials used in vehicles nowadays that can not and should not be repaired, like UHSS (ultra high-strength steels), HSS (high strength steels), martensitic steels, tailor-rolled/tailor-welded blanks, boron-allowed steels and aluminum. They are all heat sensitive and will severely weaken when they are repaired. Not sure where you are getting your knowledge from here, but it's not correct.
On Mustangs they're commonly refered to as K-members and are bolted on not cast into the unibody. I think we're arguing two different things. You're arguing collision absorbtion and I'm coming from a suspension geometry, driveability aspect. Yes I completely agree it comes down to whatever is best for the op. Imo from the info given is the car would drive fine as long as the suspension checked out ok and the repair work was done properly. My knowledge comes from keeping 600+ hp 2400# race cars(SCCA,NASA,AIRS,NMRA) planted on the track and drivers alive. Building roll cages, suspension components, 25.5 chasis from unibody vehicles. We especialize in Ford performance vehicles so I do use commonly used slang names on certain parts. Most of the cars we turn into track only vehicle are front end damage cars and most of the time the core support is removed or modified to fit a much larger radiator and electric fan.
Why did you not have gap insurance to cover the remaining balance of the vehicle? I pay for mine with cash, but when I used to take out a loan, Gap insurance was always a must.
Well, my parents helped me make the decisions since this was my first time purchasing a car. Had to do some research on GAP insurance and here is probably the reason why my parents did not encourage me to get GAP insurance: http://www.carinsurance.com/kb/content10049.aspx So I bought the car for $25,000+tax and put a down payment of $15,000 financing about $12,000. In 8 months I've paid about $6,000 towards the principle, so I have $6,000 left with the value of the vehicle being close to $19,000. If I had more than $19,000 left to pay, then GAP would have been very helpful.
i second this. i actually have the same problem at present. i have to replace tires every 2 years because of alignment problem that could not be fixed. get a new car.
