It is fixable, but the insurance company will probably total it due to the cost of repair vs the value of the vehicle.

 

That's why I took collision off my insurance to save on the cost of insurance. I love my car and have owned it since day one when I bought it new but since mine is a 2001.5 I know if I get into an accident the insurance company will right it off and pay me peanuts.

 

Based on when my 2000 got whacked (not as hard) in the same place, you're probably looking at $3000+ - and that's without looking under the hood. They'll want to total it, but some clever picking at a junkyard would probably get you back on the road without too much trouble.

 

The only drawback with fixing it yourself and accepting the total is that you will now have a salvage title. IF you plan to keep the car until it dies, this may not be a problem.

 

I feel your pain... my wife had an 03 Passat wagon black, lowered, votex kit, hids, and she had an accident going about 30 mph. Insurance totaled it and I was besides myself. I did a buy back from the insurance co. and picked up a donor Passat for $300 locally. I have been swapping parts.. ie radiator, core supports, fans, fan clutch, pulleys, pretty much entire front end, minus the fenders and its almost 100% back to how it was before the accident. If your mechanically inclined, you can do the work yourself, if you have the time and the tools. Almost everything is bolted together with a 10mm bolt. Finding a donor will keep you cost to a minimum... like on craigslist. Best wishes!

 

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Outside doesn't look that bad but I have a feeling strut tower may be bent and or doorjamb those are too bad places to have the structure bent, I would love to see picture of underneath the hood on that side (passenger side strut tower also because believe it or not that may be bent)and a picture into the wheel well(if fender was off even better) and possibly in the doorjamb I have done a lot of repairs like this and sometimes it's not worth trying to save it. I am not trying to talk you out of fixing it I hope it's not as bad as I think it may be. Also make sure the other doors even on the other side open and close properly and that the gaps are how they should be ,and the trunk opens and closes proper. believe it or not when a car gets hit like that it may have bent or tweaked the unibody . If you were planning on fixing it yourself you should also jack the car up and get underneath it and see how the front subframe is and where it bolts up to the unibody and look for anything else. These are other things to look for besides the obvious. I am assuming the engine and trans is okay! Good luck and I'm glad nobody got hurt!:wrench:

 

The thing to look at is the frame horn that the fender bolts to. If that is mangled it will be a little more complicated to repair unless you know someone who does collision repair. Other than that everything else can be replaced. Good luck, glad your wife is OK.

 

The fender does not bolt up to the frame horn the fender bolts up to the Uni body and the strut tower structure and lower doorjamb and the core support!

 

It can be repaired but you more than likely need the assistance of a collision repair shop for some of it. I would be curious to know where the chain was attached to for towing.

 

Agreed, it looks bad to me. Getting hit in the front is always worse.

 

This looks 100% total loss (from the insurance's point of view) IMO. Since the upper control arm is now hanging on the outside, I would say damage to the strut tower and unibody is sure. To fix it, you need a body shop with frame equipment.

 

These wheels come from a GLI Jetta, right?

 

I don't know exactly. I got them from the dealership I was working with at the time. They had them laying around. They put new 17 inch Continental Extreme DWS tires on them and charged me around $800 for the set of 4. I've seen them on CC coupes. I was wondering if there's any chance that front wheel is still good.

 

Thanks all.

The car is at a local body shop that I've used before. He said my insurance co. will probably want to write me a check, but that I may have better luck going straight to the other driver's ins. co. since it seams pretty obvious that he is at fault. It was a 99 F150. Sad thing is he was able to drive away from the accident with only some slight bumper damage. All I see is the truck's bumper impression in the side of my car. The strut tower is what I'm concerned about. The control arm snapped off at one end and is now sticking out. That can't be good.

The other thing that's not sitting well with me is that the passenger side air bag was activated, but the driver's side did not. Has anyone ever had or heard of faulty air bags?

I'm going to check out a used car dealership that has a white wagon that looks like mine, except with a tan interior instead of black. Don't much about it except that it looks really clean and has been on the lot for a while. I'm going to check it out tomorrow. If the dealer is selling it for what I'm assuming will be my car's totaled value (Kelly Blue book estimates it from $3100 as a dealer trade to $4700 for an individual private sale). I may consider going that way. It won't be my original owner car, but it may feel like it and my VW car cover will fit it.

 

... He said my insurance co. will probably want to write me a check, but that I may have better luck going straight to the other driver's ins. co. since it seams pretty obvious that he is at fault. ...

If the other party is at fault and carries liability insurance, always try to collect from his/her insurance company, instead of your own. You do not want your premiums to go up next year. (For the record, I do not carry collision insurance on anything in our fleet -- 2001 Passat wagon, 2000 Audi S4, 1996 Audi A4, 1991 BMW 3-series.)

When some clown rear-ended my son's Honda Civic, we went after his insurance carrier and got the full value of the car.

 

It's a 12-yr-old station wagon. Unless it has practically no miles, it's guaranteed to be totaled. As you and several others noticed, one of your UCA's is now facing the wrong way. An impact enough to do that probably borked your steering rack, frame, strut tower, axle, and who knows what else. You popped an airbag, the unibody got creased at the doorframe, there's a whole pile of trim that needs swapping, you get the idea...

 

See John_E's post above (totaled but fixable). That's what I did - the way I see it, I've gotten the salvage value ($3,100 banked) out of the car. It's kinda like selling it now to capture the residual value (which keeps dropping each year, btw), but keeping the car to drive with a residual value in the mid-hundreds when I eventually sell.

Another reason to keep this car is whether you have all the issues sorted out. If you buy another wagon, you won't know of the issues the car may have with: water intrusion (CCM issues), dino oil use history (sludge), ABS Module, Window Regulator clips, and on and on.... This is the main reason I kept my '99...it's "sorted out" electrically and mechanically.

Whether or not you keep the car will depend on how hard the F150 hit you and the subsequent damage to the left shock tower. If there's shock tower damage, to the point that the front end can't be aligned properly, I'd advise selling it; otherwise, have it repaired and keep the difference as a large down payment on your next car.

 

If the airbag has been deployed, that wraps it up.
Insurance companies won't use junk yard airbag parts (last I heard, maybe it got changed lately) while they will use "used parts" for body/trim and mechanicals to save cost. I assume airbag pass side plus control module at the dealer is around 1/2 the value of the whole car?!

 

In some states it's not even legal for bodyshops to use used airbags. In the rest, no insurance company will request a bodyshop use a used airbag, as it opens up the insurance company itself (along with the bodyshop) to huge liability. And after the fiasco last year with lousy counterfeit Chinese airbags, few (reputable) places will buy them anywhere but a dealer.

 

OP, the way each manufacturer decides to deploy airbags is a very complicated scheme and algorithm, based on a lot of factors and inputs from various sensors. If the airbag light was not ON on the car prior to the accident and the driver's side airbag still didn't deploy, I would say all was functional and correct, but the decision was to not deploy it...
The fact that the other vehicle had minimal damage is just a psychological factor (is my car weaker than his?), he hit you with a very strong area (corner) into a very damageable area in your car. FYI, later cars are very damaged (damageable I should say) in accidents (I am talking serious accidents, not yours) with design features like "crumpling areas" to minimize occupants injuries. Initially the cars were all solid as a rock, but tests proved that was a wrong approach.

 

OP, the way each manufacturer decides to deploy airbags is a very complicated scheme and algorithm, based on a lot of factors and inputs from various sensors. If the airbag light was not ON on the car prior to the accident and the driver's side airbag still didn't deploy, I would say all was functional and correct, but the decision was to not deploy it... .

Yep; unless you are seriously injured by a part of the car the airbag is supposed to protect you from, the airbag is working as designed. The airbag exists to keep you from getting killed or sustaining serious injury. If the accident is such that you aren't in danger of serious injury, the airbag itself is more dangerous than the accident.

If the passenger seat was empty, I don't think the B5.5 has sensors to detect that there's nobody in it, therefore it cannot distinguish between an empty seat and one with an unbuckled passenger. (The system is more likely to deploy if it thinks it needs to protect against an unbelted passenger, which makes sense.)

 

Unless you have a lot of time to spare, just let them total it, and buy another car. What a mess, sorry to see that.

 

Haggle with the adjuster over the amount, pointing out the improvements and money you've sunk into it. Tell him you want to repair it and that he should give you the money. If you dont want to fix it, part out what you can.
Just a strategy.

 

This. Last time I had a car totaled, I negotiated a pay-out 50% higher than the original offer.

 

I had an '87 Honda Civic that was hit in traffic many years ago. The driver took out my entire left side of the car, including both driver's side doors and front and rear fenders. The A-arm for the left rear wheel was also bent. I pulled the A-arm off and bent it back into shape with a sledge hammer and eventually replaced it with one from a junk yard for $25.

The insurance company wanted to total the car at a value of $2400. My only other option was to keep the car and get a check for the same amount minus the salvage value of the car. The agent called his sources and told me the salvage value was only $50 so I ended up keeping the car along with a check for $2350.

I took a day off work and drove to a salvage yard about 125 miles away that specialized in Hondas and a few other cars. They must have had at least a dozen cars that were of the same exact model and color. I found a pair of doors that were the same color and had the same pin stripe, but they both had some minor damage so I went with a pair that had a pin stripe that was slightly different. Since you could only view the pin stripes from the side it really didn't matter that they didn't match exactly. I picked up a front fender that was a different color along with numerous other spare parts, including a complete set of wheel covers. Total cost for all of the parts was $135.

I put the fender and doors on when I got back home that evening. I took the car to a body shop and had the left rear quarter panel replaced and also had them paint the front fender to match. Total cost to repair was about $1200. I ended up with a profit of roughly $1,000 that went towards a new kick-ass stereo system for the car. I eventually sold the car for parts years later when it started leaking oil into the catalytic converter. I kept the stereo. :thumbup:

 

Yeah. I go back and forth on whether to fix or total. I guess once I get the adjuster's report I'll have more to go on.

Do they always let you keep the car if they total it and write you a check for it? How much could you make from parting it out? Is it worth the hassle?

As an option, I did check out the car that looks exactly like mine, but with a tan interior, at that used car lot by me. It's a 2003 with 178K miles on it. The body and interior is actually in better condition, except I do prefer the black interior. And if I get to keep my car, I could swap the interiors out, or do a black/tan combo. He wants $4900 for it, but will consider any reasonable offer. She's been sitting on his lot for almost 2 yrs, but she started right up. Doesn't run as nicely as mine does though. My concern is that it does have 178K on it, with a timing belt job on the horizon, and no real knowledge of it's history, except for a CarFax.

Also went to pick up some things from my car today. The driver's door is pushed back a bit, but it closes with a slight over hang. Peeked at the engine compartment quickly, and it didn't seem to be too bad. The fluid containers were shifted over though.

What to do?

I did speak to my wife's friend who's been doing auto insurance claims for 10 yrs now, and she said that although it would have been better to just go to the faulty driver's insurance, I might as well stay with mine since I already started the process with my them at this point.

Stay tuned.

GT.

 

As an option, I did check out the car that looks exactly like mine, but with a tan interior, at that used car lot by me. It's a 2003 with 178K miles on it. The body and interior is actually in better condition, except I do prefer the black interior. And if I get to keep my car, I could swap the interiors out, or do a black/tan combo. He wants $4900 for it, but will consider any reasonable offer. She's been sitting on his lot for almost 2 yrs, but she started right up. Doesn't run as nicely as mine does though. My concern is that it does have 178K on it, with a timing belt job on the horizon, and no real knowledge of it's history, except for a CarFax.

If the car's been on the lot for two years, you can be pretty ruthless with the price. No car lot wants to hold on to cars anywhere near that long. Have a pre-purchase inspection done, and make sure you lop off the price of a t-belt job. Even if it's been done on a reasonable schedule, it's probably due soon if there's no evidence it was just done.

 

When my Jetta was wacked I was able to beat the adjusters price by sourcing used parts at the junkyard. Saved me from having the car totaled. The local pick and pull at the time quoted me $50 for a door and 40 for a fender. I was even lucky enough to find the parts the same color. The good thing is that they sold 600k B5 Passats so finding parts isn't and issue. Tif the airbags deployed however you looking at considerably more

 

Hi.

So I received the amount the insurance company wants to pay. Approximately $4500.00, minus my deductible of $500. I'm trying to push for more, and waiting until the other driver's insurance co. to accept fault so I can also get the $500 at the same time.

If I keep the car they'll take about $380 from my total and do what I'd like to my car.

GT.

 

If I were you, I'd be heading back to that dealer.

The $380 would get you the wheels and black interior to swap over into the new-to-you car, if you wanted. It would also give you a spare good-running motor.

 

How ruthless do you guys think I can get? $3K, 3.5K?

Again, mileage and no real history are my main concerns. Besides the timing belt, what else could possibly be lurking? Do you think a pre-purchase inspection will reveal what needs to be done? The wife doesn't want to go near the car because it has 178K miles on it.

If I keep my old car, what should I look for with regard to possible engine damage from the top of the front driver's wheel getting hit?

Thanks!

GT.

 

Paid for my 2003 GLX V6 $4400 and I pretty much got the shaft without pre-inspection. It ran and test-drove nicely, but I jumped on it like there was no tomorrow and no cars left around, as on the same day I passed on an A4 with sludge in the engine I actually purchased on EBay. Go figure...
Among other things like badly leaking valve covers, welded front left side knuckle, I found gelled coolant in the block and oil in the cylinders. Purchased it with 127,500 on the clock.
The timing belt was replaced (looks very much new), but the water pump (plastic impeller), thermostat and tensioner/rollers were original.
Don't make a mistake like me to throw money away without a pre-inspection.
Beside the timing belt, with that many miles on the clock the PCV system could be full of gunk, hence needing replacement; the wheel bearings may start going bad if they weren't replaced yet; suspension + handling parts could be shot.
If you still consider buying it, then you definitely need to do a pre-purchase inspection and start driving the price down from there (sirwired said that you should be ruthless - I can't agree more)
Otherwise, just pass on it as Newman pointed out. That $ 4900 price is indeed astronomical for a 2003. I second his opinion knowing now how neglected a 2003 could be. Don't let yourself attracted by the shiny paint and still in great shape interior. It's what's under the hood and under the car that really gives it a realistic price tag.
Beware.

 

I would pass, sitting 2 years, racked with mileage, price is astronomical. For that price a full service history, and an odo with < 120k should be standard.