[DougRz]

*Is this the best sub-forum? Move if not, thanks.

Slid off an icy road and into a chain link fence. What concerns me is the damage to the lower sill below the doors that appears one piece with the entire rear quarter panel, roof, B pillar, etc. Is this car just one huge metal shell? Seems like the sill is a difficult section to pound straight, and it appears non-replaceable, being welded to the lower subframe. It's basically the bottom of the B-pillar, which of course is one piece with the roof.

The entire front bumper was nearly ripped off on the pull out as well. I was able to lodge it back into place and it's held by bungee at the moment. But it suffered breaks and good mangling and is in need of complete replacement as well.

 

[arathol]

Close ups don't show much. Pics of the entire car with the damage in context would be better.:dunno:

 

[MrBen]

I doubt there's enough damage to warrant a complete write off. That location is the stiffest part of the car.

 

[DougRz]

Additional photo added to OP.

 

[arathol]

Might be half the value of the car give or take. Depends on what the body shop actually finds under that rocker panel and if the body structure is damaged. Some things the insurance company just won't allow to be repaired. If a piece has to be cut and pasted into that part of the cage chances are it will be either quite expensive or outright disallowed.
Considering how the front fascia was pulled off there could also be some damage behind the bumper. Radiator supports bend, the grill mounted radar sensors if your car has them are very expensive to replace, wiring harnesses get torn up, it adds up fast unfortunately. No telling what else was damaged in the front end either by the recovery effort. Without actually seeing the hidden damage its quite difficult to tell if its totaled or not.

 

[Mike C]

Looking at the panel gaps , I'd say in Australia it would be written off but our labour costs are very high.

I also have an MB , and here they are automatically written off whenever the side impact airbags deploy.

 

[DougRz]

First estimate was $7400 to $8900. The difference due to potential frame damage under the B pillar sheet metal and rocker that cannot be determined at this time. If that holds at other places, this will not be a total.

Anyone have thoughts on the worth of this selling myself? 32k mi, 2016, i Touring, manual. Am considering taking a payoff, selling, and finding another. Am not thrilled about keeping a $9k repair car long term.

 

[arathol]

First estimate was $7400 to $8900. The difference due to potential frame damage under the B pillar sheet metal and rocker that cannot be determined at this time. If that holds at other places, this will not be a total.

Anyone have thoughts on the worth of this selling myself? 32k mi, 2016, i Touring, manual. Am considering taking a payoff, selling, and finding another. Am not thrilled about keeping a $9k repair car long term.

There is no "frame" as such. The body itself is considered a protective structure around the passenger compartment and is sort of like unibody cars of the past. If it is actually damaged it may or may not be repairable depending on what the insurance company allows. If the repairs will compromise the integrity of the structure it may not be allowed or the car may need to have a rebuilt or salvage title.
So, your car around here would sell for ~$13k or so, thats what the dealer has them priced at. Now, with damage totaling 75% of the ACV you'll have to take whatever you can get, and with a salvage title probably even less. I hope your car loan has gap coverage just in case......

 

[gregersonke]

It's over 50 percent the value of the car. Not to mention, a hit like that and the car may never drive the same or it may drive better. But it's a fair bit of damage none the less. I'd probably total it, buy it back from insurance and part it out as you've got at least 6k worth of parts on the car.

 

[Anturant]

*Is this the best sub-forum? Move if not, thanks.

Slid off an icy road and into a chain link fence. What concerns me is the damage to the lower sill below the doors that appears one piece with the entire rear quarter panel, roof, B pillar, etc. Is this car just one huge metal shell? Seems like the sill is a difficult section to pound straight, and it appears non-replaceable, being welded to the lower subframe. It's basically the bottom of the B-pillar, which of course is one piece with the roof.

The entire front bumper was nearly ripped off on the pull out as well. I was able to lodge it back into place and it's held by bungee at the moment. But it suffered breaks and good mangling and is in need of complete replacement as well.

Since everyone else has answered you... im going to ask for a moment of silence for this wonderful vehicle....

 

[arathol]

It's over 50 percent the value of the car.

Irrelevant in this case. I believe the OP is in CO, so the standard is 100% of the vehicles value to total it.

 

[crustycurmudgeon]

Curious to see the follow-up to this. Did it get fixed? Totaled?

 

[DougRz]

Curious to see the follow-up to this. Did it get fixed? Totaled?

I just got it back yesterday, June 15. $7300 in repairs. The center pillar was cut out, both doors replaced, fender and headlight assembly replaced, front bumper and grille replaced, and various other bits.

Anyone know when this info appears on Carfax? Loss in value for that will be major I'm sure.

 

[paris1]

I just got it back yesterday, June 15. $7300 in repairs. The center pillar was cut out, both doors replaced, fender and headlight assembly replaced, front bumper and grille replaced, and various other bits.

Anyone know when this info appears on Carfax? Loss in value for that will be major I'm sure.

Loss in value has become a real thing in recent years with the advent of Carfax reporting and escalation of accident damage and repair costs. The 2013 CX-5 I recently sold to get into my new Mazda 3 was in a rear-end accident about three years ago which cost $10k to repair and it wasn't even that catastrophic. At the time, I considered going after the insurer for LOV, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. The repairs were done right and the car was in pristine condition when I listed it for sale in March of this year. Long story short, it was obvious from the lack of response I got that the negative Carfax report made a real difference in its salability and I ended up not getting near what I thought the car was worth (it had less than 50k miles in 6+ years). I think if I had it to do all over again, I would make the effort to pursue LOV reimbursement from the insurance company.

 

[Datsun1600]

When I'm shopping for used cars I pay very close attention to whether the vehicle has been in an accident or not. I value zero accidents pretty highly. I probably shouldn't paint all car accidents with a broad brush like that, but typically no one takes the time to explain the type of accident (how the car was hit) and the types of repairs that were made. So I assume the worst and fear long term driveability issues. Getting rear ended is probably one of the least concerning.

 

[MrBen]

I just got it back yesterday, June 15. $7300 in repairs. The center pillar was cut out, both doors replaced, fender and headlight assembly replaced, front bumper and grille replaced, and various other bits.

Anyone know when this info appears on Carfax? Loss in value for that will be major I'm sure.

Since you have a picture of the damage. It looks minor, but the repairs were insanely high. Over $2,000 claim on Carfax. Selling the car should be easy.

 

[DougRz]

Pretty sobering about loss of value. Perhaps I should sell it now before the Carfax info hits the system? I rationalize by knowing the damage is literally sheet metal and unrelated to running gear or mechanicals. Yet it seems a dirty move.

How would pursuing insurance for LOV work? Seems impossible to quantify ahead of a sale. Also depends on when a sale takes place. LOV being larger now vs when end of life at 200k miles.

 

[paris1]

Pretty sobering about loss of value. Perhaps I should sell it now before the Carfax info hits the system? I rationalize by knowing the damage is literally sheet metal and unrelated to running gear or mechanicals. Yet it seems a dirty move.

How would pursuing insurance for LOV work? Seems impossible to quantify ahead of a sale. Also depends on when a sale takes place. LOV being larger now vs when end of life at 200k miles.

There's a guy online who's service I was using. He walks you through the process for (I believe) a couple hundred buck and explains all the ins and outs up front. It's all kind of a PITA, but it's probably doable if you're determined enough. I lost my momentum halfway through the process and, as I said above, took it in the shorts when it came time to sell a couple of years later. Google "loss of value insurance claims" if you want to learn more.

 

[Mike C]

Pretty sobering about loss of value. Perhaps I should sell it now before the Carfax info hits the system? I rationalize by knowing the damage is literally sheet metal and unrelated to running gear or mechanicals. Yet it seems a dirty move.

How would pursuing insurance for LOV work? Seems impossible to quantify ahead of a sale. Also depends on when a sale takes place. LOV being larger now vs when end of life at 200k miles.

Given the huge number off used Mazda's on the market, it would take a big discount for me to consider any with accident damage in their history, no matter how perfectly repaired.

 

[paris1]

Given the huge number off used Mazda's on the market, it would take a big discount for me to consider any with accident damage in their history, no matter how perfectly repaired.

That was another factor for sure in why I didn't get more for my 2013 CX-5 than I did. There were so many Craigslistings for CX-5s of all years that you could get one 2 years newer than mine for the about the same price. Of course that says nothing of the condition they were in (compared to my cream puff), but just getting someone to look at mine once the word "collision" was mentioned proved very difficult. Mazda has done a great job flooding the market with low cost lease cars which come back after 2-3 years and screw up the resale market for the rest of us. Not that they're alone in these practices!