I was just recently in a car accident where the rear bumper was taken off my car, side panel dented all to hell, busted tail light, and some alignment issues.. other party solely responsible for the accident.

in purchasing a NEW car (likely scion tC), would i be better suited to trade my car in as-is, without repairing anything (repairs estimated around $1500) or spend money on repairs and then trade it in?
the damaged car in question is a 1998 honda civic lx 4dr w/ 130,000 miles on it so it's not worth all that much to begin with...

thanks guys

 

I suggest that you find out how much will you get if you trade in the damaged car. You also need to find out how much will it worth after fixing it. If (repaired car - repair cost) > trade in cost then you repair it. It also depends on how much time you have and how much profit you get by fixing the car. Otherwise trading in the damaged car may be better. But typically, dealers always give you low price for trade in.

 

If the other party is responsible... wouldn't it make sense to have their insurance pay for the repairs and THEN trade it in? What are you going to be paying for?

 

I would file the insurance claim and have the other person pay for the damages and get a blue book value

ACTUALLY I just got your private party blue book value for you... http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.u...vic&8;HO;CC&&&
$4755
and used car trade in value... http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.u...0Civic&8;HO;CC - $3230

I can bet if you brought it to the dealership in it's condition now they'd give you pennies on the dollar, probably $1000 and if it got fixed, probably $2000. I would not trade in any car unless I had to because of the difference in blue book and trade in actual price.

I would get it repaired and put it online for sale, in local papers and get a quote from a known-to-be-close to KBB place like Carmax. Also spend the $50-100 to have it professionally detailed, the paint/engine LOOK ALONE can get you a much higher trade in/selling value. Older civics are good on the market because they're quality cars for low money.

I think it would be worth the few extra THOUSAND dollars you would get for the car, and even at a later date you could just mail a check to Toyota and put every penny you get for the car towards your new car.

PLEASE don't get lazy and just toss it to a dealership for a grand, maybe two. That's how they make all their money on trade ins, if they can't sell it for profit, they sell it to someone who can, and they STILL make a ton of profit off of everyone's unwillingness to do a little selling of their own.

 

Dealerships are crap! on trading in your car. You are better of fixing it and selling it on the street! Or through that autobuyers magazine. You will get so much more money out of it. I was going to trade in my previous car it was a chevy cavalier (ick) 125,000 miles it's a 97 dealer wanted to give me $500 bucks..i said PASHA!! I know it was worth more then that...i think at the time if i sold it on the street i could get $3,500 for it! but i decided to give it to my mom, that way i could still use it and put miles on that car and not my tC...BWAHAHA!!!

 

This is what i would do.

File a claim with his insurance company, chances are the damage will outweight the value of the car and the car will be totaled, total loss. They will cut you a check for blue book value and you can use that as a downpayment. Total loss is usually when the damage is 2/3rds the cars overal value (blue book)

Or option number 2, claim with his insurance company, take the money dont fix the car, sell the car in the paper or on ebay as a damaged car, take the money from both and use that as a downpayment.

I would not trade in a wrecked car, you can tell by looking when a car has been repaired from a wreck, that will knock down the trade price quite a bit.

 

This advice sound logical to me.

 

If there's any frame damage to the car even if it's repaired you're gonna have a hard time finding a dealer to buy it... I'd get the other person's insurance company to fix all the damage then try to sell the car private party yourself. That's just my $.02

 

it really depends on the dealer you goto, all dealers are going to be different. some of them will pick the car apart and find everything wrong with it..

other's will just see the car, open the door, check the miles on the ODO, and that's all.

when I traded in my eclipse, there was a dent in the door (a rather large one), the driver's seat had a hole in it, the paint was fading, the A/C didn't work at all, and didn't run very smoothly at all. they never even started the car!

they ended up giving me $200 less then what KBB was saying.

if your cars in bad condition, they aren't going to put it on their used car lot, they're going to auction it off.. it's really not worth fixing just to trade it in.

 

well heres the deal at this point:

insurance hooked up $1200 check for repairs

actual repair estimate is ~$1500

bodyshop offered me $500 for the car as-is.
going to take it by the dealership tonight and see what they'll give me for it, if anything.

so we're looking at roughly $1700 total from insurance and throwin it to the bodyshop.

i could fix and sell later but i dont see myself getting much more than $2500-3000 MAX for it to a private party.

also, my driveway is already full up on cars (4) so theres no real room to let it sit and wait to find someone who wants a car that's been beat on for 130,000 miles for an extra $1000. it could sit there for weeks...

what would you guys do at this point?

appreciate all the responses!

 

id try to get the body shop to pay you at least 800 for it,

 

If you're in a No-Fault insurance state (like Michigan), then it was your Ins Co that gave you $300 less than estimate, even there's no deductable when it's the OGF.

ADVICE #1: Drop that Insruance Company

ADVICE #2: If dealer offers $500 or more, try to bump them up by $100

ADVICE #3: Shop it around to other body shops

ADVICE #4: Now that your've spent another two or three days anguishing over what amounts to maybe an extra $5/month tacked onto your payment, unload the thing and be done with it!