Quit talking about alignment, the term is frame straightening.
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If these people think they can just buy it back from the insurance and drive it without doing any work they are in for a big surprise.
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Without looking at it youâre taking a big risk advising this friend about what they should do with the Kia. What if they drive it and something goes very wrong? Accident? Injuries?
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Iâm no expert, but I simply donât buy this.
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Insurance says they will give it liability coverage so if they run into someone or the car has a failure that causes an accident, it will be covered. It is paid off and will have been totaled so there is no comprehensive available for it.
Here is how I understand it.
-If they buy it back and a tree falls on it, insurance will not cover. It will be scrap and the ownerâs responsibility to get hauled off.
-If they buy it back and get in an accident at their fault, insurance will cover the liability to the occupants and other cars/occupants but the car itself is not covered. The car will be scrap if damaged badly enough.
It is like buying a house where flood insurance has already paid out for a flood claim. You wonât be able to insure it for flooding again but other types of insurance might apply. Unfortunately this causes some flooded properties to strangely catch fire after being damaged by water although that is an old trick no one will see past.
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Either way, this isnât my car or my decision. If one of mine got totaled, I have extras and would probably just drive one of those and take the money for the total with the price of cars at this time.
Any car with a salvage/rebuilt title will be difficult to sell and the price the insurance company is offering them for it will probably exceed the cash they get later on selling it with rebuilt title.
My vote is also with those take the money, maybe make a huge house payment with the money or put it in heir 401k
You believe that? It was broad sided at a high rate of speed but the doors still open and close?
Itâs just another one of those silly things people believe, like the one where cars in the 80s had shock absorbing bumpers where you could run in to something up to 30 MPH and drive away with no damage. The one where people believe it is safer to not use a seat belt because they will be thrown out through the windshield in an accident seems to still being going around.
Wait, a Kia with 160,000 miles? Did I read that right? It was all pretty much done with anyway. Tell the friend to take what they can get and have fun.
I am thinking that long term this might not be the best decision but the people are not in the position to replace the car at this point.
I did call him to get some clarification. It was more of a glancing head-on side swipe where the cars hit at a pretty shallow angle from each other. Obviously she is lucky to have come through this as well as she did with no injuries at all.
He read the report about the car. All the damage is cosmetic but it needs ALL NEW body panels down the right side of the car, from the very front to the very rear. The frame was shown to be straight but an alignment was suggested if it were to be kept or repaired properly. The doors do seal and close normally with no whistles or anything.
Neither of us had time to talk long but I bet this thing will really start to rust if he doesnât at least try to touch it up a tad. Either way, it probably isnât a long-term thing for them to keep around.
I know that there were some dud Kia models. Does this have one of the engines that tends to let go after a bit? It is the V6.
Tell her she might want to get an alignment check, itâs usually pretty quick and inexpensive, to see if something is way off.
I have done a 270 spin in one of my cars, no post spin issues.
Have participated, as an observer, in both vehicles performing a PIT maneuver they had reenforced numbers, no damage.
So yes a car can spin without suspension damage.
OTH, my car was hit by a van running a stop sting. I donât know their speed, I was doing 55. We were hit where the drivers door meet the front fender, our car went off at 45 degree to the direction of travel, briefly airborne. Car was totaled.
I think if they do buy the thing back which they plan to do, it will just be getting an alignment without any questions. The tires on it were pretty much new when it was hit. It think they were the Goodyears only sold at Wal-Mart which might be a cheapened grade but still not cheap enough to just wear out for no reason.
If keeping this thing saves them 3 car payments in the short term, I donât think it is the most horrible idea if the damage is as they state.
Go back and read MY responses. I think itâs pretty clear what I believe.
Regardless, your version of events is not plausible either.
If his wife loves the car, buy it back, put it on cement blocks in the back yard. She can ârideâ in it whenever she wants.
It sounds like it was more of a low-angle but high speed side swipe when I asked him for clarification. The entire right side needs new body panels but the doors/windows open and close just fine with no new whistles or wind noise.
I may have missed it-have they had it inspected? Before they buy it back they need to make sure there isnât any significant structural damage. More than just a âlooks okâ kind of thing.
This was a full on analysis by the insurance company so I would think they would have checked that out. They CAN get insurance for it after this analysis so I think insurance would want to make sure they have a safe car on the road before insuring it. It is the same company that is going to pay out on this as well.
I think it went on a frame machine and was looked at that way. Somehow none of the lights got busted out.
Are these Kias not known for being more than a 200,000 mile car? Someone commented here that 160K out of one is about all you can expect. Besides this wreck I donât know if any issues like oil consumption or any of that.
Was that the haunted car on the twilight zone? Whoever owned it had to tell the truth. Then they sold it to Nikita. Iâve got a better idea.
You said you didnât have it figured out either. You just said that here has to be more damage if it got flipped around. A car can be flipped around from a side impact. See the video here: https://youtu.be/RoatUoy-euU?t=384
The white car in this one might be still drivable: https://youtu.be/RoatUoy-euU?t=422