So I have an 06 Sebring and about two weeks ago I slid on some ice, over corrected and ended up spinning off the road and slammed into some trees. I was going about 60 on the highway when I spun off. The car got hit right between the driver and back door, more so on the back door than anything. The bottom part of my driver door is smashed in so I can’t even open it. Same with the back door. my dumb self didn’t have insurance on it and I still owe about 4000 on it so I’d like to fix it if it isnt more than the cars worth but idk if they can even fix that if I damaged the frame. Any ideas if it would be or not? and the rest of the car isn’t that messed up, I got it towed to my house and my sister drove it into the garage with no problems but I’m sure there’s some damage there but that’s a question for another time
Photos would be nice.
That’s what it looks like
These are probably better
Is that the only damage or is there more?
Is the roof pushed upward?
Is that rocker panel pushed in? And down?
That roof area and the metal behind the rocker panel are structural parts of the vehicle’s unibody. If those are damaged, the vehicle will never roll right again. Seeing how the rear door hinges are pushed up (meaning the B-pillar is pushed in), and looking as best I can see at the rocker panel area, I’d say the car is damaged beyond repair. The roof area will be pushed upward, the rocker panel pushed downward (both by the straightening of the B-pillar pushing them apart in a process called “splaying”) and inward.
Sorry, but from what I can ascertain from the photos the car is totaled.
The reason your sister could drive it onto the garage without a problem is because it’s front wheel drive. The drivetrain is completely contained in the front. You could actually cut the car in half behind the B-pillar, put a dolly wheel on the rear end (fixed so it doesn’t rotate) hook up a beer-barrel gas tank, cap the rear brake lines, and drive it around a parking lot. I’ve actually seen this done. But that does not mean it can ever be roadworthy again.
That’s all the damage, that’s the only part of the car that took the hit. the roof isn’t raised up but the driver door isnt sitting on the car right and is lower so it looks like it is. looking from inside the car the b pillar isn’t pushed in but I can’t be sure how it is until I take the doors off but idk if it’s even worth me trying to get the doors off to check. The rocker panel is pushed in and down kind of. I mean I only need it to get to my jobs both are in less than 10 miles from my house and on street roads and I’m not driving anywhere else seeing as how I’m losing my license
Here’s more
If the damage doesn’t extend into the roof or into the structure in back of the rocker panels, it is probably repairable. However, decent-quality bodywork isn’t cheap nowadays.
I would suggest that you take it to a body shop or two for their assessment/estimate.
More than likely, when you hear how much it will cost to repair, you will decide not to repair it.
Get prices from a salvage yard to replace both doors. If you can afford them, then the next step is get those damaged doors off the car. Now you can see the damage to the pillar, roof, rocker panels, etc. To me this looks like a job beyond what a diy’r can do.
Leave it alone and drive it as is. If you take the doors off, you might well find you can’t get them back on again without fixing the body damage, and that’s beyond the capabilities of a guy in his home garage.
And get insurance. There’s no excuse for not having it. Society is fortunate that you only screwed yourself in this case, but if you’d hit someone else, they’d have taken the financial hit because of your irresponsibility.
“if you’d hit someone else, they’d have taken the financial hit because of your irresponsibility.”
In the short-term, that is absolutely correct.
However, if a victim of the OP was to bring suit against him for bodily damage, pain & suffering, etc., he could well be looking at a lifetime of having his salary attached in order to satisfy the damage award resulting from the other person’s lawsuit.
@randomname–If you can’t afford to insure your car, you can’t afford to drive, given the financial liability in which you are placing yourself.
I hope the OP means they did not have collision insurance and not any insurance. The statement they made about losing their license but can use city streets and will not drive anywhere else doesn’t mean they intend to drive without a license.
I get that, had I hit somebody I’d have probably killed myself and let my life insurance handle that. but I’m aware I shouldn’t drive without insurance. Thank you for stating the oh so obvious
well, if you are honest about your lawbreaking it s not so bad. when I was a young single dad I had to choose between car insurance and rent and food more than once. guess which one I did without…
excuse me while I go burn a doobie…
Don’t come on a forum full of responsible people and admit that you were irresponsible and expect not to be called on it.
If it were that obvious, you’d have been insured.
BTW, life insurance policies don’t generally pay out on suicides.
well, I appreciate your honesty, it speaks well of you. you didn t have to mention that at all…
I could make a suicide look like murder lol I wasn’t trying to be rude. I get that it was completely irresponsible of me, I don’t condone it and I never should have driven when I didn’t have it. and anyways thanks for all the helpful info
and if the car is fixable, I’d get insurance and then driving privelages just to get to work. I don’t even want to drive again after the accident I had. I made a huge mistake in not having everything I should as a driver on the road, dealing with the consequences of that decision now cause from what you’re all telling me I’m in the hole for a few grand…
You seem to have learned from your mistake. That’s good. The other good news is that this sucks right now, but in 10 years it will be utterly insignificant as far as your financials go. It’s a relatively cheap lesson - especially if the car still drives properly. You’ll have to drive a bashed up car for awhile until you can afford to replace it, but worse things have happened.
Basically, take the car for a test drive, or have someone who knows about cars do it. If it drives fine, you don’t need to fix anything except for being able to get in and out of the door, which can often be fixed with some creative applications of force. If it doesn’t drive fine, then you’ll have to either get it fixed or park it until you can.
Unfortunately here in NH - insurance is optional. And many people who do have insurance have way too little. Someone hits you in NH and does serious damage…there’s a good chance they won’t have enough insurance to cover the damages (especially if bodily damage or death). That’s why I have uninsured/under insured coverage.