Not an F-150 question but hope someone can help. My son was in accident last week during Tropical Storm Allison here in Houston. He hit a pond on the tollway and spun out hitting the guard rail. He was not hurt. Damage to three corners of his car (Probe) and bent rear axle. Estimated cost of repairs exceeds State Farm limit for the book value of his car. Repairs would be about $5400. Most of the expense is due to need to repaint everything except the roof.
Not sure what the cutoff limit is. Body shop manager said State Farm cuts off repairs when it hits 65% of book value. IF they give him say $4500 for the car, does it make any sense to go ahead and have it repaired, paying the difference (about $900)out of our pocket? Just because it exceeded their limits, does that automatically make it a 'salvaged' title? If they give him a check for $4500 (or whatever) do they keep the car? What if we want to repair the car anyway? He really can't afford to buy a more expensive car right now. THe Probe was in great shape and ran fine. What should we do?
Thanks,
Ken

 

If you can get the car totaled out that would be better.

Ny friend had a Focus that he got into an accident with. He didn't search around his insurance company information or follow up on everything enough so couldn't total the vehicle out. But his initial estimate was around $9,000; when they got the car all fixed the total damages was almost $11,000. Which with a year old car and the amount of miles on the car that was at least 90% of the cost of the car, which should have been totaled out, but it didn't b/c it was not pursued enough.

The point - the whole rearend of the car and parts of the front were replaced, you figure with that many new parts the car would be good. Nope, were still uncovering problems and broken things that were not fixed. The car will never be the same again. So if your Probe has that much damage, you may want to think twice about fixing it.

Though most of the cost if more body damage in you case, 3 corners, body damage is no problem. But make sure it is a complete estimated, b/c if the rear axle is bent, who knows what else in the drivetrain line could be damaged.

 

Thanks, Captain. Good Advise!
Ken

 

With the Probes, the expenses get racked up REAL quick! Suspension damage is a pain to fix, not to mention it being a uni-body now possibly whacked out of alignment.

Another good place to post this would be at www.probetalk.com They have a similar format to this one, and are EXTREMELY knowledgable about Probes, MX-6s and Millennias.

Another idea... some insurance companies will let you total it out, then let you buy it back real cheap. Then, you could part it out, fix it, or do whatever you want with it. I know a lot of guys that would like to get their hands on Probe parts cars.

-Joe-


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98 Explorer (Lemon Law Case in Progress)

'00 F-150, X-cab, 4x4, Lariat, Off-road, Trailer Tow, Holandia Sunroof($1000), built 11/99 picked up 10/00!Clear Corners($36), Manik Stainless Steel 1-piece brush guard($700), Custom CB wiring, Uniden PC76-XLW CB radio($100) with K-40 Magna-Mount antenna (for now [$40]), 1 set of 165 watt KC Daylighters (for now... more on the way... $140) Fog Light Switch mod(free!!!), Custom switch mounting plate and overhead console, Bully Stainless Steel Trailer hitch drawbar w/ 2" stainless steel ball($80), Gray Tek Style Soft Tonneau Cover($250), Gray Line-X Bedliner ($450).
List of planned mods: Clear tails, torsion bar tweak, bug deflector, Chrome ORP rims.
93 Probe GT teal, OE rims painted to match, bone stock drivetrain, leaky exhaust.

 

Well, I was amazed that they gave us $8600 for the car. There was no way it could ever have been traded in for anything close to that. Excellent condition trade in blue book value was $5800. Gotta love it!