Crashed my T-5 last Thursday. Broadsided a left-turning driver, couldn't stop, hit his passenger side door pretty hard, spun him around and pushed him around fifty feet. Both air bags deployed, front end of car is pretty crushed, leaking engine oil, coolant, and whatever. My family and I all walked away without serious injuries, but car seems really hammered. Body shop said, "have you back on the road in one week", damage is $10,000 to $12,000. However, this was a "ballpark" estimate, at night, without any assessment of the mechanical damage to the motor, etc.

My concern is having the car repaired and the reliability of the safety systems in case of another crash.

Heard today that the two air bags alone will be in excess of $4,000 to replace.

Question: Is the V70 T5 repairable after a serious front end collision?

Is 10 to 12 k a realistic estimate given the obvious extent of the damages?

John,

I'm sorry to hear about your wreck. But, the car did what it was designed to do and saved you and yours from serious injury or worse.

The estimate sounds low to me. My '98 S70 was rear-ended and the final tab was much more than that. And, there are virtually no mechanical components in the back of a FWD.

It is true that the car will never regain resale value. Also, even the best body shop cannot duplicate the quality and durability of the factory finish.

However, my personal experience is that a good body shop can make the car as safe, solid, durable and rattle, squeak, etc. free as the factory.

So, your decision may be based on your intentions. If you really like the car and want to keep it for many years, then fix it. However, if you want to trade it in after a few years, I'd try to have the insurance company total it.

Don't know where you live, but I can wholeheartedly recommend J&J Body Shop in Ontario, Canada.

Best wishes,

Bryan

how ugly!! sorry to see that t-5 in that state,a good new body shop with up todate equipment will have her up and running in no time(looks a little more than 10k$ in damage though)but it's good to see you and your passangers walked out clean...

link to photo is http://wsphotofews.excite.com/001/60/Q3/ed/k134944.jpg

link to additional photos http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=8055024&photoID=8056344&security=knwQeQfZxT

A REALLY good shop can fix anything. Anything. They'll tell you the "it will never be right again" is not the case nowadays.

But frankly, it'll never be the same. It may be just as safe, look just as good, and if you're really lucky, it might not even rattle, but it'll never be the same.

Just my .02.

Yes, but I'm an optomist (really!) and belive if you get to a good shop you can fix anything except the resale value. This is the frustration.

I caused an accident 6 years ago in a Nissan Altima. I hit a pickup. It wasn't high-speed or anything, and the damage even looked subtle.

What looked like a few basic components came in as a $6500 estimate. The value of the car was $14k at the time, so the insurance company didn't total it. It ended up taking 5 weeks and cost $10k (including the rental car - $8500 without rental car). {rewired the electrical system, replaced the airbag, replaced the cooling system, and A/C.}

The Altima was replaced with a V70R, but it is still running strong. My brother-in-law hasn't had any problems with the car...no rattles even.

The problem was I couldn't sell it for anything. I was given a quote of $5k where it was really worth a lot more. The accident was what gave it such a bad resale value.

Pray you can get it totalled, get a new car and move on. That's my $0.02