A woman with two kids in a '94 kia took out my girlfriend's 1983 blue wagon, yesterday, Friday 13th. The woman was pulling away from the police station (!) and, apparantly not looking, smashed into my girlfriend, Becky, as she was driving past at 25mph. Damage is all cosmetic. The headlight and washer fluid reservoir are all that broke...not sure about the breaks and suspension.

Becky contacted her insurance company before I arrived at the scene of the accident. So now I am wondering where to go with this... Insurance companies involved, I am guessing they will total the car and try to low ball us on the replacement cost...after all it is a 1983 car with 256,000 miles on it. The car is weathered, but has brand new tires and a few other new parts which I would want to get off of it, but more than that I would love to grab other valuable parts like the AMM, and relays, computer unit. What else can I get off the car that would be worth it? It has to be done fast, because it is parked on the city street.

I read DAVESHAN's post about his accident in June of 2003 and seems similar. Dave if you are out there, I would love to benefit from any lessons you learned in going through your situation. I am in Los Angeles, so same California laws will apply to me. (p.s. I'm a big fan of your websites)

Ultimately I would be happy to get $1500 or thereabouts and get to keep the car which I could dismantle as much as possible and sell for scrap. ...or should I just rip the parts out now before the ins company comes. Then they can haul it away and I'll have some good parts to sell off.

Thanks,

Ryan
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1989 244 Silver Sedan, 1983 245 Blue Waggon

Yeah, they will prolly total it. Alas, in this soft used car market, $1500 may be a bit much to expect, though if you have a lot of recent receipts, that could be ammo to get you close. I say ask for $1k, keep the car, get a junkyard fender and lights, bolt it back on and keep on driving. From the pic, I don't believe there's any frame damage. A quick check from driving (does it still track straight?) should indicate whether the suspension got tweeked.

To get it reregistered with a "salvage" title (which may not even occur, depending on how much paperwork their insurance company wants to do), all you need is a brake (be able to stop from 20mph) and light inspection (all working and headlights aimed correctly) from a gold shield station, and $50 to the DMV for inspection (VIN check).

-- Kane
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While I would never deliberately mislead anyone, take into consideration that any information and advice provided was at no cost to you.