Long time lurker here - infrequent poster
My 2004 GX 280k miles had the serious misfortune of being parked too near a motorhome that decided to catch fire this past week. Seems the gentleman who owns the motorhome thought it would be wise to leave his space heaters unattended.
My GX experienced melting of everything plastic on the driver’s side from front to back, and even around the back a little. The rear view mirror motor doesn’t work anymore, and the taillight is seriously melted. Most difficult to repair is the paint. It blistered and browned where the heat was greatest.
Insurance wants to total it rather than repair it, and I’m really disappointed, even though I understand that repairing a 21 year old car isn’t exactly logical. I had been looking forward to making some fun modifications to it and it was looking like this summer would finally be the time.
Anyone have any experience with this kind of damage? Is it worth keeping it as a salvage and repairing the plastic (minus the step - that could be replaced with sliders)? I had the local Lexus dealer do a safety inspection and they said all the damage is superficial, and I’ve driven it about 600 miles since then without any issues.
Thoughts?
My 2004 GX 280k miles had the serious misfortune of being parked too near a motorhome that decided to catch fire this past week. Seems the gentleman who owns the motorhome thought it would be wise to leave his space heaters unattended.
My GX experienced melting of everything plastic on the driver’s side from front to back, and even around the back a little. The rear view mirror motor doesn’t work anymore, and the taillight is seriously melted. Most difficult to repair is the paint. It blistered and browned where the heat was greatest.
Insurance wants to total it rather than repair it, and I’m really disappointed, even though I understand that repairing a 21 year old car isn’t exactly logical. I had been looking forward to making some fun modifications to it and it was looking like this summer would finally be the time.
Anyone have any experience with this kind of damage? Is it worth keeping it as a salvage and repairing the plastic (minus the step - that could be replaced with sliders)? I had the local Lexus dealer do a safety inspection and they said all the damage is superficial, and I’ve driven it about 600 miles since then without any issues.
Thoughts?