Help me decide - repair or scrap my son’s 100 series (1 Viewer)

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Bad week for Landcruisers in my home! 1st my 1988 FJ62 was destroyed by a tornado, and the following week, my sixteen year old rear ends an F150 in his 2001 TLC. I bought him the 100 series for the safety features and turns out a good decision as he was fine but F150 was totaled (bent frame). I found the 2001 in CO last summer after lengthy search. No rust, and 64,000 miles. I replaced the timing belt and all other deferred maintenance thinking he had this truck for a long time. He just invested in a new set of K02s. Truck was darn near perfect. Insurance totaled it saying it needs $13k worth of work. They are offering it me $13,600 for it or I can buy it from them and get $9300 and a salvage title (doable in TN). The car started fine, I could not open the hood to get a look at it. Doors open fine and actiually the front fenders seem ok too. Not interested in doing any of the work myself. Both front airbags deployed. Is it realistic to get it repaired for $9-$10k? I would want the airbags to work again, etc. One downside if fixing it besides the salvage title is I could only insure it for liability, Not the end of the world, but something to consider.

Thanks,

Ben

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Fix it! Or buy it back and sell it to someone who will. That looks like perfect candidate to fix up. Even better if the frame isn't bent, though it might be near the horns. Will probably need an aftermarket bumper like an ARB.
 
Yeah I would say get it fixed. But with regards to how much that will cost is something completely different if you are not doing the work yourself. Maybe get it and repair yourself (or having him do it) and then use as your daily driver? Sucks that you lost your 62.

Sure that you could find some salvage stuff to replace the hood and then the lights. Luckily glass doesn't look cracked on them so you may just have to get a new radiattor support that holds them as it seems that was bent with the hood. But good news is that the radiator is not leaking so there isn't major damage to it, and the fan was not shoved through it.
 
I’ve got a tan dash airbags and seatbelts to fix interior safety stuff that is not reusable. Low mileage rust free rig probably worth saving.
Parts put out of a 99.
 
Negotiate a better deal with Insurance Co for either option. Guessing you've got a minimum $7500 in (retail) repairs. So that makes $5500-6500 buy back. You can look up the basic parts and make a complete list: like hood, lights, front inner bracing, maybe kinked AC lines or damaged condenser ( there's prob more damage behind the hood we're not seeing) etc, figure $750 to paint the replacement hood and min 20 hrs labor ($125+ hr_ to put everything back together; adds up pretty quick. You could do it on your own much cheaper with used parts, but if you goal is to keep it- negotiate the buy back price to a more realistic figure. If you fix it, buy your kid a Crown Vic to bump into things with and keep the 100 for your self. Good luck
 
Sell me your TB's and rear springs.....In all seriousness I say repair it. I just went through a similar situation except my airbags didn't deploy. I plan on keeping my LX until it explodes so the resale value on a rebuilt title didn't bother me

Your's looks like more money to fix though as most of my damage was to the fender and lights/grill. I found a local guy with a small shop and had him bend back the fender and radiator support, repaint it and that was $1,500 just for labor (at $50/hour). I purchased all the parts and all in right now I'm sitting at about $1,700 in parts (including the $1,000 for my TJM bumper). I didn't end up having to buy a hood or fender though.

Sounds like you are getting way more money than I did after buy back so I say go for it.


EDIT

I see now that you don't plan on doing any of the work yourself, in my experience it was difficult to find a body shop that would work with me and not the insurance....so that may come into play
 
Bad week for Landcruisers in my home! 1st my 1988 FJ62 was destroyed by a tornado, and the following week, my sixteen year old rear ends an F150 in his 2001 TLC. I bought him the 100 series for the safety features and turns out a good decision as he was fine but F150 was totaled (bent frame). I found the 2001 in CO last summer after lengthy search. No rust, and 64,000 miles. I replaced the timing belt and all other deferred maintenance thinking he had this truck for a long time. He just invested in a new set of K02s. Truck was darn near perfect. Insurance totaled it saying it needs $13k worth of work. They are offering it me $13,600 for it or I can buy it from them and get $9300 and a salvage title (doable in TN). The car started fine, I could not open the hood to get a look at it. Doors open fine and actiually the front fenders seem ok too. Not interested in doing any of the work myself. Both front airbags deployed. Is it realistic to get it repaired for $9-$10k? I would want the airbags to work again, etc. One downside if fixing it besides the salvage title is I could only insure it for liability, Not the end of the world, but something to consider.

Thanks,

Ben

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That little bit of damage and both vehicles are totaled? Looks to me like the LC got the raw end of the deal...yet they still total the F150?

Reminds me of a couple years ago my wife rear ends someone in her Sonata...car was still running when I got there, I drove the car home...insurance totaled the car. It was only 6 months old. We pay way too much money for cars for them to be so easily "totaled". I understand the premise of cars being built around protecting the occupants in a crash....but dang...seems like recently there is a shift that fender benders happen and cars are totaled.
 
I'll be the dissenting opinion here. If I read your post correctly you will only be able to carry liability insurance on it if you take the salvage title and repair it. That's a problem, IMO. If you fix it then have another at fault crash you're SOL. The vehicle looks to be relatively easily fixable mechanically, but it sounds like the salvage title and insurance could screw you.

Would it be possible to negotiate with the insurance company to avoid a salvage title?
 
I'll be the dissenting opinion here. If I read your post correctly you will only be able to carry liability insurance on it if you take the salvage title and repair it. That's a problem, IMO. If you fix it then have another at fault crash you're SOL. The vehicle looks to be relatively easily fixable mechanically, but it sounds like the salvage title and insurance could screw you.

Would it be possible to negotiate with the insurance company to avoid a salvage title?

Does this vary by state? I'm almost positive I had this conversation with Progressive (Florida) and they said once I get the repairs approved by the DMV I can get the same coverage I had before (comp. and collision) Although the truck aint worth s*** to them anymore so I wouldn't get much
 
Honestly, if that's the best deal:
13,600 for it or 9,300 with buy back.

If you don't like/want to fix it yourself I would get the 13,600 back from insurance and buy another one, maybe a 2003 (a Land cruiser or an LX470) newer (for the 5 speed gearbox and if safety is a concern you have side airbags also), yes it might be a little over 13,600 a good example like yours but at the end of the day, it won't be a rebuilt title.
I understand that you did the timing belt and brand new KO2 and rust free and so on.
Realistically you'll end up with a 6,000 to 7,000 bill maybe a little bit more maybe a little bit less however a damaged and salvage title, so diminished value when you sell it.

If you were OK with doing the work yourself I would say repair it, it doesn't look that bad, to be honest with you, the dashboard is a pain to take apart and put it back together, but the rest it looks to be a fairly easy job, and some upgrades can be done like metal front bumper and so on.

At the end of the day I understand your concern and your appreciation for this LC however I think for your wallet buying another one is the right option.
 
I'd talk to the shop that came up with the $13k in repairs. Is the frame OK? How did they come up with $13k? Are there used donor vehicles around you can salvage parts from? Bottom line is that if you ever want to sell you will take a hit for a salvage title. If that puts cash in your pocket now and you like the truck, do it. If not, take the cash and buy another one.
 
I vote for take the money and run.

If you love the cruiser watch for it in the regional auction and pick it back up if it's going for very cheap. No matter how well it is rebuilt it will never have the same value with a branded title. There may be value there for a "flipper" but the profit comes from skimping on the work and dishonest sales disclosures. If you spent the 13K to fix it right you would still have a "rebuilt" vehicle.

Replacing the airbags and the seat belt tensioners will be expensive. The cracked windshield indicates deformation all the way at the firewall so I would inspect it very closely before deciding on the project. Check the fender/door gaps to see if they have closed.

I have enjoyed my 100 series for over 15 years and don't see replacing it anytime soon but I don't think the 100 will ever be the "Classic" that a 60 series is.
 
Next door over in AR. One of my cars was hit in the rear by a texting driver. The insurance company declared it a total loss. The company had a buy back program where I was able to keep the car for $300. So they issued a check for the total loss value less $300 allowance. The title didn't change hands so no salvage title blemish. No Car Fax record of the wreck or transaction. Although the rear was bashed in, the car could still be driven. I pulled off the recently purchased new tires sold the car with the damage to a friend of a friend. The new owner drove it for another 3 years and traded it for a new Tundra somewhere up in the St. Louis area.
 
ABSOLUTELY fix it man! thats a nice rig....low miles, you should be able to get the body work done for way less than what youre getting, of course i havent inspected it in detail but heck even if you had to replace the entire front clip and hood and new airbags that can be done well within the 9k!! that rig will last for years if properly maintained......
 

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