Car Accident, Is It Worth Fixing?

[greg67]

Last week, my wife had a nasty accident that left my car seriously damaged... Luckily she escaped without major injuries and, after a night in hospital, was allowed to go home. I'd like to ask you, fellow members for a constructive advice about the situation I'm facing: Since we didn't have a 1st Class insurance, is it worth fixing this car? It is 4 year old Ford Ranger with 100.000 KM and the price of repair was estimated at about 150.000 Bath.. The frame and the engine were not damaged and according to "experts" it looks much worse than it really is.. I'm currently outside Thailand and can't inspect the car myself. I'd like to hear your constructive input and honest opinion.

[Gary A]

A friend of mine had a fairly new Isuzu 4X4. He went nose first down into a cement culvert then rolled it besides. Steering box, front suspension and the frame were badly damaged. I told him it was junk and certainly the insurance company would consider it as a total loss. SURPRISE! The insurance company refused to call it a total and had it repaired. Three years later he is still driving it. He says it is not the same as before but not too bad considering how bad it was damaged. For 150,000, I'd fix it, drive it a while and trade it off. The replacement parts will not be original equipment and won't last near as long as the originals.

[chinthee]

I had a truck ruined in the Tsunami. Completely flooded inside and out and thrown into our house. A real mess. Insurance company insisted on fixing it. Never was right after that. We sold it later. I was told the seawater salt could eat through hoses and everything eventually.

Goes to show you never know what you're buying with a used car in Thailand. Lots and lots of flood damaged vehicles out there too.

[thai4u]

here is the reason why we should not buy second hand here..

R U FOR REAL ?! . . .

[stevemiddie]

No.

[taxexile]

frightening how it folded up , especially the a-pillar on the passenger side.

glad to hear your wife was relatively unhurt.

if a garage say they can repair it , then they will be only too happy to buy the wreck from you.

if it were me , i would sell the wreck and move on. be shot of the thing.

[moo9]

Last week, my wife had a nasty accident that left my car seriously damaged... Luckily she escaped without major injuries and, after a night in hospital, was allowed to go home. I'd like to ask you, fellow members for a constructive advice about the situation I'm facing: Since we didn't have a 1st Class insurance, is it worth fixing this car? It is 4 year old Ford Ranger with 100.000 KM and the price of repair was estimated at about 150.000 Bath.. The frame and the engine were not damaged and according to "experts" it looks much worse than it really is.. I'm currently outside Thailand and can't inspect the car myself. I'd like to hear your constructive input and honest opinion.

In Thailand the repair anything, at home that car would be on the scrapyard immediately. It doubt that they could get it back to a halfway original state.

Happy to read that your wife could escape without major injuries. The car looks really bad.

Good luck.

[goldfish]

Throw it in the bin. If someone wishes to give you money for it then fine. As one poster mentioned, a very good reason not to buy secondhand. The thought of that thing being driven again is scary

[John 1]

She's one lucky lady it must have been a big tree she hit.

A 4 year old ford would be worth approx 300,000 if lucky, I would sell the wreck if you can get 50,000bt buy a new pick up a lot of deals around at this time with low deposit and cheap finance.

[Murf]

It looks pretty well gone!!

Definitely a 'write off' back in the UK.

[madjbs]

I honestly thought this was a joke when I looked at those photos and then read the Post! It will probably never be the same again, get rid of it as quick as you can.

[colino]

these cab's are designed to crumple on impact so it will look alot worse than it really is , not sure if i would have the work done unless it was repaired by a Ford dealership ,

FORD = FIX OR REPAIR DAILY

[teejay]

jesus man trash it. the structure has been seriously compromised. if you fix it and have the same accident, you will not survive i assure you. I can't even believe that thailand allows the fixing of such cars... it's dangerous to the driver and all people on the road.

trash it and buy a new car. it will never be the same, and your/your wife's life is more important than money... at least that goes for me.

but if you are of the buy cheap tyre set, then go ahead and fix her and cross your fingers everyday and hope you don't run into a SAAB!

[onnut]

yeah, you could get it fixed. there is worse on the road. but think about it! how much do you love your wife? would you let her drive it again once it has been "fixed"? better and safer to get rid of it.

like one poster said, buy a new one. very cheap downpayment and as little as 7-8K a month.

you cant let your wife drive that mate...........

[bob4you]

You didn't say what happened so my guess is wife was at fault. Maybe good idea to not let her drive the new one either. LOL