bootymax

Ok, so it finally happened....

On my commute Friday morning, a confused driver in front of me slammed on her brakes at what she thought was a red light....I never had a chance against her brand-new car's brakes. Since we were both braking, the nose of my car was down, and her rear end was up higher. So when we collided, my max ('95 GLE) took the brunt of the damage.

Now the even better part: In Ohio, in any rear-end accident, no matter what, the driver that hits from behind is always at fault and gets cited.

Now the best part: I have no collision insurance (long story).

So i'm waiting on the estimate from the body shop, but ballpark its looking at around $5k to fix. Broken radiator and condenser, broken headlights, mangled radiator support, hood is now about a foot and a half tall (crumpled), driver's side fender was pushed back somehow and prevented me from opening the drivers side door more than 8 inches or so.

I'm faced with a few options:
a) part out the car to try and salvage some value from it (airbags are intact)
b) pay the $5k to fix it
c) try to fix the drivability issues myself the best I can (radiator, hood etc)

Sorry for the long post, but I was just wondering what other maxima enthusiasts have done in similar situations. It is worth trying to part out the car? its a GLE with all the options in great shape....
Also, how difficult is fixing front end damage in a max? (I'm a moderately experienced mechanic, but i learn quickly).

Any ideas?

Thanks for reading all the way down here!

Jamsan

iTrader: (2)

seems like alot of stuff wrong...there is structural damage, so thats something you most likely cant fix yourself...that in itself will be a hefty amount....id most likely say part out what ya can, hope you can get a grand or 2 from it, then buy yourself a new max for 6-7 grand, or another car

araffio

iTrader: (9)

If you had collision I'd say:
go out and drive the car into a brick wall so the airbags deploy, then see if you can get your insurance company to declare it totalled and collect the money.

I think trying to fix some of the mechanical problems would be smart, to save on labor. As for body work, you know you can't do that and shouldn't try.

I'd say pay the 5k and take it like a man...

bootymax

Hey guys,

thanks for the replies. I took some pix of the car and put em up on a site if you're interested in checking them out. I got the estimate from the body shop yesterday. It's about $5000 like i thought. I think I can save a ton of money if I find parts on my own, so let me know if you have any you'd be willing to part with

http://booty00.dhs.org/images/car/

The images are pretty big, let me know if you want and I can make lower-res versions of them.

bootymax

You guys think there's any kind of frame damage in there?

Also, the body shop said the driver's side fender needed to be replaced....you think thats correct?

kingrukus

iTrader: (41)

Well it looks as if it was impacted above the frame, but still you should get a mechanic or a friend who is really knowledgable about cars to take a look at it.

MDubya

hey man.... really its not that bad
#1 get a pully and pull the front some.
#2 get the hood bent back and closed..
#3 i look kinda easy you only need 1 headlight and you dont need a bumper cover either..your fine....seriously..
OR>
#4 then get a few real estimates.....

I would fix it myself..youll appreciate your car more..I DO.

funmax

fix it your self and find the parts at car-part.com. all the part won't cost you more than 1g.

97maxinGA

could jus part out to ppl on here or on ebay