My friend says they didn't replace the frame, too expensive... Did they?

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: brblx

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: brblx
it's not like pieces of the unibody can't be cut out and replaced, though. you can typically even buy things like quarter skins through the dealer.

Quarter panels are not exactly load bearing sections. No reputable collision shop would chop up a unibody car and weld it back together and give it back to the customer. That's asking for a multi-million dollar lawsuit the next time the car is in an accident and it gets ripped apart at the welds.

i wasn't implying they cut the car in half. but some people in this thread seem to think that if a car is hit in the rear, it's totaled, period, which is just not true.

Not at all - but if it's hit hard enough to render a significant portion of the unibody structurally unsound..

Often the damage in a decent collision is repairable but by the time you've put in the work to make the car anywhere close to where it was before the accident you've spent more than the car is worth. Serious body work gets pricey very quickly and at some point its just cheaper to total the car and get a new one.

 

[sandorski]

Peoples ability to remember is quite dodgy when asking for details. She either just doesn't remember it correctly or possibly just misunderstood what was told to her at the time(especially possible if she has no knowledge of cars).

 

[fleabag]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Peoples ability to remember is quite dodgy when asking for details. She either just doesn't remember it correctly or possibly just misunderstood what was told to her at the time(especially possible if she has no knowledge of cars).

Well considering how she was able to explain to me in pretty good detail about how they dealt with the problem the first time and then the second time, I'd have to believe her interpretation of what happened. Though one thing to put a hole in what she knows is that I think these people are lying to her to make her feel better because one time she brought her car in b/c of a MIL on her dash, they told her it was some other strange "complicated issue" but when I examined the report, it made it somewhat clear (used a lot of words to describe) that basically the gas cap was loose!

Do you think my insurance company would have the records of who was the body shop that worked on the car and or what they did to the car? I would like to know what EXACTLY they did to her car.

 

[Eli]

Generally, if the damage exceeds 50-60% the value of the car, it will be totalled.

Doing bodywork on that scale would be very, very expensive. I would assume the insurance company and/or the bodyshop has complete records of what was done. Call 'em up and request a copy.

I know a Focus isn't really comparable to a Lexus, but when my Focus was totalled.. it was only a ~25mph accident where I t-boned someone that proceeded from their stop sign without looking. The damage was on the order of 6,000$, and the car was totalled. There was no frame damage.

Had there been any frame damage, the car would have unquestionably been totalled.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: fleabag

Originally posted by: sandorski
Peoples ability to remember is quite dodgy when asking for details. She either just doesn't remember it correctly or possibly just misunderstood what was told to her at the time(especially possible if she has no knowledge of cars).

Do you think my insurance company would have the records of who was the body shop that worked on the car and or what they did to the car? I would like to know what EXACTLY they did to her car.

Yes.