matguy

Asking for Insurance settlement opinions: 1998 SC400 160k miles, was otherwise decent except for a rear bumper wavy-ness from a parking lot thump last year. They offered me $4550 payout, $220 less if I want to keep it (the bumper issue cost me $139.)

I paid about $7k for it from a dealership with 120k miles just short of 2 years ago.

The damage is not -that- bad. It's in the front, someone came out in front of me in an intersection. My airbags did not go off, but it bent the driver's quarter (no crease, it might be flatten-able), bent headlight brackets, broke one of the high-beam lights, ripped the bumper cover, and bent the support bar behind. Cosmetically it probably wouldn't take much to fix, though the hood seems to be slightly off. Either the front plastic won't let it go down all the way and keeps it pushed funny, or the whole front is tweaked. I think I can just loosen the bolts that hold the fenders on and straighten everything out once the nose is off. It didn't look like the radiator supports got hit, but one AC coolant tube got kinked (AC still works.) It drives perfectly fine other than a bit of wheel-well rub when turning sharp right (I think.) I don't doubt that insurance level repairs would rack up a bill more than the car is worth.

Here's the rub, I can't find much comparable (98+, under 180k miles) for less than $6k, and that's across the country, nothing within 800 miles on normal sites (I'm near Seattle.) And others seem to swing between there and $10k+. And they won't send me the samples they used to base price on; they could have been messed up in other ways even though the milage was similar.

I did find a few on Craigslist out of my area, but they were also pretty high other than one for $2000 down in Oregon that was strategically missing certain pictures, doesn't tell mileage, has a salvage title, and has a very brief description; although maybe it'd be a good donor car. The font end looked OK, it's black with black interior, though no actual pictures of the interior.

There is one I found on AutoTrader in Cincinnati for $6k it seems nice, though it may have a CEL on, hard to tell from the pics. It does have the black interior, which I like.

Do I take the $4550, try to talk down the Cincinnati one close to there and hope for the best? Take the $4330, try to "cosmetically" fix mine to good enough? Take the $4330 and try to find a cheaper one (hopefully closer) and keep mine for a donor? Take the $4330, try to talk down the Cincinnati one and try to sell my old one for more than the salvage value, either as a whole or in parts? I'm also looking at GS400s as an option.

Or, does anyone here know of any decent ones in the NW to look at? Also relevant: Does anyone have cheap 98/99 front end parts? Bonus points for burgundy/maroon. Also, what other year front end parts fit mine? (Are the high-beams the same in 92-97? fender? etc.)

Also, I'm not really looking for unrelated upgrade ideas. I asked on a Facebook group and the first couple responses I got were to swap in a 1jz-gte and coils.

Caveats: I don't have a garage I can work in, all work would be in front of my townhouse/condo with 2 parking spots that I can kind of squeeze 3 cars in to (and we also have to park my wife's SUV.)

jadu

iTrader: (42)

with that cash and little damage, get it fixed. find a good body shop, get it done all at once or do it in stages by sourcing a front bumper yourself and having a shop install it and doing body work. you can always paint later and leave a few more bucks in your pocket.

If you do opt for the insurance to take it away, somebody's going to come up at auction. just saying it's in a lot better condition than many SC's for sale

Bankswood

take the cash and keep the car. Other than the damage you know what you have, i.e. engine good, maintenance done. You can do alot of things with the $4300.

Hil

iTrader: (61)

Take the cash and keep the car for sure. I did that twice on the same car (my '99 SC4) ugh - I know.

You can easily get $220 by selling just a few parts though the damage look very minimal. Or.... I'll give you $230 for the car

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

I would take all the examples of other 98+ SC400 for sale in your area and explain to them that you can't find a comparable replacement for the $4,550 and ask for more. Worse thing they can say is no.

Definitely keep your car though. You can easily get the cosmetic damage fixed or part it out for more money (if you have the time).

matguy

Well that took just over 2 and a half hours. Surprised it took that long.

Thanks for all the replies. I also had someone point me at NADA, their book value is up over $7k, so that might be a good negotiating point. I checked Kelly earlier and it was abysmally low. I'm kind of hoping to find out what it'll take to do just above "good enough" fixes on it. I want it to be structurally sound, but I don't need it to pass for factory under the skin.

I also realized that I took a day off work on the day it happened since I didn't have a rental yet, so I can add that to the negotiations.

Ramblerman

That is not bad damage at all. I took a steel post in the left front high beam headlight area and bent/destroyed into the hood and core support but broke nothing behind the head light support bracket,also no air bag went off. That would' ve totaled it. Pulled every thing back out for temporary fix and started shopping for parts. Had no collision ins on it so mine is out of pocket. With careful shopping I have gotten all the the good used parts I need for just under 500 hundred dollars mostly thru ebay and such as I live in a SC dead zone for used parts. I got lucky on the hood and found one close.. Take the keeper pay out, find your parts, then take it to a shop and get it fixed. There are few 98 models so we should not just throw them away or have them end up with salvage titles. If you do it right you should have more than enough to cover shop cost. BTW I'm repairing mine myself and since she is no longer pristine doing some minor body mods also. Used to own my own shop which makes it a lot easier. Duct tape , bondo , and matching paint go a long way for a temporary repair, till I can do it right. Good luck on your repairs!

matguy

Thanks, that's sounding more and more like the solution. The only body part I really need is the nose plastic/rubber. The rest is a high beam light (at least the lens, maybe the whole housing), AC hose, and the bumper support beam. I might want a driver's side fender, but it's possible it could be bent back straight-ish. A few brackets are going to have to be bent back in to shape-ish, if not then replaced.

And that's the other question, under the skin, what's the same across years?

And, since I'm in there, might as well buff the yellow out of the headlights.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Ignore the $2k Oregon one for comparable pricing. I know someone who has been looking for a '98-00 for months, willing to drive several hours for one, and he quickly dismissed it after looking at it.

The bumper support bar is essentially the same for all years. I think the only difference is slightly different bolt hole placement, but some people have opened up the holes to use different years. Other than glass vs plastic high beams, they're pretty much all the same. Some have level adjustments and some don't, but I have no idea which ones were offered when. If the headlight support beam got bent, it's soft metal and can be reshaped. I had good luck recently knocking most of the dents and dings out of a fender and metal bumper with my HF body hammer kit. They're pretty easy to work on when you have them off the car.

matguy

I kind of assumed the Oregon $2k wonder was mostly to be avoided, maybe worth it as a parts car if it was cheaper (and I had room to store stuff like that.) I might need a transmission, eventually (although at that point I might change it to a stick.)

Good to hear about the support bar, drilling some holes doesn't bother me. My 98 had glass high beams. I assumed the headlight brackets were pretty soft since the brackets bent but the headlight basket stayed pretty well intact.

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

The bar that the high beams bolts up to is really soft. I bought one brand new from the dealer and it showed up bent. lol

matguy

So, the 2 example cars they used could be completely fabricated. Both were listed with dates within the last 2 months, they had phone numbers attached.

Looking up one came to a number of various car related businesses, such as a rental place, used car sales, and autobody. None of which appear to currently be in business. Calls to the number ring a few times, then disconnect. (I did find a fairly famous cartel-related, convicted drug trafficker turned author and motivational speaker mentioning this phone number in reference to used cars from his "homeboy".)

The other number appeared to be residential. Searches did not seem to link it to any car sales advertisements. Calling it connected me with a fairly confused gentleman that had no idea why I would possibly be calling about a Lexus that may be currently or previously for sale.

I sent a lengthy email back to the adjuster. Described the above with the conclusion that I can't assess the similarities with the example vehicles and mine. I then mentioned some cars in similar condition or slightly better in the $5990 to $7000 range. I also mentioned the ones I was seeing in the $2000 to $4500 range and the very obvious issues with them, such as extensive damage, salvage titles, missing or mis-matched pieces, needs starter (we understand the issue with that.)

I also mentioned the relevance to distance and transportation costs. Now, I understand that might not factor in at all, but I figured I'd throw it in there. I mentioned the NADA value, which comes up to $7600; even taking off for their "Condition adjustment" that's still over $7000. Now, NADA is showing "Clean Retail", private party could be lower, but not the 41% lower they came up with.

I also mentioned the loss of work.

I hate this part. Really, they're coming up with issues that make mine not "clean retail" and coming up with a "Condition Adjustment" figure that offsets it from clean retail, which is fine. But, then they're finding cars that maybe could be stretched to loosely match what they might be able to portray mine as (it is a daily driver, if I was attempting to sell it I would clean it up, first), then also applying that adjustment to those cars. Even if they were finding cars that actually matched mine and applying the adjustment to that, they would still be double hitting me for those adjustments.

I mean, hell, they dinged me because in changing the head unit to a DVD receiver I lost the factory tape deck. I did not, however, get any credit for the DVD or MP3 player functions nor the aftermarket amp for the sub.

Ugh.

Duck05

For the net $4300 or so you are being offered you should be able to replace front and rear bumpers, fix any under the covers issues, and paint... If you can get a few more bucks that is gravy... I believe people make too much out of a "salvaged title" status on a car at this price point and age which can all be explained to a potential buyer down the road...

Check out the bumper covers being offered by KDB Body kits....

https://www.kbdbodykits.com/

LEXXIUM

iTrader: (1)

Best way to do it is to get a front and rear good aftermarket bumpers, lights and fenders, hoods, trunks are dirt cheap at junkyards if you're willing to do the work customize it yourself to make it look even better than what it is. 4300 is a lot to play with!!!

matguy

Well, they went back in to "fix" mode rather than "total loss." But, somehow, that lowered my payment. I'll take it in to a shop on Monday, if it's more than they're sending as a preliminary payment for the work, then they'll pay the overages, anyway.

At least it's getting fixed and this way I don't have to deal with the work or title stuff.