Sc300 rear- ended
 

I was driving home this morning and a guy lost control of his car after his tire blew out. completely detroyed the rear passenger quarter panel and bumper...seeing that my car is a 98 what should I expect to get as a payout it's not valued much in kbb beven though the car is imaculate, repair might be more than the cars worth not sure what to expect or do any advice would be great thank....

Sorry to hear about the accident, I hope you’re ok first and foremost, the payout is all depends on your ins co, and what coverage you have.
post a pic sometimes it’s repirable!!

My condolences on your Sc and expect the price the books are claiming. It's a 20 year old beautiful car, but not worth fixing unless u have money to burn.

I'm not at fault so the driver's insurance will be paying
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...f8d58b388a.jpg

there is no salvaging that panel, youd have to have it cut off and weld on a replacement then sand and paint. Looks like youll also need a tail light and maybe a rear bumper. hard to tell from the photo but you may be able to salvage the bumper with a heat gun and someone massaging it from the other end. Insurance will likely total the car. i would take whatever they give you and use to either repair this car or part it out and use the funds to buy a new one. The car looks like it was in very nice shape. Damn shame but atleast youre ok.

Sorry to hear what happened. Best thing to do is notify your insurance company asap. You're not filing a claim, rather letting yours know someone has hit you. Tell your insurance that if you are not satisfied with their estimate, you'd like one from yours for OE quarters and parts, etc or just a second opinion. I was hit once and the other guys insurance (major brand) tried to fix my new car by attempting to ship it to another state to work on it, use aftermarket parts, and use bondo on a small damage place on one panel. I rejected their estimate and called my insurance who told me don't do that, pay us your deductible and we'll take care of it. We'll fix it OE here and sue the other company. Next day my insurance called me and said the other company agreed to fix it at any place of my choice with OE parts. Took it to my local dealer and got it back perfect.

Only problem is I don't have full coverage when I bought the car no one would give full coverage for a car this old and the ones that agreed wanted ridiculous amounts..the downside of driving a older car.

You don't need full coverage. You pay them and they'll still help you. Most even like to battle with other companies. Wait to see what the other driver's insurance says and if it's not to your satisfaction call your company and ask for help.

Keep in mind its a Sc and not a RX 350, which has been discontinued since 2000. Part production has now stopped too.

I get it, and def true; probably all the more reason for the other company to try and cheap out though. Nonetheless, that car deserves to be fixed or paid for. From the pics, it's obviously well cared for. I just wanted to share something I've learned having been in that situation, in that even your company can help persuade if needed.

I know and agree the Sc looks to be in excellent condition, but will only be getting around $3800 tops and that won't be enough to fix that damage. Insurance company will Red flag it immediately as totaled.

First off I am sorry this happened to your car car, Rawboost and more importantly I am glad you are okay and uninjured. That is the best takeaway from this situation by far.

As for the SC, with quarter panel damage like that you would indeed need to cut out and transfer over a donor panel from a scrap SC. The rear suspension, however, does not look to be compromised at all. Cosmetically damaged yes. Catastrophically damaged no... although insurance companies don't often see it that way. This repair is more than any SC is officially "worth" but it hardly represents damage that cannot be repaired with enough work.

If you are hell bent on keeping your SC it will be best to simply not involve your insurance company at all (unless you have already started that process). Repair the car yourself. Unless something structural has been damaged that cannot be seen in the photo you posted this is cosmetic damage and you can have it repaired with a junkyard quarter panel/fender (they are all the same from 1992-2000). A replacement 97-00 rear bumper and the small plastic lower body part are relatively easy to locate. The cutting and welding and repainting on that side is what will cost you.

Read this thread link: https://community.cartalk.com/t/what...eep-it/78899/8

In hindsight the only foolproof way around the usual game with insurance repair for a very old car, given the age of SC's, is some form of classic car insurance with an agreed value policy. This nearly always requires a primary car to qualify and involves varying mileage and use restrictions-- varies from one classic policy insurer to another.

If you want to keep the car with a clean title, plan to take on the repairs yourself. Obviously in some accident cases this is impossible... not to mention in some cases the damage is just far too great to realistically repair even on your own. With a modified SC that has very severe damage (and with the owner's intention to replace the damaged SC with another SC) it makes sense to buy it back from the insurance company, find another good chassis and transfer any of your desired modifications that survived to the replacement SC.

It really depends on what you wish to do, OP. Sometimes it is better to move on... and sometimes it is worth fighting for a special car you really like. Except with agreed value classic car policies the insurance company only follows their standard valuation numbers. If you were to outright walk away from a car they totaled out the payout value they give you may not be enough to actually buy/replace the general design, drive layout, features and quality of the car you had.

At least from the picture you posted it *seems* as if the car would drive normally. It just needs a replacement rear quarter panel. Easier said than done (and not cheap work) but it's far from a truly compromised car that has been bent out of shape in its structure and suspension (again... I'm basing my opinion off of one picture only so you'd have to inspect everything on that side to be sure).

Sorry to hear about your SC. Hope it all works out for the best!

Fix it. I've seen worse all the way around. As long as no mechanical damage.

It looks repairable at a glance. As long as the suspension geometry was untouched it will drive as if there has been no accident at all.

The best way to go is to buy a parts car and have your body shop guy cut everything that was damaged out and weld in the stuff from the parts car. Aside from the lamp, bumper cover, and quarter panel extension the metal body parts are all the same on all years of SC so any car not hit or rusted in that area will do.

If you go the route of leaving it all up to the insurance company they will probably total it out because they do not want to get into welding repairs on a 20 year old car.