bummer, your neighbor is a douche bag, car could be fixed.

 

Sorry to hear/see that. Seconded, neighbor is dbag of the highest order

i'm going to quote this for solidarity, not only do they not have insurance but this is just plain wreckless based on the damage done to your car.. THANKFULLY there were not any people, children or pets in the path of that lunatic.

i can't comment on how much you can repair your gen3 back to driveable condition but good luck and watch out when you guys step outside.

 

Sorry to hear/see that. Seconded, neighbor is dbag of the highest order

 

From the impact he hit it squared right in the trunk. From the impact and how much the car moved, it was more than a typical 25MPH + oh 'crap' brakes. Almost as if no brakes were applied.

You might have possible structure damage in the rear. Does the rear door open and close without rubbing?

For the engine mounts to be damage, either the transmission park prawl somehow destroyed the mounting or something else did the damage. Never seen it where it broke the mount bracket to the engine.

Its a good thing no one was hurt but what a stupid mistake...

Its possible it is repairable, but the engine shifting due to the busted mount is a bit scary.

 

The rear door opens and closes fine. The rear bumper crumpled, so it took a lot of the impact, minus the amount the car was pushed. For the engine mount to break like that is scary and unexpected since the front had no signs of visible damage. I only noticed because my alternator drive belt was rubbing. Who knows what else is broken.

 

So you parked w/o hand brake? The parking pawl in the transmission might be destroyed. As I can see, it is repairable if you are determined with a lot of spare time. Otherwise and most likely, this will be it. Hopefully your neighbor/insurance can pay you back fairly. The money can be used to buy another car just like this, maybe with some leftover.

 

Sorry to hear this. Possibly repairable.

 

Condolences on the loss of your loved one....

The real bummer is that insurance valuation won't pay you for the luxury of a paid-off car that just might have saved you from having to buy another vehicle for at LEAST another five years. The real value in our older Toyotas isn't the KBB used car sale price, it's in the years and miles remaining in its useful lifetime.

 

The real bummer is that insurance valuation won't pay you for the luxury of a paid-off car that just might have saved you from having to buy another vehicle for at LEAST another five years. The real value in our older Toyotas isn't the KBB used car sale price, it's in the years and miles remaining in its useful lifetime.

Well said!

 

well what part of the desert are you in??

 

I haven't changed my location in a few years. At the time, I was in the Inland Empire. I have spent a lot of my time there and also San Diego. Currently, I'm in the Bay Area.

 

To those that think this is repairable: what do you think of these pictures? Here the bumper collapsed and where my finger is located is where the trunk latch goes down. The catch and latch are misaligned by about an inch. The bumper I understand is a replaceable item. The back of the car to be pushed in like that...I'm not too sure.

 

It might be saveable, depending on how much of the work you can do yourself.
Best case from what I can see - replace the motor-mount arm and the torque-link, then pull the trunk rim to line up the latch and install a used bumper. For me, the transaxle parking-lock is the big ? Sometimes, they'll pop free, then after the impact is over, it may work OK.
I wouldn't worry about trying to make it look perfect.

Happy Motoring, Mark

 

Car got pushed that far your neighbor might be on the accelerator. Good thing no body got hurt, that's the most important thing.

On the surface the rear end damage didn't look that bad. But the amount of damage in the engine bay was a surprise. That mailbox was nasty. Maybe the subframe shifted as the result of the impact.

 

You can always sue the guy for the damage, but, even if you win, you'll have few and very limited options as far as recovering your money unless the dbag has a healthy bank account balance, which I suspect is not the case. Yea, our legal system works only in the movies, and for IRS.

I have my doubts about this car being repairable back to 100% - you can make it driveable, but that's the best I'd hope for.

There's gotta be more damage in the front than just the motor mount. I'm sure you'll find it once the bumper cover comes off and you're able to assess the damage in the front - either the subframe is messed up, or the mailbox hit the engine. It cannot be that "just" the motor mount inside the engine bay magically snapped on it's own. Keep in mind that the suspension mounts to the subframe, so you may have trouble with alignment afterwards.

If you get no insurance money, and don't want to pay the shop for the labor (understandably), here's what I'd do:
First, address the front. I'd go as far as to replace the whole subframe with a junkyard one, along with mount bracket (motor mount may be fine, it's just the bracket that snapped). If it bolts up, at least you know your frame is usable.
If all checks out in the front and your transmission still works, move on to rear. Get yourself some sturdy chain/rope and a stout tree. Figure out a solid way to tie the bent in part of the trunk to the tree, and SLOWLY drive forward to pull the bend out. Check progress frequently. I've done this with the front end damage once and it pulled it out enough to make the hood close. You won't get anywhere near perfect, but should be just good enough to where the trunk closes and hopefully the seams seal enough to not leak too much water into the trunk.

I used 2" wide 3300lb capacity tie down strap, and I did snap it - cut on an edge of the radiator support, as I was suspecting it might. Because I used non-elastic rope, it did not have any "spring tension" in it, so everything just dropped to the ground once it snapped - no flying projectiles. I'll make sure to stick a rug in there next time to prevent the rope from cutting.

Hope this helps.

 

UPDATE: It's been ten days since the accident and they finally got back to me today about the settlement. They netted the value of the car at $2031 and by law have to give me taxes, transfer fees, reg fees, coming to a total of $2344 if they DO take the car. If I want to keep it, I get $2079. If I had to sell it on Craigslist, I'd probably get $1200-1300 for it, so $2031 is quite the surprise for me. Seeing how the delta between keeping it and not keeping it is 265, would there be any advantage in keeping the salvage, as in me selling it for a higher price? I don't think I'd fix this vehicle as I have other projects, further damage is unknown, and keeping it on the street is not viable.

PSA: The state of CA allows for 72 hours to be on the street at one time, which then requires the owner to move it. My car has been out there for ten days and counting. The claims adjuster says they won't pay for towing and storage if I do decide to move it. This is completely wrong. By law, I, as the claimant, will be compensated by the insurer as stated in CA Dept of Insurance 2695.8 subsection k.

 

You could part it out for a lot more than $265.

 

Yes, but I don't have the space to keep anything that is not operable or even what I need. I was thinking of doing the tax deduction, but the lowest I would get is 500 and the deduction would be around 30%, equaling 150, which is less than the difference the insurance is willing to give me.