[MrBreakIt]

Around thanksgiving time I had an unfortunate accident in my car. My 1990 Toyota Corolla SR5 was going around a corner when a guard rail jumped out infront of it and gave the drivers side a nice kiss.


I was wondering if there were anywhere aside from buying another SR5 to find replacement body parts. I mean, I'll buy another car if need be, but It's a sentimental thing.

 

[REN69]

Toyota or any body shop should be able to get the fenders for you, its just not going to be cheap that's all. Our cars are not old enough yet that parts are hard to find. Maybe another 10yrs.

 

[freakinbox]

wreckers I'm going to need 2 front fenders wthis spring. turns out at the bottom by the door is rused out/ someone put black tape over it to hide it, meh

 

[MrBreakIt]

THe insurance company totaled it out and I was rather dissapointed. I'll have pictures up soon to show you the damage. The driver's side has three or four nice gashes in the shell. Guard rail simply peeled it. I'm unable to drive it until later this month as it needs to get inspected by the local police to check if it's roadsafe.

I figure I'll patch my little automatic up till I can find something with manual transmission.
Although..I'd rather drive my damaged Corolla than the pontiac bonneville I have been driving since.

Damn gas hogs.

 

[REN69]

That sucks dude.. I'd say fix it if you can, not sure why you went to your insurance company if it was your fault, your insurance will go up and you'll learn from your mistake. Something like this next time you should fix your own car and bite the bullet rather than getting up up the wazoo from your insurance company. I know you're probably going to say you're an honest person, blah blah blah you wouldn't do something like that, but hey.. there's always a time for everything.

 

[SR5_4WD]

Shit, if I got into my own little accident, I'd push in onto it's roof, catch it on fire and then leave. Oh yeah thats if I could afford Theft.

 

[MrBreakIt]

lol, I wasn't going to do anything but I sstill live with my folks so the official story is I swerved to keep from hitting a deer.:naughty:

 

[REN69]

The man will still have you on a platter even if it was a moose you swerved for.

 

[Limnos]

Something that young you should still be able to find parts in a junkyard. That will be a LOT cheaper than a dealership or even aftermarket. The only thing you might need to think about is if in Ohio you can get parts that aren't already rusted out. There's lots of online yards in places like Texas and California where there's little rust. You might consider having something sent from there. I got a bumper for one of my cars from Texas a few years back and shipping was only $40 or so.

Another possible source, if you're patient, is ebay motors. I know that right now somebody is parting out an '81 Celica (I think) including the doors.

Even if your car is totaled you can usually buy it back from the insurers (I got mine back for $25! )if you think it is worth it and you want to rescue it. One of mine was "totaled" a few years back simply because for anything over 15 years even the smallest fender bender (in this case another guy rear-ending my car) is more than the car's value. I had some spare parts and ordered others. I got $1400 for the car and spent maybe $600 ($400 labor, $200 parts) plus a few days of my own labor to get it running again and looking almost in its pre-rear-end state.

Something like a door you can do yourself. Just unscrew the hinges and screw the new one on. The fender might be a bit trickier but if you can supply the parts and find a shop willing to work with your parts then it shouldn't set you back too much in labor, especially if you don't have them paint it.