hello all - my wife hit black ice on her way to work a few weeks ago (actually three weeks ago, it has taken this long for the insurance co. to get it's act together). it is a '98 4runner sr5, damage is on the driver's side front. the car is not driveable, as the wheel is torqued back at an oblique angle and stuck behind the fender. the frame is bent accordion style behind where the suspension attaches to the frame, the front bumper bent, and a few body and driveline mounts were broken as well. the insurance company is offering us $13,000 for it, and we can buy it back from them for $2837 (plus the "storage" fees for it being at the body shop for 3+ weeks @ $20 a day). i just put new revos on it 2k miles ago, and everything about it is in immaculate shape. i am wondering if we should buy it back and part it out, or just forget it and let a junkyard end up with my revos and the rest of the things in good shape on the car. i appreciate everyone's help and input... thanks,

wally

I would think this is largely a personal decision... meaning do you have a plan or approach you feel comfortable with, and a place to tear the vehicle apart to recover $2837+ worth of parts from it and deal with hauling off the rest..

Also need to figure what your time is worth and figure in your inclination and interest in disassembling and finding buyers for the parts..

Unless you have a project in mind to reuse the parts... i.e. some folks might want to just cut the whole front suspension out, repair, or get the frame repaired, put a solid axle up front and make a serious off road vehicle out of it.... if you are thinking of salvaging it for just on road use, then it may not be worth your while.

If you keep it what are your long term plans for it? Sounds like you got some major frame and maybe drive train damage.. Is there enough left to salvage?

How's the engine and tranny?

lol... that was my first question too...

too bad it wasnt a tundra with an I-force V8.... :evil smiley:

Lessee...

Your post implies that you are most concerned about your tires... Revos run around $650 installed. That's 1/5 of what you are considering paying for a used set.

Only buy it back if you know that the engine/tranny/tcase/rear axle are in PERFECT condition and sellable. And you are willing to spend the better part of 3 months parting it out. You may make $5K selling the pieces, but is that $2K worth your time?

If the engine, tranny and ECU are ok it would easyly be worth the buy back price right there. You would be suprized what salvage vehicles are worth. I spend about 5 or 6 months shopping for a wrecked donor truck for my 3.4 swap. I must have bid on 20 or 25 wrecked trucks on insurance auctions and on ebay before winning the bidding on one. Show us some pics and share some details if you really want an good estimate. After seeing what the insurance actions get for wrecks I have new respect for the prices salvage yards charge for parts.

You can probably fix it and have money left over. I bought mine totalled with 69k miles on it. It now has 95k on it, and runs and drives flawlessly.