Hey guys my wife has a 2002 honda accord coupe ex with disk changer, leather, sunroof, etc. The car is pretty much totaled and we only had liability insurance. The engine and tranny are good and everything from the front doors back. The car could possibily be repaired.. I will try to have the frame pulled to see if it's possible to make it running again.. if not. Anyone have any idea what these things go for? The engine only had 85k on it and we just did timing belt, water pump, seals, bearings, auto tranny flush, last week.. which sucks so much balls. Thanks

Part it out, you'd probably get more money that way. The J30 is getting popular for some kids with Civics.

Was the wreck your (or your wife's) fault or did someone else slam you? If it was the other guys fault, make sure you go after them. Their insurance company should give you book value, plus you can make them pay you for the very recent work by providing receipts for the work.

If the above is what you can do, then buy it back for the couple of hundred and part it out for the extra money.

Well it's the 4 cylinder engine not the v6.. unfortunately it was her fault and we only have liability. I'm going to see if I can fix the frame, if not I'll have to part it out. Where do you think the best place is to do that?

Can you post a pic of the damage, as detailed as you can before you attempt to fix it?

Did the subframe move?

I will go take some pics tomorrow so you can look at it.. the frame will have to be pulled or a new c clip will have to be put on.

Thanks for you help though.. ill try to get them on mid afternoon tomorrow.

Here are some pics

That's pretty bad, just by looking, not only did it bend the unibody chassis rails, especially on the left side, the subframe may be bent as well. The left wheel isn't looking quite right to me as far as how it's sitting.

I see the right wheel is turned, but not quite as much as the left.

There's a lot of damage there. Are you going to have the body shop weld in all the new panels? The inner wheel houses and rad support look to be destroyed.

It sure isn't gonna be cheap.

Do you think the shock tower is damaged? the left wheel looks wierd because the steering wheel is turned.. I think.. I'm hoping this guy will trade me his 1995 accord with 90,000 miles for the accord.

I need you Fred.. The guy said he would trade me if the frame was good from the shock towers back. I know the firewall is fine and I think the shock towers are too. What do you think? I'm going to try to get some more pics tomorrow.

If you can get good pics with the hood open. Will it open?

Also, can you straighten out the wheels to where the steering wheel is centered, and get me a "head on" pic at about what was headlight height. Then take a pic on each side at about center of wheel height, in the front.

Last thing...if you have a helper, take a measuring tape from center of front wheel to center of rear wheel. Make sure they are the same measurement.

Alright, I couldn't get the hood open but I'll try those measurements. I looked at the shock towers and they looked great.. the brace (that bolts into the tower and to the firewall was immaculate.. no bends or anything which tells me that the shock tower didn't move. If all the damage is from the shock tower forward w/no damage to the wheels/axles.. do you have a rough estimate to fix it? the drivers side headlight is still good (not of major concern).

I'd guess, if you use all Honda parts, plus body shop labor, 3 to 5 grand wouldn't be far off. This is if the body shop did all the work. If you have them do the rails, welding and any straightening that needs done, plus painting the parts, it would be less if you did the assembly yourself.

Body shop labor is low dollar rate, but hugely high as far as time goes.

You've got to get both rails straightened or the front halves of each rail cut off and replaced with new or used rails, a new rad support (welded in), condenser, rad, p/s cooler, a/c lines, hood, hood hinges, fenders, all the plastic shields, lights, bumper reinforcement and absorber, bumper cover, intake resonator (I still see it there), it looks like the washer tank is still holding stuff. I can't tell how much wiring damage has been done, repairing it properly is very important or replacing harnesses, which gets expensive.

Now on to the expensive stuff, 1 or 2 airbags (they both went off, right?), seat belt pretensioners on one or both seats, front crash sensors in the area of the wreck if there are any there. The clockspring or what honda calls the cable reel. And probably the SRS unit itself, after deployment, usually they are dead.

Superfly78209:

NOT to discourage you...as I KNOW what it's like to "love" a car. But even "love" has limits, and comes a time when "love" has to be overruled by common sense...and dollars and cents.

For what you'll likely spend to repair it, you can easily replace it with something of equivalent (or superior) value and satisfaction. In your shoes, I would check with local salvage yards and/or run ads to part out the car.

Well airbags didn't go off thank goodness. so that saves some money.. I have 2,000 offers on the car as is.. but if I could repair it for 3 grand and sell it for 6,000 I could make another thousand. Do you think it would be worth it?

by 2,000 offers i mean offers for $2,000 dollars

You may be able to sell it for $6,000 when it is all repaired but I think that may still be pushing it. If it is indeed totaled then that means it would have a salvage title and those cars tend to not get much. God knows I would never ever buy a salvage titled car.

I have 2,000 offers on the car as is.. but if I could repair it for 3 grand and sell it for 6,000 I could make another thousand. Do you think it would be worth it?

I'd be all over that $2K offer. Once you open up the car the repair bill could shoot up as you keep finding more problems.

A coworker was recently in a low speed collision with her 08. No airbags, but she did have frame damage. Damage looked similar to your pics. The bill ended up at close to $6K, and that's with some aftermarket + salvage parts.

Good point.. I prob should get rid of it. The car won't have a salvaged title though. The insurance never got a hold of it and we only have liability insurance.. I think it's only when your care it determined a total loss by your insurance company that it becomes salvage.. unless salvage yards salvage cars too. So you all don't think that 3k could fix this car?

Superfly78209:

From what damage I can see in the photos you posted, you're looking at a MINIMUM of $5,000, involving a combo of new and used parts. The labor charge will be the "Killer" expense.

Given the severity of the damage, even if all repair work is done perfectly, about the best you can expect to do is break even. Thus, you will likely end up with $5K to $6K invested in a car that is worth possibly $5K to $6K. However, with a salvaged/rebuilt title, don't count on it. Those who run an AutoCheck and/or CarFax report on your car probably won't touch it.

Well it will have a clean title.. b/c it didn't go through insurance.. so you still think I will only get 6k for it w/ a clean title? What you do you think fred?

An "excellent" Accord EX-L4 coupe like yours, in my area, would go for about $7100, with 100k on it, and NO previous body damage.

A "good" Accord, with no previous damage, would be $6500.

I looked it up on KBB.com for my zip code.

Assuming the car was put together nearly stock appearing with very good paint, and it wasn't brought to a shop to check out, you might get close to the second number. But, if the people buying it bring it to someplace that has somebody that knows what to look for, either they'll pass or want to take money off, I'd say about 1,000 to 1,500 off at the least.

Another thing that makes a big difference around here is how much "in demand" a particular car is. Not sure of that for a 6 gen Accord coupe.

My Integra GSR, when I sold it for my '04, had a bidding war on it from people as far as Florida.

To All:

FredSVT alludes to specifics I skipped over. Ergo, I shall tighten them, explicitly.

This is what a WISE "horsetrader" should do:

Superfly78209, were I considering your "fixed" car, I will thoroughly inspect it, from teeth to toenails, including every point, in between. I will also have it inspected, on a rack. You can expect my minimum inspection time to be two (2) hours. No inspection = NO deal.

Red Flags: New/mismatched paint, evidence of frame straightening/replacement, wrong/mismatched/missing hardware (nuts, bolts, screws, clips, etc.), misalignment of sheetmetal, and obviously wrong/missing parts, in general.

As FredSVT says, and if I were walking, in desperate need of a car, I MIGHT offer you $2,000 LESS than your asking price. However, as a general rule, I DON'T bother with "fixed" cars, not at any price.

Given the nature and extent of your damage, it will take one Helluva detail-oriented perfectionist to put your car back right. To me, it's a large, complicated project with a negative rate of return.

Fix it (correctly) and keep it. Else unload it, as is, at the best offer given.