Is It Worth It ?

[signon01]

I bought an insureance total for three grand. the front passenger fender is smashed in so that the metal is just hitting the pully on the altinator (i or ac pump what ever is there on the paaenger side) no pulley damage. The hood is tacoed, head prints in the windshield, the rim chewed up, but the front bumper is fine as well as the passenger door. The rest of the car is cherry no leaks in the motor/tranny, etc. A good friend at works son bought it in 2002 for 19,000.00 three months later wrecked it and the insureance company gave it a salvage title because of the one estimate was 13,500.00. Now I am macanically inclined and can do all labor. I would like to fix it and use it for a family car. My questions are:

1. Is the front frame and/or suspention so trick that a wreck like this not worth the time or trouble ?

2. The insurance company left about three quotes from wreking yards rangeing from 2300.00 to 2800.00. could I get more parting it out or selling whole ?

3. What other years are compatible under the hood ?

[SKperformance]

You have no pictures to show the damage so it is completly impossible to guess what real damage is done.

Have you gone to a body shop where they will have to pul the frame back to get an estimate?

As there is no way any diy can paint and pull a frame straight in there garage?

[Latoilette]

i've heard lexus is one of the easier cars to work on the body.

but of course, it all depends on how bad the damage is.

[cui]

it takes $$ to make $$...

buying replacement parts for newer lexus is not cheap...even with free labor...

otoh, if you can find buyers for parts...you can made a fortune....but who needs parts beside a bodyshop? of course, there is always ebay if you can't sell parts locally...(and at oakland...people prefer

parts for free :)

(semi-)luxury car is hard to sell with a salvaged title....

[Lex3486]

Okay, did I miss somethin here or was the year and mileage of the car ever mentioned? I wrecked my 92 and although the insurance appraiser deemed it to be in "excellent" shape, it had 145k and was a 10yr. old car at the time, so the extent of the damage was too great to repair practically speaking. It was gonna cost near or more than the value of the car to fix. I guess what I'm sayin is that the year and mileage have a great effect on the worth of the car, which goes hand-in-hand with deciding if the repair costs are worth spending for the car. I'm guessin since the car was bought in 02 for 19k that it's probably around a 97 or 98 model? Possibly a 99? Another thing is the availability of junkyard parts for the year; there's many more 92-96's layin around out there than 97+, so this also has a great effect on the price of fixing it. ;)

[SKperformance]

the title says 97 es 300

[Lex3486]

my bad; it does doesn't it? Sorry about that. In my defense though, it only says "Is It Worth It" on the forum topics page...

[apoc519]

Sounds similar to what I did with my '94. Bought it for $3100 at an auction wrecked(salvage). Pulled the frame back in to shape with a tractor and chain. Heated up the rubber bumper and molded it back. Bought a new hood for 800 and drivers fender for 300 i think. Few other new pieces. Spent a total of 3000 for the repair with paint. Saved probably 5000-6000 from buying used.

*all prices in canadain

Attached a pic of the damage after some some initial reshaping

You seem to be better off to begin with then I was so I would definately do it. Getting rid of the salvage title is a pain though

[cui]

Pulled the frame back in to shape with a tractor and chain.

there's some torque there :)

you tied the ES to a tree while pulling?

I had a wrecked integra that was going fix....of course, I don't have a tractor...so I fixed the frame with a long breaker bar (the one that is sold in home depot for breaking concrete...8 ft long of solid steel)...and placing hydrolic jacks creatively....

[signon01]

used a come along and some eye bolts anchored to the ground. I am rollin now. Thanks for inputs.