worth repairing?

Wow Matthew. I'm really sorry for your accident. I take it you are in okay health? Sadly, the 308 crumples - but in doing so, it saves the driver.

Just from looking, I suggest that try to find a parts car. T.Rutlands used to have a few 308's. The whole lower valence is available new. Best luck. -rick

 

How are the gaps at the back of the doors? If they're OK, then maybe it's fixable

Fortunately, there's a lot of front clips available because of all the engine fires

 

damn...doesn't look good. whole front end sheet metal and mechanicals. i would think the determining factor is how much you've got in the car now. that plus the repairs will tell. if you're still in the market range fix it. if not part it out and start over. damn...

 

Dude, that sucks. I hope you are OK. Did you have an agreed value policy? I would assume so. Was it for at least what it would be to replace with a superb example? Personally I say fix her if you can. The rest of the car looks great. Get new panels from Ferrari UK and find a good body shop.

Oh, and shoot the bast**d who hit you...

 

that can be fixed perfectly. I cannot believe what a good body shop can do nowadays.

It looks like a nice (ie not red) car that should continue making people stop and look.

nice wheels are those 16?

JM

 

Unless you are emotionally attached to that particular car, I say take the insurance money and buy another one. Let someone who can do the work themselves get it and fix it up. You will be upside down fairly quickly if you have to pay to get it fixed.

 

When I see things like this I have to look at it in a logical manner. For me it's like this.


Price of perfect 308
- cost of repair
-15% ( for crash depreciation)
_______________
= price of 308 (insurance buy back)

If you can get the car back from the insurance company for a low enough price, it may well be worth rebuilding it. In the end, if the right shop does it, it could be better than new. Something to think about. If the equation does not factor out, you'll be better buying a new one.




Darrell.

 

BTW Matthew, really sorry about the car. Good thing your ok. The car can always be fixed.

Darrell.

 

I am so sorry about that. Mine is black too so I can hardly look at those pictures.

I hope something works out for you from all this. Since I live here too is there anything I can do to help? Where did you have your car taken to?

 

Matt:
Very sorry to learn of your loss. Mine is a black too.
I worked in a body shop during high school and have "dabbled" with little projects since then.
From what I see in the pictures, it looks like a lot of sheetmetal damage and the wheels look ok? It looks like it was hit high which seemed to cause the front to “curl-up a little therefore perhaps didn't do any/much frame damage.
To round-up parts, do the repair you are realistically probably looking at a year or more. You will end-up with a nice, low mileage, black car with fresh paint and a salvage title. My thought is that if you like the car, can do some of the work and can get the car for a good price from the insurance, and can live with the outcome I would recommend you go for it—it will be a great bonding experience. A front end may not cost that much—perhaps you can even buy another whole car and resell some parts.

Mark

 

Matthew I'm glad you're OK but I'm just curious, did you have the front Euro bumper or US?

 

Sorry about your loss -- we missed you Saturday at our Birmingham drive and lunch.

The way Alabama law is, if the cost to repair is 70% of the value of the car, it *must* be totalled. Even if rebuilt, it will have to have a salvage title. Unfortunate, but that's the case. My nextdoor neighbor had damage to his 308QV that looked about like yours; I think T. Rutlands ended up buying it as a parts car -- I do know that they at least made an offer on it to the insurance company.

 

Sounds like time to get with your lawyer and elevate the "value of the car" to its proper value. That is, just beyond that 70% number...

 

The rule of thumb is you can keep the car for a 20 to 25% reduction in settlement price. You need to work on documenting the actual value. If the moron that hit you has enough insurance it will probably won't be too bad to settle with them. From their veiw they want this to go away and wish their customer had hit a ford or toyota, they know how to deal with these. If you get all your facts together you will probably get what you ask for.

Having rebuilt wrecks before myself I would get it on a frame bench and measure the critical points and go from there. If there is no frame damage then its an easy fix. If you have frame damage there are only a few shops in the USA that are equiped to fix it. A friend had a TR that was wrecked in FL and the car was sent to PA to be fixed.
Larry

 

Glad you are unhurt!!!!! Buy it back from the insurance company and part it out. Unless you plan on keeping it forever--you will never get anywhere close to what the car is worth wrecked--even repaired properly. I would part the car out on Ebay , etc. You will make more money that way - then start your search for another car..Parts for these cars are getting harder and harder to find. People will pay a premium for good parts that can't be found!!! I have been buying and selling used parts for about 6 months now, there is def. a market for it..

 

I woukld suggest the crash history subs more than 15% but agree with the approach. My guess is, unless you are looking for a project, you should walk (run) away.

As others have said, I'm glad the damage to you is only emotional. Sorry though.

 

OH MAN!!!!

Let me guess......no insurance, right?

 

How fast were you going at the impact? It seems that all considered the car reacted fairly well to the crash as (luckily) you got out unhurt. Glad to know that i real life a 30 year old design is still adequately safe: praise the Ferrari/Pininfarina engineers.
Good luck with the insurance.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

I realize this is almost 20 years later but:

Back in 1987 we had a 79 MG Midget that was near mint. Lady ran a red light and it looked like your 308 when the dust cleared. I think the "book" value was about $1400 for "average" back then and that's what her ins company wanted to give us. We had a nice car, $1400 wouldn't come close to replacing it.

What we ended up doing was getting 3 car dealers to write a letter stating that if they had our car on their lot, they would sell it for approximately $4000 - a fair price based on the shape it was in and the low milage. Those three letters got us a check from her insurance company for $4000 without any further problems.

I have no idea if that would still work or not but it is worth a try.

 

From the pictures it looks like you only have sheet metal damage. The 3x8 front sub-frame is pretty low & is very strong. The wheels don't look to be significantly out of line, & the doors don't look like they're shoved out of line. All very encouraging signs. It would take checking with laser frame machine to be sure, but I'll be very surprised if the frame is seriously bent.

Of course, that front sheet metal isn't cheap, however, new & used sheet metal is readily available.

If it were my car, I'd be seriously considering the economics of repairing it. Of course, I can do my own body work once the frame is set right.

I question the statement that only a few places are qualified to do 3x8 frame work. Those frames are NOT particularly exotic (unlike the later cars w/carbon fiber & exotic material frames). Any quality shop with a laser frame aligner should be able to sort the frame out better than it came from the factory. A shop that aligns tubular race car frames should find it's construction very familiar & easy to work with.

 

You have incredible perspective on this unfortunate turn of events.
Sorry about the car... I'd go nuts if it was mine.
Really glad you are fine.