Anyone trade in their car after extensive repairs?

[Kevin08]

Going on 140 days without the car now and after seeing it a couple of times I know I'll never be happy with it. It has about $20k in repairs listed on it (should have been totaled but they kept finding one new thing after another and just threw parts into it). I'm at the point now where I'm seriously considering trading it in once I get it back. I'm going to a family friend who owns a luxury dealership in town to do my DV appraisal, but I have no idea what my trade in offer would be. After doing some math, it looks like the amount I get from DV and from trade in would have to be at least $35,000 in order for me to buy the exact same car without any serious financial loss (I'd be out about $2,500 from my aftermarket wheels and tires, the reimbursement from which I'd have to put towards buying the replacement car), which I don't feel is likely. Between loss of use, my current fighting with State Farm to have the list price of the two mufflers reimbursed to me directly, and the money I'm withholding for mods/wheels/tires it totals about $9,000 that I should be keeping in addition to receiving the car back.

I could *probably* buy the same car again but interest rates right now look horrible, and I still owe $19,000 on the loan so there's not much equity there assuming the trade in value is going to be trash due to the repairs. Seems like a shitty, unwinnable situation all the way around... has anyone come close to breaking even in a scenario like this? I feel that even if it were totaled I'd still be in the same boat, thanks to new car depreciation.

I won't know for sure until I get my car back so I can do the appraisal and get a trade-in value, but I've been mentally preparing myself for this for a few weeks now. Sucks, man. Fuck the lady who hit me.

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[ALLSTOCK]

im in the same boat. 27k in repairs. cars still in the shop (been about 2 months)

if i get it back and it drives ok, im probably just gonna take the diminished value and call it a day...

if i were to get a new car, i'd have to re-order, wait, and deal with that whole process...which i'd like to avoid lol

 

[lacanteen]

I have, but not with a Mustang. It helped too that the owner of the dealership was a friend of mine and the service department knew me as well. I was always friendly with them and never used my friendship with the owner directly for any favors. This was Jim Skinner Ford in Birmingham, AL.

The story: Wife bought a new 2002 Focus and 3 years in gets bad front end damage (her fault). The dealer fixed it with the insurance money, looked good, except if driving on wet roads the car would slide through an intersection if you braked too hard. Dealer could not find the problem. On the third try, and they found nothing, I told the service manager "tell Jimmy I don't ever want to see this car again. Find something else for her". They had just gotten a load of 2 year old rental cars in from California and I was called by my friend to "pick a color for a low mile Taurus". The Taurus payment was only $10 per month more and she drove it until we bought the Escape EB in 2012 which I still own as a spare vehicle. (Wife passed away last summer)

It pays to be friends with the service department. Especially if you are a good customer. It also helped that I bought 3 company vehicles for my use over the years too. A 2000 Explorer, a 2005 F150, and a 2007 F250 all new orders. That dealership was 2 states away and has since sold out to a competitor. I am cultivating a relationship with the dealer that sold my my Mustang even though there are two other Ford dealerships closer. I read plenty of dealership nightmares here. Maybe I should start a thread for praising the dealers that go above and beyond. Mine is Courtesy Ford in Breaux Bridge, LA.

OP, just realize you may not get back into the car you want when this is over, make friends and this will eventually work out. Good luck!

 

[Cobra Jet]

So we’re not talking extensive repairs as in warranty work - you’re referring to crash or accident damages, right?

 

[Kevin08]

So we’re not talking extensive repairs as in warranty work - you’re referring to crash or accident damages, right?

Yea, buy-back situations wouldn't apply.

 

[Cobra Jet]

If the accident was reported by Police or Insurance Co., it may hit a VIN reporting agency. If your VIN is already tagged with an “event”, any Dealership you will be trading the car into may find the same when they run a VIN search too... expect the trade in value to take a hit.

I would run a couple of different VIN reports on your car and see if any events show up - if no events show (yet), trade in or sell before they do.

 

[omens]

Different car but similar situation.

My 2019 Civic Si got t boned in March. Sat in a shop for three months getting repaired. Looked okay after repairs but just didn't drive the same. I'm currently waiting for my DV claim to go through so I can sell the car and pickup a '19 GT. I'm definitely taking a small financial hit but I can't justify continuing to pay on a 4 year loan of a car I bought 6 months ago that doesn't feel new and is now worth half of what I owe on it.

 

[Bluelightning]

I had a 2002 Tacoma that got hit pretty hard, $17K worth of damages. It just wasn't right after I got it back, so I traded it in. Took about a 2K hit on trade due to the accident on the vin report, but it was worth it for me to get out of that thing and into something new.

 

[Monopoly]

Matt Moran went through this ordeal twice and sold his 2016 Mustang GT. I believe he traded it in for his 19' Bullitt. His videos are posted on YouTube.

 

[boos550t]

My eco was having smoke issues, i prob could have just had it fixed but i used it as an excuse to just get a new gt and not look back lol

 

[green97probe]

Matt Moran went through this ordeal twice and sold his 2016 Mustang GT. I believe he traded it in for his 19' Bullitt. His videos are posted on YouTube.

Matt sold his first 2016 GT to the owner of the body shop that was fixing the damage caused be the tree that fell on it.

The 2016 GT that he traded in for the Bullitt was originally purchased as a replacement for his first 2016.

 

[green97probe]

The 2007 GT that I had was hit by a teen driver in April of 2013.

When I was picking it up from the body shop, the tech told me that he had fixed this car in the past and that he would get rid of it if it was his car due to the severity of that damage.

He showed me things that I had noticed in the past and confirmed my suspicions.

So, a few months later I traded it in on a 2010 GT.

Do I regret panicking and trading it in?

Yes.

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