TC Accident - Advice Needed

[Guest toaster]

Hi all,

My grandma's 1989 TC (automatic) was involved in a nasty hit and run this weekend and since we only have liability coverage the insurance is covering none of it. The police ended up towing the TC away so we're trying to decide if it's even worth picking up from the tow yard of if we should just say goodbye. Without an appraisal from the insurance we don't know how to tell the extent of the damage and if it's even fixable being such an old car.

Can anyone here take a look at the accident pictures and give any advice on if it's worth saving? Anyone have any experience repairing at TC after a major crash? I don't even know where to start. We'd love to get it back on the road, but I'm not sure a project that big is realistic for us. Pictures attached below. The windshield is definitely cracked, but I don't know how to start assessing the rest of the damage.

With all that said, if anyone is interested in taking it for repair or parts send us an offer. Up until Friday everything was in great condition with only 40k miles We're in Baltimore, Maryland.

Edited January 12, 2015 by toaster (see edit history)

[89TC-16V]

Looks like probly 3k-6k$ worth of repairs by any shop if they can even source the parts and the frame isnt bent. Im assuming its a 89 automatic car. Its worth money to part out but there is collector car value for a car in various conditions. Im assuming if they arent covering it she was at fault?

[Guest toaster]

Thanks for the quick reply! Sorry I missed the important details, I'll edit the main post. It is a 89 automatic. Since the accident was a hit and run the insurance is saying that falls under collision coverage, which we don't have since it is driven so rarely. Trying to get more details about if it could be covered under uninsured motorist, but I'm not hopeful :/

I think we'll probably look into parting it out. Do you know if there are companies that do this, or even a regular mechanic, or is it something we'd do ourselves? I don't think I could identify half the parts, let alone take them out haha.

[Digger914]

Hi all,

My grandma's TC was involved in a nasty hit and run this weekend and apparently the insurance is covering none of it. The police ended up towing the TC away so we're trying to decide if it's even worth picking up from the tow yard of if we should just say goodbye. Without an appraisal from the insurance we don't know how to tell the extent of the damage and if it's even fixable being such an old car.

Can anyone here take a look at the accident pictures and give any advice on if it's worth saving? Anyone have any experience repairing at TC after a major crash? I don't even know where to start. We'd love to get it back on the road, but I'm not sure a project that big is realistic for us. Pictures attached below. The windshield is definitely cracked, but I don't know how to start assessing the rest of the damage.

With all that said, if anyone is interested in taking it for repair or parts send us an offer. Up until Friday everything was in great condition with only 40k miles

[ATTACH=CONFIG]290554[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]290555[/ATTACH]

Body work is body work and two pictures aren't enough to give good advise. Repairing a TC is no different than any other car, you definitely need a new front clip, if you're any kind of handy it will take you a day to get the old one off and a little less time to put the new one on. If you need it, a frame rack is about $60 an hour in my town, figure the East Coast at 20 to 25% more. Getting parts today may or may not be a problem, if you're patient the parts will come, cars get rear ended and complete cars with worn out seats and drive trains come up around the country for less than it will cost to buy a front end from salvage. If you can't paint and you don't get a red nose, it will cost you about 8 - 900 to have it painted off the car.

If you've ever wanted to try your hand at body work, or have a vocational school handy, this would be a great class car if you can wait for the parts to come to you. I've fixed worse.

[Bleach]

I hope your grandma was OK.

[MazingHL]

I think we'll probably look into parting it out. Do you know if there are companies that do this, or even a regular mechanic, or is it something we'd do ourselves? I don't think I could identify half the parts, let alone take them out haha.

I'm glad your grandma was not in it when it happened.

I just finished parting out a TC. Barely over $1500 of parts sold (a lot of parts I sold is damaged in your car), way over 30 hours involved. It will not be profitable in any way if you pay someone to part out for you.

Sell it whole to someone is my advise.

http://forums.aaca.org/f144/parting-89-chrysler-tc-381231.html

Edited January 13, 2015 by MazingHL (see edit history)

[Digger914]

If anyone is interested in a project there is a $1500 red TC in Las Vegas that has good nose and a busted butt that will provide parts needed to repair this car and 8V turbo, auto tran, doors, 1 rear quarter, and a bushel basket of assorted sale-able parts to help recover cost.

[Guest wheelsport]

A couple months ago I bought a '89 TC that had been in a minor bumper bender. The owner had full insurance coverage. The damage consisted of a small wrinkle on the front bumper chrome along with a small nick in the rubber and a broken headlight. They totaled the car. Thus it carries a constructor title. That's why I got it so cheap. The resale on these cars is ridiculously low to start with. Strip it out and sell the parts which by themselves carry a very high resale price. With the money from the sale of the parts you could buy a nice TC.