Over the past 6 months I have bought 5 cars from my local insurance auction. I sold 3 and kept 2. My specialty has been cars valued under $4k in pre-accident shape with little damage that has financially totaled them due to more dollars needed to be spent fixing vs what the car is worth. On these cars I have spent less than $100 getting them back to road worth but not really fixing the cosmetic damage. I can accept a cheap ride with a pre-bent fender, a wrinkled bumper, etc.
Up to this point I have not bought anything with a busted airbag because I really don't understand them. Maybe I should learn.
I give you this example...
2002 Ford F150
Very slight front end damage. Certainly damage that I wouldn't feel like I'd need to fix on a 179k miles truck.
However, this slight damage has set off both front air bags...
So, what needs to be fixed here? Has the front bumper moved and that caused a sensor to ignite the airbag? Does that mean if I make no changes to the bumper but install a new airbag, will that new airbag ignite off right away? Is there a sensor at the bumper that needs to be changed? Does the bumper need to be repaired/moved back to proper spec to accommodate replacement of the sensor?
This is from memory so don’t take it as complete but on that truck you may need some or all of the following.
Air bags(obviously)
Connectors that the air bag plugs in to on the harness as they can melt.
Wires in the harnes and or the harnes it’s self for the airbag that go back to the control mogul.
There is a mogul that needs to be sent out and reset/reprogrammed or replaced. I think it is under the center consol on that truck
Think that is all. And obviously this is worst case. This is why an air bag deployment will often total a 5k car. Have two deploy and a 5k car is easily totaled.
Looks very clean except for the airbags. How much will it sell for in this condition?
In reply to jimbob_racing :
Notoriously. Trucks sell too high but I'd go to $1500 on this because I think it s a $3k truck with bags fixed. Maybe more. It is a 5.4L with 4x4.
I witnessed the truck today. Not rist free but more so "ready to work".
Most airbag deploys damage everything connected to them. That includes columns, dashes-both the cover and metal substructure, and wiring. This is why there is such a bugaboo fixing them and frequently get totaled out with fairly minor exterior damage.
Personally, I have seen that frontal airbags do more damage to cars and their occupants then if they were never installed. The side curtain airbags don't bother me but I deactivate the front airbags on every vehicle I own.
I had a buddy who bought a salvage 94 cobra in 99 from theft. He covered the passenger airbag things with similar material to the dash and put on aftermarket steering wheel. I would be tempted to do that then advertise with no airbags. There are probably enough of those trucks at junkyard that a new door could be had for a few dollars to cover the hole in the dash. On the $2018 car I removed the guts and just need to make a bracket to hold the door in place. And explode the bag so i can recycle it without killing the scrap yard guys.
WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed said:
Personally, I have seen that frontal airbags do more damage to cars and their occupants then if they were never installed. The side curtain airbags don't bother me but I deactivate the front airbags on every vehicle I own.
In accidents where you are barely in to the peramiters that trigger an airbag there will be busing or some minor burns to the skin that would not be there with out the air bag. You do realize that the safety stystems in modern cars work together and by disabling the airbag you are making your self much less safe in accidents that are moderate or severe.
Now in your defense early SRS systems were rather crude with a one size fits all deployment that was very violent and there was much less integration of the system with the belts the seat and crumple zones. Most early srs systems were installed in cars that were not originally designed for them. This is where the current myth and legend that you are better off with out airbags comes from and there was a tiny bit of truth to it.
Modern srs systems are much better and should not be messed with. Lastly if you do disable the airbags you had better tell any passinger about it. If you were to get in an accident even if it is not your fault and the passinger is hurt your insurance would not cover them making you %100 liable for there medical costs. Obviously this also applies to you as well but you are doing it by choice.
Somewhat relevant to this conversation is a question I've had. What all goes into deleting the airbag system entirely? I mean no codes, no lights, no nothing. This would be for A Streetcar however it would have proper restraints and cage to offset the airbags.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
That is hugely car year make and model dependent.
That truck was the 4th vehicle off for the day. Bidding only went to $475 but that was not enough to beat the hidden reserve. I did not bid on it because I still don't feel comfortable with airbag issues.
I did bid on an Avalon up to $1,775. Bidding went to $1,850 which did not meet the $2,550 reserve. They don't always say what the reserve is but the auctioneer announced in in an attempt to get someone to bite at that number.
I have another pre-bid in on a '10 Sonata 4cyl and at the close of pre-bidding I was the highest bidder. My bid is conservative and likely not enough but if it is enough then a great bargain.
EDIT: my Sonata bid would have been a total cost with fees of right at $3k. Bidding with fees went to just over $3,400. That's not to say that if I had counter bid it would have gone still much higher. This was not a purchase of necessity , but rather a purchase of opportunity. Oh well, there will be 500 more cars next week. Nothing for me this week.
In reply to dean1484 :
Points taken. Currently, my newest car is 2008 Focus. Next time I have vehicle in the 2012 to current model year range I'll leave them alone.
In reply to sleepyhead :
As generic and dull as possible. A Silver exterior with grey interior, low option model with 4 cyl, auto. If you looked up Generic Car this could be the picture. However, it was low mile example, like 30k miles that had taken a slight hit to the rear bumper. The hit was such that it left a ripple/crease/hump where the roofline meets the side body panel. This is an expensive to repair hit but the rear door still opened fine and the trunk opened fine too. I would have never fixed it but it would have diminished the value of the car.
I know what you are looking for and this was not it.
Blaise
Reader
12/5/17 3:26 p.m.
WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed said:
In reply to dean1484 :
Points taken. Currently, my newest car is 2008 Focus. Next time I have vehicle in the 2012 to current model year range I'll leave them alone.
You should re-enable them on your 08 Focus too.
The very early SRS systems which did cause injury in small accidents was as they were designed to restrain a 95% percentile (think 6'2/250lb) male who was unbelted.
96+ systems have lower powered airbags.
Keep your airbags. I'm sorry to be so stern but these systems were designed to SAVE YOUR LIFE. Statements like yours equate to those in the 80s who didn't wear their seatbelts because they swore they'd be safer being thrown out of the car. Or that 'they don't build em like they used to' and new cars with crumple zones aren't worth a damn.
Plug your airbags back in. I have only been in one serious crash and the SYSTEM (seatbelts, pretensioners, complete airbag system including side and curtain bags) meant that I WALKED away.
I'm replacing my miata as DD only because I want a car with a proper seat (for whiplash protection) and a more advanced airbag system along with a better crumple zone. Trust me. The systems work. It's your life. You are not smarter than the companies and regulatory bodies that came up with this stuff. Please... plug it back in.
So, i now get notice from IAA that the truck will be auctioned again in 2 weeks but is now listed with a buy-it-now price of $800. After fees this is really $1,170.
- $1170 purchase
- $74 sales tax (not a dealer)
- $100 for salvage inspection and titling
$1,344 before any repairs to air bags or repairs to other hidden issues.
I still dont know enough about air bags so i think i will still shy away.
yeah, I'm not a fan of dealing with airbags too... half got rid of my '94 answer because of fighting with capacitors killing the airbag computer.
interesting on the crease from the bumper hit. Most of the rear-ended Sonata's of that vintage seem to take out the rear lights, and bash in the trunk where the plastic absorption bar mounts. offhand, without pics, or a length review of my materials books... I'd be a little worried about that roof.
Do the selling prices end up online in your watch list or is that just the pre-bid? Because it’s showing the cayenne with bullet holes at $770
In reply to sleepyhead :
Bumper hit...
Here is the picture provided by IAA. The picture does not do it justice and the car is dirty but right under the words .com, where the flat meets the upright, meets the downward there is an odd ripple/wrinkle/hump in the panel. The unbroken tail light was in the trunk and I verified that the light fit in the proper place but admittedly, it did not fit perfectly (good enough.) The plastic bumper cap had a few torn mounting points so the insurance quote would have replaced the whole cap. In my opinion, there were enough mounting points remaining that it too would have been "good enough."
My guess is that progressive had paid a shop a couple of hours work to tear the car down a little to get a better understanding of the damage. Once they understood, nothing was reassembled and all parts thrown in the trunk. The trunk liner had been removed and all the fasteners were neatly packaged in little baggies along with the tail lights in the trunk.
That 02 Ford is a 6k truck up here this time of year if it is awd. You would be in to it for about another 2k I think worst case. I would consider fixing that one. The real issue is rust. Rockers and door bottoms are the place to look. If those are clean I would be really tempted. There are tones of those in yards so parts should not be bad price wise and availability should be very good.
In the end if you were all in on that for under 4K that seems like a good investment with a potential to make some $$$$
In reply to dean1484 :
$6k for a 17 year old truck with 180k and a rebuilt title? I live in the heart of rusty truck country, and I don't think there would be much of a market for that around here. Maybe I need to start buying up stuff like that and selling it in your area.
WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed said:
Personally, I have seen that frontal airbags do more damage to cars and their occupants then if they were never installed. The side curtain airbags don't bother me but I deactivate the front airbags on every vehicle I own.
Not a big fan of your face bones? This stopped being a good idea in 1995. Now, it's a terrible idea.
https://youtu.be/2FXepVcJVXU
Re: Truck Value...
According to the IAA website details, Progressive Insurance values the truck, in pre-accident condition to be $4,659 (probably a slightly favorable valuation.)
Not rust free but typical of a vehicle of this age in this location (rust belt). Not $6k here. Certainly not $6k now or even after with a Rebuilt Title. I hold with my original estimate that $3k is about right with the bags fixed right. Even less with the bags fixed wrong.
If anyone here wants it, just say the word and I'll go get it on your behalf. If I understood air bags better I might do it myself.
Porsche Cayenne...
Pre-bidding on this ended at $775. I did not check to see where actually bidding ended. I did look the car over slightly on Monday. There must have not been anyone in the drivers seat or he was quick to duck. There was a bullet hole nearly centered on the headrest. Also another in the shoulder area of the driver's seat. The hood had about 6 bullet holes in it and another 6 through the windshield. Surprisingly, no blood stains.
The listing is gone or I would post some pictures.
