Purchase Details

• Date: 2024-Apr-19
• Location: Copart in Raleigh North (368)
• Winning Bid: $1,900 Total Fees: $838
• VIN: 1HGCP36899A025785
• Member #: 883352
• Sale Row: F200

The Joys

The learning on this car was the primary joy. This was not designed to be a fun buy. This was designed to be a car for a teenager to drive. It turned out to be unrepairable without a frame table or a hack job I was not comfortable with.

The Struggles

This car was purchased without an in person view based on the success of the 2013 BMW X3 35. That vehicle had a similar front end fender ripped off. If you look extremely closely and believe you can see the A pillar crease near where the front driver side windshield is damaged. This was the only clue that the underlying damage was to the frame. Once you get the fender off you can see that this otherwise 'standard' run and drive damage to the vehicle includes frame damage. No problem I thought, I'll just watch a youtube video on how to unbend it. This steel is incredibly strong. Without a frame table, all I managed to do was drag the wheel-chocked vehicle across the garage with hand operated hydraulics. It's still worth something right, so why don't I just get it unbent at a professional shop and then fix the rest of it? The shop justifiably refused to work on it - this would require a frame rebuild/reweld to restore lawsuit-proof levels of safety, which is not a business they want to be in. Frame tables cost thousands minimum. Hacked together anchors in the concrete to approximate a frame table seem risky. Ultimately it will lead a still bent frame that may be drivable in the best case. Who knows what the safety level of an impact on that zone would be.

Upon further inspection under the vehicle, the impact ripped a suspension component bolt through a piece of the subframe. Post-frame unbending, the suspension component will need to be replaced, the sub frame component will need to be replaced. This was barely noticeable through a hole in the ripped out splash guard.

You may be thinking at this point - "why didn't you pay for the inspection of the vehicle?" They may or may not have found it as well. This is why the professionals tell you to inspect the vehicle yourself. What they don't tell you is you need training to identify secondary effects. Anyone can see a ripped apart car, only a trained eye can see the crease in the A pillar and recognize that as high risk for frame damage. Does the car have a flat tire? Neither you nor a professional inspector can get enough access to see the suspension component ripped through the subframe.

Final Outcome

Sold to peddle for $855

The Experience

Along with the 2005 Lexus ES330 this reinforced the lesson to only purchase what you truly want to have fun with. Making this into a cost-effective mechanism for vehicle repair is negated when you simply lose interest. If this was something fun I would have found some way to make it work.

Charges and Payments