Luis writes:
Hi Sajeev,
I live in Texas where we’ve had terrible rain and hail storms. My daily driver is a 2004 Acura RSX Type-S with 111,000 miles on the clock. I purchased it second hand last year after driving my last car for ten years. A ’99 Civic coupe (178k miles, which I still own but leave parked). Anyway, the Acura incurred at least $7,000 in hail damage, mostly on the roof, hood and trunk, and minor damage on the sides. My question is: should I keep it? It runs great and has never been modded or in an accident. The insurance will pay off the balance of my loan (about $6,200) and make it even-Steven, or they will pay around $6,000 (which is the value minus the assumed auction price of $1,100) to the bank and I will have to pay the $1,100 balance and be able to keep it. Either way, it will make it a “total loss”. The adjuster said it will not be branded on the title as salvage but will be deemed a total loss that will show up on a Carfax. Making full coverage is not an option.
So I’m screwed either way it seems. Should I keep it? The car is all original, after all. Should I pay it off? Get a new car? Ride it out for a couple of years? Or all of these things? Selling it makes no sense. I have two reliable cars — should I really add a third?
Sajeev answers:
Yup, pretty much screwed either way! Yet you enjoy keeping cars for a long time, since you haven’t sold that Civic yet. And perhaps your Honda love mirrors that of my penchance for Lincoln-Mercury products.
A bad Carfax isn’t terrible on a 12-year-old car, especially with photos explaining why that happened. At this point, what buyer is is gonna hammer you for non-structural hail damage? I’d take the insurance company’s $6,000, research your local collision centers, and shop locally and online for a new hood and hatch.
Perhaps you can fix it cheaper — getting the parts yourself, especially if someone’s parting one out/selling stock parts from a project car locally. Poke around the forums and Craigslist!
I’d keep the RSX because the Type-S is the last great hot hatch from Acura, perhaps the last of the era. Honda quality and engineering even appealed to yours truly back then. I reckon selling your Civic is a quick and easy way to make a big dent (sorry) in the RSX’s hail damage repair.
What say you, Best and Brightest?
[Image: Acura]
Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.
Daily drive the crap out of it, and enjoy it every day! I’m a few hours north of you in Oklahoma, and my ’06 Mustang GT has an insurance payout on its record for hail damage. I daily drive and autocross it as much as I can. I’ll probably drive it until it drops.
There is a freedom you can enjoy when you realize your car will never be a show queen.
Be a vigilante against douchebag parking fans.
I’m also in Oklahoma. I remember being surprised when, after seeing three inconspicuous little dents on the roof of our 2005 Murano SL, the insurance company awarded us a $4,500 check, less the $500 deductible. We never got it fixed, and the $4,500 went toward paying the car off. Best part is that CarMax didn’t seem to notice the dents when we sold it to them.
For sure total freedom… My DD, heavy traffic, commuter Civic had hail damage at being five years old and insurance paid me $4000. It’s white, so the dents don’t really stick out. The car also sits outside most of the time and is dirty, so I just put the money in savings. As far I see it, it made a $17k car into a $13k car.
I would take the $$ from the insurer and pay off your loan. Drive the car – a few dents won’t change your enjoyment of it. At a later date if you want to get it fixed you can. If not, I’m sure some kid will be happy to pay you $3K for an unmolested RSX with a few dents.
I believe if you fix the car, then have the insurance co review/inspect you can have full coverage reinstated. Won’t change the carfax any though.
Living in CO, hail is a problem. Most of the folks I know who keep their cars after a total loss go with a new hood at the very least. This way you are not reminded every second that you are driving a golf ball. Then, when you get some time experiment with the home remedies…dry ice and a heat gun. I have also heard of people using the compressed air cans that are used to clean your computer key board with a heat gun.
Yeah I’ve watched the Youtube videos of that being done with the compressed air cans and the heat guns. Under perfect circumstances and patience it works great. I know I wouldn’t enjoy the car if I had to look at a lot of hail damage every day.
Had to google RSX…. hell, that’s just a little coupe…. a toy left outside.
They were popular back when people enjoyed driving.
Well, shi..yeah, ukuleles were once popular.
Tiny bubbles…
The theme song for Google driverless cars?
I test drove one of those back in 2002. Nice revvy engine, fine shifter, good balance between ride and handling, excellent build quality. There was not enough room in the back seat for my needs, so I got something else.
There’s no need to be dismissive, this is nice ride for one or two people, especially if you like to drive.
KBB has Type-S in good condition at $5,600 private sale….take the check and run!
You know you’ll be waiting for your Takata airbag replacement for some time.
Could you imagine a Buick worth $6K after 13 years?
Yes, Boat-tail Riv.
Yes, Boat-tail Riv.
Which weren’t particularly well loved when they were new.
But I wouldn’t kick one out of the garage for eating crackers.
“Could you imagine a Buick worth $6K after 13 years?”
This one’s not too far off:
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/677763810/overview/
The last LeSabres actually hold their value quite well.
Well, there are lots of Buicks older than 13 years old worth $6K or greater today.
The Rainier came out in 2004 but I’m guessing they can go for $6k or greater.
I’m unsure if Norm is a paid shill or if he has Asperger’s. The 2004 RSX isn’t even listed on the recall.
Easy mistake considering that almost every other Honda of that general era is on the recall list. But yeah, the RSX missed the list.
I had a 2006 Acura RSX-S previously. Odd enough, it is almost the only Honda of that vintage not on the Takata recall list. Most likely due to the Type S getting a custom Momo steering wheel, it probably has a non-standard Honda airbag as well. Just a guess though.
Likewise, my 2006 TSX has yet to show up on the Takata list.
Coincidentally I recently took a $3,000 check from State Farm for hail damage (received in Oklahoma AND Colorado) rather than deal with getting it repaired. The removal and reinstallation of the entire upper interior, airbags and sunroof sound like a recipe for disaster. I’ve never had a car come out of a body shop put back together correctly the first time. There’s actually only one dent that’s particularly noticeable. Now if my car looked like the one in the pic, I’d feel differently.
Take the money and drive the car! If the insurance pays off the loan, I don’t see how you lose in the long run.
“Gooo onnnn, take the money and run….”
Parley that $7k into an NSX!
He has a lien to pay off first…
I’m struggling to understand how an insurance company will pay out to total a car, but then let you keep it.
You buy it back at salvage rate and it’s deducted from the insurance check.
I feel like the kid in class who is dumb and keeps annoying everyone because he needs the teacher to keep re explaining stuff, but this makes no sense to me either.
The insurance company doesn’t want to deal with the administrative and employee costs involved in acquiring the car, titling (and possibly registering) it, storing it and then paying a fee to the auction house in the process of disposing of the car.
So instead of offering to pay you X amount for the car, and then taking it away and getting Y for it at auction, they offer to give you roughly X minus Y, and you can keep the car. If it helps, think of it as though you take the insurance check for a total loss and relinquish the car, and then turn around and re-purchase your former car at the salvage auction.
Simpler and less expensive for the insurance company, you keep your safe, perfectly good car (at least, mechanically) with cosmetic damage, and you get a nice check. Everybody is (usually) happy.
Yours truly’s Accord Coupe V6 6-speed has hail damage.
It’s also light silver (hides the hail damage well) and has over 180k miles.
I’ve never had it repaired. It’s ten years old. My lady is doing her commuting in it as we speak (she is the one who has the long drive). I’m daily driving a ’99 Suburban (yes, the one I paid $3K for).
In short, I guess I don’t give a sh*t. So fix it if you want to… and if not, no biggie.
Wow Luis, that’s a drag. You don’t live in Wylie, do you? When the hail came into town, I was on my way home from work, and I tried to escape by running down Highway 78. I made it into Sachse before the hail got me. Fortunately, my Tacoma only got golf ball-sized hail ($4300 damage), not the baseball- to softball-sized stuff that punched holes in the roof at my house.
If my Dad is to be believed, park the car in the hot sun for a few weeks, and most of the dents will work themselves out to little dimples. He claims to have done this to a few cars that were caught in east Texas hail storms.
Regardless, Given that you tend to keep cars for a long time, I would take the cash, Perhaps replace the hood if it bothers you, and drive loan free for 10 years.
Lol off topic, but aren’t you supposed to beat on Hondas and their Acura brethren? Especially once they are 10+ years old, over 100k miles, etc.?
I about lost my coffee at the “Future Classic” line.
No offense, of course.
I want to know why the heck you would take out a loan on an 11 year old car with 100,000 miles on it. That sounds like a Piston Slap request that would be summarily shot down by the commentors.
Because some people don’t have the means and resource to buy cars cash, and emotions can take over on what whip to buy. The car is worth over $6K to an insurance company – you wouldn’t get that kind of money on a 2010 Impala (W-Body) with the same miles.
Depends on the rate. Most lenders won’t loan for >10 years old, but if it’s borrowing money below the inflation rate (<3%), IMO it's kind of stupid not to.
Or put it into an appreciating car. I could very likely see RSX's appreciating if they were well cared for and didn't have outrageous miles put on them. I took out a loan for $10k on a 2003 S2000 with 70k miles back in 2011 (paid $12k total). Sold it last year with 105k miles for $14k.
Nothing against the car or the owner. He purchased a vehicle he felt he would enjoy. Good for him. In no way is it a “Modern Classic”. Saying it, doesn’t make it true.
Edmunds places the dealer retail value at about $5000, private party is even lower. Take the insurance money and buy another one.
I’d pay it off and keep it, but I’d take all the car payment money I was paying out and put it in a fund so I could get a big down or pay outright on my next car.
You can do some things yourself to reduce that damage, but finding other cars that are being parted out isn’t going to work for a roof panel. Good luck :)
If it were my car, I would replace the hood and trunk lid with parts from a junkyard. Then get the rest of the dents pounded out and filled, and have the whole car painted. You should be a couple of thousand dollars ahead at that time, and the car will look better than it did before the hailstorm.
There is a slow continuum of loving a new car, happily driving it for years, then seeing it slowly get worn, faded, scratched and old. Then there’s the hailstorm, hit-and-run or some other sort of catastrophe that can either lead the car to an early grave or require an investment that rivals it’s market value. We have all been there.
Daily it with no worries – otherwise I think you’ve got some solid advice. Try and find the hood and trunk in the junkyard or a person giving up on a project (the internet is your friend). For the side panels see if you can go cheaper with PDR that won’t get you to 100%, but could get you to 90%.
This being an RSX I’m sure that theres at least a few wrecked examples to choose from, just get some new body bits and re-paint (hood can be black if you insist).
I would definitely keep it. You’ll have an RSX type S for $1100 and all you have to do is deal with some dents. I would let a pointless dent guy do what he can to minimize them, or maybe even play with body isle at harbor freight and use a combination of dent removal suction cups and the ding king type tools. Hell, I’d go you $2000 for the car as is.
Keep the car and look into dent repair, in the long run at least you wont have the stress of keeping your car mint. You wont regret it when you visit a grocery store and some fatso swings their SUV door into your car (though you should still be quite angry).
Alternatively, here are Steps you can take to save your Acura, based off a random Teggy owner:
Step 1: Paint car black to hide defects
Step 2: Cut off damaged roof, install roll cage
Step 3: Regret these decisions, sell, buy another Honda.
Rules on this may vary from state to state, but in Georgia (and, presumably, Texas from what I am reading) you can have the insurance company declare the car a Cosmetic salvage. That means that they have declared the car a total loss and paid up to the maximum value that they will pay. The car cannot be functionally damaged, like frame damage or flood damage.
Then you keep the car and the title isn’t branded. It shows up on Carfax as a total loss. I had this happen to a ’91 Cadillac which had rear bumper damage and because of the age of the car, the insurance company wanted to total it but it ran and drove fine. Still have it.
I’d keep it, you now have a paid off car that you really like for 1100. I wouldn’t worry about value on a 12 year old car too much. Take good pictures and document why and see if you can get an explanation from the adjuster when it comes time to sell.
If you have too many cars sell the Civic, that’s older and not as much fun.
Definitely keep it! I had the same happen to my old ’99 Accord V6 many years ago. Free car FTW!
Alternatively, I’ll give you $2500 cash for it ;-)
Look at that. He’s already got a bidding war. I’ll go up to $2800
I’m inclined to say keep the car.
This might be a good time for someone to do a column about paintless dent removal.
Keep the damned car. Who the hell cares what happens to the title?
Get out of debt sooner. Start saving for a replacement car sooner. Stay out of debt longer (and/or don’t go so deep into debt for the next car).
There’s nothing mechanically wrong with it. It is functionally identical to its pre-hail state. Enjoy the liberation of not caring about door dings and bumper scuffs. Or go full-on crazy and embrace it’s visual jalopy status and start turning it into a post-apocalyptic zombie survival vehicle.
But seriously, keep the damned car.
If you’d stop beating around the bush, I’m sure I’d agree with you 100%.
With that amount of deep dimples as shown in the photo you can’t really say that the damage is nonstructural. That concave roof is not going to act in the same as a roof with gentle upward curve to it. It will probably sound different at speed too. Even after all the bondo.
I’m guessing $1k or $2k of paintless dent removal work would do wonders.
Agreed – I’ve seen the PDR folks work miracles on cars damaged much worse than the one pictured. They could provide a “per panel” rate rather than an individual dent rate.