Need some insight and opinions - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

I had both of my daily drivers hammered by hail last week. I go to see the insurance adjuster on Saturday. Both are older cars and not worth much and I am anticipating both will be totalled. I have a few choices. I can let them be totaled and combine the money and go buy another car. I can total one and fix the other or I can take whatever little they give me and keep both cars. I don't have much money right now to kick in over the insurance money for repair or replacement. One is a '99 malibu with 204K and the other is a '88 Park Ave with 120K (don't laugh it's actually a nice car).

Both cars are well dented but the glass is intact and both are still mechanically sound.

1. If I keep both I will not be able to afford to fix either properly and the insurance will force me to drop my comprehensive coverage on them. Plus, they likely won't give much money on either one.

2. If I keep one, the money from the other might be enough to fix the other properly.

3. If I total out both I might get enough money to buy one half way decent replacement.

I'm leaning toward number 2 or number 3. If I go with 2, I'll probably keep the Buick and fix it. If I go with 3, I might have $5K or so to buy a car. With the $5k in mind I did some searching and found a few prospects. The most promising one I found was 2002 Lincoln LS V8. It has just under 79K miles and looks to be OK in the pictures. Obviously if I get serious about buying it, I'll check it out as thoroughly as I can. I've drive one of these before and it was a nice car. But other than that, I don't know much about them. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these? Any major common problems? Anything to look out for? I also found a 2000 park Avenue with 83K that looked interesting.

What would you do in this situation? Do you have any suggestions for a good car to look for? I need a larger 4 door for the family and I prefer American. I also prefer sedans since it's a daily driver and the gas milage is generally better in cars than SUV's or trucks. I commute about 70 miles per day round trip. Both of my current cars get 25-27 mpg on my drive and like to stay at least at that level.

00 SS View Member Profile	Jun 2 2010, 03:53 PM Post #1
Experienced Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,197 Joined: 13-February 04 From: Hudson, Colorado Member No.: 197	I had both of my daily drivers hammered by hail last week. I go to see the insurance adjuster on Saturday. Both are older cars and not worth much and I am anticipating both will be totalled. I have a few choices. I can let them be totaled and combine the money and go buy another car. I can total one and fix the other or I can take whatever little they give me and keep both cars. I don't have much money right now to kick in over the insurance money for repair or replacement. One is a '99 malibu with 204K and the other is a '88 Park Ave with 120K (don't laugh it's actually a nice car). Both cars are well dented but the glass is intact and both are still mechanically sound. 1. If I keep both I will not be able to afford to fix either properly and the insurance will force me to drop my comprehensive coverage on them. Plus, they likely won't give much money on either one. 2. If I keep one, the money from the other might be enough to fix the other properly. 3. If I total out both I might get enough money to buy one half way decent replacement. I'm leaning toward number 2 or number 3. If I go with 2, I'll probably keep the Buick and fix it. If I go with 3, I might have $5K or so to buy a car. With the $5k in mind I did some searching and found a few prospects. The most promising one I found was 2002 Lincoln LS V8. It has just under 79K miles and looks to be OK in the pictures. Obviously if I get serious about buying it, I'll check it out as thoroughly as I can. I've drive one of these before and it was a nice car. But other than that, I don't know much about them. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these? Any major common problems? Anything to look out for? I also found a 2000 park Avenue with 83K that looked interesting. What would you do in this situation? Do you have any suggestions for a good car to look for? I need a larger 4 door for the family and I prefer American. I also prefer sedans since it's a daily driver and the gas milage is generally better in cars than SUV's or trucks. I commute about 70 miles per day round trip. Both of my current cars get 25-27 mpg on my drive and like to stay at least at that level.

FBody383 View Member Profile	Jun 2 2010, 04:03 PM Post #2
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 98 Joined: 4-October 06 Member No.: 1,394	QUOTE (00 SS @ Jun 2 2010, 10:53 AM) What would you do in this situation? Get every dollar I could from the insurance settlement while keeping the cars and just drive them. Says the guy driving a 206k mile '98 M3.

cccbock View Member Profile	Jun 2 2010, 06:58 PM Post #3
Advanced Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 934 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 1,113	QUOTE (FBody383 @ Jun 2 2010, 12:03 PM) QUOTE (00 SS @ Jun 2 2010, 10:53 AM) What would you do in this situation? Get every dollar I could from the insurance settlement while keeping the cars and just drive them. Says the guy driving a 206k mile '98 M3. I'll offer a ditto here. The cars are worth way more to you than anyone else. If the insurance co. will let you keep them, drive them till the wheels fall off, presumable saving a little dough while you're at it till you need a new car. This happened to me with 1981 Honda Accord with 180K. Insurance paid me off and let me keep the car. I drove it for another 40K, then sold it for $1000 to a guy from Ohio to be his winter beater because it was a Florida no rust car. Best and cheapest wheels I ever owned. bock