Hi,
I have a 2016 high roof sprinter van which will probably be written off as a total loss by my insurance company.
The damage is not to the drive train or engine, possibly some to frame. With new tail lights and an alignment, I would be comfortable driving it (I did drive it home). However, the back doors need to be replaced before it would be water tight.
Does anyone have experience with
shops which will handle such a repair AND you would recommend (note- high roof sprinter is a no-go for some)
the process of inspection and obtaining a new title (if necessary)
?
You will have to get a salvage title to get it inspected. I know firestone can do a complete inspection, don’t know about the mentioned restriction though
Declaring it totaled has more to do with the cost of the repair and it’s used market replacement value than it’s usability.
Find out what they want for for damaged vehicle, they’ll deduct that from the payoff
Be careful on the settlement, used car values are super high right now.
I listen to a show Saturday mornings called the Car Pro Show, with Jerry Reynold’s, he often talks about insurance claims - learned a lot. Recommend you go to this site there are some things that Texas law entitles you - if you ask for it. Like sales tax and plates on replacement car is part of loss value. Car Pro Show Insurance Claims
One person’s view of needing tail lights and a pair of rear doors may be completely different from another’s perspective.
Depending on the overall condition and mileage etc, it might not be totaled. Plus, not all vehicles deemed a total loss by insurance companies are labeled as salvage etc.
Very good experienced body repair shops are getting harder and harder to find as larger franchises with fast in fast out operations replace them. The two family owned places I would have recommended have been sold recently and have new owners so I can’t help you there.
Ask the great folks on the Link above - for a local body shop. The sprinter-source is a fantastic venue for everything “Sprinter”
If you were injured, get an attorney. Lots of times insurance companies won’t settle the claim for the vehicle unless you settle the claim for injury. It’s a way of pressuring you.
Your attorney will get this straightened out - they are separate claims. Sometimes there are some odd things that occur: An uninsured motorist totaled my RAV4. Under collision, I had a $1,000 deductible, under the uninsured the deductible was $250!
By the way, as I’m currently finding out, there is a big difference between having UNinsured Motorist and UNDERinsured motorist coverage. Fortunately, I had both - different claim.
Extensive rear corner & quarter panel damage! That is NOT a repair I would have the likes of a place like “service king or caliber collision repair”!
Does the sliding door still open?
From what looks like a traditional awning, was this a factory RV from Airstream, Roadtrek or similar? (i.e. not home made)
A sprinter based Real RV is quite different from a run of the mill Sprinter cargo van in terms of value (and some repairs).
I used to maintain and service my Aunt’s Sprinter RV…I would never recommend one made by Roadtrek of Canada. Every except the RV part was easy.
this. exactly THIS. insurance companies have too much incentive to just claim a person’s vehicle totaled. I had a 1980 honda motorcycle that had barely any cosmetic damage and the market value to source reprinted 80s plastic body panels was in the thousands of dollars. it ran perfectly fine and was not ugly by any standards. I’ve never called insurance for a vehicle since. it took years to undo their ridiculous claim and make the vehicle legal again.
First off, as others have said - DO NOT take it to Service King or any of the big chains. ( But especially not Service King. )
I had good luck with B&D in Mesquite on my last wreck. Service King decided the repair method would be to put in a new frame on a 2010 Expedition. Which made it a total. I appealed that decision, and then went to B&D. They did a nice job straightening the frame ( Minor bend in the front. ) A year later, still no problems.
It’s best to walk away from the vehicle unless you can properly do the repair yourself (no for most people) or know someone that can for cheap like family.
Totaled means the repairs cost more than the vehicle is worth. A salvage title implies something is fundamentally wrong with the vehicle because to have it properly repaired wouldn’t make sense to do. This will almost certainly cause you problems in the future.
The underlying issue seems to be the insurance company thinks the value of the vehicle is less than it actually is. Otherwise you wouldn’t be looking to throw out of pocket money at a totaled vehicle. If it’s not too late I would focus efforts on that. Hopefully it turns out good regardless of the path you take.
Personally I’d focus on ensuring that their payment puts you in a similar vehicle in the same condition, mileage, etc. rather than embarking on what will surely be an expensive project with an uncertain outcome. Trying to save/make a few bucks here may just bite you in the ass in the end.
One problem with wrecks is that the insurance company tends to opt for replacing stuff that might be repairable, and that drives up the cost of the repair that they think is necessary. I had some front-end damage on one of my old cars, and the insurance company was assuming breakage in engine parts. That was what lead me to cease buying comp and collision on my old cars.
Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. This is very helpful in me gaining information prior to the insurance company’s decision.
Part of the reason to pursue this path is that this is a recreational vehicle- accepting the cosmetic damage would be a significant cost savings.
When a insurance company totals a car and gives you a check it now becomes their property, so if you get the check you no longer will be able to own or fix the vehicle, if you do not get the check you will not need a salvage title and will just have to fix it out of pocket because it was never declared totaled, if it’s declared totaled and you choose to keep it, your insurance company will give you the salvage Value that they would have sold it for not the value of the vehicle so say it’s 10000$ but you keep it the skins yea very company will give you like 4000 or whatever the salvage value is instead, my family works in the collision estimation field but you can total a car and not have it be salvage there’s a 75 cap, so cars 10000 if the claim is 7500 then it’s totaled but not salvage title but I’d the write up is 12000 then you get a blue title and will never be able to get full coverage from any insurance company
