Lady in her Hundai ran (or almost ran I dont remember) a stop sign last week right into my 55 mph 240DL wagon. spun me around. Both passenger doors and post gone. Expletive! nobody hurt, and that's the best part, but expletive! It is (was) a nice rust free great running car. 220k. I think her insurance company is gonna total it. Pisses me off. Just had to vent. dave

 

Well, that just stinks! Sorry to hear it but good no one was injured. If a Volvo has to die, that's the way to do it!

 

Swift- seems to me if she was at fault, her insurance should fix my car, no matter what the "blue book" is on it. but that isnt how the "system" works. Doesnt matter that its my car, I like the car and went 500 miles south to buy the car. Allstate deems it not worth fixing. I've been driving it back and forth to work for a week now. drives straight, runs well. just have doors that dont close (or open). How can a drivable car be totaled? Cant fight City Hall I guess. Dave

 

The car may be driveable, but it sure isn't straight anymore. You really don't want a car back that's had a big hit, it is NEVER the same again.
Sorry for your loss, but it's time to move on and find another car.

Regards, Andrew.

 

^This! Although I've been told from others that it can't be done (this may be a relatively new development; I haven't had a wreck in10+ years) the last time I was in this position, rather than accept the op's insurance payment, I demanded a comparable replacement vehicle. They don't count receipts for work done as an increase in value other than a general assessment that the car was maintained well. Basically, all they can go by is mileage and the body. In my case, there was no comparable vehicle. So...the insurance company upped their offer! It never hurts to try. Still, most insurance pays merely on book value without any consideration to actual replacement cost.

 

Typhoon- I know, you're right, gotta quit with these emotional attachments to vehicles! The good ( ? ) part is I've got a nice (although a bit rusty) 2000 Dodge Caravan sitting in my driveway that I've been trying to sell for the last month. So I suppose I'll winter with the minivan and shop for another 240 wagon in the spring. Maybe one that has AC that works! Dave

 

I had a similar thing happen to my car when I was T-boned by a Tahoe pulling an illegal U-turn. Luckily the hit was just behind the driver's side door and back to the rear wheel. The metal pushed in onto the tire and I had to wedge a piece of wood in the spring in order to keep it off of the tire and get it home. Then a friend helped me to get the metal off of the tire and I drove it like that for a while. but the driver's side door would not close properly. So a week ago my friend got out the hydraulic ram and we removed the back seat and got most of the damage out. I could probably fix it with just a bit of bondo right now. BTW I only got $580 out of the insurance company because the car had a Salvage title and they totaled it as well.

So obviously your car is in worse shape. You should post up a couple of pics. If you can rent a hydraulic ram you might be able to get that door pillar pushed back to its near original position. Doors can be had at the junkyard. The car will never look the same however. And you will not get enough money to fully repair it. The system just does not function like that. But it is nice to be able to close those doors especially in the winter. The other option would probably be to cut a door pillar out of a car at the junkyard and weld it in. Things can be fixed with enough time and money but that is up to you in the end.

Sad that the insurance companies don't understand our bricks. We value them because they are well made cars. And it's a shame that we have to deal with idiots on the road.

 

I feel your pain I have an 87 240 wagon I was rear ended in and the only thing that happened was the bumper was pushed in just a bit, insurance company totaled it out! The good thing is I get to keep my precious car, it runs perfectly fine, I just felt so offended when the insurance company said the amount of the car wasn't worth the price to fix it!!! How could that be cause I would still pay top dollar for it!!!!! It has only 90k miles on it, mint condition!!!

 

Heres the results

 

This is just a crime. It bad enough that we pay "insurance" for just what that word means and we blatantly don't get it, but that lady is somewhere out there still driving.

 

Yeah, I havent said anything to my insurance company, going through the stop sign runner's insurance. I think they are looking at a 1000$ offer. Seems ashame cause it runs and drives fine. seems fine anyway. I'd like to take it up to 1500, but we'll see. I've done plent of stupid stuff while driving but I've never hit anyone. D

 

Well if you can you might want to refuse their initial offer and make a counter offer. Especially if you can find some similar cars for sale for more money. Look on the Internet and see what you can come up with.

I would seriously look into finding a hydraulic ram. You anchor one side of it on the opposite side of the car and start pumping. With something like 4 tons of force it will bend the door pillar back out. You might be able to find one at a rental center. Pull out the seats if you have to and put a board on the end to spread the force out where needed. It just takes some patience but you should get it so at least the doors line up better. Then maybe get a couple of junk yard doors to put on. Maybe paint them to match. At this point it would just be good to get things fairly straight. From the pictures I can see that the bottom rail below the hit did not get damaged so that is good news.

My car was dented in probably six inches or more by the hit it took from a Tahoe. The door would not shut properly. With the help of a friend and the ram it is back to where I could actually use some bondo and repaint and you wouldn't know it got wrecked. Your car looks a bit worse but I wouldn't give up on it. A ram can move some metal with ease. Here are a few pics of my car after the repair work with the ram. The metal behind the door now meets up with the door whereas before it was pushed in at least six to eight inches. Also when the car was originally hit I could not drive it at all because the metal was pushed into the rear tire.

 

coonmanxyz, that is one sweet ride as is. It's got that "no one will steal this car look," but it's got it where it counts.

 

I'm just trying to keep this brick rolling. The odometer quit working almost two years ago but I figure that the car has some 340,000 miles on it (second motor, tranny and turbo). I thought the car was done for after the accident but it's hard to keep a Volvo down. I have owned this car for almost nine years now and I have driven it for probably 170,000 miles (city miles). There just aren't that many turbo 240s left on the road. And it definitely has that "no one will steal this car" look. But when I kick the turbo in you will be looking at the rear license plate. LOL. The turbo isn't quite boosting like it should lately. Not really sure what is up with that. Will this car last forever?

 

My condolences, Dave, but I'm glad you're okay and I hope you can fix your car or find another nice Volvo.

 

An accident like can be repaired including used parts for about $1100 in my locality (PR). Living in Florida my 244 was involved in a head-on collision (stopped at a traffic light), their insurance wanted to pay me $1700 and they'd keep the car and I said no. I told them they had to replace my car which was in great condition prior to the accident. I called five of the biggest Volvo dealers in the state for a price quote on my model year and gave them the info. They were a bit "reluctant" to answer quickly so I gave them a "push" with my lawyer (no cost for the favor). In a week I received in mail a check for $3,700 to buy me another 240 plus pay the county taxes, back in 97'.

 

F*&k the insurance bastards! I am sure that I would have gotten more for my car after the wreck but the car has some rust and the interior is ripped up as well. Also the Salvage title didn't help things out. But I got to keep it for $100. I would definitely keep the car if not just for the parts.

 

Whether he keeps the car or totals it, the other guy's insurance needs to cough it up.

 

Lucky for me (?) I had a 2000 caravan I was trying to sell in my driveway. I'm going to try to see if I can pry 1500 out of them. I bought it for 1100 4 years ago, so i suppose 1000 is "fair". If I had a bunch of garage space or a barn I'd hold onto it, but now it will be labled salvage when I re-register it (driving the Caravan now). So guess I'll take the money and run. I cant be snow blowing around this car all winter. Sucks. Sucks. But my silver caravan is my cloud's silver lining. Dave

 

So are you saying that you will let them take the car or are you going to keep it? They only deducted $100 from my settlement when I kept the car. If nothing else you could keep it for parts. If it were me I would have that damage pushed out with a ram and it would definitely be back on the road. I know it seems like a lot of work but a hydraulic ram can do a lot of things quite easily. Anyway, I guess that it's your choice. Maybe you can find another brick.