What to do with wrecked car?

[Kampkook]

If you get her a different car, you may consider selling the car as-is if you can't perform the repairs yourself. Not sure you would get your money back from paying someone to fix it.

 

[WoodBow]

I would look into getting the parts from a salvage yard and replacing them yourself. It looks very minor. You might need to beat a mounting bracket back into position.

 

[Silveroddo]

A bumper cover and front reinforcement for that look to be less than $200 unpainted, if you have any desire and/or ability you can order them online prepainted or look for a used take off on eBay. A roll of masking tape, box of plastic clips and the clip tool and a few hours in the evening and you could knock 80-90% of the ugly off of that. The fender being crinkled makes it a touch harder to do a nice back yard job of it, depending on ability that’s another couple hundred bucks for prepainted or used.
Those cars run forever, if the rest of its primo it would be worth sending to a body shop, if it’s fair to mediocre I’d throw a head light and bumper on it, straighten out the rest and run it for a few more years.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Yea, fix that on the cheap. But...If you scrap it, make sure to shop around. I ditched 10-yr old subaru w/350k with lots of frame, engine, and body damage forward of the firewall. Got offers from $250 to $2000 if I dropped it off. Tow company wanted $400 to take it anywhere. That was an easy decision.

 

[Burnsie]

I think you are looking at several thousand dollars at a shop. Need to get the estimate and then decide
if its worth dumping the money into it.

 

[strikerfired]

FWIW, I was looking at a local 2008 Avalon with 145k on it - blue book was about 8k.
Depending on internal damage, that looks like a simple fix of a bumper and a headlamp; both of which could easily be sourced from a junkyard if you don't care about color matching.

If you want it done right, I'll echo what others have said about finding a good shop. In my younger years I've had good and bad shops fix body work on cars - the bad shops ended up causing more problems in the long run.

For a young driver, with the cost of parts and vehicles in the covid era, I'd have em suffer through having a mis-matched bumper on the car. It'll be another 18-ish months before car part prices come down to a reasonable level.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I've wrecked enough rigs to know that that one isnt wrecked LOL

Grab a bumper and a headlight. Fender looks like it might be a lil tweaked but hard to tell. Shouldnt be that big of a deal to get swapped out. I sure wouldnt sell a car that I knew was a solid rig, just because of that

 

[Yoder]

There are companies online where you can order pre-painted bumpers. I bought one for my wife's corolla once. Paint matched really well. I would think you're looking at $2k to get that fixed somewhere. Maybe more.

 

[Mk44]

A cheap shop around here would charge around $3-4k to fix that. The cost may be different in your area.
can you do the repairs? I would do the work myself. Pricing out replacement parts is about -$500. rockauto (Fender, bumper cover, headlamp, grill, bumper reinforcement.)
And get it painted.

Or find a salvage yard that sells the parts. If you're lucky, you'll find another silver avalon and skip the paint job.

 

[Thomas Hermann]

call you local salvage yard, give them your vin number. See if you can get paint matching parts. If you don't care just get any color or buy aftermarket and put on primed parts. Really up to you and how much you want to spend and the type of mechanical skills you have.

I have a salvage yard in WI, shoot me a message and I can point you in the right direction.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I have had decent luck scrounging around https://www.car-part.com/

 

[Huntindog45]

sell it as is and move on. someone will want it for parts or to try their own rebuild.

 

[MallardSX2]

Go to a junk yard and get the parts to fix it and fix it yourself.

Spray paint the mis-matching shit to match the rest of the car. Who cares. Move on. lol

 

[TheGDog]

I would get it fixed, but make sure you take it to a good shop that you trust for an estimate.

Fwiw, if it's been maintained, I don't know why you'd replace it. 190K isn't that many miles.

Have a friend who has, it's either 1/2 Mil or Mil on his 1990 Isuzu Trooper!

There's definitely something to be said about keeping a beater going. Especially for a younger person. They need to learn about how expensive it is to fix stuff when it becomes broken, so that way they learn to be cautious and careful with "their baby".

Kids that get cars just straight-out given to them? They NEVER properly respect that vehicle and always end up F'ing it up eventually. When it stings their pocketbook specifically, that's when lessons are learned.

 

[Predator_SD]

I see no reason to not make your daughter pay for the repairs????

 

[TAArrowood]

If the car is mechanically sound I would get estimates (parts and labor) so you can see what your looking at.. If the cost for someone else to fix it are crazy high I'd look at fixing myself with aftermarket or used parts.. It might not have that bodyshop finish, but would be functional.. Hopefully the damage didn't get internal(raidator, etc).. If after all that you decide that it's not worth keeping, check out charities.... I was in the same boat a couple years ago.. Dealer wanted 4800 to fix it (Parts/labor), parts were 2800.. Book value was 3500.(before damage). Damaged value was about $500-750..I checked out a vererans group and they arranged free pickup, title transfer, etc, etc and gave me a 4500 tax writeoff... Wasn't exactly how I wanted to go, but it worked out.. This organization takes donated vehicles and fixes them up and either sells them with proceeds going to vets or the car is given to a vet family...

 

[black dawg]

If a new headlight assy will bolt in with out much trouble, by the parts and put them on there, and have her help.

 

[stonewall]

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. Really appreciate you all

I duct taped the front of her car together this evening and drove it home. I’m thinking we can probably order the parts and give it a go. It does look doable. Might get some quotes just to see. But likely a diy project

 

[Z71&Gun]

Remove the damaged parts, find junkyard replacements, remove and purchase those. By then you should have an idea how to put them on. Consult youtube and your local mom and pop body shop. Bring your daughter along for the experience.

 

[Will_m]

There are companies online where you can order pre-painted bumpers. I bought one for my wife's corolla once. Paint matched really well. I would think you're looking at $2k to get that fixed somewhere. Maybe more.

Not to hijack but do you know the website? I need a pre painted tailgate and bumper too.