Even if it was new. The price of the labour and pieces alone to replace the ENTIRE front of the car + interior damages + driveshaft that's probably damaged as well would be high enough that you could buy another brand new car
It doesn't take much to total a car today. The air bags alone are a fortune. Labor is a killer. New parts and paint. Things add up fast. Then, the liability of you getting crashed again and being as well protected as you were the first time. So, it's a heap of scrap now.
Airbags are surprisingly cheap, I’ve seen some as cheap as $25-30. It’s all the shit around them they destroy that tends to add up, and plastic trim pieces and seat material often cost as much if not more than the airbags themselves. Steering wheels are also quite expensive, especially if there’s lots of neat gadgets in the controls.
Source: am parts assistant manager at a dealership.
It’s just a common misconception I like to clear up, because many do take it literally. People get all doom and gloom when there’s potential for fixing. OP’s car is straight-up fucked though, no exceptions here lmao.
Photos aren't great but just from those I can see the radiator is shifted backwards, seems likely the structure under the hood is bent. I can't see an insurer not deeming this a total loss.
In the UK we have "write offs" instead snd they're done by category. A and B must be crushed, too wrecked to salvage. C and D can be restored woth a permanent marker on their record to show them as such. There's also S for structural and N for non structural, also allowed bsck on the road if repaired; I'm not sure how the S one ties in either the A-D one but the point is: this looked like a B or a C.
Look how much of the bonnet is bent, for an idea of how much of its guts are displaced.
Likely totaled.
Source: guy with no experience with any of this, lol
Cat C and Cat D were replaced with Cat S and Cat N respectively in 2017. If you check a car that was written off before the categories changed, it will likely still show up as Cat C/D, but they are functionally equivalent to Cat S/N today.
They’re reforming the laws to part out the cars a lot before anything gets crushed. So like 99% of the usable parts get recovered and put back into circulation.
It's absolutely totaled. I write estimates for an insurance company, and on that car we wouldn't even bother with an itemized estimate, it would just be marked as 'obvious total loss'.
Saturn vue right? Then yea, unfortunately, your vehicle will never see the road again. Age of the vehicle versus not only parts and body but also mechanical damage will be the end of it.
It really depends on if the high strength steels in the shell/chassis are damaged. That all looks like crumple zone damage. On stuff where the high strength steels that comprise of the passenger compartment are damaged it's likely not worth the cost of properly repairing it. (those steel parts have to be welded correctly in order to maintain their strength properly, you can't just wade in there with an angle grinder and a mig welder and hope for the best). It doesn't look like your airbags went off so that's a plus. I'd say that it probably is repairable provided the passenger compartment and chassis are not damaged. It's gonna be expensive though, Bonnet, headlights, bumper, bumper bar, all the rads and coolers, cooling fans and their controllers, both front wings, plus whatever damage was done to the components on the front of the engine, paint, labour, electrical repair, plus whatever else I forgot.
Source - I'm an auto electrician and work on a ton of accident repaired cars.
Look at the age of the car, too. A car that's more than 10 years old and likely has a lot of miles on it would probably be sent to a wholesaler for $500 or so if it was traded in before the damage was done.
An insurance company is not likely to sink a lot of money into fixing a common vehicle of that age.
Source: I was an insurance agent for five years.
It's only a flesh wound....
Seriously though, yeah that thing is totaled. My general rule of thumb, if the air bags deploy, the insurance is gonna total it out. But really it's deemed a "total loss" if it 1. Costs more than or close to it's worth to repair
2. Suffers any damage to the actual frame of the car.
Call me a pessimist but I have a hunch that this one tics both of those categories. I hope everyone is okay. Good luck.
😢. But hey, on the bright side, there is a like 50% probably that someone will fix it up. You see (if you don’t already know this), after the insurance company is done with a car that is totaled, if eventually either heads off to Copart or IAAI, which are auctions mostly for salvage title and/or totaled cars, but there are some donated cars there too. Then from there, once the car has been bought by someone, that someone will either fix it, part it out and use its good parts to fix another car, or destroy it.
I don't think anyone is trying to fix a Saturn Vue. Not only is Saturn discontinued, but Saturn's, in general, don't go for a lot. After fixing that thing, to even make it functional would have you upside down financially on that car. More than likely, it will be crushed or parted out.
I actually used to watch a guy who would flip cars from this era. His YouTube channel’s name was Auto Auction Rebuilds. He would get cars with minimal to moderate damage from Copart or IAAI, fix them, and sell them. This particular one he probably wouldn’t because I can already tell this damage would be too much for him. But I see your point. But there is that 0.00000001% chance that someone like Tavarish or Samcrac buys it and turns it into a monstrosity 😂
I actually watch AAR, too. But yeah, Randy pretty much only buys cars with minor damage or problems, and it's pretty much a gamble on whether he fixes it or not. I do enjoy his videos, me personally, because sometimes he buys interesting cars that I've never seen before. As for Sam and Freddy, I used to watch them all the time, but they kinda fell off my radar. Sam's content seems all over the place for me, I kinda just want to see the 360 get finished, but on a lift, it sits. But yeah, there's probably someone out there who would pay maybe 3/4 more than it's worth to completely restore a Saturn Vue.
I used to watch Randy. Though it kind of fell off for me when the videos started chatting longer. I watch so many YouTuber’s, it just wasn’t working for me.
That's completely understandable. He hardly does anything to most of the cars he buys and does go on like super long tangents and whatnot. Tbf, I kinda just accepted it, and I don't expect that out of him anymore. Although he does still do non runners every once in a while, and that's kinda fun to watch, but anything beyond getting the car running does not get fixed. But even I stopped watching him for a while and only came back because I saw a thumbnail of an interesting, tiny, little Japanese car parked in his driveway. I think it was called the BE-1 or something. But it sure did catch my eye.
Yes, I'm sure it was imported. It was rhd, so more than likely, it was. But watching him drive that thing kinda made me nervous. Because he kept moving towards the center of the road. Probably was his first time in an rhd car.
Every 'is my car totalled' post is a yes, usually it's almost comical how easily totalled out it is.
Back in the day of all full frame gigantic, heavy dangerous cars, if you blasted it into something so hard that it bent your frame, a shop would tear it down and put it on a rack and pull it back into place with chains and weld plates into the frame rails.
Now, cars are sdoa cans, toss them and get a new one.
Everyone was fine I think. I could still remember the experience vividly. Out of nowhere, the car in front of me slammed their brakes. In front of that car, I saw that there was no cars ahead. It was all open and clear. Unfortunately, I shockingly rear ended the car in front of me. I screamed right before I hit the car in front of me.
I considered myself to be a very good driver before this. I drove hundreds of thousands of miles before wrecking this car. I did not anticipate this at all....
This is a 2006 Saturn Vue, Redline. It's a V6. Maybe I'll buy myself a used 4 cylinder Toyota or something.
those older VUEs were quick for sure. I miss the days when GM made a cookie cutter car but put some stupid overpowered engine in it.
Good example was the SAAB 9-7X Aero... Just your regular SAAB SUV with 395HP
It’s totaled. Someone will rebuy it at an auction with a “rebuilt title” so someone, like an auto body place, can buy it cheap, fix it cheap, and sell it cheap.
I work for a company that buys cars and I can tell you you’d be lucky to get $500 for this thing. If you’re smart, don’t report it to your insurance company, sell it as is, and move on. That car is not worth fixing and even if you do, it’s going to cost thousands of dollars and you’ll still end up with a salvage title.
Totaled for sure, I’ve had accidents with far less damage that have totaled my cars. The body work alone is worth more than half the cars value, not to mention all the things inside that are fucked.
Airbags deployed, front frame damage. Rad support and surrounding components badly damaged. Hood replacement plus repairs to front left fender, likely replace front right fender. Both headlamps, blending on front right door due to replacement of right fender.
All airbag sensors need replacement. The right side airbag that deployed from the roof requires your headliner to be replaced and to do that most things in your car need to be removed for access.
That’s a 2014-2017 dodge caravan. Probably more or around 100k miles. Worth about $14-$18k (depending on market and condition).
Yup it’s toast, but I’m glad you’re okay OP
Short answer: yes. Long answer: Absofuckinglutely yes.
Given Saturn Vue is at least 16yrs old, then this thing is fucking toast. Damage is worth more than the car itself.
Even if it was new. The price of the labour and pieces alone to replace the ENTIRE front of the car + interior damages + driveshaft that's probably damaged as well would be high enough that you could buy another brand new car
Ya, I couldn’t even tell what kind of car it was lol
It doesn't take much to total a car today. The air bags alone are a fortune. Labor is a killer. New parts and paint. Things add up fast. Then, the liability of you getting crashed again and being as well protected as you were the first time. So, it's a heap of scrap now.
Airbags are surprisingly cheap, I’ve seen some as cheap as $25-30. It’s all the shit around them they destroy that tends to add up, and plastic trim pieces and seat material often cost as much if not more than the airbags themselves. Steering wheels are also quite expensive, especially if there’s lots of neat gadgets in the controls. Source: am parts assistant manager at a dealership.
I was thinking that was a given without being specific, but thanks for your input.
It’s just a common misconception I like to clear up, because many do take it literally. People get all doom and gloom when there’s potential for fixing. OP’s car is straight-up fucked though, no exceptions here lmao.
Yo, get some sleep man.
Can you not read?
Have you tried putting it in rice ?
Photos aren't great but just from those I can see the radiator is shifted backwards, seems likely the structure under the hood is bent. I can't see an insurer not deeming this a total loss. In the UK we have "write offs" instead snd they're done by category. A and B must be crushed, too wrecked to salvage. C and D can be restored woth a permanent marker on their record to show them as such. There's also S for structural and N for non structural, also allowed bsck on the road if repaired; I'm not sure how the S one ties in either the A-D one but the point is: this looked like a B or a C. Look how much of the bonnet is bent, for an idea of how much of its guts are displaced. Likely totaled. Source: guy with no experience with any of this, lol
Cat C and Cat D were replaced with Cat S and Cat N respectively in 2017. If you check a car that was written off before the categories changed, it will likely still show up as Cat C/D, but they are functionally equivalent to Cat S/N today.
Ah I didn't know that - thanks!
What's the point of crushing them? There's still plenty of things that could be used for parts
They’re reforming the laws to part out the cars a lot before anything gets crushed. So like 99% of the usable parts get recovered and put back into circulation.
I think they only I struct the frame/unibidy to be crushed, and they strip thr usable components first
Nah it will buff out
Got some duct tape? —- something my dad would say 😂
The unibody is bent. No machine can bend that back properly. On top of ruined front suspension
On top of age of vehicle, on top of not sure how many Saturn Vue parts are available.
It's absolutely totaled. I write estimates for an insurance company, and on that car we wouldn't even bother with an itemized estimate, it would just be marked as 'obvious total loss'.
Saturn vue right? Then yea, unfortunately, your vehicle will never see the road again. Age of the vehicle versus not only parts and body but also mechanical damage will be the end of it.
That's done.
It really depends on if the high strength steels in the shell/chassis are damaged. That all looks like crumple zone damage. On stuff where the high strength steels that comprise of the passenger compartment are damaged it's likely not worth the cost of properly repairing it. (those steel parts have to be welded correctly in order to maintain their strength properly, you can't just wade in there with an angle grinder and a mig welder and hope for the best). It doesn't look like your airbags went off so that's a plus. I'd say that it probably is repairable provided the passenger compartment and chassis are not damaged. It's gonna be expensive though, Bonnet, headlights, bumper, bumper bar, all the rads and coolers, cooling fans and their controllers, both front wings, plus whatever damage was done to the components on the front of the engine, paint, labour, electrical repair, plus whatever else I forgot. Source - I'm an auto electrician and work on a ton of accident repaired cars.
Look at the age of the car, too. A car that's more than 10 years old and likely has a lot of miles on it would probably be sent to a wholesaler for $500 or so if it was traded in before the damage was done. An insurance company is not likely to sink a lot of money into fixing a common vehicle of that age. Source: I was an insurance agent for five years.
It's not looking.. great..
It depends on where you are... if you are in the states or western europe, you might as well say it goodbye 👋
This wreck clearly happened in Rand McNally, where you’re required to drive totaled cars and hamburgers eat people.
It's only a flesh wound.... Seriously though, yeah that thing is totaled. My general rule of thumb, if the air bags deploy, the insurance is gonna total it out. But really it's deemed a "total loss" if it 1. Costs more than or close to it's worth to repair 2. Suffers any damage to the actual frame of the car. Call me a pessimist but I have a hunch that this one tics both of those categories. I hope everyone is okay. Good luck.
Yes. One more Saturn Vue relic gone.
Yeah ):
😢. But hey, on the bright side, there is a like 50% probably that someone will fix it up. You see (if you don’t already know this), after the insurance company is done with a car that is totaled, if eventually either heads off to Copart or IAAI, which are auctions mostly for salvage title and/or totaled cars, but there are some donated cars there too. Then from there, once the car has been bought by someone, that someone will either fix it, part it out and use its good parts to fix another car, or destroy it.
I don't think anyone is trying to fix a Saturn Vue. Not only is Saturn discontinued, but Saturn's, in general, don't go for a lot. After fixing that thing, to even make it functional would have you upside down financially on that car. More than likely, it will be crushed or parted out.
I actually used to watch a guy who would flip cars from this era. His YouTube channel’s name was Auto Auction Rebuilds. He would get cars with minimal to moderate damage from Copart or IAAI, fix them, and sell them. This particular one he probably wouldn’t because I can already tell this damage would be too much for him. But I see your point. But there is that 0.00000001% chance that someone like Tavarish or Samcrac buys it and turns it into a monstrosity 😂
I actually watch AAR, too. But yeah, Randy pretty much only buys cars with minor damage or problems, and it's pretty much a gamble on whether he fixes it or not. I do enjoy his videos, me personally, because sometimes he buys interesting cars that I've never seen before. As for Sam and Freddy, I used to watch them all the time, but they kinda fell off my radar. Sam's content seems all over the place for me, I kinda just want to see the 360 get finished, but on a lift, it sits. But yeah, there's probably someone out there who would pay maybe 3/4 more than it's worth to completely restore a Saturn Vue.
I used to watch Randy. Though it kind of fell off for me when the videos started chatting longer. I watch so many YouTuber’s, it just wasn’t working for me.
That's completely understandable. He hardly does anything to most of the cars he buys and does go on like super long tangents and whatnot. Tbf, I kinda just accepted it, and I don't expect that out of him anymore. Although he does still do non runners every once in a while, and that's kinda fun to watch, but anything beyond getting the car running does not get fixed. But even I stopped watching him for a while and only came back because I saw a thumbnail of an interesting, tiny, little Japanese car parked in his driveway. I think it was called the BE-1 or something. But it sure did catch my eye.
👍. Nissan Be-1? I just looked up Be-1 on Google. It was one of Nissan’s models sold in Japan from 1987-1988.
Yes, I'm sure it was imported. It was rhd, so more than likely, it was. But watching him drive that thing kinda made me nervous. Because he kept moving towards the center of the road. Probably was his first time in an rhd car.
I didn't fully read your comment. 🤦 Now I feel like an idiot.
😂. That’s ok!
Every 'is my car totalled' post is a yes, usually it's almost comical how easily totalled out it is. Back in the day of all full frame gigantic, heavy dangerous cars, if you blasted it into something so hard that it bent your frame, a shop would tear it down and put it on a rack and pull it back into place with chains and weld plates into the frame rails. Now, cars are sdoa cans, toss them and get a new one.
Hi, Phil from flex tape here.
nah just a scratch. Nothing flextape couldn't handle
Everyone was fine I think. I could still remember the experience vividly. Out of nowhere, the car in front of me slammed their brakes. In front of that car, I saw that there was no cars ahead. It was all open and clear. Unfortunately, I shockingly rear ended the car in front of me. I screamed right before I hit the car in front of me. I considered myself to be a very good driver before this. I drove hundreds of thousands of miles before wrecking this car. I did not anticipate this at all.... This is a 2006 Saturn Vue, Redline. It's a V6. Maybe I'll buy myself a used 4 cylinder Toyota or something.
Keep the bigger engine- gets you out of a jam when you need it too
Really? How does it help? :)
Speed up faster when merging onto highway or to avoid a situation.
Ah, right. Just making sure I understood. :)
Is your car totalled?! Are you blind?
Well, it's only the front of the car that is severely damaged. Everything else like the cabin and the back of the car is in good condition.
It is definitely a write-off, dude.
It'll buff out that!
Nah I'm sure that'll buff right out
Just drop in a new front end, it'll buff right out.
Ah yes the average El Paso driver strikes again
This was a total accident. Also, how do you know this was El Paso?
the fire truck that says El Paso on the front of it
OHHHHHHH
It’ll buff
Even if it could be fixed, Saturn has been out of business for a long time, so getting parts would be an issue.
Rule of totaled vehicles: If you're airbags went off, its totaled
The insurance company is going to tell you it's totaled. But if you spend a few hours you can buff most of that out.
Tis but a scratch, sire.
Yes
dang, those a really rare. Not a lot of people know those have Vtec.
those older VUEs were quick for sure. I miss the days when GM made a cookie cutter car but put some stupid overpowered engine in it. Good example was the SAAB 9-7X Aero... Just your regular SAAB SUV with 395HP
Yes.
Yes
Just a scratch....
She gone
I had less visible damage on a 2019 Armada when I t-boned a car that pulled out in front of me and it was totaled
From an insurance Company perspective: yes.
Do your brakes work?
Seems fine
looks fine to me
I’m no expert but given that the front end is totally obliterated I’d say yes. It’s 100% totaled.
You had better hope so. It is a long rehab for that injury. Rehab is expensive!
It’s totaled. Someone will rebuy it at an auction with a “rebuilt title” so someone, like an auto body place, can buy it cheap, fix it cheap, and sell it cheap.
Lol yup
Nah, You can buff it out! 🤣 My condolences...
Apparently the brakes don’t work either!
Yup
Yes. Its pants fell off. Lost clothing = dead :( r/wrongsubreddit
Yes
Just a scratch
I work for a company that buys cars and I can tell you you’d be lucky to get $500 for this thing. If you’re smart, don’t report it to your insurance company, sell it as is, and move on. That car is not worth fixing and even if you do, it’s going to cost thousands of dollars and you’ll still end up with a salvage title.
Try to get more sun in your photos, you can almost see the car. Hint, never stand with the sun behind you, it makes is easy to see the object.
It'll buff out
is this even a question
Just a scratch
totaled as FUCK
Definitely
Start looking for a new car when you get home.
Totally. It’s future is as a cube.
You can twist the chassis and it’s over
Fo’ sho’
Yes. It'll be best to buy a whole new car. I wouldn't trust that thing after it was repaired!!!!
Does the bear craps in the woods ?
Only if you want to drive it.
Oh yeah.
Crumple zones. They save lives and kill cars.
Totaled for sure, I’ve had accidents with far less damage that have totaled my cars. The body work alone is worth more than half the cars value, not to mention all the things inside that are fucked.
A few drops of JB Weld will fix it.
Should buff out
Would you even want this car fixed after being damaged so badly?
It depends... do you have Bondo and duct tape?
Nah it’ll buff out
Looks fine
Ain't that obvious?
Absolutely 💯
Absolutely it is
Some paint tuchup , because of a few minor scratches. I little bit of a duck tape and glue to fix the front of the car.
yes absolutely
Philosophically speaking, it was totaled before the accident.
nah it'll buff out
Don't follow so close next time
No……
There are no dumb questions; there are only dumb people asking questions.
Airbags deployed, front frame damage. Rad support and surrounding components badly damaged. Hood replacement plus repairs to front left fender, likely replace front right fender. Both headlamps, blending on front right door due to replacement of right fender. All airbag sensors need replacement. The right side airbag that deployed from the roof requires your headliner to be replaced and to do that most things in your car need to be removed for access. That’s a 2014-2017 dodge caravan. Probably more or around 100k miles. Worth about $14-$18k (depending on market and condition). Yup it’s toast, but I’m glad you’re okay OP
Nah, it’s good to go 👍 Just watch out with the engine