Anyone dealt with cars that have frame damage?

[TROLL]

I've been doing some homework online and reading about it... some say that with todays technology a car can be straightened to better specs than it rolled off the factory floor with, and others say it'll never be the same and its asking for problems.

Just wondering if anyone has ever had one of their personal cars straightened after frame damage, or if anyone works in a shop that does straightening.
Are the higher tech laser racks better, or is it just important to take it to a diligent shop?

Also somewhat unrelated but I talked to someone that said that a car with a reconstructed title is worth half or less than half of what it would be with a clear title. I didn't realize it was so severe... does anyone agree or disagree?

Hopefully this can turn into something informative that others can reference in the future as well...
Thanks,
Bryan

[CleanNeon98]

Doesn't really answer the question 100% but from my experience they can be repaired to spec. We once bought a Jaguar X-Type from the auction that had frame damage, the auctioneer announced it, it was written on the windows, etc. If I hadn't known that, I would have never suspected it because the car drove and handled just like any other X-Type we carried, though I would still not buy a frame damaged car because safety can often be compromised in the event of an accident, and here is a video on that, I think it's good information for everyone to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWEdlUT17PI

[R_Rambo]

i havent experienced much with frame straightners but with the salvage or non clear title it does take a considerable hit in the market if your trying to sell, the best thing with a title that is not clear is just to keep it if possible because 9 times out of 10 if your rebuilding it yourself which i assume you are? its not worth selling and you usually end up taking a loss on the car. this is just my experience though

[461_SS]

I've been doing some homework online and reading about it... some say that with todays technology a car can be straightened to better specs than it rolled off the factory floor with, and others say it'll never be the same and its asking for problems.

Just wondering if anyone has ever had one of their personal cars straightened after frame damage, or if anyone works in a shop that does straightening.
Are the higher tech laser racks better, or is it just important to take it to a diligent shop?

Also somewhat unrelated but I talked to someone that said that a car with a reconstructed title is worth half or less than half of what it would be with a clear title. I didn't realize it was so severe... does anyone agree or disagree?

Bryan

I don't think any kind of frame straightener can make a car perfectly straight. Once something is bent who knows what else is bent.

I reconstructed title to mean means the car is worthless. I'd have a hard time paying for half of what the car is worth. To me it would just be a good parts car and that's it.

[Jeffros Spec V]

The major problem here is this....

Most of today's vehicles are all uni body construction. There is no "frame" just a huge piece of metal that makes up the chassis. In a uni body collision damage can be found very far from where the collision occurred. Think about getting rear-ended in the Subaru and have the trunk floor get all managled up. There are two options. Strap down the car, pull the trunk floor back to spec and hammer it out to refigure it. Or cut it out, weld in a replacement trunk floor.

On vehicles that have frames or frame extensions like trucks and lincoln town cars frames can very easily be repaired to spec. Estimating software and manuels give proper alignment measurements for certain control points and such. A standard frame rack can be used to pull the frame back to spec and then additional time given to repair the frame rail.

I write estimate that contain frame damage / unibody damage almost daily.

[AnthonyJDM]

Rebuilt or salvaged title vehicles aren't worth much if your trading it in or something like that. I just sold my girls '99 Acura Integra and could only get about $3000 for it. It was theft recovery so it had a salvage title. The dealers wouldn't give her more the $1200 to trade it in. It sucks because the was never hit , it just had the interior and wheels stolen.

[NJGOAT]

Frame Damage - A car can have frame damage even in an accident that is not severe. Frame damage is characterized by any repair that necessitates the replacement or repair of the frame assembly. The reason that it is noted on the vehicle history reports is that a vehicle is legally identified by its frame. A car is not defined by the body or engine, etc. but by the frame that everything is bolted to. When frame repairs are made it is possible for the VIN etchings to be destroyed so it is noted that this is the case. Before there were carfaxes, there was generally not a reliable way to know if a vehicle ever had body work done, however, the title woud state frame damage and people would know it was in a decently nasty accident. Hence the mentality that frame damage vehicles are to be avoided.

When you are looking at any vehicle with a ladder frame (older cars, some trucks) it may not be possible to perfectly straighten and align the frame rails. This causes alignment and ride issues and can compromise vehicle integrity. When it comes to repairing a modern car do to subframe/unibody construction most cars require frame re-alignment after an accident even if the frame components themselves are not damaged. Any competent body shop should be able to repair the damage and align the car back to at least factory spec, sometimes better. I would not mind keeping/buying any unibody car that had frame damage as long as I know where the work was done and it was done correctly. I would not buy or would try to get rid of any vehicle with a ladder frame that suffered frame damage as chances are it is not 100% repairable back to factory spec.

Reconstructed Vehicles - These are vehicle that were issued a salvage, flood or other such title that were then repaired back to good enough condition to pass a state inspection. The vehicle may or may not have frame damage, but what it is basically saying is that this car had extensive enough damage to not be worth repairing. However, someone bought it and fixed it. The value of such a vehicle needs to be evaluated by the buyer. I would say half value is being generous. I would never buy a reconstructed vehicle as you are simply asking for issues given how extensive the repair work was to get it put back together.

If you are considering buying a salvage car and personally reconstructing it it may not be a bad value proposition, but it will never be worth much money in a sale. The other issue is that a lot of insurance/finance companies will not insure or provide financing for vehicles that are reconstructed. There are some exceptions, but those are up to the buyer. For example, Cherry Hill Imports had a 2005 Audi S4 on their lot with 24k miles. A light pole came down and smashed through the center of the car. It was totalled, bought out of salvage by the dealership, repaired and issued a reconstructed title. They were able to extend credit through Audi, but you had to find an insurance carrier for the car. Before the accident, the car was selling for $35k, after they were asking $17k.

The bigger issue isn't cars legally represented as reconstructed but cars whose titles have been laundered back to clean. Generally cars will be bought from salvage yards, rebuilt back to running condition and then titled in a state with extremely lacks inspection/titling laws. The titles will then be laundered to another state to get them clean and then back into the more stringent state and you end up with a reconstructed vehicle with a clean title. This is way more common then people think it is and is a bit of a boutique business in luxury and performance cars. Especially with smaller private dealerships. The problem is that even carfaxes don't even detect what is going on. So, buyer beware.

[TROLL]

I'm learning a lot here, thanks for the info guys. Please feel free to continue to add to this for the sake of a good discussion though...

[TROLL]

Anyone on the forum do body work and deal with cars that need frame work?

Or anyone taken a car from salvage to rebuilt before and is familliar with the process?

These would be 2 interesting perspectives...

[russiankid]

It is also possible for people to steal cars and at the same time buy a totaled car with the same year and model and just switch the VIN tags. Doesn't really help out the thread but a little piece of information.

[Stillen GLE]

personally i would never do it, Most of the time the insurance declares the vehicle totaled if there's frame damage and the car is never right after that even if its taken to an alignment shop for straighting.

[05OCsrt-4]

Anyone on the forum do body work and deal with cars that need frame work?

Or anyone taken a car from salvage to rebuilt before and is familliar with the process?

These would be 2 interesting perspectives...

troll are you planning on doing something? you seem to be into this whole thing, i've done some frame work, but nothing that would be worthy enough, just helping out a friend or 2

[Vr-4-Life]

i wonder :lol:

[TROLL]

ha yeah, just trying to decide if it'll be worth fixing... i think so though. dont want to get ahead of myself but details will be forthcoming...
just trying to do my research on things now so i can go into it prepared.

[Sincere]

Details! Or you could just give me a call tomorrow. You always forget about me man.

[Honduh]

Troll are you buying ANOTHER car?

[C'DALERIDER]

Good thread. Id drive a redone, salvaged car if I knew it was safe enough and was sure enough of the damage and it was fixed correctly or i was able to get it fixed.

They are probly the only way to go if making a track only car (road or 1/4).

[DropTopChevy]

Anyone on the forum do body work and deal with cars that need frame work?

Or anyone taken a car from salvage to rebuilt before and is familliar with the process?

These would be 2 interesting perspectives...

The registration process alone took me 3 months. I'm sure if you found a better place it could get done faster. All I remember was that I had to take 4 good pictures of the car (front, back, 2 sides) and take the pictures to a notary in order to start the process. This was followed by dozens of phone calls to places related to the registration process. I'll see if I can dig up some of the paperwork.

[Vr-4-Life]

I hear its just a process and that if you make mistakes on the paperwork then it takes way longer. i also heard that in PA you can still take it for inspection and its tuffer.