Lady ran a red turn signal. What to do now

[smellis]

Tale as old as time. A man crying in the road as fluids of his beloved jalopy course along the asphalt. An baby boomer in a giant SUV confused about who had the right of way. She pulled right out in front of me as i cruised into the intersection. I had the green light, confirmed by witnesses. I couldn't stop in time. Now I have a car recycle project or my first major body work project with no parts car.

I inherited my 1984 4wd tercel only 4 months ago. my life a little more shiny and fun ever since. 130k original miles afaik. Just needed to replace the fuel pump and some leaking lines and she's been running like a champ every day, albeit with screwy idle speeds from whatever vacuum leak.

the lady swears she had a green light, despite me gesturing her attention to the light above us which was still green for me, mercifully turning yellow as we gazed at it. all this within seconds after the impact, showing my green light cycle was only now coming to an end.

ANYWAY my car is for sure totaled from the front end. doesn't drive. not yet sure the extent of the damage. as i said, i don't have a parts car. and i'm not sure i want the project. other than some rust spots and a vacuum leak the car was pristine, esp the interior.

I'm in north carolina. Asheville area.

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edit: i don't know why it won't do this as a vertical image. y'all get the idea though.

[NWMO]

smellis,

So sorry for you, that really stinks. I hit a deer doing 70 and had similar damage, but less. Fortunately, I have a parts car and got it back together. Good luck. There are still a few around, you might have to find another one.

[Mattel]

Sorry for your loss of your Tercel and well written BTW.
Maybe try the Facebook page to see if someone has a parts car for sale or you can offload your wrecked car.

[Paul]

That is unfortunate. Tell her insurance company you want the car replaced. Find similar examples for sale, or recently sold to justify the value. You don't have to accept their initial low ball offer. They might even try to get you to accept partial responsibility for the accident as a condition of settlement. If they play hard ball, tell them you plan to file a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Insurance.
Consider buying the car back for the salvage value. These are becoming more difficult to find in the junkyard.

[smellis]

Thanks all for the condolences. I'll keep an eye out for something with a decent front end in the next few months. I went through a similar situation with an old VW TDI not two years ago, so needless to say I'm already collecting screen grabs of comp sales within the last year. Fun times having cars you love as your daily driver! But always playing the numbers out on the road, how long we'll get to keep em good, well that's out of our control sometimes. grrrr

I'll report in with anything of interest. Be safe out there everyone!

[Mattel]

I think on the facebook page someone has put together an album of examples of ads and BAT auctions where these cars have sold for a lot of money for this sort of situation.

[Toyotise]

Yeah,
First: tell the insurance company where to take a piss when they offer you too little.

Two: Demand you keep YOUR vehicle (for parts!) and don’t let them discount you any more than it’s value in steel scrap weight on the settlement. JUST BECAUSE THEIR CLIENT DESTROYED IT DON’T IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM ENTAIL YOU MUST RELINQUISH OWNERSHIP OF IT.

Three: Get your settlement check for four thousand dollars (my appraisal based on the aggravating rust, and mitigating low mileage SR5 factors)

Four: Trawl the Facebook marketplace and Craigslist till you find a nice one.

Five: Enjoy working on and driving Tercel4WD ‘s for miles and more! Now you have a good known parts car.

Or buy a Honda CRV.

P.S. oh yeah and don’t make up nothing but make sure you get your back-spine checked out medically. Don’t use their doctor recommendation, go to who you trust. their insurance WILL pay. Stuff from accidents can manifest down the line and don’t want to release them from liability and realize you back tweaked ouching months later was correlated with the accident.

[Nordical25]

I am sorry to hear of your Tercel crash. It makes sense to keep your car as spares and get a compensation for it.

Here is a link of recently sold Tercel in bring a trailer:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1986-toyota-tercel/

You can find more available data there on latest Tercel sales. I think that insurance company needs to pay compensation in thousands of dollars since you had a low mileage example.

I recommend you to look for another one with that insurance money you will get. Most of these cars are lacking some parts so you may use your old car to complete new one in case it is missing any parts.

[dlb]

Sorry to hear about this, smellis. I agree with Toyotise's advice. It seems like there are still a good number of decent ones available throughout the US so I'm hopeful you can find another soon.

[MrWrench]

Sorry to hear about your accident. It's painful to lose a car that brings you joy. Whatever happens going forward, Please do not scrap this car if you do not choose to repair it. I know if several people who will be willing to buy it and fix it up. I am in Michigan so I'm a little bit of ways away but I have hoods, cowls and fenders that are in presentable condition. I also have grills and headlight buckets

If you have full coverage, please PM me with the insurance buy back price or email me at tercelrescue@gmail.com.