Should I give up or repair this?

[Chad Criswell]

My wife and I are arguing over this and need honest impartial opinions from people that know more about car repair than us… My son’s very used 2007 Malibu got ran over a curb and the repair shops are quoting me between $1600-2600 to repair it. Obviously with 190k miles on it it isn’t worth that much. However, in today’s used car market I feel like I am screwed either way. We can only afford to spend around $2-3K max whether we repair it or buy something else and with the market so inflated we won’t be able to find anything that I would consider reliable for $3k in the used market.

My thought is that at least if we put $2k into the repair we know what we have. Maybe we will have to put another 1K into it over the next year for other stuff but we can probably work with that. The unknown is if we buy something used that we know nothing about and might have other issues that are going to cost even more over the rest of the car’s life.

My wife wants to sell and buy used. I want to keep it and repair it…

What would you do if you were in this position and with used cars selling for so god awful high? Would you repair it or scrap it for $300 (that was the best offer we got for it) and try to find something used?

My sincere thanks for any input you might have…

Topic

[Steven Williams]

Need to know the full extent of the damage. Can you tell if it’s just body damage, or does it have mechanical damage also?

[Chad Criswell]

They are basically saying to replace the front suspension. Both tie rods, struts, rotors, etc. Sorry I don’t have the exact list in front of me. Only the right front is badly damaged, but they are saying it is normal to replace both sides just for uniformity.

[Dave Riggs]

I’d say repair. In today’s used market, $3,000 will probably get you less than what you have now. (I exclude direct purchases from friends, friends of family, etc. from this.) They are correct, in a perfect world you would replace both sides at 199K miles. You have to decide whether your world is perfect or whether to just fix what is actually damaged.
Does that $2,000 quote include body work or just mechanical? That needs to be factored in.
Are you at all handy or do you have someone who could do the suspension work if you provided parts?
If you do repair, also factor in the cost of an alignment. Mandatory form what you are saying about what needs replacing.

[Simon Gonzalez]

Repair it in my opinion. In my experience, buying old auto caused me to spend more. Your just have minor problems as long as the engine crate is pretty good since the crate is what’s so expensive.

[Chad Criswell]

The 2K is just the struts, tie rods, rack and pinion, etc. and includes the cost of the alignment. There is no body work involved. I don’t have the materials or the facilities to be able to do it on my own so pretty much stuck with the repair shop.

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