Rear end collission! Repair advice needed.

[Rattnalle]

I'm not saying it's super bad or anything but it's a lot of work you're considering for a car that looks like it should have had it's rust protection improved ten years ago. Have you looked inside the beams to make sure they're just superficial rust spots? If not at least make sure before you commit to too much.

[LOB]

Somewhat off topic, sorry, but is it ok to drive around with totaly rusted brake discs (photo of the rear wheel arc) in the US? The annual control you have in some states is only for emissions? In Scandinavia it wouldn't pass. And frankly I wouldn't drive a car with such discs...

As mentioned above, the car looks a bit corroded to invest big money into.

[ecbsykes]

Usually the rust gets blasted off when you use the brakes... it almost looks like those ones haven't been working!

I'm not going to jump into the debate here too much, but I'm trying to see it from both sides. From a pure safety standpoint, your car absorbed a lot of energy from the other car. All that energy goes somewhere and cars are designed to flex and crumple. There could definitely be damage to the frame that you aren't seeing, even if you get it all back together and it drives straight. If you are ever hit again (I hope not!), it may not do the job it was designed for.

That being said, I am someone who is also emotionally attached to my wagon and would hate to see it go. I hope when the day comes it will be clear-cut what the right answer is. This one is certainly hard. If you have the time and money for it, and you don't mind the potential for additional risk in a future collision, then go for it. If not, there are a decent amount of wagons on the market still.

Definitely sucks though, but glad you're alright.

[Clemens]

You definitely have a stuck rear right caliper. If you decide to fix it up - the frame looks alright to me from what the photos show - you definitwly have to deal with rust protection as others already mentioned.

[FireFox31]

I know about the rear brake problems. I just bought two new calipers, pad sets, and rotors. Good thing I was scheduled to install them tomorrow and not before the accident.

I've moved therust protection discussion to a new thread.

Can anyone post pictures of their wagon trunk interior and frame rail as shown on page 2? Comparing to a known good wagon would really help me determine my amount of damage.

How can I confirm it's safe to drive 30 mins to the body shop? I considered measuring the distance between front and rear wheels, comparing both sides to see if one is shorter from impact.

[abscate]

I think the spare limits you to 50 mph. That will be fine on the rear wheel.

They plastic part of your trunk isn’t a good fiducial for frame measurments , you probably broke all the plastic clips on this hit.

Losing some crash protection in the rear offside of the car would not merit a thought for me if I didn’t have kids or others in the car

[cn90]

A car is not a house.
A house is an investment, a car is not.

One can buy a $200K house and invest another $50K to make it look good (new kitchen etc. etc.), the return in the investment is there when it comes time to sell the house.

A car is a money pit, it only loses money as time goes on.

The ONLY reason to fix this car with rear-end of collision are:
- Emotional attachment.
- You don't care about money, all you care is spending the right amount to make it look good again.
- Or you are a very skilled DIYer that know how to do body work.
- You enjoy working on cars a lot. Very much like people buy a fixer upper home and work on it for personal satisfaction...

[abscate]

A car is a money pit, it only loses money as time goes on.

True, but if you need a car, the choices are between repair and replace.

It does make sense to put $1500 into a $500 'value' car whose history is known, in some cases.

The "I don't want to make a $1000 repair, its only worth $500" argument is specious.

[erikv11]

Also, a car is not a hula hoop. And a car is not a grilled cheese sandwich!

[Clemens]

Also, a car is not a hula hoop. And a car is not a grilled cheese sandwich!

Wiser words were never spoken ...