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Question: To be or not to be, that is the question: repair or total my C6

AV8R

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
203
Location
Southern California
Corvette
1974, 1990, 2008 Coupes
My fellow C6ers,

Those of you that have followed my hunt for and purchase of my latest Vette earlier this year, know that I get a new (always used) car (always a vette) every 15 - 20 years.

I'm sad to report that some hapless distracted driver t-boned her while I was making a slow right hand turn at an intersection. Yes folks, he tried to get past me on my right side whilst in a right turn. Go figure. My guess is cell phone.

The damage includes all 3 right side panels and the frame was slightly tweaked because the door hinge area under the right windshield pillar took the brunt of the impact. Enough so I could see the targa roof seal pinched where the roof meets the hatch top area. But not enough to crack the windshield.

Im told that that the frame can be repaired by the GMAC C6 certified shop and that it's going to cost the 75% value of the car, which typically is where the insurers draw the totaled line. Graciously, my insurer is also offering to pay the amount I paid for the vette if we total it.

So I'm wrestling with the choice of getting her fixed with no out of pocket for me, and about two months worth of shop time (and I pay payments whilst no access to my 2008 C6)....or....I accept the total and essentially full refund of what I paid for the car 6 months ago. This also means I have to start all over looking for a vette that had all the hard to find options again AND was under 35k. This took me a long time (over a year) to find and a lot of work to buy it and debug it. 100s of hours.

I do still have my trusty C4 1990 with 89k miles on her. So it's not like I'm car-less. I'm concerned that it's going to be a long time before I get another vette which is nearly fully loaded as a Grand Sport is, but auto with paddles and not a GS price tag (another $10k). I don't want manual transmission, just to be clear. I'm OK with a mark on the CarFaq, but it does devalue it if I have to sell. But is that alone reason enough to punt her?

So there's my dilemma....
repair or total

At this point my head can argue it logically either way. Heart says fix her.
Wife said get a truck. ;)

thoughts?
No, I'm keeping the wife.


Last pic a week before accident:
image_zps7d3d34fc.jpg


current state:
image_zpsc6a552a3.jpg
 
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Considering that used C6 prices will plummet once more C7s get out there and your insurer is going to give you what you paid for the car, I'd go look for another C6.
 
You're right of course. Thanks for the kind of experienced feed back I wanted to receive.

My 12'year old gal suggested I let the car go in case I have to sell, being jobs are unstable these days. She's smart.
 
I'd walk away - with a settlement check in my hand.
 
Yes, I do have to go see a doc as well.
So the full story ain't over.
 
Considering that used C6 prices will plummet once more C7s get out there and your insurer is going to give you what you paid for the car, I'd go look for another C6.

Absolutely!

Chuck M
 
While the accident was happening, I felt the energy shock wave go from my right to left side. The vette's design distributed the energy throughout the frame, probably by design to protect the occupants at the expense of spreading the damage out and creating no single point of failure. Thus absorbing the blow as much as it could for me. She gave her life for mine. Gotta respect that. Don't think it would have been so if my C3 1974 were hit in the same spot.

After I got out and checked if his health ok, I asked him point blank:
"with these two huge blinkers and long brake bar, how did you not see me turning right?"
his shaken response with eyes lowered:
"I didn't see them."

so either he's lying, was telling 1/2 the truth because his eyes were else where, or the C6 tail lights suck and need to be C7s!
 
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Sorry to hear that your baby is damaged so bad, :ugh but glad to hear you're not hurt any worse than you are. :eyerole I would tend to agree with everyone here.....take the money and run. Even though you spent a lot of time hunting that one down and getting it bought, there is surely another one out there that will fit the bill. :thumb
 
Considering that used C6 prices will plummet once more C7s get out there and your insurer is going to give you what you paid for the car, I'd go look for another C6.

Agree...get a diff C6. A repair is a repair. Never back to factory specs no matter how good a shop is. And there are many good ones.
Good Luck!
 
C6 version 2.0

The replacement Im considering of my recently totaled C6 is another 2008 - almost identical...

10184365-3-5-963828ed_zps7d06f128.jpg


10184365-22-5-d476f88d_zps099a6217.jpg


10184365-7-5-fb387341_zpscb209f3d.jpg
 
Sweet! But I'm kinda liking the Cyber-gray one in the background of the first picture! Is that a GS, or a Z06....or a ZR1?
 
I think its a GS. Way above my pay grade. ;) With kid going to college next year and a thrifty wife as my copilot. Which is why I got an AT, so she has some buy in too. ;))

Not many C6s of the profile Im looking for have shown up since Oct when my C6 got creamed. Would have thought the C7 fever and availability would have dumped a lot more C6s, but I guess what I like isn't that common or folks are holding on to them a bit longer. I like the black coupe with LT1, LT2, LT3 and LT4 options. Probably folks just go to the GS if they option up that much.
 
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Do you know how much they are asking? It's way above my pay grade as well, but a guy can dream.
 
My first 2008 C6 and its final t-bone picture

image_zpsc6a552a3.jpg



Three months later, I have found its brother. Another 2008 C6 which also had a second targa roof, a smoked plexiglass one.

AC3E91C5-128F-4876-8833-9D15FE032C62-4561-000008FFF4AD897D_zps25308822.jpg
 
Very nice, and Congrats on your find. That didn't take you too long, although that's easy for me to say!:)
 

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