I crashed my car... and may have to move before I can fix it.

December 27, 2007 6:59 AM

I rear-ended somebody with my car. Twist: I'm moving in a week... background inside.

I have two cars: Van ('99 Dodge Caravan) and Sedan ('99 Mazda Protege). I replaced Van with Sedan when it got stolen, only to have it found again. I've been trying to get it together to sell Van ever since.

So, yesterday I rear-ended another car. The damage on their car amounts to a nickel-sized scratch; Sedan's front bumper came off and the hood is bent. It's still driveable. I'm planning to take it in to a repair place on Friday.

On Jan. 3rd, I'm flying to New York, and starting a new job there on the 7th (I live in Raleigh, NC now). I was planning on keeping Sedan until I found a place in NY, because I might end up getting an apartment somewhere that isn't close to public transportation. So here are my problems:

(1) How do I sell Van, given that I still need to drive it for another week?
(2) Should I keep Sedan at all, even for just the next month, or should I just get rid of it so I can cancel my insurance, considering that my insurance is going to go up?
(3) Should I just sell Sedan as-is? I can't imagine that would be a good idea, but
(4) How long might it take to get the damage repaired?

Any additional advice would be really welcome, I've never been in an accident before and I don't at all know how to deal with this.

posted by Jeanne to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

1. If Van is in good shape, you can take an afternoon and drive it around to some car lots and find out who'll give you the best price the day before you leave. That won't give you top dollar, but it will guarantee that you get a buyer on your time frame. (I had success doing that with my very-good-condition Honda Civic several years ago.)

You really need to figure out where you're going to live before you make that decision, although if you're working downtown, the car is going to be a serious liability except for transport to/from commuter rail parking if you're in the burbs. You should probably decide that living near mass transit either will or won't happen (depending on your future finances), and then act accordingly.

3. Before I sold my old Honda Civic, I spent $300 getting some minor fender damage fixed. It made the difference of $700-$1000 on my final net on the sale. If you've got fender AND hood damage, the relative return will likely be greater - for less than a grand, you'll probably increase your final sale price about twice that.

4. A bumper's probably easy, and the hood not much more difficult. If they have to order parts, it'll take a few days unless they're totally slammed, in which case you might want to find another shop. I hate to say this, but you're looking for short-term pretty as opposed to long-term Make sure the shop understands it has to look good enough to sell quickly.

My recent experience: I just had major body work done on my current '99 Honda Accord - rather, multiple instances of minor body work involving nearly every panel of the car. (Not my fault. Don't ask.) It took a week and $3,500 for a reputable shop in my area.
posted by mikewas at 7:14 AM on December 27, 2007

First, if your sedan is driveable, throw the bumper in the trunk and worry about fixing/selling it after you've moved to NY and settled in; in NY, nobody's going to look twice at a damaged car (like they would in, say, LA.) You have enough to worry about with the move. Plus, you don't want to find yourself in a position where the body shop isn't done in time, or they are but they rushed the work, and getting them to correct it requires driving the car back. Deal with it once you've settled in.

Second, what mike was says about selling the van in a hurry is true, if top dollar is not your goal.

Finally: how nice that your first accident was so minor! I mean, it sucks anyway, but it beats injuring yourself or someone else, or rendering either car undriveable.
posted by davejay at 2:44 PM on December 27, 2007