If a car is in an accident, and the repair shop restored it to new condition (no bent frame, new parts, paint, airbag, etc.), why does it still lose value in as a trade in, if it is otherwise in great condition, with low miles?
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The demand for a wrecked car even after it’s been fixed it’s going to be lower than a car that’s never been wrecked at all. You never really know what is going to come up later on during the life of the car.
Thank you all! I have a 2017 Honda CRV, bought new from the dealership (my FIRST brand new car!). Two months later, some asshole, running a red light, T-boned me. It was entirely his fault, and his insurance had to restore my car. If my car was older, they would have totaled it.
So, we’ve been getting emails from the dealership about great trade in deals, and we decided to see if it was worth a trade in. Now, we love our car, runs great, looks great, everything works, so we weren’t desperate for a new car. Dealership says the trade in value was $14k, but took off for a lot because the air bag deployed (new air bag installed with the repair), and over $5k for the accident. All in all, they offered around a $9k trade in value. We passed on it. Still love the car, but really wanted to know why the $9k + devaluation. I think I understand it better now. Thank you again.
It is absolutely impossible to restore a car to factory original condition. Car manufacturers spend 100’s of millions on computer and robotic paint systems. Autobody repairers will get it good enough to satisfy customers but most customers aren’t knowledgeable enough about the repair process to be unsatisfied.
The problem is that you have to convince people of that ‘restored it to new condition’. While it’s not impossible they could do that, it’s also really common that cars in an accident are never the same no matter how much work you do. So people don’t want to buy them.
Two great answers here already but I will add…
Shops will use new parts that are 3rd party oem equivalent parts that often times do not match the quality of the original.
Couple that with often shoddy work and corners being cut in the name of profit and you end up with very questionable workmanship even from reputable repair shops.
You cannot know the quality of parts and workmanship received by a professionally repaired car, so any repair is always dubious at best.
If you can avoid the repaired car, you should do so.
You have two cars that you’re looking at buying. Both are the same make model and year, same color, same features, same mileage, both same driving and maintenance habits, and both appear to be completely free of any cosmetic or functional defects.
One has been in an accident, the other has not. Which one would you choose?
Older cars with bent frames would still have structural integrity issues which was why they were generally totaled. Source: worked as mechanic ~15 years ago.
Not sure about modern cars but I wouldn’t risk it.
As others have mentioned, the new parts on the car are not going to be the same quality. Many insurance companies will not pay for parts from the company that made the car if others that are “good enough” are cheaper. Their rationale is that they guarantee the parts, so it doesn’t matter. Those parts are cheaper for a reason – talk to a bodyman about trying to get them to fit properly or the quality of the metal (or composite).
And the paint is never going to be as good. While computers have made matching the exact shade more possible when mixing colors it often doesn’t happen. If you’ve been around cars for a while, you can walk through any parking lot and see numerous cars that have had a fender painted, a door painted – because they are slightly different in shade, gloss, or the metallic pattern.
Finally, it is not possible to ANY shop to replicate the factory paint process. Starting from bare metal, the parts can be submerged in electified tanks to create a strong bond for the coating that makes paint adhere better. Computer spray guns provide exactly the same paint thickness and even the most skilled human can’t do that every time. And the plants have massive, block-long ovens that bake the paint for best durability.
It is a sufficiently complex and integrated device that it will likely never be the same…and its not like it was repaired at the factory with OEM parts and factory standards.
Whoever is paying for the repairs wants to save as much money as possible. The system incentivizes them to cheap out, which is why the price is adjusted to reflect that.
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