Detroit Steel

I recently stumbled on a story that left me pondering something: at what point after an accident in a Corvette do you just call it a wrap and scrap it?

Of course, when it comes to some of the more classic or limited models, that threshold for getting her repaired gets a lot higher, but what about a wrecked C6 or C7 like the one highlighted in an LSXTV report (pictured).

The 2014 Stingray fitted with the 1LT Z51 package, which was up for auction on an insurance site, had a bid price of $15,125 with an estimate of about $30,000 in repairs; roughly $20,000 less than the starting price for a new model equipped with the features.

Read the rest on the Corvette Forum homepage.

Jack Be Quick Racing

Looks like a Factory Five GTM or Race Car Replicas prime donor car to me...or custom hod rod / mid-year restomod donor.....

C7BigTime

I agree. Someone will pick this salvage car up and make into something wild like the Supervette C7 or Forgiatto widebody. Then supercharge it to 700rwhp and for sure someone will buy it.

jcp911s

Serious accident damage will show up on a carax, and it may result in a salvage title. This will severely depress resale value. This will will either be parted out, or rebuilt into a track/race car.

2K3Z06

Worth more parted out.... sad but true.

bbrown450

Technically I think when the "TUB" is breached as it is extremely significant in the protection of the occupants

wgood

Might make a 50's or 60's pro touring car depending on the condition of the frame and chassis !!! Wayne

rcooper

Say good bye when the insurance company pays you for a total. Many insurance companies will have cars fixed if the repair is half the new car cost. Friend wrecked his Z06 a couple of years back and the repair bill was $45,000, the car new was about $85,000. Although the tub was cracked in two places it was still repaired. Pictured car is no where near that bad, will make a nice race car.

OnPoint

One disadvantage the C7 has over the C6 on damage repair is its aluminum frame. Jack the frame up on a 7 and it will take less "other damage" for the insurer to total the car. The 6's frame (non Z/ZR) is more easily repaired.

DriveCorvette

The underwriter usually makes that decision. They will usually total the car out when the repair costs are within 10K of the book value. If it looks like frame damage is visable then sometimes they will total them with less damage, this goes for water damage as well. It takes very little water damage to total a car today.

~Stingray

Buying this car seems like a bad idea. With that much damage and knowing its been rolled, why would you risk putting so much money into it? These cars are made within microns of tolerance. With this kind of accident there is no way to know what little things are out of place going to cause excessive wear over time. And in the end, it might as well be better if you just bought a good used one.

blasted_concrete

One of the reasons I won't buy too many things used.

I have a friend who hit a drainage tile and rolled his 2001 Z28 twice some years back. Didn't report it to insurance, paid out of pocket to repair it. The unibody was welded back together, and the car put back together. Looked great from the outside, and he drove it for a couple more years, then he traded it for blue book value to a high end car lot as the mileage was relatively low. Would hate to have been the new buyer as the car had several electrical
gremlins after the repairs.

He said its a dog eat dog world, gotta do what you gotta do, I responded yea, but karma's a bitch.
~BC

Sailfun

So he let the insurance company off the hook for 20 to 30k in repairs, paying for them himself and then found a high end dealer who did not inspect the car or mic the paint and then falsified the trade docs stating the car had no accidents. Interesting story with the emphasis on story.

Wildmanht

bob guzzy

Great thing about a corvette is they rarely just get crushed, they have a long life in the parts world long after the original car the part was on died.

blasted_concrete

I believe he said repairs came out to around 17,000.

Sailfun

So he decided to make a 17,000 donation to the insurance company?

Hacker-Pschorr

Not necessarily, for starters Carfax is a joke. The number of cars I've seen with serious damage and 100% clean carfax reports is beyond ridiculous.

As for salvage title, there are no standards, it's 100% up to the insurance company. Fact is, cars sell for a lot more money with clean titles than salvage at the insurance auctions.

I've seen cars literally rolled into a ball with only a wheel center-cap as the feature to tell you what make the car was.
Title was clean, so was the carfax.

I've come across used car lots that specialize in finding "matching" cars where the end with the VIN is undamaged with a clean title (regardless of how bad the damage is in the rear), then find a matching car with opposite damage, cut them apart, make one complete car.... BINGO - car is on the lot with a clean title and the dealership did absolutely nothing illegal and doesn't have to disclose anything to the buyer.

This happens far more often than any consumer wants to realize and why every car I buy, no matter how inexpensive will be inspected.

You cannot even trust CPO cars. I've seen wrecked / damaged cars on lots with CPO certification. Part of that certification is accident free..... to most dealers, "accident free" simply means "clean title"

I would not be surprised if a shady body shop picked up this C7, patches it together and sells it. A low mileage C7 for a few thousand under blue book would fly off the lot. People don't think straight, were the term "impulse buy" comes from..... see a shiny car for a good price, even if the damage is disclosed most consumers believe there is some standard insuring the repairs are on par with an original, undamaged car.

NOLAVette

When this happens to it...as it did to mine in October 2012. Totaled by a Triumph Thunderbird.

EasyElliott

Many many years ago I was a partner in a wholesale car business. One day I got a great deal on a Volvo.
My partner was taking a long look at the car for over 10 minutes and I finally said what are you looking for.
He said the bell!
I said what bell?
He said the bell from the freight train that hit the car.

He did say on the plus side I got a great deal as I got 2 cars for the price of ONE.

That was an expensive learning day. It did not have a salvage title and I bought it from a private party.

Funny as buying it from a private party I had no recourse. As a dealer I could have my a** sued.