I guess it was inevitable, really

[Mark]

Frosty has bit the dust I think. Daughter spun out, late for work and going too fast. She wasn't hurt at all, but she hit a dirt berm going backwards and then a wooden post. The post tore up the front end pretty good, but it seems mostly repairable. The rear impact, however, looks might have bent the frame. I had to drop the collision coverage due to the cost with the 17y/o girl driver, which of course now looks like a really dumb idea. If I had coverage I'm sure it would be totaled.

My body guy is going to look if over and see if he can get it straightened out and put back together for me. If not or if it costs too much I guess I'll try to part it out. I was also thinking about putting the engine/transmission/ecm into my 2000 Corolla, but not sure I want to bother. The Corolla is only a VE and has some body cancer. Not really sure what direction to go with it from here, but hopefully she can be made drivable again. She was such a good, reliable car for the last 8.5 years I just really hate to let go.

[Chiadog]

FROSTYYYY...... Sorry, Glad to hear your daughter is fine. Don't beat yourself up, dropping full coverage with a 17y/o boy would have been stupid! Just a guess, but I think rear impact with a dirt berm should be repairable. good luck!

[vibrologist]

The most important thing is that your daughter is o.k.

If she has any income she should help and pay a reasonable amount. That teaches responsibility.

[ramenboy...]

like chiadog and vibrologist said, i'm glad your daughter is ok. my daughter had the car for about a year after she graduated highschool and she put her share of dents and dings on it as well as a minor fenderbender. the car held up well, and my daughter is safe and more mature now.

[runningslow]

I, too, am glad to hear that your daughter is okay. Unfortunately, accidents happens.

[trb]

Oh, that's sad to hear. Glad she is OK though. These Vibes can go through heck and still protect their cargo very well. Hopefully it can be fixed within reason though.

I've had both of my kids fully insured on the vehicles they drive, without paying for collision on them. My insurance agent put them as the primary driver on my oldest vehicles without collision coverage, but they are still fully covered on the other cars. My son was primary on my 87 Mustang and it only cost me about $65 a month, and my daughter afterwards was about $53 a month on it. Now she is covered on my 03 GT for about $59 a month, but she drives her new Rogue.

Good luck getting it fixed, or whatever you end up doing with it.

[Nasmfell]

Glad your daughter is okay

[vibenvy]

As everyone else has said, glad to hear your daughter is okay. I hope you can get Frosty fixed up. Keep us updated.

[tpollauf]

If she has any income she should help and pay a reasonable amount. That teaches responsibility.

Safety first and the Vibe DID protect it's cargo I totally agree with the teaching responsibility thing. It's tough when you're a teenager to come up with some $$$ but even a tiny bit to put towards this repair does not seen unreasonable. I hope it is repairable and the young lady can continue driving it.

[Mark]

She's a high school senior and makes about $100/wk working weekends, so I'm not going to go after her for repair costs. I might make her pitch in for the even higher insurance costs, however.

Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow if it's repairable and at what cost. I don't really care if it's back to like-new, I'd settle for drivable and functioning. The airbags didn't deploy but the whole front bumper came off, so I need to make sure they're working too.

The other option will be to part it out I guess. I paid $13k back in 2006 and put about 110k miles on it with almost no cost other than routine maintenance. I replaced the front wheel bearings back around 90k and that was it. So from that standpoint I can look back and feel like I got my moneys worth out of it.

[Mark]

Got the quote today, $1800 cash. Parts are off a 2004 Vibe in a local junk yard, and he'll get the rest straightened out and cleaned up. Don't need it clean enough to resell, just straight and safe to drive. Frosty's made a couple of 3,000 mile road trips, several 1-2,000 milers and hundreds of 2-300 mile trips, but those days are over. I'll just be glad to have her back on the road.

[vibrologist]

There you go. Where else can you get a Vibe this good for less than 2 large?

[Mark]

Yeah, I think it's worth $4k easy, and it would cost about that much to replace it with something as decent and reliable. NADA retail is $6400, KBB private party puts it just over $4k. So $2k to get it back on the road is very reasonable I think.

I should have it back by next weekend. Pretty nice Treat for Halloween!

[Mark]

I should be getting Frosty back tomorrow, finally. Took a few extra weeks, but the guy I have doing it is going through chemo and really only has 1-2 days a week that he's able to do much work. I currently have 6 vehicles for 4 licensed drivers, so there's no real urgency. He was planning on painting today, but all of the body work came our really good from what he said. Can't wait to get my baby back.