Help! Value of '93 del Sol Si Samba green factory green wheel

[EquiPro]

Well, I am the original owner of a 1993 Honda del Sol Si in Samba Green with the factory green wheels and the factory spoiler. My baby had right at 200,000 original miles on it with almost no repairs and still going strong.

 

Then last week some idiot hit me and busted up my front end. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be totaled out.

 

 

Here's the pics:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/EquiPro2008/1610HondaAccidentDamagePhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCNDy8YXFsrWAogE#

 

Of course, the insurance co is offering me nothing decent. I could use some help to get their settlement up. Can anyone help me with this?

 

I'm thinking of possibly selling the parts, too. Would that be worth messing with?

 

Thanks for all your help...this is horribly traumatic!

 

 

EquiPro

[cmgogo]

Well, I am the original owner of a 1993 Honda del Sol Si in Samba Green with the factory green wheels and the factory spoiler. My baby had right at 200,000 original miles on it with almost no repairs and still going strong.

 

Then last week some idiot hit me and busted up my front end. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be totaled out.

 

 

Here's the pics:

 

http://picasaweb.goo...NDy8YXFsrWAogE#

 

Of course, the insurance co is offering me nothing decent. I could use some help to get their settlement up. Can anyone help me with this?

 

I'm thinking of possibly selling the parts, too. Would that be worth messing with?

 

Thanks for all your help...this is horribly traumatic!

 

 

EquiPro

 

 

Must have been a dealer option, cause ive never seen "factory" sol rims color matched.

 

You really need to get the hood open, bumper cover off, so we can see the core support and the unibody. Ive had a worse wreck than that and TBH the insuance covered it. As long as the unibody is straight youll probably be fine.

 

However if there is any warping in it they will total it out, but then again being a 93 with 200K miles on it, they might anyways. Find out what the NADA value is on your car, if the damage is 4/5's or higher, odds are your looking at a total. But hey that gives oppertunities for guys like me to get del sols for dirt cheap (got mine for 500 bucks, and another 400 in parts, and now I have a sol on the road again)

[cmgogo]

Also what are they offering you as a settlement? Also you always have the option to sue the other driver if he is without question 100% at fault to cover what the insurance comapny wont.

[tallhamer88]

not a life or death fix see my build thread i had about the same issue and damage on my car

[Orca89]

My Dad's an Insurance Claims Adjuster, and here's his advice:

 

 

"Her best option for arguing value is www.kbb.com but they tend to run a bit high and insurance companies know that. NADA.com is often a closer value. But, she can ask the company to give her info on the comparable cars they are using to establish value. It will be hard as there are not many of them, and not many original owner cars in that good of shape. She can also look for an appraiser to help her establish the value, but that will probably cost a few hundred bucks.

 

So, first is to look for help establishing a good value. Search the internet for similar cars for sale and see if you can find some in similar condition.

 

Next, see if you can find a body shop who will work with you and the insurance company and maybe arrive at a contract price to repair it instead of total it. Texas has some pretty strict laws on when a vehicle is a total and when it has to be reported to the state and the title reissued as a salvage title, so you have to decide if you want a vehicle with a branded title.

 

You have two options if the only way is to total it. You can take the full value they offer you and they take and sell the salvage. You then put the money into a replacement. The next option is to buy - or retain - the salvage yourself and then put the money into fixing it up yourself. Again with this option you will have a salvage title. But sometimes by looking for parts and then finding a shop that is not real busy, you might get a deal and get it fixed. Or you can get it fixed but put some additional money out of your pocket in order to still have your baby.

 

Hope this offers some help."

 

 

I wish I was closer, I'd come help out. Gotta keep the Samba's alive.

[EquiPro]

I'd love to fix it and keep it, especially since I am the original owner, but I'm not sure that it is worth it to me, since I can't do the repairs myself.

 

The insurance co has offered $3684.19 to us if they take the car.

 

If we keep the car, they would give us $3241.90, and we would NOT have to have a salvage title, since they are not putting the damage at 100%.

 

I don't think that we can fix the care for this, realistically, so we're going to have to put this towards a replacement. I would love to get them up to $4K to $4500 and we keep the car. I would think that I could get something decent for the parts, since, besides the actual damage, the car is pretty pristine. i would think that the original, green factory rims would be worth a decent amount. Heck, I needed to replace one of the A/C vents and THAT tiny part was $50! Most of the smaller parts, (like the ash tray assembly) are in the $50, but are no longer available.

 

However, I'm not capable of taking things apart, so I have to decide what it is worth to me. Mostly, aside from being pretty despondent about my "dream car" getting wrecked, I'm having to deal with replacing a car that 150% reliable and has never had to have a major repair. Pretty amazing to only having to replace the clutch since owning the car!

 

Anyway, anyone who knows more about this model...I read somewhere that there are only 800 of them out there with the green factory wheels and factory spoiler...and who might be able to give me any ammo to get the ins. co up even a bit more

 

or

 

any opinions on selling some of the parts of the car

 

Please join in. All info is welcome!

 

Thanks!

[EquiPro]

Also what are they offering you as a settlement? Also you always have the option to sue the other driver if he is without question 100% at fault to cover what the insurance comapny wont.

 

He did a "swoop and stop", so hubby hit HIM. However, we have comprehensive and it looks like they are NOT placing all of the blame on us. Also, he did not want to call the cops and they whole situation gave hubby the heebie-jeebies, so it is what it it is.

[cmgogo]

Like i said, if you can get pics with the bumper cover off and the hood up i could tell you more, but let me put it this way.

 

Both of my cars "looked" more damaged than yours

and

 

I got the parts to do a front end conversion for those for $400. To get the parts to fix the front end back to a sol would be double to tripple that. So another option is to look at doing a front end conversion.

 

But to have a shop fix that your looking at about 2700-3500 without paint. Just wish you wernt in texas else I would pick it up from you and do the conversion myself and ahve another sol.

 

The silver one was the first conversion I did, and got it done in 52 hours, and that was working straight through over a weekend to be able to get out of a "fix it" ticket.

 

The red one however even while being my sencond one, took me 4 months to do, but then again I was METICOULOUS about every last detail, and it was more than just a front end conversion, but then again ill let you see the build thread in my siggy if you want to know more about that.

 

Honestly though, if i were you, and that car really does mean that much to you, look at doing a conversion. If you need more info let me know, and ill be happy to help.

[EquiPro]

It means a lot to me, but I'm also practical. I bought the del Sol when I was first married and wo children. Now I have an 11-year old daughter and the del Sol is our second car. My parents just gave us their 1990 Mustang w. 31,000 miles on it, which has been sitting in their garage for 2 years. When they did that, we sold our 1991 Mercedes diesel sedan (w. 300,000 miles on it - it's engine was fine, but it was nickle and diming - or $500 - us to death). Now we don't have a family-style car, so we're really going to have to put the $$ into another family car.

 

 

Also, I don't have the time, resources or interest in doing any of the repairs or conversions myself. I just need to get a vehicle, so that we have transportation again. Doing any of what you have done...which is nothing short of amazing...is simply not an option for me.

 

With the rest of the car in the excellent ccondition that it is in - it drove home from this wreck so I'm not anticipating any serious mechanical damage (just the issue that there was 200,000 miles on the original engine and all the original parts) - what do you think that we could get for it for parts? Again, I feel like the rims, alone, are worth $400 or so...am I wrong? Unless a del Sol fan who knows more than me can give me some value bigger than the ins. co. is offering (only because it was a rare model with the factory options), my question really becomes about how much I can get for it for scrap without having to take it apart. If I can't get more than the $400 or so they are offering me, I might as well let them have it (which I hate to do).

 

I'll need to figure this out soon, so any more input is welcome!

 

I'll see if I can get the hood up and post up the picks of the engine and maybe take off the bumper.

 

Thanks.

[cmgogo]

when i parted out my VSM I sold about 2K worth of parts, and it was in about the same condition as yours, took me about 1 week to part it totaly out, then sell the shell for $300 to a local junkyard. So yes, you can make alot more than $400. Your best bet is to goto hondaautomotiveparts.com and sell your parts (pending their condition) for 2/3rds the value they list on their site. Some parts, like the ashtray, 93 glove box, zig zag mats, etc sell for over 500% of their retail price however, and they tend to sell VERY quickly. A friend on another forum had i belive 14 sets of NEW zigzags, all colors, and the average selling price per pair was I belive around 300 bucks, with a set of red ones going for $450 IIRC. Another option you have is to let it sit, turn it into a project car, and buy a beater. This way you can learn on your sol how to work on it, and in a few months youll have your baby back as good as new, for very little $$$. Just understand, if you sell your car for $400, the junkyard that gets it will make around or over 2K on its parts value, just to the sheer fact of the rarity of our cars. The funny thing is KBB and NADA values dont reflect the rarity of the sol, and as such, this is why you see sols going for 6-7K sometimes if they are in mint condition with low mileage. Just the other day I saw a 95 VTEC with 80K miles sell for $7995 localy. All stock, all mint, with recipts for every service. Meanwhile you have people like me who find totaled ones for $500, and make a small investment, and have something we can trully call our own. Mechanics is common sense stuff, like if pulley A spins a belt, it will turn pully B which is also on the belt, my best advice if you do want to keep it is to invest in a repair manual (20 bucks from autozone) and read it cover to cover, then bring it with you and start working on it a little bit at a time. It may seem daunting, but once you open it up, and see how it works, it will make sense, and you will realize exactly how easy our little cars are to maintain and repair. If you do decide to keep it, and want to repair it over time, feel free to PM me, and ill help you out as much as I can, as I am sure most people on here would. If you do decide to part it out however let us know, and also let the people on solsociety.com know, as the parts will more than likely sell pretty fast.

[Xeryon]

To be honest, I might cough up $750 if you wern't all the way in TX. That's a long drive from OH.

 

Bottom line: Car is likely repairable but you are not up to fixing it yourself. Car no longer suits your vehicle needs and the value the insurance company offered you really is a fair price for the miles. The price they offered you to keep the car is fair but you likely wouldn't make enough money on it to be worth your trouble trying to sell it yourself for parts or scrap unless you plan on fully dismantling the car yourself.

 

I say take the payment and use it as a sizable down payment on another civic.

[MeganE]

Hi EquiPro,

 

I definitely feel your pain. I love the del Sol's. I am definitely interested in buying some parts off of you if you decide to that's a route you want to take.

I am interested in the wing spoiler, wheels (if not damaged), and probably a few other items inside if you've got them...

 

Let me know if you're planning on selling.

 

 

Thanks!

Megan

[EquiPro]

We decided to go with the insurance offer, but then to keep the car and sell it for parts. It's been raining a lot here, but as soon as the weather clears up, I'll take pics and people can let me know what they want...first come, first serve. This is the first place that I'll be starting to sell it off :sad: so we'll see what happens. If you're looking for parts, check back here in about a week.

[DelSolSweetie]

i claim seats if right price

[EquiPro]

OK - I'll try to get pics up next week and we'll get it figured out.

[EquiPro]

I'm parting-out my del Sol. See topic here:

 

1993 Samba green del Sol parts