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Is my car a total loss?

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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 05:05 PM
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Default Is my car a total loss?

Well to make a long story short I live in Benton, AR and we had a tornado and hella rain come through last friday. Fiancee was on the way home from work and drove through about 8 inches of water, hydrolocked the motor, put car in park, tried to start it to get out of the water and the engine not turning over caused it to spit the starter off side of the block. Busted the mounting holes for the starter off the block. As it sits right now i have about an inch of water sitting in the intake manifold and the starter dangling by wires. Insurance company says it's a comprehensive claim. Block is trash and estimate comes up to about $8500 to replace with ls1 crate motor.......WHAT IS THE POSSIBILTY OF THEM DECIDING IT'S TOTALED?

Adjuster supposed to be out sometime between Monday and Thursday to look at it.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 05:09 PM
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are you positive that the block is junk because some people on this board saved the hydrolocked blocks

maybe they will chime in
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 05:16 PM
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Pretty sure. Theres now way to mount a starter on to it now. Have no idea whether or not any of the rods are bent.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 05:23 PM
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I know i can pull all the plugs and drain the oil, fill it with fresh oil and turn it over with the plugs out to get all the water out, but it'll be kinda hard to crank without a starter
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 06:36 PM
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Bump!
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by dz2a8r
Well to make a long story short I live in Benton, AR and we had a tornado and hella rain come through last friday. Fiancee was on the way home from work and drove through about 8 inches of water, hydrolocked the motor, put car in park, tried to start it to get out of the water and the engine not turning over caused it to spit the starter off side of the block. Busted the mounting holes for the starter off the block. As it sits right now i have about an inch of water sitting in the intake manifold and the starter dangling by wires. Insurance company says it's a comprehensive claim. Block is trash and estimate comes up to about $8500 to replace with ls1 crate motor.......WHAT IS THE POSSIBILTY OF THEM DECIDING IT'S TOTALED?

Adjuster supposed to be out sometime between Monday and Thursday to look at it.
Shoulda got Geico!
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 06:47 PM
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good oportunately to upgrade... tt 427?

Last edited by hawk584; Apr 8, 2008 at 08:03 AM.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 06:49 PM
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If they do decide to total it what determines the price that i can buy it back for?
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 07:03 PM
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I was an adjuster for 13 years before I opened my own shop.

Typically, the buy back ammount is around 15 to 20 percent of the ACV (actual cash value) of the vehicle.

so if you have a car worth 10k, it will cost you around 1500 or 2000 to buy the salvage.

your salvage may be worth a little less than normal since the engine is fubarred and its flood damage.

as far is whether or not its totalled, the rule of thumb in my aread (Memphis, TN) is 75% of the value of the car totals it out. so a 7,500.00 estimate would total out a car worth 10k.

hope this helps.
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Old Apr 7, 2008 | 10:34 AM
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My insurance company says 70%......Dang man, that sucks to hear! I had to wait till about Noon that day to come to work cause my Dad drove out this way at about 7am in his 4x4 F-150 and told me there was about a foot of standing water on the freeway.....I decided Fthat, I'm sleeping in.

What's your car's retail value anyways? About $9k? If it's got an $8500 estimate, I'd bet it's totalled.
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Old Apr 7, 2008 | 08:30 PM
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Sorry to hear about your car! My 93 Hawk got totaled and only got $4400 to try to rebuild it. I think I dumped $6500 in it....still a work in progress.

It's probably totalled. Buy it back and build it better! There are so many crate engines to choose from. Hell, get a crate LS2 for $5600. Stroker shortblocks start around $4000. Or just get a used LS1 and pocked the rest.

Good luck.
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Old Apr 8, 2008 | 06:31 AM
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rebuild it
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Old Apr 8, 2008 | 08:40 PM
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$8.5K for a crate engine? Were they looking at a new LS2 longblock? Wowza.
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Old Apr 8, 2008 | 09:25 PM
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Sorry to here of your mis-fortune Sir . If the water level got high enough to reach the dash & electronic's then your vehicle is toast . You can stick a fork in that ***** . And you don't want to buy back one thats had water in the electronic's cause even if you clean & check EVERYTHING later on down the road you WILL have issues . If they agree on a engine they will try for a LKQ motor with approximately the same mileage & a new engine would have depreciation or betterment deducted from it . Its a loose / loose situation . My advice is hope they total it , then press for the NADA or BLUE BOOK value & take the money & run . Show em photo's of how clean it was & how you babied it. Then slap your girl friend up side the head & let this sink into your memory banks cause she was who you were going to marry ? This is a typical fleamale flaw . This is the kind of mindless abuse she will render to all of your belongings in the future .
Good Luck !
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Old Apr 9, 2008 | 11:19 AM
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For a flooded- dead engine who knows what else? TOTALLED!!!

Imagine you were the insurance agent.
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