these are quite under-noticed for what they are. It’s a long wheelbase Camry, stable highway cruiser and easy to fling around if you need to. I know a couple of doctors here in town who figured out the Avalon is the same as a Lexus ES. They roll in together for breakfast at a bbq I used to frequent on fridays. good rear seat leg room!
Be nice to your in-laws.
- Thread starter Graham Piccinini
- Start date
I disagree. Buick had a range of vehicles that outsold the Avalon and the Lexus ES.
The market changed, less people want a FWD couch on wheels. Hence Buick stopped building FWD sedans, Toyota killed the Avalon, and the Lexus ES has an uncertain future.
I am joking. Buick killed itself. Well GM quality killed Buick, not FWD or RWD.
Found some pics of right after the accident.
Not to sound rude, but do you even know what you’re talking about? The pictures you posted clearly show that the trunk floor was crunched. That is a significant hit.
When I was ~~18 the cars we had in the family had rust holes in the trunk big enough for shoes to fall out(or other issues)... that doesnt look THAT bad to me.. but yes surely the reason it was totaled
I had many parts cars through the years with Flinstones floorboards, and holes in trunk pans as well lol. Sometimes the carpet was the only thing keeping things from falling out.
The body panel alignments on the OP’ers Avalon are all off. The exhaust doesn’t even fit right, and the whole rear of the car just looks off center. I wonder how well this thing tracks in a straight line.
The insurance company likely figured a rear body panel and a rear floor and some time in that left rear rail end. Enough to total it but if it were mine, I’d replace the muffler and the bumper cover and call it a day. Sell or drive it and not worry. I doubt the alignment was impacted with that hit.
Aside from working at body shops for 4 years, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Yes, that floor is bent. Affects nothing aside from spare tire area, and aesthetics. It is still water tight, I checked and verified. New bumper cover and retaining clips will make it look as good as new, and only looking under the bumper cover will reveal that it was ever bumped. It's not text book perfect, but perfect enough for a daily driver duty for many years to come. Being in Charlotte area will give us good 7-10 years before even surface rust starts to form at affected area.
I guess I should've clarified that this hit is minor, when I compare it to most rear-end accidents that I've seen while working in body shops. Not a fender bender by any means, but most of the hits I saw in the past completely crumbled the rear floor, send waves through both quarter panels, and so on... None of that happened here, even the spare tire goes in/out without any interference. So good enough for us, while an annoyance for a perfectionist. But that's all it is at this point - just an aesthetic annoyance, as none of the functions of the car are affected, and it's still water tight (as I mentioned earlier).
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Goes straight up to 110-115mph.
Done on closed course with professional driver, obviously. Not sure what makes you think that I'm claiming this car to be like new... It has its flaws, the damage, but good enough for a daily driver. The angle I took the picture in, plus bruised rear bumper may make it look like something is off. But we've actually measured the gaps between trunk and both quarter panels, and it's symmetrical on both sides, so nothing shifted. I've seen some gnarly damages get repaired, damages that make the damage on this car look like child's play. Which is why I'm calling this damage minor, and why I'm surprised that it's all it took to total it. Although the global situation and parts availability may have some effect on Insurance adjuster's decision, according to some people I've talked to.
P.S. The damages WILL be professionally repaired. Just going on the "back burner" for now, as there are some more important priorities at the moment. Once sheet metal is pulled (or likely cut out and replaced), I'll make sure to snap a pic. Don't want anyone to have sleepless nights over it. It may just be a while, as damages currently don't cause any issues aside from not being aesthetically pleasing.
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Let's just say I got connections
. Already sourced and put on hold a good spare tire tub, damaged one easily removable at spot welds, new one goes in. Got a quote to fix everything, and it's <30% from what Insurance adjuster said this damage would cost to fix. So yes - it is getting professionally repaired, just not right this second.Those were/are really nice, high quality cars. Congrats!
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Just amazing. It looks in the condition one would expect the classic granny's - "go to church on Sunday - grocery store cruiser" to look like!In-laws bought this back in late 2020 as a 1 owner car with Behold, a 2010 Toyota Avalon with 112k miles. She is smooth, clean, and gets 24mpg average so far. Not bad for a V6 grandma couch. I didn't realize how nice the rear reclining seats are... Truly a couch, with tons of legroom...
So yea fellers and fellettes, be nice to your in-laws. They may get you a good deal one dayI'll upload some more pics later.
Current priority is swapping that "lifetime" ATF fluid for something that gives me a longer lifetime of that transmission. It will be the new family hauler and wife-mobile, as 2010 Volvo XC70 moves into full-time utilitarian duty under me. Wish the Volvo had cooling seats, like the Avalon's got... But happy wife, happy life. Right? So she gets the Avalon, since she always complains about heavy Volvo steering, and likes the aesthetics of the Avalon better.
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Enjoy it. The paint appears immculate and gagage kept too. That is just another of the list of "quality things associated with Toyotas. The last
and last. The paint jobs also seem to last forever with minimal effort.
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Is the title a salvage one? Does it say anywhere it was totaled? A nice daily driver though.
Thanks. It rides amazing. Hopefully paint job is better than our 2006 Toyota Camry. That Camry is peeling on hood/trunk/roof. Happened quick too. It was fine, just faded, and then rapidly in 3-4 months just all peeled off. Factory gray paint, original from 2006.
At the moment I do not know. DMV took the old title and new one should be coming in the mail in few weeks. Insurance did pay out on it, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that title is going to be "Salvaged" once it finally arrives. Not a problem, as I don't plan to sell it anytime soon, and am 100% sure that it's not a Salvaged title from flood, or rollover, or another bad accident like that. I've seen some expensive cars being raised from graves, just because the repair bill is less than 75% of the cars value. Yet a relatively small hit like this (plus inflation) is enough to "total" this comfy couch on wheels just because the repair bill is 75.1%+ of the cars market value.
Besides the spare tire well, it looks like the crumple zone barely took any damage. I'd feel perfectly safe driving that around. Great bargain. Enjoy it.
If this ends up with a salvage title, it will not be eligible to be insured or registered until it can pass as a "rebuilt salvage" to legal safety standards and be issued the appropriate certificate by the DMV.
Hopefully they won't do something crazy and issue a non-repairable vehicle title to this. That would really be unfortunate.
Hopefully they won't do something crazy and issue a non-repairable vehicle title to this. That would really be unfortunate.