Car totalled tdy. Replacement recos?

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2013 dodge dart 2.0L 4cyl 6MT is definitely a total loss.

Broke my nose (very minor)hitting the steering wheel and just had X-rays done/waiting to get checked out to be sure I don’t have any hidden injuries. Technically I got rear ended but in reality they had no chance not to hit me so dunno who’s fault it will be tbh. Worst part is they were from Washington state so have to deal with out of country insurance company etc - well, the two companies have to deal with each other. Cliffs: Was merging onto highway, cars in front of me hit the brakes, I swerved to avoid rear ending them and passed by a semi into the next lane and got smoked. Better than getting hit by the semi I guess.

Anyways, I have other vehicles I can drive so w/e but the car was the cheapest on fuel at around 7.3-8L/100km. When it’s time to go shopping I’ll need something at least as cheap on fuel, or cheaper, that has cargo/trunk space for tools and stuff. I should be able to put my thule ski box on top of almost any vehicle if I buy the right upright towers for it.

Miiiiight even consider a used electric car like a Nissan leaf or an e-golf or something if the price is right and it still has enough range for my typical driving. Either would have less trunk space though.. buuuut if all the numbers jived I could just be a minimalist in terms of how many tools I carry with me. Hmm. E-golf is the best looking lower priced used EV I can think of.

Other than that maybe some sort of user hybrid like a Prius or something. Would be nice to have as much trunk space as the Dart had tho.

Wagon could be good.. but can’t think of a cheaper user EV option at all and some have ~zero cargo area like the Kia soul.

If gas or diesel it’d be nice to have a manual transmission again - at least that makes small low powered cars more fun to drive.

Hmm. Don’t have to make a decision asap tho. Accident isn’t even reported yet. There will be a delay before I get paid for my car and I still need to sell my van etc etc. but eventually the dust will settle on all this crap and I’ll buy something else for a daily drive.. just gotta be cheap and reliable and have as much cargo space as possible.

Miata

Good luck getting it all sorted out.
Hope your recovery is quick!

Sweet Pea hugs

I already have a motorcycle for a useless enjoyable vehicle. Can't transport more than a fart or two in a Miata and I don't think they can even accept a roof rack. Dodge Dart trunk was actually pretty huge for such a small car. I could fit several 5 gallon buckets standing up in it.

Last edited by goldfish21 on 26 Feb 2024, 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A Miata is always the first answer to the question 'what car should I get'.

But more seriously, what's available locally for a good price? If it's mostly for hauling stuff, it sounds like something truck or van-ish is suitable.

A Ford Transit Connect or a Kia Soul might be ideal.

Glad you're not too hurt.

Nothing is available for a good price. Everything is overpriced.

I have a truck to drive when I need to for truck things, but it gets 16.5L/100km and when I drive daily for work and pleasure that would cost $1100/mo for gas soo no. My car at around 7.8L/100 runs about $500/mo for gas when I drive to work and over to the beach almost daily. That's why I'd consider something As Cheap or Cheaper on fuel cost.

Transit connect might be pretty good for work and sports, but they're not as good on gas as my car was. Also no separate trunk so can't keep dusty dirty things out of the interior. Same for a kia soul.. which has a teeny tiny cargo space I'm not sure if even deep enough for a 5 gallon bucket to stand up in. I Could drive either, but would have to make some compromises and the kia soul would probably have it's interior ruined if I had to have the rear seat down all the time for tools and materials etc.

With fuel prices the way they are, I might end up buying an old Prius. They're down around 5.2-5.8L/100. Might have a lot more cargo space than a Nissan leaf or e-golf, too.. and no worries about range.

Still dunno - will just pay extra to drive the truck for a while and see how finances shake out with an insurance payout and whatever I get for the van when I sell it - probably $10k or so from the van, Maybe $11k. Without stable income or a long term set plan I don't want to take on any payments though, so definitely not considering New or expensive. Max maybe $15k or so, but no real minimum.. if an ideal corolla came up for 2 grand I'd drive it til the wheels fell off.

Hmm.. new thought: Instead of selling my van I might trade it in at a used car dealership and swap for something if there's something I want where they'll take it as a trade in.

Why? Tax savings. If I sell the van for $10k and then buy a car for $10k I have to pay $1200 tax on the used car purchase. But if I trade the van straight across equal value, then I pay $0 tax. And if I get $9k trade in value and pay $1k, more for a vehicle, I only pay $120 tax on the $1k. etc - you get the math.. only pay on the cash portion when trading in.

There's one particular prius advertised for sale at a used car dealership I might be interested in trading in on.. it's a bit overpriced, but very low mileage. (kilometerage? we still don't say that.) Not exactly a stylish car.. but Could Be a Super practical ultra low cost commuter/beach car/kiteboarding car etc as it would be even cheaper on fuel than my last car And has a pretty big cargo area under the slant back + can accept a roof rack. But if I go with a prius, some other prius may do, too. Point of this post is that because I have another vehicle to offload, it might make sense to trade it in vs. sell it - even if the overall deal is a bit of a wash vs. tax savings w/e it might be a winning scenario not to have to find a buyer for a right hand drive manual transmission JDM import.

You might be able to get your car repaired even if it is totaled depending on the insuurance & if it s considered your fault or not. My dad had a van totaled one time when he was rear-ended. Dad was fine but his van was over 10 years old so the book value was next to nothing & thus considered totaled even thou the damage was not very bad. It woulda cost aLOT more to buy a new van. Dad wanted the van repaired & instead of being paid the book value price & since the person who hit him was at fault, their insurance paid to repair dad's van even thou the reapir costs were about twice the book value.

I'm really glad your mostly OK.

What did your car look like?

It is not economically repairable and will 100% be deemed a total loss and I’ll be paid out for it and buy something else. Or I might get the last few things on my van fixed this week and trade it in on something sooner than I get paid for this car.

Anyways,

This is what it used to look like:









And this is what it looks like now:







Never mind >50% of value to repair.. repairing this car would probably cost more than 100% of its current value.

It is Possible that some body shop might buy it as a salvaged car and repair it and sell it as a rebuilt title vehicle. Maybe they would do this if they were short on work or something, but no sane person would pay full shop hourly rates to fix this car and keep it. It’s not a “special,” or desirable car that some enthusiast would want to rescue no matter what. It’s just a wrecked car and will likely have its engine and transmission pulled and then be crushed and recycled.

Something like this but the same colour you had before.

https://driving.ca/toyota/sienna/le-8-passenger/

No.

They are like 7-12x+ more expensive than my car was and as a single guy I do not need a family hauler like that, nor the gas bill. Plus new ones are a ~2 year wait for delivery. My friends are waiting to order an AWD Hybrid Sienna.. they are in very high demand and selling for $90k + tax. Plus without a separate trunk/cargo area with at least some kind of cover the interior of a passenger van would get destroyed by drywall mud and dust and tools etc, or carpentry tools if I'm doing other work. It would have to be an older beater to want to use it for work stuff.. and then it would be a gas pig because it's so large, heavy, and not aerodynamic at all. I have a gas pig truck to drive if I want to burn lots and lots of gas.

So, no.

But I have been browsing some cheaper used fuel efficient Toyotas that I might try to trade my van in on if the dealer is interested in my Japanese RHD 5spd turbo diesel van. One of them that sells RHD JDM imports *might* be interested in it if I take it there and see if they'd take it in trade on a car they have. (If they still have the car there that's advertised.)

I'm considering a Prius and will likely test drive one to see how it is. Then my fuel bill will go down instead of up.

buy used japanese if at all possible, honda or toyota.

There's some outstanding technical service bulletins on recent Civics and CRVs. Not sure about other models, but since at least one of them is a powertrain issue it's probably present in Accords and anything else that uses the regular 1.5 turbo engine too.

First thing I'm gonna look at is a Prius. Might consider other Toyotas. 2nd choice of brand would probably be Honda. Other than that I suppose I may be open to almost anything if it's suitable, cheap on gas, and a bargain. But if I buy something I plan to keep a long time it'll likely be Toyota.. because they last a long time and cost very little to operate.