Castles&Crooks

Hello everyone, joining new to the forum today. Recently, on my way to the store while I was driving my 2005 mustang GT, I happened to be quickly cut off by a reckless driver who ended up wrecking the front of my car. Fault was unable to be placed (lack of witnesses) leading us to have our own insurances cover it and unfortunately in my case me paying it out of pocket.



Right after the accident it didn't seem to bad, the headlights were fine, the grille seemed alright, hood replaceable and nothing horribly wrong, but I was worried because after trying to start my car to move it off the road, the car would start, but when shifted to drive would shortly after turn back off..

After the tow got to the shop, the head mechanic told me 9 grand of damage. Starting, but of that $4500 was labor. He told me that the radiator had exploded, the AC condenser was gone, the bumper and hood had to be replaced, the rad support had to be replaced but besides that, he couldn't see any damage to the engine or the frame whatsoever. The second mechanic said the same thing. He did also tell me that a few things (foglights?) were hard to get for the year, and I would be paying more for the parts (ya right) - but fortunately I had previously seen them online for cheaper. So now my car sits in my garage looking sad. While I wait to seek a professionals opinion, I would love any other thoughts or input and from what you guys have read here and what you will see below, what do you think is in need of repair?

Right side (untouched)
Grille
Left side (Hit)
Car from the side, engine seemed a bit pushed up, problem?
Top of rad
Across Rad
Looking back at rad

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks in advance.
P.S. Airbags never went of and left hand panel moved a fraction.

Castles&Crooks

Edit:
Not sure if bottom two links are working.
- Second last
- Last

CPTCO

Man, that is just awful. If I was you, first thing I would do is pull the front bumper off. That is a relatively quick and easy job. That will give you access to the radiator, condenser, etc. some parts, hood, fogs, grill, bumper, etc. can easily be found from aftermarket vendors or a junkyard. Call around auto salvage yards to see if you can find a donor. Who knows you might even find a silver one.
Hopefully you are mechanically inclined, that will save you the majority of the labor. In the end, you might need to pay for paint and getting the body panels aligned, all that good stuff. But it looks doable to me.
Not sure about keeping it running once it starts, but I'm sure someone will weigh in.

tbear853

I bought a '03 Subaru Forester with low miles and an written estimate of $4400 damage for $3500 in 2007, I fixed it myself with all Subaru parts and got a local paint shop to paint a new hood and fender to match my old wrinkled one ..... total outlay was about 1/2 of the estimate. Used a come along and chain bolted to places to pull inner fender and rad support in line using a post in concrete as an anchor.

Depends on your skill or that of friends and deals you can make, but that car looks very fixable.

jimkaray

Sounds/looks like everything but the rad support is simple bolt on repair. You have your estimates so that is going to be at least 90% of what you will need, no need to guess. The challenge is the rad support. You may be able to straighten it to where its close enough but it doesn't sound like you have the experience or tools for that. Source the parts and do as much labor as you can and that will save a lot of money.
I would start by getting all the front end off and all the broken parts out off. Then beat the rad support into shape to where you can mount a new rad. Once you have a working radiator the car can be driven (hopefully fan is OK). That will save you a tow once you find a shop that will do the work you can't do.

AzPete

Not having the air intake attached to the engine may be why it does not stay running. Also, there is a fuel shut off that activates from the shock of a hit.

drfister

Jeez, that sucks. I have a stock hood from a 2005 if you need I can hook you up with. Good luck with the repairs.

pascal

There isn't $9000 with the damage on that car, certainly not $4500 in labor. lol
Your mechanic is full of shat.
When your Ins. comes up and does an estimate of repair, it'll probably be around $5500, if that.
They'll write for aftermarket parts and it will cut the cost significantly.
The most expensive item is the hood.
The OEM retails about $1700 last time I checked. It would be the perfect opportunity to go with a nice aftermarket one like Cervini for about $500 or so.

Anyway, good luck with the repairs...

Shampue

Im not understanding what you mean by paying out of pocket for the repairs. Did you not have insurance to cover the accident?

Cruzinaround

Do a search for an entire front end clip from Junkyards and Salvage yards. You might be pleasantly surprised.

It would also be cheaper to buy an entire used high mileage entire spare Mustang of the same year for parts. Then junk what you no longer need.

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