One less RAV4 EV on the road, I think...

[drmanny3]

They will wholesale it out, but I imagine there are not too many people who will buy it to rebuild or especially for parts. Might be interesting to see if they would give it back to you for a small amount of money. The problem is where do you put it and how do you keep the battery fresh. I believe this car is a unibody vehicle and not a truck on frame. Unibody is really strong the first time it is hit. If it is hurt structurally then I have always wondered if you can return it to its original integrity? I have not seen crash test results after repairing unibody cars. Does anyone out there know whether this is an issue or not?
Manny

 

[sbportech]

As far as crash tests after a repair I don't think that there is that much data on it, the largest factor in the whole thing is who repairs it and how they do it. Toyota is required to print and provide repair instructions for all there cars, however the insurance companies have starved body shops so bad that they usually end up cutting corners to try and save some cost to the repair, my guess is the adjuster in this case just does not know what else may be damaged and does not want the car to end up costing more to fix in the long run that it does by writing it off and being done with it. It may look cheaper to some to fix but you have to look at the back side, they total it they don't have the liability of the car any longer, they now get to wholesale it out, and they don't have to pay the adjuster to keep up on the claim, also there is the rental issue. If it were me I would let them have it back, and look for another one, but I also don't know your finical situation. I know there are sometimes I think that if one of my cars got totaled I would be screwed because the car in hand is worth more than the money its worth at the time.
On the other side if you do decide to get it fixed, ask for photos along the way and all the documents that they referenced to repair the car, keep them for your records if you decide to sell or just for your piece of mind. I had a new truck get hit and roll when it was 3 days old and they fixed it, kept all of the documents and photos and it was fine and lasted another 180000 miles, it sure pissed me off at the time.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I would consider buying this from you, if you can get it from insurance. I likely wouldn't buy it from a wholesale auction.

If you can get a price to buy it from your insurance, and want to put a couple bucks in your pocket, call me and see if we can put something together.

TonyWilliams (at) QuickChargePower (daught) com
1-858-245-8217

 

[geo]

I had a lease, so the car is owned by Toyota's leasing company. It is their option to sell/salvage.

 

[sparkyps]

I'm in a similar situation with a different brand EV that was totaled after only 500 miles of usage.

While the leasing company currently owns the vehicle, they will get the payoff amount under the terms of the lease from the insurance company at which point the leasing company no longer owns the vehicle, you do. The insurance company has to offer you the vehicle for the salvage value, most people decline and the insurance company is free to sell it for salvage.

With an EV you can actually come out ahead of the game if your vehicle is totaled and you leased it. Let's take, for example, a $50k RAV4. The day you drive it off the lot with a lease the payoff amount is going to be around $38k. But if the vehicle is totaled the insurance company owes you $50k as that is what they are selling for (actually a bit more, they have to cover some of the other costs of purchasing the replacement vehicle such as tax, registration, etc), of that $38k will go to the leasing company and the rest to you.

Just be aware that some leases, such as Ally, can have gap coverage built-in but the flip side is they say that if they get a check from the insurance company that is for more than the payoff amount they get to keep the balance. So make sure your insurance company doesn't write one big check to the leasing company as you might not get back the balance.

In my case it was an apparently uninsured driver who hit me, the vehicle was insured but he was a named exclusion on the policy so the insurance company doesn't have to pay. I had uninsured motorist coverage so that provided coverage (plus no deductible in the case on an UM claim).

Bottom line, the person leasing the car can get the salvage rights if the car is totaled, something I'm considering if the price is right for the pristine battery pack and potentially other valuable EV parts.

 

[mikegerard]

I would consider buying this from you, if you can get it from insurance. I likely wouldn't buy it from a wholesale auction.

If you can get a price to buy it from your insurance, and want to put a couple bucks in your pocket, call me and see if we can put something together.

TonyWilliams (at) QuickChargePower (daught) com
1-858-245-8217

Tony is trying to build a RAV4 EV fleet. Wonder what he is up to ...Mwa ha ha ha.... :lol:

 

[dipper]

I would consider buying this from you, if you can get it from insurance. I likely wouldn't buy it from a wholesale auction.

If you can get a price to buy it from your insurance, and want to put a couple bucks in your pocket, call me and see if we can put something together.

TonyWilliams (at) QuickChargePower (daught) com
1-858-245-8217

Tony is trying to build a RAV4 EV fleet. Wonder what he is up to ...Mwa ha ha ha.... :lol:

Maybe he is trying to build the AWD Rav4eV he was talking about on another thread.

80 kWh battery with AWD..... :lol: