I bought this crash-damaged 2007 Prius via auction. I had some low quality photos of the car before the auction but wasn’t able to actually inspect the car. To collect it was an 809km (503 mile) round trip in a rather worn out 1999 Nissan Pathfinder with 275,000km on it and worn out suspension. That was NOT a fun drive. I initially bought it because I need the hybrid battery for another Prius (with a P0AA6 fault with the battery), but there’s also the passing thought of repairing it and using it. It’s the iTech model, which is scarce. When I saw the car for the first time today the damage was much more substantial that I had assumed from the photos. It’s starting to look like going back to Plan A (ie keep the battery and sell the rest as parts). The right-side axle has been ripped out in the crash. That’s a critical factor - would that have caused damage to the engine casing (ie not economical to repair) it is it just a matter of replace the axle? Then there’s the damage underneath the front. I’ve taken a handful of photos. They don’t show everything but might be enough for a knowledgeable person to suggestion which way to go in the repair-vs-parts decision. Thoughts? Anyone think that it’s worth repairing?
i would say, if you need to ask, you should just take the battery, and try to sell off any other valuable parts.
With my limited knowledge I'm thinking it's not worth repairing, but it all depends on the front end damage. The panel damage is easy - get two doors and a fender panel in the same colour. Get a new aftermarket front bumper and patch up the rear bumper. Doing all that wouldn't be particularly expensive, but I'm not familiar with how the axle connects to the engine and what damage would have been done from the impact. Ideally, I'd get the car lifted off the trailer with a forklift and have a look underneath but if someone knowledge with Prius smash repairs can give me a more accurate assessment then I can make a quicker decision (ie I also haven't figured out yet where I'm going to put the car wreck...).
Great photos! Initially it looked drivable, but upon closer inspection it appears to be a decent parts vehicle.
I should have taken some photos of the interior... immaculate... if people saw that then they'd share in my semi-denial about the future of this car...
Our previous Civic took a hit a lot like that. It wasn't totalled, but IIRC the repair bill came to around 12 grand Canadian.
Repair if: (My humble opinion on driving banged up Prius @ over 200K mileages) - you can do TLC and most work - plan to drive Prius primary at slow speed around dirt roads/local streets
This thing has been sitting around for a while and tonight I finally got to make a final decision. No. Not viable to fix. Last night I confirmed that there was damage to the RH control arm and the steering rack. And probably damage to the cross member. That's not the end of the world - those parts can be found reasonably cheaply. However, tonight I removed the front bumper. This revealed enough damage to areas such as the radiator support and the front of the chassis that would make it too expensive to be viable. So, it's back to my original plan of using the hybrid battery as a spare for some other Priuses that I have. As well as damage to the radiator support (which would mean cutting out and welding in a replacement), there is also damage to the front chassis. The crossmember is bent. The RH control arm is bent. The tie rod on the steering rack snapped in the crash. This has also made it hard to move the car around (ie can't steer that wheel). The interior is excellent, and was one of the reasons why I was keen to fix this car instead of dismantling it for parts.
