Can You Sell A Car With Frame Damage?
Blog/ Can You Sell A Car With Frame Damage?
AuthorSarah RobinsonCategory junk cars
The answer to that question depends on a number of factors such as the state you live in, the status of the car title and the extent of damage. To understand the extent of the damage and determine what kind of shape your car is in, you need to understand what frame damage is and what it costs to fix it and what it does to your car. Once you know these things, you can decide whether or not to try and sell your frame damaged car.
What Is Frame Damage
Basically frame damage is damage to the support structure of the car. This is the iron or steel beam structure that holds up all the pieces of the car. Frame damage means any damage done to that supporting frame. This can result from a number of things:
- Collisions of any speed
- Potholes and dips in the road
- Speed bumps, tables, or other impediments
- Railroad tracks, traffic barrels, other unexpected obstacles
Frame damage can range from a minor dent or bend in the frame to more severe damages such as a crumpled or completely bent frame.
Telling whether or not your car has frame damage requires a manual inspection in most cases, unless your car is literally sitting sideways instead of straight. To inspect the vehicle will require you or your mechanic or body technician to get underneath the vehicle and visually inspect the vehicle.
How Much Does It Cost To Repair Frame Damage
Repairing frame damage is an expensive endeavor. Even for small amounts of damage, frame repairs can cost hundreds of dollars. Repair the frame requires specific tools and techniques that a trained technician must perform. In some cases a frame can be repaired back to factory specs.
For more severe frame damage it can cost thousands of dollars. In the worst cases, frame damage will total a vehicle and make it unable to be salvaged. In cases where it can be repaired, the repairs are often extensive and will require a large amount of time. This leaves you without your car, meaning you’d have to pay for a rental car or borrow someone’s car while you wait for the repairs. This can be a major inconvenience.
The length and expense of the repairs also depends on the type of frame the car has. There are a wide variety of frame types, but the two most common are the ladder frame, called that because it is shaped like a ladder and the unibody frame which is named so because it is one solid piece of metal. Each type of frame requires different methods to fix and for more exotic frames it may not even be possible to get it fixed at your local mechanic. Depending on the type of car you have, frame damage can cost more than the value of the vehicle.
The cost of frame repairs does not include damage to other parts of the car that occur because of the frame damage. In these cases a car owner may decide it is a better option to sell their frame damaged car.
Can You Sell Your Frame Damaged Car?
So this leads us back to our primary question. Yes, you can sell the car, but there are a number of issues. Selling a car with structural damage is tricky business. Depending on the damage to the car, it may not be considered salvage. In these cases you would need a salvage title for your vehicle. This drastically limits the options for selling your vehicles
Most dealerships do not deal in frame damaged cars due to the expense of repairing them and the potential for additional problems. There is the option of selling to used dealerships which may sometimes offer to buy the car for a nominal amount or you can sell the car to a junkyard which will often buy the vehicle for the weight price of the vehicle.
When selling the vehicle yourself to an individual, there is the issue of liability. Many states have lemon laws and other measures that prevent selling heavily damaged cars or non-functional vehicles. In any case, if you wish to sell your frame damaged car to someone, you are obligated to disclose all of the damage the vehicle has and if anything goes unknown you may be held liable even after you sell the vehicle.
SellMax can alleviate that problem. If you’re wondering how much is a frame damaged car worth? You can get an instant estimate on our website. We will also come to you and tow the vehicle for free. We also take full responsibility for the vehicle when we purchase it from you, making you 100% liability free from the moment you sell your vehicle to us. We can complete most transactions in a single day.
