Why You Should NEVER Lend Your Car To Your Parents

Spectre

The Deported
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
36,832
Location
Dallas, Texas
Car(s)
00 4Runner | 02 919 | 87 XJ6 | 86 CB700SC
My 2000 XKR:

IM003433.jpg


My 2000 XKR after my father hit a pothole on a freeway (motorway for you Brits) onramp, had the right rear tire lose the bead, skidded, tagged a guardrail, spun off the onramp, went down an embankment and lawn-darted it into the ditch:

P7260072.sized.jpg


P7260075.sized.jpg


P7260076.sized.jpg


P7260077.sized.jpg


Yes, my parents were in it and they're fine other than some minor injuries.

Dad doesn't get to play with my toys any more.
 
I can see this happening with my parents... but in reverse of course.

That sucks... how bad is the repair bill gonna be for that?
 
Rough estimate from the local dealer is $14-19K (all new parts, retail, no discounts). The insurance companies here generally don't want to bother fixing a Jaguar this badly damaged, so they're probably going to total it, despite the fact that it's perfectly safe to repair and put back on the road. - and would cost less.

If they do, I'll buy the car back and rebuild it.

He's still not going to get to drive it or any of my other cars - at least not for a very long time. And I'm definitely keeping him way the hell away from my Series III. I've spent 10 years getting parts to build that, and it's literally irreplaceable.

Is it a write-off?

It probably will be written off by the insurance company just to avoid the hassles (Jaguars leave a bad taste in insurers mouths here). In terms of cost to repair, it's pretty close if you are using retail pricing. In terms of "can it be repaired economically and safely by people with a clue?", yes it can be. The "real" cost to repair it is probably more like $9K, buying parts wholesale, etc.

A lot of times an insurance company will do a "financial/economic total" or "financial/economic write-off" on a Jaguar, even one that's lightly damaged - or not damaged at all. In the 90s, insurance companies wrote off Series III XJs like mad for owners with full coverage - if someone keyed the car, the then-current cost to repaint the car was more than the replacement price of the car. Only the paint was damaged, the car was perfectly sound - but they wrote them off and shipped them to the junkyards anyway.
 
Last edited:
Pothole? Should have boughten a Z06. Your dad's back would be broken, but the car would be in one piece.

jk. That's a shame, I love those XKR's. Those darn old people. When will they learn.
 
gawd damn man

how old are your parents? and what do they usually drive?

shame to see a jag go like that

you say the xkr is modded...how?
 
gawd damn man

how old are your parents? and what do they usually drive?

shame to see a jag go like that

you say the xkr is modded...how?

I'm 30. They're in their late 50s.

Dad normally drives an 03 XJR or a Dodge Ram V10. He had a Viper GTS and a Mustang GT in the recent past.

It had/has a pulley, chip, tune, custom Magnaflow exhaust, and a paddleshift kit. Made something like 450-475 at the rear wheels. It was faster than the current XKR.
 
It probably will be written off by the insurance company just to avoid the hassles (Jaguars leave a bad taste in insurers mouths here). In terms of cost to repair, it's pretty close if you are using retail pricing. In terms of "can it be repaired economically and safely by people with a clue?", yes it can be. The "real" cost to repair it is probably more like $9K, buying parts wholesale, etc.
So if they write it off and you can get it fixed for less than that original '14k to 19k' you could actually make a bit money out of this... :blink: Unless I'm seriously overestimating its blue book value.

insurance companies wrote off Series III XJs like mad for owners with full coverage - if someone keyed the car, the then-current cost to repaint the car was more than the replacement price of the car. Only the paint was damaged, the car was perfectly sound - but they wrote them off and shipped them to the junkyards anyway.
That's bloody craaaazy....
 
So if they write it off and you can get it fixed for less than that original '14k to 19k' you could actually make a bit money out of this... :blink: Unless I'm seriously overestimating its blue book value.

I bought the car for $26K last January. According to the various valuation guides it's worth beween $22K and $35K. I owe less than $15K on it. So, yeah, I could make some money out of it. Enough to pay for the gas for a while.

That's bloody craaaazy....

Yup. Because of the thermoplastic paint on the 79-85 XJs, when the car got scratched up no available/legal paints would adhere to it, so they'd have to repaint the entire car at a cost of $4-6K. The replacement price of the car, even assuming a pristine concours example, was only about $3000-3500 (around 94 or so). So the insurance companies would just write off a perfectly good car.

Insurance companies also hate Jaguars (specifically the older sedans/saloons) because they have a nasty habit of causing massive property damage to whatever they hit. There are documented cases of Series IIIs going in the front of a house, going completely through the house, exiting the house and winding up in the swimming pool behind the house, followed by much of the house collapsing.
 
Sorry for your car, but at least nothing serious happened to your parents. It should be easy to repair.

If they make it a write off the really have weird policies over there and I also find it weird that you have to buy the car back. When I had my accident in March the car was also a write off, but I got the money minus the worth of the car after the accident (only a few hundred quid), so I would have had the total value of the car after selling it to some junkyard, that was up to my own. I took the money instead and had it completely fixed and resprayed in Poland....and still got some oney out of it:)
 
Glad to hear your parents are fine, but the car... makes me sad... such a gorgeous beast.
 
Well, here's how it works, with regards to buying it back.

If they decide to total it out/write it off, then they offer me a check and take the car (and the title for it). I can then either go out and purchase another car, or do whatever I please with the money, or I can tell the insurance company that I'll buy the car back at salvage value to save them the trouble of having to auction off the "wreckage". I don't *have* to buy the car back - but if I want to keep it after they total it out, I will have to.

What will happen in reality (if they total out the car) is that they will make an offer, I'll tell them that I accept and that I want to keep the car, they'll deduct the salvage value from the settlement offer and cut me a check. The title will never leave my hands - and neither will the car.
 
Oh damn. That's not nice. Let's hope the insurance company gives you a good offer!
 
Well, here's how it works, with regards to buying it back.

What will happen in reality (if they total out the car) is that they will make an offer, I'll tell them that I accept and that I want to keep the car, they'll deduct the salvage value from the settlement offer and cut me a check. The title will never leave my hands - and neither will the car.

That is exactly what I wanted to know, to me it sounded a bit like that you lose the title automaticly (I sometimes do have weird thoughts ;))
 
Damn, that's one big kick in the nuts.

It's a shame to see that lovely car smashed. Sorry to hear about it.
 
Ouch. Someone was being a bit too heavy on the gas getting on the freeway it looks like. :p
 
Top