Okay, so my beloved 89 240 sedan was totalled Sunday night. My fault. I got ticketed for followig too closely and the front grill, and both fenders and hood are goners. Repair shop is working up an estimate for me to rebuild my sweet baby...

With tons happening in my personal life, this could not have occurred at a worse time.

Anyway, the insurance conmpany will give me $2850 for it after deductions, etc. It was a perfect perfect car. (The deductions were for the tires, and a small crack in the dash, and minor underbody rust) She was totally clean..., a real cream puff that turned heads everywhere, and with only 127K on it, many reliable years ahead of it.

Now, the salvage value is only $469!!! I could sell off of that car EVERYTHING including all interior parts, the engine, transmission, doors, you name it. And oh yea...she runs just fine....drives and everything. It's jsut that with no headlights, well.... :)

What would you guys do? The repair shop migght come in with an estimate of about $3800 to repair, that's my guess. How does a mild-mannered college administrator part off his sweet baby volvo, or how does he repair fenders and a front end. (and there's nothing wrong with the frame...it's all okay down there....)

As you said, nothing is wrong with the frame. If that's so, then new parts will bolt right on.

Which they likely won't, without a pull. If the quarters are gone and the hood is toasted, it's probable that the upper quarter mounts are bent or cranked somehow. But it is POSSIBLE that there's no frame. I doubt it though.

If you're confident of that, just snap up some quarter panels (Chinese or Koreans might still be cranking out 240 quarters) any front radiator support or whatever you might need, and the front crash parts. Hood from the same oriental suppliers, who really crank out some flimsy but inexpensive stuff. Shop AROUND for the crash parts--prices vary widely. Used are sometimes a great value, sometimes you should've bought new to begin with. The 240 headlights oxidize anyway, so you might as well buy the new ones. And new lenses for the turn signals. The stuff does add up though, so be prepared.

If the hood is folded at the fold points on the underside, it can be repaired. That's time consuming, but a good avenue to follow if you want to save the car. The quarters can probably be undone as well, unless they're really buckled and folded.

Parting stuff out is kind of an iffy venture. First of all, you'll get tons of takers for all of the silly stuff like trim pieces and whatnot. But that's all for pennies here and pennies there. The doors and such are not worth much. You'll be lucky to get the front glass out without breaking it, and if you do, you can't store it for long.

I've done it a few times, and I think I'm just too impatient for a lot of the people I get. They'll offer five dollars for a fifty dollar part, or they'll just go down the street and pay fifty for the part anyway. It's really weird. I had a whole 240 interior for sale a few weeks ago and I took it off because I got some serious leakers phoning me about it, and making pathetic offers.

I have taken to GIVING stuff away to people who really want it, and I don't want to join the ranks of people selling Volvo parts such as a small clock with a cracked face, with bezel, for $20. That's not my game--but it can be done, and it can be done profitably.

Someone always wants one passenger side door pull or something silly. I sell stuff like that like the yards do. Door PANEL, complete. No pockets, no door pulls, no fasteners seperated from the panel, just the whole panel. Relays and such? A few bucks. Window motors? A little bit. Transmission? $200 if you're lucky. Engine might bring a few bucks too. Three hundred, maybe. The EFI computer is worth maybe 2 for the right buyer. But then again, you can end up sitting on it for two years and then wondering if it will actually work when you ship it to someone. Some cheap spinner will snatch up that speedo & cluster because they'll transplant it into some tired iron that came from outside a carfax area.

I've seen people selling used radiator hoses, (good condition, though!) used timing belt tensioners (there's a worthwhile experiment), and even used drive belts, for $.50 apiece. I used to think I'd attract the Volvo-lovers, but I usually attract the people who love to take stuff for free, and then solicit $100 of technical information about exactly what to do with it, before they leave you with no money, and two hours less time in your life.

I GIVE more away than I sell. By a lot. I love doing it, too, especially when someone really needs something and I happen to have it.

In short, it CAN be financially worthwhile to part it out. But it can be frustrating and time-consuming as well. I like to part stuff but rarely have enough room to do so.

With scrap metal down so low, a lot of car haulers are charging you to get rid of the metal when you're done with it. That can mean an extra cost on the back side. You usually have to ship the car with a couple of tires on it, so you lose 2 rims there unless you haev replacements. The taillights should bring a buck or two if they're intact. Consider these things. Good luck. If you have more 240 body & frame questions feel free to contact me offline.

you have just found your winter project. take the check from the ins. co. and buy the car back. go to local wrecker and buy a complete nose. the yards will often prefer to sell tha whole nose because of the labor involved in pulling each part. this way you will have every nut and bolt you might need. you should be able to do it youself with basic hand tools and common sense. with the left over dough treat the car to a repaint. the downside to repairing it yourself is that it will probably take you a bit longer than a shop, and the car will subsequently have a salvage title, but if you're keeping her for a while that shouldn't matter. good luck!

here's a bit of advice no one has mentioned: see if they will allow you to buy the car back 'for parts' after they've settled w/ you. many insurance co's will sell you the car back for the value of scrap so that they don't have to deal with it. that way, you walk away with the $$ AND your 'parts' car. i've seen this happen lots of times. take the $$ and 'parts' car and 'part' it back together yourself until you need a mechanic(ie. rust, paint, etc.)

Bubba

Keep it! AS others have said, the stuff you describe is bolt on. Even if you have to some other work yourself, it's not that tough - and it's a lot cheaper than a shop. I'd probably leave the painting to someone else, but most of the other stuff you can do. While you're at it, take care of the rust. If it's not too bad, it's easy, and it will only get harder if you ignore it.

Jim

My advice is to shop it around for repair estimates. When mine got rear ended a month ago I had estimates from $2,000 all the way down to $500 (the $2,000 was from two shops the insurance agent had on their list, $1,200 from a Volvo only body shop the dealer recommended, and $500 was from the body shop at the Volvo salvage yard I use -- guess who won my business?.).

Terrible. I also have an 89 and feel the sarrow. I would try to keep it. You may have to shop around for parts for good prices and you should be able to replace the front frender and the hood, yourself. The light frames may need to be straighten, they're week. Call a couple body shops for estimates. You can also do part of the work yourself and leave the other stuff to a body shop. I'm sure you can put it cheaply.

Or you shop around for 'dead' volvo's and do a transplant. See whats cheaper.

Tim,

If there is no frame damage ... and you can find a donor car ... repairing your Brick is not out of the question. The fenders ... lights and other front pieces are pretty much bolt on. I had $6800 dollars in damage to the front of my daughter's 86 245. (Book valued at the time at $3700)I had a rear ended donor car and swapped and painted the parts myself. The car is white so that helped ... metallic paint is a lot tougher to match.

Anyway I did a respectable job of getting it back on the road ... doesn't look half bad and the total repair cost was under a grand. (that included buying an air compressor and a good paint gun) If you can find low or no cost parts and can get the painting done inexpensively ... there's no reason it can't be saved. If there's a Pick and Pull wrecking yard near you ... they can be a great source of good, low cost parts. Here in my neck of the woods fenders ($26) Headlight assemblies ($38) Hoods ($26) and so forth.

Totalled does not mean totalled if the frame is straight and the damage is confined to easy to replace front end parts. I fixed my "totalled" Brick and two years later my daughter drove it off to school in WI ... nearly two thousand miles east of here. It's still on the road and I hope will be for years to come.

Depends upon your desires, but parts are easily available and not expensive. Do you want to do it yourself? Shouldn't be a bad deal to do, but depends on you. Sounds as if you are in love with the car, so it may be worth your time to find the parts and go for it.

dick