A little back story.
I've owned Mini's for about 15 years.
The car in question is my 2013 JCW Hatchback. The car was deemed totaled by the insurance appraiser after it hit a log on the highway in CT. The reason for the Total Loss decision was that there is a small section of the weld seam on the crossover support that ripped at the weld. The passenger side engine shock mount sustained damage, the oil pan is deformed where it hit the log, a casting flair mould injection point fin on the transmission was broken, and the in the appraisers opinion, there is no way of knowing if there is any unknown damage to the engine, or transmission. Oh yeah, and the serpentine belt was shredded. The Car has 185,000 miles on it, but runs like a champ.
Oh, and the front aero spoiler looks like an 8 year old with a missing front tooth right now
Now then, with the replacement of the serpentine belt, the car was restarted and drives absolutely perfect. Other than the front fairing having an 8" wide, piece broken out of the lower section, it looks like a very well maintained 10 year JCW
My plan is to buy the salvage rights to the car from the insurance company for $ 1700.00, and have the fram, and front fairing repaired, replace the oil pan, and then attempt to have it retitled. The totaled write off value for the car was >$10K.() I own it outright, so all monies are mine.)
My second option is to purchase a similar used JCW, and still try and retitle this one.
As a last ditch, I have an '09 Cooper S hatchback that I own sitting right next to it,and could use many of the non engine parts on it, if it gets to that.

I guess my basic questions are;
Has anyone purchased the salvage rights to their car following an accident, and was it worth the hassle of going through the repair/retitle process? Or did you just part it out.
The second question would be does anyone have an experience in CT with the exact process?

Advice?

 

I ended up with a 4 week old new 2008 Cayman S of mine declared a total loss and me holding a salvage title. There's a story but I won't bore you. Well, I will a little bit: Short version is I ended up with the car because the car that hit my new car had insufficient liability insurance: $50K; but my new car was stickered for $62,6K just 4 weeks before...

I had no intention of fixing the car. I called a company that specialized in salvage cars of this car's brand (Porsche) and long story short I was offered the same price: $17,300; the insurance company told me it was valued at in its condition.

But I knew a guy (the GM) at a large auto auction facility and he graciously allowed me to offer my car for sale at the weekly salvage vehicle auction.


At the auction it sold for $20K. Afterwards while I offered to pay the seller's fee the GM declined my offer.

If you can dispose of your JCW like I disposed of my Cayman S I urge you to do so.

The damage the JCW sustained will require time on a (for example) Celette Bench which allows the tech to check hard points and if they are out of position if possible pull them into position. This must be done to the car is basically straight and offers a suitable foundation for repairs to proceed. While the car may end up straight the fact the metal has been bent and then pulled or otherwise made straight again weakens the car's structure.

If you decide to part it out, do you really want a car with salvage worthy damage at your house and picking pieces off it every so often for the next couple years? Or strangers coming to your house to kick the tires and waste your time haggling over some parts off the car? Or maybe you let them pull parts? With the risk of one of them possibly injuring himself?

Search for a company that specializes in MINI salvage vehicles and arrange to sell the car to such a company. Then move on. Focus on finding/getting a good used car and then mod'ing it like you want. But you only have to mod it. You don't have to fix severe damage first.

 

Good advice, and it was another option I hadn’t really considered.
Doing the “part out” sale process didn’t really thrill me to much.
I’m not worried about getting the salvage $$$$ back. If they had told me the salvage would be thousands, I would have told them to come and get it.
Thank you for the insight. It helps.