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My 2003 SE CVT was involved in an accident about a year ago and ended up with front end damage. Engine, turbo, transmission, etc. were fine, but pretty much everything from the cooling fan forward was damaged.
It was put back together using all new SAAB parts by a shop specializing in European body work. It looks and drives like new ever since. No frame damage (except the piece that supports the radiator); in fact the impact force was so low the airbags did not deploy. The damage occured because my car slid under the bumper of the vehicle ahead, and crushed the hood/grill/radiator/headlights/etc. To the tune of about $7K of damage.
So my question is, I'm coming up on the end of a 4 year lease (and the 4 year warranty) and trying to decide whether to hand it back to the dealer, or buy out the car. I still like the car a lot and there are no problems with it.
The buyout (residual) value is only about 16.5K, whereas Edmunds shows my car being worth over $20K (private party sale). (I think SAAB started cutting residuals around the time I got mine.... in prior years they were setting them too high and losing their shirts).
How much of an impact would the accident have on the resale value? I'm not worried about the effects mechanically, because I've been driving it for a year now post-repair and it's like new. But eventually when I go to sell it, will I get dinged?
If this accident history is going to be a real issue someday in the future, maybe I should just hand it back to the dealer at lease end and be done with it.
posted by 66.57.56...
, Sun, 21 Jan 2007 18:27:34
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