Rust and legal issues.... help

[FyreDaug]

The rust on my car that im concerned about is in the wheel well, by the strut tower, right by (under) the upper control arm. On both sides Ive got about a 1 sq inch of body missing from the rust. And Ive got a small hole by my gas fill lid. Just under the neck of the tube that goes into the gas tank theres a 1 sq cm hole.

My car was in a slight fender bender and im being told I have the option of taking it in for an estimate where they look over the whole car. They are surely to see the rust holes...

I told them the damage was minimal and I didnt care if I brought it in or not, I dont plan on fixing it. Its the rear right light and some of the metal that is damaged, lights still work fine.

If I get it taken in and they tell me the car is not road safe for having rust holes (I have to get an inspection now because of my back bumper pre-accident.... turned out its legal to have what I have right now... just the metal bumper while the plastic one is off, but he still wrote me up an inspection ticket). Monday the car may be sold under the condition that it needs cert, but then again if these rust holes are not considered road safe and I sell the car to someone and SGI wont let them put the car on the road they will come back to me and ill have a non-road safe car and no money.


So basically.... I need to know if I should be worried about that rust.

[Bglad420]

...........Fuck it:)

[Vanilla Sky]

yes. take it to a shop and let them fix the rust holes. it'll save you tons of headaches with the sale.

[FyreDaug]

What do you figure it would cost for the holes? Is it alot of work to fix? And can it be fixable?

Right now it needs: Rear bumper cover, 2 front wheel bearings, a tie rod boot... upper ball joint boots are busted up, and the rust fixxed... eep, it also needs a cert, which costs 1.5hours labor I think. Everything else on car is good, and 130,000km on it. It just sat for a couple years, pitted the bearings

[lostforawhile]

if you have that much rust around critical suspension components,it's going to cost a fortune to get it fixed,and if a shop does a shady job and you don't know it, you have a moral issue. you need to think if someone buys this car and puts their kids in it then the suspension breaks loose in front of a tractor trailer. you may have to take a loss on the car,but you need to think of the lives of the people buying it from you. is the engine in good shape? what about buying another body and swaping al the good parts out,then driving it?

[w261w261]

I had a '73 BMW coupe that rusted out the rear shock towers, to the point that one shock broke right through. It happened as I hit a bump at a slow speed, but I've always wondered what it would have been like in a 90 mph sweeper. If something like that is on your car, you wouldn't want it on your conscience if someone could possibly get hurt and you didn't let them know. It's the kind of thing that could bother you for the rest of your life.

[Swap_File]

Part of our old plymouth champ rusted out in the back, we replaced it with 2x6s.

Treated wood 2x6s, we wanted this to last. :)

[lostforawhile]

I had a '73 BMW coupe that rusted out the rear shock towers, to the point that one shock broke right through. It happened as I hit a bump at a slow speed, but I've always wondered what it would have been like in a 90 mph sweeper. If something like that is on your car, you wouldn't want it on your conscience if someone could possibly get hurt and you didn't let them know. It's the kind of thing that could bother you for the rest of your life.
I had a couple of friends who almost got killed in this same situation,part of their vw fox suspension seperated from the frame due to rust and they were doing 70 miles an hour in heavy traffic on the interstate. the entire right side wheel and hub then ripped away from the body and they spun out on the right front corner and slammed into the concrete divider . how no one got killed i don't know.

[Jeff97FST/A]

I had to have my wife's Saab inspected last summer...if the rust damage isn't structural, the only requirement we had was the holes could not expose the passenger compartment to the outside - allows exhaust gases to enter the cabin. Didn't have to be pretty!

We had rust around the left rear wheel opening and one good sized hole in the driver's side rear floor. Some work with a paint stripper wheel chucked in the drill and fiberglass and Bondo got it through inspection.

[carotman]

Well, your insurance company might be different but mine were total A-holes. I had a not too bad 89 civic that had rust in the rear fenders. Nothing too major but I got hit by a truck and had minimal damage on the front fender. Well, the dorks totalled it. I said I didn't want any money from them but they insisted that the car was unsafe because of the rear fender rust..

So instead of me driving the car, they prefered to send me a 1 grand check ?!?!?.

Be careful with insurance and old cars...

[lostforawhile]

down here in the south you see pickup trucks driving around that look like they are ready to fall apart any time. and no one cares,same with cars,saw one that almost caused a wreck the other day,was burning so much oil it caused a fog down the street. also saw a pickup full of migrant mexicans loaded in the bed,the frame ws broke and it was listing to port so they all were hanging on the sides to keep from falling out. and a cop just passed them by.

[Vanilla Sky]

that's why canada has the inspection laws.