Sad day for Marlo Monte Carlo. Was told my car is a death trap as the frame is rotted. I had no idea. Only 111,000 miles on it and I love the car. How do you know if it is worth fixing?

 

Depending on how bad it is and how extensive the repairs need to be, you might be able to buy a Monte Carlo in better condition. Hearing the words "death trap" sound like its pretty bad. Has the car seen salt over the years? Sadly these cars have horrible rust issues. That coupled with the fact that the trans likes to go out around 100k (from what Ive seen. I actually just bought one under 100k with a bad trans) sound like you may be better off looking for a new Monte.

 

Thank you

 

Also, what price range should I be shooting for if I sell? I was thinking $3200 as is

 

 

Price.. Thats hard to say. $3200 is gonna attract some kid that WILL drive it in the condition its in. I can only suggest what I would do, part it out. To do that tho, people usually want you to take the stuff off.

Now I dont want to give you false hope because the frame is probably shot BUT, those are just the pinch welds in the pictures. If you use and abuse those to jack up the car, they get weakened easily and they rust away. Is the rest of the frame in the same condition?

 

Its absolutely not worth fixing if it truly is rotted out. The car in mint shape is worth sub $10k with that mileage. The cost to have a professional body shop cut out and rebuild that from scratch would run close to that to do it right.

IMO first step is to take it to a body shop and get a real 2nd opinion. Not sure how many places have looked at it, but 'death trap' implies its pretty far gone. Before you scrap it out, you should get a 2nd opinion from a trusted pro.


If the body is truly rotted out, youre not getting anywhere near $3k for it. Assuming you're not a typical scumbag seller, you'll disclose the fact that the body is unusable (assuming it truly is). That means its just worth parts, and no one will give $3k for a parts car when there's barely $3k worth of retail price in sellable parts in it.

 

The body is fine its the frame that is rotted

 

What I mean is undercarriage/underbody. These aren't full frame cars, so there really is no 'frame' like you'd traditionally see on vintage cars. There are small sub-frame pieces front and rear to support critical components, but those bolt to the stamped sheet metal underbody. The pics you're posting look to be rusted rockers / pinch weld which are part of the unibody.

That distinction is what makes the repair so hard. If it were a traditional frame, you could just unbolt the body and lift it off/ put it on a new frame. But the underbody of these cars are part of a singular welded structure of the whole body / a unibody structure. To take off the underbody is hundreds of spot welds that have to be cut out (after the entire car is stripped bare) and replaced on a frame table to hold everything in shape (which is why I'd say if it is truly rotted out, its would be prohibitively expensive to fix). Its not impossible to do, but its exorbitantly expensive to do so as its about the most intensive repair a car can possibly have.

Unfortunately this isn't uncommon in the salt belt - thousands of w body cars like yours have been sent to the junkyard for exactly this.

Thats why I suggest getting a second opinion from a pro as its literally a life (its not too far gone yet, you've got a few more years left) or death (car is junk, only good for parts) decision for the car.

 

Thank you for replying!!