Hi!
My name is Rachel Valley!

I am a food photographer, commercial driver, and operations technician in the transportation field in Sacramento, California.

I bought my very first brand new car in 2003, a Monte Carlo SS in Berry Metallic. I purchased it through USAA when they had a car buying service. I told them exactly what I wanted. They found it, negotiated the price and finalized the sale. I only had to get a ride to the Bay Area to pick it up. Needless to say the drive home was exhilarating.

In 2005 I started my family and the Monte soon became too small and sporty to transport my family, so I sold it to my mom in 2011. She passed in 2021, so I inherited the car, and it is mine once more.

The car sat for a bit while I was working out my mother's estate. I finally was ready to get it transferred over in my name and insured, and that morning I jumped the battery and set out for an hour drive to get it set. While out on my drive I was in a hit and run accident where the front bumper cover was sheared off.

It now sits covered in my driveway and I am conflicted as to what to do with it. On one hand, I love the car very much and would like to drive it again. On the other hand, I am a single parent and have a lot of other things to attend to with my time and money, and I have two other vehicles to boot.

I imagine my options would be to:
spend $$ and get it road worthy and either drive it or sell it
sell it "as is" in a private sale
sell it to a dismantler (I got a quote of $400 today)

The Monte's engine and transmission are good with 98,000 miles and the interior is decent with only rips in the drivers seat leather and some rubbing off on the steering wheel controls.

This was my dream car, and I love that I had some glory days with it brand new. I wanted to share my little story and look forward to reading all of yours.

 

First, welcome to the forum!

I was reading your story and sounded very touching. Sorry about your mom passing away.
And then reading the hit-n-run accident! I can sorta relate as my 2004 was part of a hit-n-run in a hotel parking lot!

I assume the car does not have full coverage? Are you able to get a quote to repair it? If it is literally JUST the front bumper and nothing else or nothing significant, it is repairable. Heck, I think some places via eBay will sell the parts pre-painted to match your paint code.

Some food for thought:
- If you want to keep the car, get that professional quote from a body shop. Not to mention, they will most likely give an itemized list of what they believe needs done (and that can tell you the big story). If you or someone you know are handy, you might be able to put it back together with minimal fuss.
- If you don't plan to keep it, weigh the cost to repair and what you can find as far as it's value. I don't think that berry metallic is common color. From there, you can decide: Is it worth fixing to get a certain value out of it OR better to sell it for a bit less to someone who will fix or part it out.
- If the car is in great shape other than the accident, I would really push to avoid selling to a scrapper.

 

Thank you, Jason! I'm very grateful for your insight.

Ug! I'm sorry you were in a hit and run, too! Did you end up repairing it? My car was not insured yet when it was hit...bummer.

I am going to try and get a quote from someone recommended to me that does body work. I'm hoping good pictures will give enough info, because moving it would be a bit of a pain in the ****.

I have contemplated buying the pre-painted parts and priced it out to be just under $1,400. My co-worker is convinced I could do it myself but I am not so sure.

I'm also considering selling it as-is although I'm having a time figuring out what I would ask for it.

Decisions, decisions.

 

The pics below was my incident in 2013. I was during my annual weekend trip to the GM Nationals in Carlisle, PA. Got up Sunday to leave the hotel and head for home and came out to this mess! I'll spare the long story, the damage was all repaired under insurance (the hood and fender were repaired and the bumper and surrounding items were replaced).







And this is how it looks present day:

 

I can only tell a limited amount about your Monte and the issues. Assuming the body is still straight and it is all bolt-on, I am guessing headlights, fog lights, bumper re-enforcement (the Styrofoam behind the bumper cover), the plastic support for the bumper cover, impact bar, fenders, bumper cover, crest emblem/badge, hood if the damage reached that far. All of that is bolt on. Much of it is discontinued from the factory but still has aftermarket parts or salvage yards.
Not having insurance to handle the repair and not having the person who hit you to do the right thing, as much as I would love to see a Monte not hit a salvage yard, it's a difficult position. You estimated parts around $1400 on a car that might be valued $3-$5k roughly (which is why the two Montes I have today that are only driven during winter are covered with Hagerty for a stated value, something to consider if you keep this as a "toy" car and something else as a daily driver).

If you decide to repair this Monte, please share pictures, updates! I have a running thread on things I am doing (modding, fixing, restoring) with my 2nd Monte. I have some interesting issues to address that I have parts for and now finding time to work on. Here's that thread on it:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/sh...ck-monte-62826

 

I am so sorry you were hit like that. Hopefully something good came out of it. I'm still trying to find the silver lining with my situation. Oh, and the blue was my second choice if the berry red couldn't be found for me when I first bought it. Although, I think the blue I was eyeing was more of a midnight blue.

 

I have a feeling that the repair parts are even more than I estimated-with all the other items you listed. It sounds like it might be best to privately sell it to a hobbyist or someone who needs parts. UG!

So why do you only drive your Montes during winter?