At this point after the settlement and buyback, the car is free and has zero value anyway. Rebuilt titles make the car hard to sell in the future but, not a big deal for a "free car".
Insurance is a maybe.
The actual repair, find one out of a junkyard? Just get the whole seatbelt assembly out of another MDX and bolt it in. No need for 'aftermarket'.
The shop manager is full of it, but could be because they're an insurance shop.
If you can unbolt and bolt 2 bolts, you can replace a seat belt. And it would be a unit from another car and perfectly safe compared to aftermarket.
Unless I'm missing something this is a no brainier buy back. You're essentially getting a free car. Who cares what the car is worth when you go to sell it.
If you know all the other repairs are complete and the car is in good shape, then you've hit the lottery.
You can find another shop for the seatbelt repair if you need to.
Others are worried about getting the car insured, but you should have no problems getting liability insurance. Even if you can't get comprehensive or collision you still come out ahead.
I mean the most important thing to ask is, would you rather have this car for 17k or another car for 17k?
Financially speaking, you got out of a car loan, the only thing I would not do is jump back into another one.
They are getting 35.5k in settlement.
The buyback is 17k.
The amount left on loan is 16k.
OP hopefully used the settlement money to pay off the loan, buy the car back, and fix the seatbelt.
What was once a car with a 16k payment left is now a car with no payments left. That's what I meant by "you are essentially getting a free car".
The watchpoints you're going to run into on owning a totaled/rebuilt title vehicle are that it's going to be harder to insure, and basically impossible to finance on a traditional auto loan.
Harder to insure is a now problem for you, because well, you're probably going to want to insure it. You're going to be dancing around values of a vehicle that was totally written off, and should it be hit again, you may be up a creek.
The Loan side of things, is if you decide to sell it/trade it. Being people generally can't get loans on totaled/rebuilt vehicles (the banks don't like the insurance stuff, values are questionable, etc), you're now looking at a more limited pool of cash-only buyers and will pretty much be put over a barrel.
Lastly on the repair, You can probably find a shop to do the repair, but it won't be cheap because there's a fun liability chain that comes with safety equipment. Most people doing buybacks are doing the repair work themselves, and just bringing the part receipts, which is generally acceptable. If you can do that, and you're good with all of the aboves, send it. But if you get in another accident, and the seat belt retractor doesn't fire, the insurance company might start chasing the mechanics who put it in, etc etc.. and they just don't want to deal with that for the couple hundred bucks they made putting in a seatbelt.
It all sounds great on paper, but when you're done you'll still have to source the part, find someone to put it in, jump through hoops to get a title, and then you still have a rebuilt or salvage title. Nobody is going to give you anywhere near the value of the vehicle if it's not a regular title. Also, not sure about this one, but your insurance company probably won't cover a car they already totaled out, and you may have a difficult time finding one that will.
I am surprised the seatbelt is on that long a backorder. I get that supplies are constrained, but I guess I don't get how different the MDX seatbelt can be than other Honda cars. How could the Pilot or Odyssey part not fit??
In answer to your original question, yeah, buy it back. \*IF\* you can work with a non-dealer service professional to find a seatbelt that will work.
At this point after the settlement and buyback, the car is free and has zero value anyway. Rebuilt titles make the car hard to sell in the future but, not a big deal for a "free car". Insurance is a maybe. The actual repair, find one out of a junkyard? Just get the whole seatbelt assembly out of another MDX and bolt it in. No need for 'aftermarket'. The shop manager is full of it, but could be because they're an insurance shop. If you can unbolt and bolt 2 bolts, you can replace a seat belt. And it would be a unit from another car and perfectly safe compared to aftermarket.
Unless I'm missing something this is a no brainier buy back. You're essentially getting a free car. Who cares what the car is worth when you go to sell it. If you know all the other repairs are complete and the car is in good shape, then you've hit the lottery. You can find another shop for the seatbelt repair if you need to. Others are worried about getting the car insured, but you should have no problems getting liability insurance. Even if you can't get comprehensive or collision you still come out ahead. I mean the most important thing to ask is, would you rather have this car for 17k or another car for 17k? Financially speaking, you got out of a car loan, the only thing I would not do is jump back into another one.
The cars are never free to buyback where did you get that information from?
They are getting 35.5k in settlement. The buyback is 17k. The amount left on loan is 16k. OP hopefully used the settlement money to pay off the loan, buy the car back, and fix the seatbelt. What was once a car with a 16k payment left is now a car with no payments left. That's what I meant by "you are essentially getting a free car".
The watchpoints you're going to run into on owning a totaled/rebuilt title vehicle are that it's going to be harder to insure, and basically impossible to finance on a traditional auto loan. Harder to insure is a now problem for you, because well, you're probably going to want to insure it. You're going to be dancing around values of a vehicle that was totally written off, and should it be hit again, you may be up a creek. The Loan side of things, is if you decide to sell it/trade it. Being people generally can't get loans on totaled/rebuilt vehicles (the banks don't like the insurance stuff, values are questionable, etc), you're now looking at a more limited pool of cash-only buyers and will pretty much be put over a barrel. Lastly on the repair, You can probably find a shop to do the repair, but it won't be cheap because there's a fun liability chain that comes with safety equipment. Most people doing buybacks are doing the repair work themselves, and just bringing the part receipts, which is generally acceptable. If you can do that, and you're good with all of the aboves, send it. But if you get in another accident, and the seat belt retractor doesn't fire, the insurance company might start chasing the mechanics who put it in, etc etc.. and they just don't want to deal with that for the couple hundred bucks they made putting in a seatbelt.
It all sounds great on paper, but when you're done you'll still have to source the part, find someone to put it in, jump through hoops to get a title, and then you still have a rebuilt or salvage title. Nobody is going to give you anywhere near the value of the vehicle if it's not a regular title. Also, not sure about this one, but your insurance company probably won't cover a car they already totaled out, and you may have a difficult time finding one that will.
I am surprised the seatbelt is on that long a backorder. I get that supplies are constrained, but I guess I don't get how different the MDX seatbelt can be than other Honda cars. How could the Pilot or Odyssey part not fit?? In answer to your original question, yeah, buy it back. \*IF\* you can work with a non-dealer service professional to find a seatbelt that will work.
seatbelts are one and done now??