Long time no post. So last week my car was broken into and they stole my front seats and wheels off my 2011 X MR. I had thought when I bought the car that keeping everything OEM would be fine...but I guess that's not the case.

Now I have to deal with insurance to replace the seats as it looks like they are quoting the normal lancer seats. Are the stock Recaros even still available to be replaced from the manufacturer since the 2015s don't even come with them anymore? What happens if they cant locate a set of Recaros to put into the car, am i SOL and stuck with Lancer seats? Honestly I'd rather them total the car than drive around in Lancer seats...

Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

 

The seats are still available from the dealer. They're probably pricing your base Lancer seats because they're so damn expensive as a part. Last time I checked with my dealer, the parts guy said that they come in 3 pieces, which are the seat back, the bottom cushion, and the rails. My price, with discount, came to a total of $3750.00 a side.

 

The insurance company needs to replace what was in the ****ing vehicle. You get the part numbers from Mitsubishi for the RECAROs you paid a premium for, and demand they replace what you had originally.

Stand your ground, don't start thinking of different seats. You pay insurance for a reason, this is it.

 

If you take anything less than what was in there you are making a huge mistake. You pay for insurance for a reason.

 

yep they owe you OEM replacement cost minus your deductible. It doesn't matter if you buy the oem seats or not, they still need to cut you a check.

 

Have you called them and talked to them, or did you just look at the estimate? Could have been a simple mistake..

 

Yea they are redoing the estimate. The seat cushions are on backorder and total estimate for wheels and seats/repair is like 20k. They tore up the wiring harness for the seat sensors so that needs to be replaced.

I'm calling them tomorrow but it seems it's almost at the threshold to get totaled which is ridiculous. Not sure what to do if they try to total it. It's a 2011 MR with only 25k miles so the KBB is like what, 25k?

 

2015 seats are super cheap if on a budget

 

If they do total loss the car, they will offer to let you buy it back for very cheap, 500-1000 which they will just deduct from the payout they give you. The car will be salvaged from that point though. You can take that money plus the car and do what ever you like with it at that point. Replace the seats, and i guess wheels?, with what ever you want and just take it to the dmv and have it inspected and re-registered as a salvage car. Then keep what ever money you have left over / pay off your financing if you still owe on it. You could part the car out, combine that money with what the insurance gives you and buy something else. You have alot of options if you do end up crossing that threshold. Also you do not have to buy the OEM seats, if you want some nice aftermarket seats you can use the money they are going to give you for OEM seats to get what ever you want and pocket the left over. You are under no obligation to actually replace or fix anything after the insurance pays you out.

EDIT: If you have a lender they will require proof that you fixed the car. Also you may want to double check your state laws incase of any weirdness about insurance payouts.

 

Yeah, that would totally be worth a buyback. You can get a junkyard set of seats for ~$1500=2K, often with the wiring harness hacked off from the car side and still attached to the seats.

If you don't want to deal with the hassle, you could accept "used" seats and work with your adjusted/shop to find a set.

 

If they do give you that payout you could probably hover around the forums or other classifieds and wait for a set of used recaros and a set of mr bbs to pop up for like $3-4k total. Idk how much wiring harness repair is though.

 

There is always Bride, sparco, Recaro (non OEM) you could get if you aren't set on OEM.

 

I would do what you can to get them to NOT total it. Salvage title cars are a b!tch to sell.

 

Agreed, but if you can get a $20k car for $2k, buy seats and wheels, and have it back on the road for $5k total, that's probably enough to pay off the loan (or near it) and even if you decided to sell, you're only down 10-25% depending on your sales avenue.

If you get it salvage, take a bunch of pics to show potential buyers the extent of the "damage" or, in this case, the lack thereof.

 

That's what I'm saying. If they give you 20k and salvage it, you net essentially $14k and just drive the car until it falls apart. Idk what the OP's loan situation is (If there is one or not)