If he hit the curb with a front wheel and broke the strut, I'd be very suspicious of damage to the control arm and to the frame.
I think I'd want to have a body shop put it on a machine and see if the frame is bent before I spent any money on it.
With an impact great enough to break a strut, I'll give you odds the control arm is also bent.
How does the control arm look? What about the rear attachment point (to the body). Any rippling in the frame rail in back of the attachment point?
Which is not to say that you coudn't just throw a new strut on it and call it good. But the car would
never drive right.
And you must always replace struts in pairs!
So rather than $2-3K in body work to make it right, now you're up to 2-3 times that, potentially. Less if you can find a good used control arm.
Was the car turned into insurance? Was it totaled (I'd be surprised if it wasn't). Does it now have a salvage title?
Looking at the general state of disrepair for a car with relatively low mileage, I'm guessing it needs belts and rollers and a water pump as well.
I'm thinking the value dropped to $2-3K. To have it
properly fixed would cost
bunches of money.
- Control arm - $552
- Sachs struts (2) $264 @ - $528
- Timing Belt kit (incl rollers) - $253
- Water Pump (new) $371
Right there you have $1,704 in
just parts - labor would probably be double that. And you haven't even approached the body work.