Is this just a lower ball joint failure?

[tight fart]

My wife just got this picture from her sister, she called to say her car was being written off as the wheel has fallen off.
My thoughts were the garage is trying to rip her off. To me
It looks like the bottom ball joint has failed, not sure where the fluid has come from.
It's a Nissan Duke I think.
Any thoughts?

[edusa]

Whats the oil from ? I guess the drive shaft has disconnected. It may need the lower arm changed both sides for safety,plus stretched brake pipe and anything else bumped by the wheel.DIY it

[CrutyRammers]

Depends how new/valuable it is I guess, and what other damage was done when it came off.
Being a Nissan, I'm sure it's possible to grab a new set of wishbones et al from a scrappy and replace the whole corner for not a vast amount of money. I can see new parts being pricey though.

[stevieturbo]

Since when does a garage write a car off ?

And under what circumstances has this happened ?

Balljoint has failed for whatever reason, big deal. Throw a new arm on it, inspect brake/steering etc... refit the driveshaft into the gearbox ( perhaps where the coloured fluid is from ? )

Really doesn't seem like a huge issue ?

[Darkslider]

Not 'written off' only an insurance company can do that but that could easily have done enough damage to make it uneconomical to repair. Gearbox could have been damaged when the shaft was ripped out, steering rack could have suffered too, inner wing and chassis leg might have been dented. Top bearing, strut, hub knuckle, wheel bearing, wheel, tyre and brakes that side might all need replacement.

Unlikely everything listed would have copped it but certainly possible to be more than just a ball joint.

[Smint]

Depends what caused the ball joint to fail, had the boot split so it ran dry and simply wore and tore out, or did the wheel contact a kerb or serious pot hole hard causing massive rearward movement, in which case a lot more could be damaged than the above list, ie bent subframe even body frame damage.

[GreenV8S]

We also can't see what bodywork damage has been done.

The garage can't write the car off, but they can certainly advise that it is beyond economic repair.

[stevieturbo]

And are the same people saying it is a "write off" wanting to buy the car ?

[tight fart]

Apparently she was doing about 20mph in a side road and it collapsed.
She’s waiting for details from the recovery garage, if I get any more info I’ll post it.

[edusa]

Ask a mobile mechanic to fix it cheaply.