I hit a retaining wall yesterday at 55mph or so and smashed up my pass side front fender and the front of my car. The car is a 94 6M Z/28 and has 157,000 miles but was in very good shape prior to this incident. Here is the damage I see: need new front bumper cover, the bracket that holds the right headlights, pass fender, pass wheel well plastic, lower air dam. In addition the right control arm is bashed but it doesn't look to be bent, the inner tie rod is bent and the heavy front cross member is bashed really well. I was able to do a driveway allignment and the car steers straight but turns different left to right so I am worried that I am not seeing it all.

Since I want to keep my insurance out of it I am going to have to pay for it all my self. I figure that I can do a fair cosmetic repair for ~750 (Am I smoking a big rock of crack on that estimate??) and sell for $3-3,500. Or sell as is (Am I going to take it up the ??) or part out myself - I am figuring that I would sawz-all the shell and slowly throw it away at work . Any Ideas? Am I insane on prices? Although I might want to keep it my heart is broken. I am thinking of getting a real winter car and save for a cheap used Vette. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Why do you want to keep the insurance out of it ?.... Well.. The cosmetic damage is going to cost more than $750 total probably. Was the $3-$3500 price BEFORE you fixed it or after... if it is after then you would probably make more parting out the car especially if the engine and trans are still good...

 

I don't want to jack up my insurance rate by filling a claim

 

??? It's called INSURANCE. It is there to insure that in the event of an accident, you or those affected by you are covered. Use it. Why pay premiums and not use it? That's like throwing money away. I made a $6500 claim on my last bike and my rates went up only 10%. At the very least talk to your insurance company and see what they say. I asked mine, and they said any claim under 750 did not affect anything whatsoever, and anything over 750 and my rates would go up by 10%. Then if things don't look good, I'd try and sell as is. I think you'll get more money that way than parting it out. Good luck.