Hey I was in an accident by myself monday because I guess I have a nack for wasting years of hard earned money blood sweat and tears Live and learn. Anyways the car info is in the sig the front bumper was clipped off and tore the front fenders and the core support was grazed and distorted slightly, doubtfulll frame damage from that, and some paint is taken off the hood no damage though. Then in the rear the driver wheel hit a curb sideways and broke off with the brakes and bent the panhard rod( aftermarket) im sure there is something else messed up in the suspension have yet to look. Now the hatch sticks up from rear fender 1/4"(body panels are not aligned right there and only there possible frame damage???) but yeah oh and the wheel is broken. It was in mint condition and about 80k miles blue book trade in value is above 4k I belive you think its totalled? Also if it is will they work with me if I can provide parts so that the overall cost to fix it will be low enough to not total it? If it is totalled how much do they sell it back to you for in comparison to the money they give you for the totalled car? I know it may be insurance specific but if anyone else has gone through or knows anyone who has gone through anything similar what happened and what did you do?

 

Yes, your car is probably totalled from your description. Sometimes you cant visibly see frame damage, but the tolerances per factory spec are plus/minus 3mm. Trust me, im sure its swayed in both the front and rear and its more than 3mm.

It's illegal for an insurance co. to "lowball" an estimate to keep a vehicle from becoming a total loss, regardless if thats what the owner wants. They have to write the estimate and include everything that happened in the accident, it's called an Un-Fair claims violation and the Insr. Co is subject to a hefty fine via your states Insurance Commissioner's Office.

You can elect to possibly keep your car IF it's paid in full. If you have a loan on your car, YOU DO NOT OWN IT, tha bank owns it and they will not allow YOU to keep THEIR car. If you do own it, the "buy back" is generally 10 to 15% of the VALUE of the car. For example, if a car is worth $10,000 dollars and you want to keep it, your insurance company will first subtract your deductable and then $1000 to $1500 and you get the rest (around 8 to 9 grand pending the deductable). Sometimes you can negotiate this buy back way lower than 10% and get a really good deal.

If you cant keep the car, the best thing to do is try to get as much of the mods off the car and keep those if you can re supply the factory parts, you generally will not get performance modifications added to the value(especially if you did not NOTIFY your insurance company that you have altered your car and who does that?).

Hope this helps, I have been in the Insurance field for 7 years with a mainstream carrier and got my job when my 93 v-6 was totaled in 96, been there on both ends, it sucks!

 

When I bought my totaled Escort back I only had to pay salvage value for it. It was a whopping $25.

 

thats sucks to hear, but if you do buy it back and decide to fix it, ill have most likely anything and everything youd need to fix it back up with. i have a firebird formula donor car. if you need parts le tme know ill let em go dirt cheap to you.

 

never think it will happen to you, god but oh well Ill lift it off the ground and see whats to see.... is there any way for me to determine if there is frame damage and if its worth parting out or if it is fixable for little money?

 

WOOO FRIGGIN HOOOOO!!!!!!
Not totalled my car is deemed worth 6300 and they are gonna give me 4250 after deductable.... ok guys I need front fenders front firebird(non trans am) bumper, entire core support and thats it for the stuff I dont have covered. Even better if it is black!

 

i got all that, its black but its porshe black with mettalic pearls. gimme a few weeks and i can yank em off and ship it to ya. once i figure out shipping

 

actually I found a 95 at the junkyard today and got all the parts for the front i need except for that stupid plastic headlight mounting bracket 376 bucks from gm...anyone got one I could buy for WAY less? Actually turned out well aside from what my insurance rates may be lol... the insurance adjuster found a rearend from one of thier vendors for 395 with 3.73 gears already in it, which is about the price of a cheap gear swap if I had a rear, was gonna get 4.10's but Im happy....Thanks a million!