Hi guys, I crashed my 5MT 04 WRX wagon with 15k miles and luckily I am not hurt at all and no other people were involved. There were quite a bit of damage on the passenger side front fender, rear passenger door, and passenger side rear fender (and maybe something I couldn't notice).

I didn't hit from the front and there was no damage to the engine and transmission etc. The shop is now tearing it down and inspecting for unibody damage and how much it will actually cost to fix (or if too much, the insurance total the car).

I am now afraid that the insurance company will insist on fixing extensive unibody damage which will have me end up with an unsafe car. The car's KBB value is about $20k, and they mentioned they wouldn't total it unless the damage is more than 70-80% of the car's price (ie ~$14-15k).

If they come up with a bill of say $14-15k and insist on fixing it, I was told by a friend that I can choose to take the repair cost in a check, and then take the junker with me, is that true?

Now my second question is, where can I get an estimate of how much a junker like that worth? I am not able to take parts off and sell on EBay, so I will probably just drive that thing to a junk yard who will buy it off me. How can I get a ballpark estimate, like whether it is worth just $500, or sometihng like $3000 because all the mechanical parts are (assuming) working?

Thanks for all the help!

 

You can only take the cash from the insurance company if you have no lien holder or you have an agreement with the lien holder. I paid off my car with a very low fixed rate credit card expressly for this purpose. I pay less interest now and I own the car outright. If you are paying off a loan, and appearantly you've maybe paid off only interest by now, the car is mostly owned by the bank.

If you actually own the car, the choice is yours. Take the $ from the insurance company, partthe car out if you can. Why can't you part it out now? If the car is yours, you settle for cash, part out the car, sell as much as you can and buy a new one.

jason

 

The car is on 0% loan and I can afford to pay it off at once if they decide to total it. Is it too late to do so already (if they do decide to total it)? Thanks.

The reason I can't part it out is that I am only good enough to do simple things like oil changes and have no idea how to take out an engine or transmission...

 

Even if they total the car, it doesn't mean you will be able to pay it off. The lien holder might decide to take the car... did you read the fineprint?

You should ask around for some help with involved parting out... lotsa guys on here with time and expertise. I've got some expertise, but not a lot of time :-/


jason

 

I see. Thanks. I guess in the event if they put me in a situation where taking the cash and parting out the junker is more beneficial, I will need to call the lien holder and see if they will let me just pay off and do what I want.

 

You have the option to buy the vehicle from your insurance company only if its totaled.

A junkyard will pay you very little (wholesale for a wrecked car), if you were to try to sell it to them.

Here's a valuable link that should answer most of your questions:

http://www.insurance.ca.gov/CSD/Broc...AutoRepair.htm

What body shops estimated the damage?

I would take your car to a good body shop like Toy Works in Concord, and get their advice.

Good luck!

David

 

Based on the data you provided, the car will probably not be totalled and they'll try to fix it. The cost will be over $15k most likely, but insurance companies are usually poor at judging when to repair the old or buy new.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I am still waiting for their estimate. And if insurance insists on fixing it, I will just have it towed to another shop which I have more experience with.

I guess I might need to pay for the tear-down and/or tow (because insurance already towed from the tow yard to the current shop, and the current shop has a tear-down charge for the estimate). It seems logical that they will not cover expenses which I tow the car to 2-3 shops for 2-3 tear-down estimates etc...

Sounds reasonable? It is hard to think right when my baby is hurt. If I could do that all over again, I would have just towed it in to the good shop and be done with it... Lesson learned I guess...

 

just wondering.....how did you wreck the car? How fast were you going? what did you hit?

-Ted

 

If you can afford it, you might want to look into letting them repair the car then trading it in.

 

Now that it seems you have been helped... I'll assume the unhelpful arsehole's role this time...

Perhaps you shouldn't have crashed in the first place

 

Push it into a lake...a nice DEEP one

 

uh, you don't pay for the tear-down and tow-in, insurance does.

 

this time?

 

The way you describe it, seems similar to my experience.

My wrx wagon did a "slap" of the guardrail on the driver's side: re-aligned mild frame damage and replaced: driver's fog lights, head lamp, front bumper, driver's fender, rear bumper, and body work on the driver's rear quarter panel.

It was awhile ago, so I don;t remember but cost to repair in michigan was well under $10K and possibly closer to $5K.

good luck with what you're going thru.