...insurance company wants to fix. Car is within $1000 of the 80% of value amount the insurance company requires for total. It has sustained frame damage. What can I do? I do not want that car back as it will never be the same and will only be worth a fraction due to major (frame) damage if I were to trade it in or sell it privately.

I am VERY particular with my cars, keep them clean and well maintained. The shop guarantees their work for the life of the car (because they'll get paid by the insurance company) but more than one trip for a squeek, rattle, whistle, etc plus reimbursement for the time it is in the shop will put it well over the total figure.

HELP!

 

Did you get your own estimates?

 

No. The shop it's at was recommended by my insurance company.

 

what kind of car? You might wanna buy it back to part it out to make some money.

 

...get another estimate......and there are ways of making sure it is a total.....make sure ya get diminished value and if there is no other way....trade it in as soon as ya get it back

 

Scotty,

The shop knows that I prefer it be totalled.

What do you mean by "make sure ya get deminished value"? They valued it at a little over $17K which means I'd need @ $14K worth of repair work for them to total it. As of yesterday it was within $1K and they were still looking at it.

Aside from the car never being the same again I'm going to take a HUGE hit when the time comes to trade it in or sell it.

Hopefully I'll have an answer today. If this shop says it's fixable I'm going to take it to another shop of my own choosing.

At what point do I make my concerns about the future safety/reliability/value of the car clear to my claim rep?

 

If it's aplicable make sure they use new Subaru OEM parts. In my state if the car is less than 2 years old, you can request new parts vs good used parts or other manufactuer's parts.

 

Damn that sucks ... I hope they total it for you, I sure wouldn't want it back ...

 

Shop around for repairs to see if you can bring the total repair cost up. There is always someone out there who will intentionally rip someone off in terms of car repair, so all you have to do is find them. ;-)

 

Take it to the dealer for the repairs, they will charge you a mint to do it, and just tell the insurance company you only trust the dealer to work on your car.

 

Has the drivetrain been thoroughly checked? Damage to engine, trans etc. is often overlooked when the car is not driveable and can easily increase the $ amount past the point where it's totalled.

 

The shop has completed the examination of the car and has gotten pricing on parts. It has been declared a total loss with repairs of approx. $18K. It would have taken 30 working days to complete. I am now waiting to hear from my ins. co.