Yesterday I was going down a road to a red light. Well this girl in a 99' Beetle pulls RIGHT out in front of me. I slam on the brakes but it was too late. I hit her right in the driver's side door. Then my car slid over and smacked her rear tire. Everyone was ok but I now need a new bumper, right fender, new side moldings, and some repair work done to my rear quarter panel. The thing I'm worried about is that I paid $2,650 for the car and I took it to the body shop today and they estimated the damage at like $2,450. So now I'm afraid her insurance is going to total the car I'll probably put some pics up once I find my digicam's data cable.

 

im pretty sure that for a car to be determined totalled it has to have the font end all bashed in---that is massive engine damage ................we had a smiliar problem here and they culdnt total the car as their was no front end damage to the engine in particualr

 

Definition of a 'Total Loss", from and insurance company stand point, is if the estimate to repair is 75% or more of THEIR estimated value of your Rex. So, you'll need to arm yourself with receipts for that new engine, new tranny, (you get the drift) etc you recently put in to push the value as far up as possible. Maintenance items like new brakes or other things you'd have to do anyway won't help you here.

If you stay status quo, it's is indeed a TOTAL.

However, if you really really want to salvage your Rex with a clean Title, one way to get around this is if can reference used parts costs to a point where the extimated repair is a hair under 75%. Then, get the check for that amount. Use it to buy new or used, as works for you, and do as much of the labor yourself. Putting on a fender, bumper etc (assuming none of the mounting points are bent) is just a matter of a few nuts and bolts. Just pay labor for the things that need expert attention like the rear quarter panel and paint.

For reference, I had a dreded pulsation damper engine fire. Took this approach to get the repair estimate under the 75% level, then got Pic-a-part replacements (wire harness, injectors, etc) doing the work myself. The repair ended up being way less than the check I got.

 

Get insurance to total it out. Then buy back the car, spend 5-700 on a new chassis and move everything over.

 

Buy it back? A friend mentioned that to me. Like I would be able to buy it back for like $500 or something.

 

But, once you have a salvage title, you will not be able to get Comp and Collision coverage. Only Liability on Salvage Title cars.

 

wait, so if the car is "tottaled" the insurance just takes it from you so you have to buy it back from them if you want it? why should you have to buy it back if you are teh owner?

 

if they total it out and you're insured for such a situation, they're buying the car i believe. they cut you a check. so, they own the car. then you buy it back from them for what its worth as is.

 

Oh ok, that sucks though, if i had alot of nice **** in that car, i better get a chance to get it out (S-AFC (SO LONG AS PEOPLE DONT ******* STEAL IT FROM MY ROOM) guages, CD player, all that good ****). Thanks

 

A running RX7 is probably worth more just for the engine than what they would charge you to buy back the car. If it is too damaged for you to try and fix, then getting as much as you can from the ins. co. and putting the motor into a nice but nonrunning car could be a deal. Especially if you search and find a car in better shape than the one you had.
But beware, if they do not total it, you could end up without enough money to fix it.
The crazy part is, if the car needs $3200 to fix it and they value it at $3000, it's totalled. You get a check for $3000 (not $3200) and they keep the car. You decide to buy it back and fix it. You pay, maybe $500 for the wrecked car. That leaves you with $2500. Now, you have to dig into your pocket for the extra $700 to fix the car.
Funny, huh?

 

The insurance company for the trucker that hit my 88 GXL back in May placed the value of the car at $50. Yes, fifty bucks. They ended up "giving" the car back to me for free...

Food for thought...

 

tell me you got more than 50 bucks outta that deal? thats kinda ironic i am a truck driver and i own a 88 GXL

 

its not jsut the car its whats in the car. if you have the receipts for every piece of equipment in your car, stereo especially. not sure how ur insurance covers stereo equip. but it may push you above your requirement if its valuable enough.

also if they are including that in the price. go and swap a garbage stereo for the good one ect.... thats what i did on my old cavalier. they totalled it and credited me for the stereo. i just visited my car, pulled out my equipment and replaced it with junk. as long as there is a replacement component they dont care.

 

Sorry, I had more than a few beers last night and I could barely even type out what I posted then.

Anyways, they originally told me that my car was valued at $2600, with a buyback of $50. I wasn't too pleased with these numbers, so after some haggling with the adjuster, I got $2850 and I was allowed to keep my GXL to do as I wished. I immediately took it out on the street and threw a corner seal by revving it up to 7500 RPM at idle to listen to the purr.