So a lady backed into my wifes car a couple weeks ago with a truck and it messed up quite a bit of stuff. The hood, headlight, fender, front bumper, all brackets behind the bumper are going to have to be replaced. Its also making a wierd noise according to her description(I havent heard it) it sounds like the core support got pushed back a little and the clutch fan(or efan dont know what it has) is rubbing on the fan shroud sounds most plausable. I know the core support got nudged pretty good since the hood latch is FUBAR'd. The roof and trunk lid are peeling for some unknown reason(sh bought it 2 years old) and its got some dents and dings from regular use. In all honesty with the car being the way it was before the wreck Id only expect 3Kish out of it. I just replaced both front hubs, did a brake flush/job, oil change, tire rotation, new wipers etc

So even with aftermarket parts being used to fix it, by the time labor and paint is added Id expect the quote to be around 1500ish at minimum. I havent reviewed her policy(had it before we got married) but I want genuine GM parts put back on it which I know would drive up the cost and may not be an option to begin with depending on the wording of her policy.

The shitty part about this is, we're having to file it under uninsured motorist due to some BS with the lady's ins company so ours can go after them. Long story and pisses me off so Ill leave it at that.

What Im also wondering is, can I demand them repaint the whole car? I mean the front clip is going to be shiny black and the rest of the car is going to look like **** with the roof and everything else in the condition it is.

I put condition as fair due to paint issues and needing new tires
According to KBB
Trade-in=2050
Private Party=3775

BTW this is a 04 cavalier sport 2 door, nothing special.

We were planning on getting her a new car soon anyway but kinda wanted to wait a couple more months to get some other stuff paid off before taking on another bill

 

if its more than 70% of the vehicles worth usually, Im pretty sure its retail value but not 100%

 

Most all insurance companies go by 70% of the agreed value of the vehicle. KBB does you no good because the insurance company will usually want to go by black book like alot of car dealers do. Just stand your ground with the insurance company and demand that its done your way. More than likely it'll total out the car. I would definetly get more than one estimate on the car. Sometimes insurance companies will try to "patch up" a car to get away without having to spend as much money. You pay the premiums and deductibles so when its their time to pay, make sure they do so. Im not telling you to screw them over by any means but make sure the car is in acceptable condition if they fix it.

 

alot of time it depends on the insurance company but i doubt the will total it because of previous damage. it depends on the insurance company on getting genuine GM parts as well. you might have to get with the shop and tell them what you want to do and alot of time they can say there are no aftermarket or used parts available. BTW what insurance company do you have? i hope its not GEICO because they wanted me to put a used door on an 08 or 09 Titan today.

 

If your car needs the core support fixed/replaced and a fender hood lights bumper... and your car is only worth 3000.00 they will total it no question about it. maybe you can get a quote cheap enough from maaco or something but I doubt it. someone rearended my wifes car about a month ago and all it needed was a bumper barely any work to the hatch and taillights and it was over 2100.00

 

Ok, I posted this question a couple other places and did some more research on my own. Heres what Ive gathered:

-They go off fair market value which for this car seems to be 3000-3500 taking in account the paint condition
-70% seems to be the agreed upon value
-I can demand GM parts
-Most likely wont get the whole car painted on their dime
-Ive got a decent amount of wiggle room to argue with them over values

We have USAA by the way.

As far as the car being fixed I was planning on doing it myself anyway. The plan was to take it to one of their shops to get the estimate, I would buy the replacement parts, do the work myself and take it to a buddy of mine who owns a paint shop. Id help him do the paint job so Id be into it for about a grand thats if nothing big is messed up like the core support. If so I think I can source a core support for a hundred bucks or so.

What percentage is usually the buy back cost for a totalled vehicle? From what Ive read of other peoples experiences buying back a totalled vehicle is about 15%. So hypothetically speaking if they gave me 3500 for it, Id be looking at about a 500ish buy back. If those figures are anywhere close to what would actually happen then Ill buy it back and fix it with a little extra lump in my pocket.

 

well, i have a contradicting figure to throw up over the value of the car because i've always heard that if the damage was more than fifty percent of the car's worth, they'd total it. that being said, i was rear ended by someone who had usaa, and after bickering with the insurance agent over the phone for about an hour, i had my choice of repair shop. i had talked to the owner of the shop before-hand so i pretty much got exactly what i wanted.
to answer your question about paint, no they will NOT repaint anything more than what was damaged. i reviewed the policy and insurance will "repair the vehicle to the same condition it was in before the accident"
i was royally pissed when i found out that they would only repaint the tail-gate and bumper of my truck. it's nearly impossible to match older paint, especially custom jobs, and so the back of my truck is a lot darker than the front....

 

Ask the insurance company if they provided for depreciated value, and get that after the car has been fixed.

 

Thats where a lawsuit comes into play, no way in hell Id let some bimbo mess up a nice paint job like you have

 

well, it happened... i'm eighteen and i've got better things to do with my time
it was a mid nineties mercedes by the way.