|
Probably a bit late now, but you should always take it to a dealer's body shop if you can after a major accident like that.
A body shop has a vested interest in NOT totalling that car. They want to fix it. They don't get squat if they total it.
A dealership has a vested interest in totalling it because they want to sell you ANOTHER new car. Two for the price of 1. Plus they're just more expensive anyways.
Right now, if you're not already, get your insurance fighting for you. Hopefully you're not dealing with the other drivers insurance at all -- let your insurance company fight that for you, that's what you pay them for. Tell them that you won't accept anything less than a total. That you simply won't feel satisifed with that car any longer and you won't be able to sell it for anything close to the value that they're using as a determinator of totalling it or not.
I would also call some salvage yards or maybe even shops that rebuild cars, and see what they'd offer you for it. It may be worth talking the insurer up to $20K, taking the cash instead of fixing the car, and selling the scrapped car to a salvage guy for a few grand. Depending on what you owe, you may only end up 'upside-down' a couple grand. I'd probably suck that up versus getting a car with that level of repairs done to it.
Also, make sure the body shop quoted AUTHENTIC parts. They almost never do. However your insurance contract states that they will return your car to its before-accident state. Putting in knock-off Chinese parts is NOT the condition it was in previously. You usually have to fight for this; but it's never that difficult of an argument to win. Insurers know you're right, they just hope you won't notice. Hopefully since your insurer isn't ultimately paying, they didn't get the quote with non-OEM parts, but you never know. And I really hope you didn't take the car where the other driver's insurance wanted it taken. OEM parts can make a huge difference in the quote.
And lastly... you could always take a bat to a couple undamaged panels in the middle of the night...
|