I'll try to make this brief...
Last week a guy rear-ended me at a stoplight (thank God I was in the Altima and not the Mustang or I would have had to hurt him...). He was in an F-350 pulling a trailer of building materials, so needless to say the truck won that battle. Clearly his fault, and he has insurance. The car is drivable, but the trunk lid is smashed in, the bumper is cracked, and the part that goes between the bumper and trunk lid (rear frame?) is bent in.
His insurance company told me to take the car to one of their "preferred" shops in my area, or to arrange to meet with one of their estimators if I wanted to use a different shop. Fair enough.
So I take the car to one of the preferred shops that a friend of mine has had good luck with in the past. They look it over. Needs new trunk lid, new bumper, straightening of various parts on the rear, painting rear portion, etc. Total estimate: $2550.
The car is a '95 Nissan Altima with 162,000 miles. Blue Book value is in the mid 4000 range at best (depending on which value you go by, used retail vs used private party vs etc etc).
It seems crazy for the insurance company to spend $2500+ for repairs, along with furnishing a rental car for me while it's in the shop.
What are my options here? I doubt they will total the car out, since that will cost them more money than fixing it. But I could get a trunk lid from a junk yard and "fix" it myself for a ton less than the estimate. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be liveable (especially if I could keep all or some of the differenc...)
What would you guys do, and what options do I have here? Thanks
Shane
Last week a guy rear-ended me at a stoplight (thank God I was in the Altima and not the Mustang or I would have had to hurt him...). He was in an F-350 pulling a trailer of building materials, so needless to say the truck won that battle. Clearly his fault, and he has insurance. The car is drivable, but the trunk lid is smashed in, the bumper is cracked, and the part that goes between the bumper and trunk lid (rear frame?) is bent in.
His insurance company told me to take the car to one of their "preferred" shops in my area, or to arrange to meet with one of their estimators if I wanted to use a different shop. Fair enough.
So I take the car to one of the preferred shops that a friend of mine has had good luck with in the past. They look it over. Needs new trunk lid, new bumper, straightening of various parts on the rear, painting rear portion, etc. Total estimate: $2550.
The car is a '95 Nissan Altima with 162,000 miles. Blue Book value is in the mid 4000 range at best (depending on which value you go by, used retail vs used private party vs etc etc).
It seems crazy for the insurance company to spend $2500+ for repairs, along with furnishing a rental car for me while it's in the shop.
What are my options here? I doubt they will total the car out, since that will cost them more money than fixing it. But I could get a trunk lid from a junk yard and "fix" it myself for a ton less than the estimate. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be liveable (especially if I could keep all or some of the differenc...)
What would you guys do, and what options do I have here? Thanks
Shane