Accident/Insurance/Confusion

Hi,
I'm a newbie and wanted to get some advice from you guys.

I have an '04 wrx wagon stock (except for short throw shifter) with 78,000 miles.

I was just hit about two weeks ago. A 96 dodge dakota hit my drivers side front crushing the hood and part of the unibody frame. I took it to autoglo thanks to SOG.

Currently the estimated cost to repair is $8600 and that includes cutting out that part of the frame and welding in a piece.

My confusion is that my insurance company (hanover) has said they will go up to roughly $10,000 for repairs instead of totaling the vehicle even though autoglo hasn't even started the work and the estimate is already at $8600.

When I was speaking to autoglo and pretty much everybody else they all said my insurance would total it (I am currently at about %75 of the vehicle cost), but the appraisor went out there and agreed to the supplement that brought it up to $8600.

So my question is have any of you heard of this before? It seems outrageous considering they still have to pay me out for diminished value (which I am sure they will screw me on and it won't be that much) and they haven't even gotten into the real work to determine if anything else is wrong.

I am also torn about whether or not I should keep the car after this or just take a loss (sell it, trade it in etc...) and get another subie that hasn't been in an accident (I know this depends on the quality of work to some degree, but frame damage is frame damage).

I apologize for the long email, but any advice, comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all of your help,
Kris

 

Its totaled. My original estimate in my wreck was 6000 on a 10100 value car. Allstate's threshold was 80percent on the initial estimate the wound up paying just over 9000 after all the bodywork was said and done. Then I had a tranny issue. After everything was over they paid out 12500 on a car they only valued at 10100. Bad thing about driving around a totaled vehicle is your insurance will double AT LEAST if you have a flawless driving record. I had a few speeding tickets and had lost my license 4 years prior and my insurance went from 130 a month to 550 a month after the wreck. So moral of the story is if there is a possibilty you will be driving a totaled car around afterwards, just go ahead and let them total it now if they want.

 

she's a gone'r....

 

Thanks guys,
unfortunately I don't really have any say. The insurance company has already said go ahead with the repairs and autoglo has said they can do them. The insurance said I could get another body shop to look at it, but I don't know if that would be any better.

The crazy thing is according to hanover insurance they will pay to fix the car "up to the cost of the vehicle pre-accident", so I don't really know what to say.

I wanted to total it, but don't think I really have the option.

Thanks

 

That's not the issue. My car was absolutely flawless when I got it back from Magnum after my wreck. The higher they pay out the more your premiums will be.

 

I'm a little confused; you got hit, but it's your insurance. Were you at fault or was the driver uninsured?
Your premiums shouldn't go up if you are not at fault...at least mine didn't. FWIW, I had $8000 in body damage and can't tell.

 

Thanks,
technically it was my fault because I was over the line waiting to take a left when the light turned yellow. So right as the car in front of me went I moved forward about 5 feet. The car in front of me barely made it as the dodge was going through the light. So it hit me pretty much head on and because we were both running the yellow light, but I was passed the line I got a failure to yield ticket.

Yeah, it sounds like there isn't much I could do at this point unless they find more damage. I agree autoglo is definitely capable, but I just hope there aren't any recurring problems (ha ha).

 

autoglo has done almost $20k in work on my sti and i don't notice a thing. They take a while (be prepared to have to pay out the ass for a rental), but they do grade-a work. My last accident was over $10k in damage and took over 6 weeks to repair, but the work performed was flawless.

 

Man my girlfriend crashed the evo to the total of 24k!!! They repaired it!!! Now we are stuck with it forever!!! The repairs were top notch however the car was only worth 26k!! Dam progressive

 

Yeah if it was your fault, your insurance will definitely penalize you with payments. Cuz now not only will you be driving around a totaled car, but you also have to pay them back for the other guys car. Whenever wrecks are your fault prepare to pay, cuz at that point there are virtually no laws that restrict how much insurance companies can rape you

 

Accident forgiveness ftw

 

I don't know if anybody really gives a sh$t, but I thought I would let you know what is happening.

The estimate still currently stands at $8600 and Autoglo has received the rail from subaru so they are in the process of cutting out the old front rail and welding in the new one. They said the damage was very localized and nothing else with the frame was off when they checked it on their machine. They also said they can't see any damage with any of the drivetrain, axles etc..., but you really don't know until you start it up again.

Anyways so hopefully I won't be able to notice a thing and I get a brand new hood, bumper, radiator, fan, and a couple of missing bolts were replaced.
Based on some of your comments it seems like with the quality of work that Autoglo does I am almost getting a better car back (minus of course the obvious increase in insurance premiums; nothing to do but bend over), especially considering it had 78,000 miles on it.