well it has been a long while since i had a chance to post, just wish i had better things to say. my 04 got rear ended today. passenger back door won't close cause the fender is up against the tire and the door pillar is bent out. front is mashed from getting the car rammed into the one in front................damn the bad luck

 

Sorry to hear about your accident! I take it you are ok? That is what is important after all.

What's the prognosis, is she totaled?

 

That's too bad to hear an incident about your X . Good things you're ok and if it's not totaled I hope it will be back into its pristine condition

 

back and neck are sore, my girlfriend smacked the dash cause she was leaning forward when we got drilled...from the way the door looks it will probably be toast. it kinda shifted the *** end. not sure about the front end but the bumper the brace behind it the radiator and hood are toast as well.

 

Bummer....I completely mauled the front end of my 02 a few years ago - bumper,hood, rad, assorted guts, fenders, etc. but they didn't total it (ins. company paid about $9000 to repair, not sure why)....so don't give up hope, you might still have her....

 

kinda hoping they do total it i got my eye on a white lr3.......but i do like my jag

 

Ha...I don't blame you. I drove the LR4 a few weeks back. I've driven the LR3 a few times as well, nice truck. I may be buying either a 3 or 4 this year as well.

 

I can tell you from both a recent experience and another similar experience about eight years ago that there's a percentage of the vehicle's cost that sets the bar for when a vehicle gets totalled. In both cases, I had collision and comprehensive coverage on the vehicle, and there was no other insurance company to coordinate with - in other words, it was up to my insurance company alone to make this determination. (In the recent case, an uninsured driver hit me from behind; in the older case, a tree fell on the car during a wind storm. The rear-ender caused very similar damage to what you described.)

My carrier, Allstate, set the bar at seventy percent of the vehicle's average dealer/retail value. So in the case of my recently departed 1999 Volvo S70 where the retail value of the car was about $5200, the $4500 estimate to repair the car exceeded the threshold to total the car, and they gave me a check for that value minus my deductible and the buy-back on the totalled car. That worked out fine for me, since I then sold some parts off the car, and then sold the rolling chassis, bringing my total funds from that car to about $6000. I added another three grand to get the X-Type that I'm driving now.

In the earlier experience - "tree assaults car" - the value of the vehicle in question was about $22000, and the conservative estimate was that it would take about $12000 to fix the car. The adjuster actually gave me the option - "would you prefer to fix the car or should I total it out?" - as he could easily work the numbers to go either way. In the end, the total outlay to fix that car was actually about $14500, so they probably should have totalled that car.

Anyway, check Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book and NADA (North American Dealer Association) for a range of retail values for your car, and then consider 70% of that value as an upper limit to fix the car. You should also be very personable with the adjuster and make a point of asking him what that threshold is at which point they total a car out. Ask him specifically if there's a percentage of the car's value that they try not to exceed. Feel free to relay my story.

Based on what you described about the damage to your car, and considering that my old Volvo had similar damage in the back, but didn't even have the damage that you described in the front, I'll bet you're right up around $7-$8000 on a $10000 car. Start shopping!