Thread: Insurance totalling wrecked car

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She talked with the insurance company and they claim that no matter what it will be totalled, but if i want the car back they will take off 3000 of the payout, but it willm never be able to be titled again. I still dont see how it will be ten grand to fix, the only thing that got damaged was the front area and the rad support. the hood and fenders had no kinks or deformation at all, and even the headlights were still intact. the rad only pushed back a little and did not hit the engine at all, so i dont see the major damage, but im not a shop so what do i know.

Brenda, were you burned on the arms/face/neck by the air bags? If so, do you have medical on your policy?
One of the tactics we used when selling Toyotas was to explain to the customer that Toyota uses a cold gas chemical to inflate the bags so that you don't get burned with that....."gunpowder stuff" that the other car makers use.

Sorry to hear about your wreck, glad you are ok though. The rule of thumb is, if the repairs exceed 80 percent of the value of the car, it gets totalled. As mentioned, the airbags are a big factor too.

You do have the right to dispute what they are offering, but have your ducks in a row first, like knowing what comparable cars are worth, and have several estimates to get yours fixed.

Good luck,

Don

Mitsubishis are hard to sell too....they gave so many of them away with their 0% down and no payments for 12 months around here, they flooded the market. Now, there are too many being resold......lots of defaults, etc.

Insurance companies can not use anything but new air bags, windshields, sensors, and other associated parts. air bags for my son in-law's '96 Cavalier is $5,000.00 alone, car is worth $2.500, car was in mint shape.

Pat

I guess that's the sad truth about late models. Throw away cars basically. I see you have a lot of options but just think how you would feel if you got a car like that and found out later it had been wrecked bad enough to pop the bags. If it is low milage, I would buy it back, patch up the front and drive the wheels off it.