I was recently involved in an car accident. I had just gotten the car 1 week before. This civic is a 1999 ex, stickshift,sun roof,clean interior nice body and 80,000 (correction 89,000)miles on it,never involved in an accident no modifications to the car,all stocked. I got this car for close to $$9,000,this was also my 1st car.Here is what occured, i was making a left on a left green arrow, i was just about to make the complete turn when an old lady ran the red light, and hit my right rear tire. My whole right rear end tire was pushedagainst mymuffler. As i was hit , there was also a parked car next to the curb, ipulled the e-brake and my car stopped completely and hit the parked car at about 3-4 miled per hour, this damaged my headlight and the bumper,nothing major.

It so happends that the parked car did not have insurance onher car so she took off. Now i wasnt able to drive my car back home since my tire was pushed against the muffler. We made a police report, and they towed my car away(by the way i had full coverage with AAA). My insurance calls and tells me that oviously shes at falt. I ended up taking my car to a trusted mechanic . It takes AAA 2 weeks exactly to send an estimator to check my car out. But 3 days before they had called me to tell me that the car had been totaled. I thentold them that theydidnt even send an estimator out to check it yet,so how can they say its totaled??it comes out to be that it was a "big misunderstanding". So i talk to my mechanic, and she tells me that the frame was not bent and that the insuranceshould be able to cover it. So they finally sent down the estimator and turns out that the estimate to repair my car was about 7,840 so they totaled it, now this was yesterday. I was totallysad about this,they also told me that they would write off a check forclose to 6000 minus the 500$ deductable , so it would probably come out to 5,500. They told my mechanic that the only reason it is being totaled is because involving the front damage and the back is too expensive,so my mechanic pleaded with them to just cover for the rear end damage, just as lonf as my car is drivable again.The hood and the bumper and headlight i can repair , so that no big deal. So its obvious they could of just cover for it and not totaled it.

Now i talked to my mechanic and she told me to look for private listings , and look around for the same civic, and how muchthe value for itis , because she said i should receive a little bit more. She also told me that i should receive a phone call in the next 3 days, in wich they will tell me how much i will receive from the check. As soon as that happends she told me to call her up and tell her how much they are going to give me for it, then she couldlook up some prices andsee if she could repair my car with that amount. She also told me that if shecan repair my car with that money, i should call them back and tell them that im also keeping the car ,wich will be about another 500 to keep. So now im awaiting till maybe monday to seehow much i will be receiving for it. Ifshe cannotrepair it with that amount i will accept the check give up my car and be stuck paying almost 5,000for a car i dont have![:@]

So now my question is what can i do??it seems so unfair,i tought insurance was supposed to help me out, and it feels as if they are against me.I will try to tell them just to fix the rear end damage and forget about the front since there was no real damage.I dont believe it will cost them almost 8,000 to repair my car butit is what it is. PLease i need some help,and thanks for reading!

 

here are pics ,here is the link to the album i have
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/albu...amp;sortType=6

 

how can i upload pictures onto the website??

 

WOW, how the heck could that cost so much? thats rediculous that they totalled it

 

Grow a pair and don't let these people screw you around. If the other lady is at fault, have your car completelyfixed or completely replaced ON HER DIME. It's not like you're trying to pull a fast one and demanding $50K for spraining your vagina.

 

- cheap insurance? - if they estimate the damage at $7840 the car is totalled because the damage is greater than 75% of the car's value, from your story it didn't sound like your car was that heavily damaged. Couple of thoughts1) take the check and sell the car to someone who wants to rebuild it - that way you get the insurance check and the buyer's check to pay off your loan and try and get back on the road 2) take the check and fix the car, you'll still have to pay off the loan and you'll have to get a salvaged title(not sure if you can do this since you don't own the car yet, you'll still have to have liability insurance but not comprehensive since the car is totalled 3) got any lawyer friends? - consult with one --- hope things work out

 

I agree with gocoho...

Don't let the insurance company f you around. stand your ground. you've got a great car, don't let yourself get screwed out of it by someone else's mistakes and blunders.

Good luck.

 

i really appreciate your comments,i had just bought si rims for it and was ready to modify but things just didnt work out. Honestly i do not beleive my car will cost so much to repair,yeah and also i received a letter from the ladys insurance saying that they are willing to repair for me. And also its not a bad idea to sell the car to some one who is willing to rebuild it. If anyone knows anyone who is interested in maybe buying it let me know. I really beleive i can keep the car, and i really want to keep it. by the way i have triple A insurance full coverage.

 

Do you have a loan on the car? If so the insurance money will go thru the finance company, and if it is declared a total you really need to get enough to make a full payoff. The finance company can demand the rest all at once if it isn't enough. Perhaps you have "gap" insurance from a third party, in that case it will pay the difference.

Otherwise I agree with the others if they insist on totaling you need to negotiate for more (which is easy, just don't accept low offers), and pay the $500 salvage value so you can keep the car. Then fix it for yourself, sell it as it is, or sell it in parts. Be sure of state laws about fixing the car for yourself. Some are very particular and it is hard to do. In most cases you will get a "branded" title, which really kills your resale value in a conventional trade-in situation, but it may not be so bad in a private sale.

 

well... with the spot it was hit at it could have twisted the unibody frame all over.... tho id still want every dime i spent on the car for it AND ALSO if you can buy it back for 500bucks BUY IT BACK!!!!!!!
you can sell parts off the car and easily get over 500bucks back... THEN take the left over car and sell it for scrap metal and get even more money!!!!!

id say as long as they pay the car off and leave you enough cash to buy the car back YOU HAVE A GREAT MONEY MAKING DEAL!!!!!!
think of it... tailights typical 100bucks, seats another 1-200bucks,,,, radio bezel... 100-150bucks... gauges 50-100bucks, doors 100-200bucks, and thats only mostly interior!!!!
ya still have the full motor, tranny, wiring, computer, even 3 good rims......
by parting it out id say you could make an EASY 1K bucks or MORE!!!!!

dont let them bring ya down..... have them pay off the car.. enough cash to buy the car back... go find another good car... and start striping this totaled car and use that money for new mods on the new car
GOLDEN OPORTUNITY!!!!!!!
look at it at least in a good way! but be sure ya get paid every dime for that car!!!!!!

a car can always be replaced with another good one.... just keep an eye out.... and hope that old lady gets her liscence taken away.LMFAO
look at it as a way to make some money! which you have a great potential for some good money after buying it back and parting it out...
PLUS its a manual with power everything....
you could just go buy a cheap DX model or what not.... and swap all the power everything.... have the motor swaped over to replace a high milage motor/tranny with yours... its got money making all over it.... JUST AS LONG AS THEY PAY EVERY DIME THE CARS WORTH!