Rep Power: 0

My 2002 Civic Si-G with about 145,000km on it was hit behind a few weeks ago. The who back was severely pushed in, regretfully did not get any photos. Any ways, the other guy was totally at fault. A car stopped on a rainy day to turn left into a gas station. The guy infront of me stopped suddenly and I stopped suddenly but we both fully stopped. The guy behind me was late or didn't stop at all and ran fully speed into my back and I got pushed into the car infront of me. Long story short, the guy only had a G1 and the cop said he was at fault of both cars.

I called my insurance and a brought it to the Honda dealer where I purchased it with the insurance company's consent. They estimated $4000 repair.

Now 3 weeks later and I'm about to pick it up, they said the total came upto $7200 and the insurance company, TD insurance, authorized that amount for repair.

Now I know the car was damaged pretty bad but was still drivable for the weekend I had it before going to the body shop. With that much in damage, and I haven't seen the repair docs yet, there is a lot of damage that I probably couldn't see that they fixed, should of it been a write-off? Even though they said they fixed it, can I get the insurance to buy it back because I don't feel too good driving a car with that much in damage and that really kills the resale value of the car now and it wasn't my fault. I know TD is not paying for it, but rather going to the other guy's insurance to pay for it. Is there anything I can do?

Is there a law in Ontario that if the repair cost is x% of the cars value they will call it totaled? I'm sure what they get from junk yard + the $7200 repair cost can pretty much cover the cost of the car in the first place.

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 
Rep Power: 0

I got into a simlar kind of accident where a truck hit me from behind at the red lights. My car was a 2001 civic LX-G and it had about $8500 worth of damage and insurance said it was my choice to fix it or write it off and I decided to take the money which came out to about $13000. So it was not too bad (I had 105,000Km on it and it happen last march).

 
Rep Power: 0

I was about to type up an answer... then realized this is a tough question... I'm holding off to see others reply...

One thing is for sure: If the car is leased, financed, etc. and not fully paid off, the leasing/financing company may have a say in the issue.

 
Rep Power: 0

Furball, say what you want to say. This was bought fully day one so I fully own the car.

 
Rep Power: 812

they usually only total a car if the rapir exceeds the cost of the car (blue book), or if the airbags deployed. my repairs on my 02 from an accident were 8000 usd and they fixed it. the car is worth around 9-10k.

 
Rep Power: 0

Generally, and what we usually hear, yes. He's right.

If it costs more to fix, than buy you a new car (or in this case, book value), then they will not fix it, pay you the market value of the entire car, and negotiate with you.

I've just never heard of a scenario where they pay you the price to fix it, but you some how try to 'flip' that, and basically cash out the cheque for your repairs, and try to sell your car as salvage..... I suppose you could do that yourself.....

(Note: obviously, the dealer will continue to charge you the holding rate for holding and doing estimates for your repairs.)

Let's ignore the other complications of all these kinds of things, such as:
- Your car had modifications (legal or not) and they were/were not replaced. (AFAIK, legal non-performance modifications that are attached to the car are covered; CDs, your PDA, etc. are all covered under personal/house insurance.)
- The car is totalled, and you WANT them to fix it, and/or buy the car 'back'.
- The car is NOT totalled, and you WANT them to total it.
- Whether you can negotiate the settlement price or not.
- How much your car will depreciate due to this if it is kept/not totalled. No, insurance does not cover you for the depreciative factors.
- When they will pay you FULL PRICE (not depreciated) value of your car that you have on the bill of sale (this only occurs if you bought new, have the Waiver of Depreciation clause, and the car is less than 2 yrs old.)

Question: After the Claims Adjuster estimated the cost to repair, were you at any time given the opportunity to go to another repair facility? i.e. I'm thinking the possibility of getting the high-end quote from the stealership, then going to Joe's Garage to fix..... (Technically, you could have driven the car home and the Claims Adjuster come to your driveway to do the estimates; it did not have to be done at the stealership.)

 
Rep Power: 281

[QUOTE=PrYnCeQT;4078141]
Now I know the car was damaged pretty bad but was still drivable for the weekend I had it before going to the body shop. With that much in damage, and I haven't seen the repair docs yet, there is a lot of damage that I probably couldn't see that they fixed, should of it been a write-off?
[QUOTE]

You say you were able to drive you car after the accident.
Reason they did not write it off with so much to reapir and without major structural damage they wont do that. Only cosmetics to fix.
And it is so much in terms of $ because it was fixed at a stealership, and they ripped the insurance company for reapirs.
That's about it.

 
Rep Power: 0

Ok I got the car repair paper. A lot of labour cost and some outrageous cost for some parts. Now here's the kicker, they put on some aftermarket spoiler that resembles the OEM but is heavier and thick. They have to put new springs in the truck so that the lid would lift when the trunk is released which I found out the next day. The rear bumper is a remanufactured bumper, therefore was repaired and now reused at a dealer cost of $300. My passenger door opens with a POP sound and has to be closed harder so that it would lock in place, very annoying when you gotta try 2-3 times to get it closed from the inside because its harder to pull the door in. What am I gonna do now? Do I have any power over the insurance for this? I pay for insurance for a HONDA and I get aftermarket and repaired parts and a not so good repair from the dealer.

03-Acura-1.7-EL: There definately was structural damage, the passenger side frame beam or whatever you call it was pushed in and had to be stretched out. It was driveable but the car was a MINI cooper for a few days.

 
Rep Power: 812

no car will be perfect after big accident. if there are problems, you can go back to the shop and complain for them to fix. i dont see a problem with using aftermarket parts, its all the same plastic and so long as it fits and looks good, thats all that matters. but dont expect them to fix the car to factory spec, thats impossible.

oh btw, the adjuster cut me a check and repair estimate and said goto any shop you want and give them the paper, then when they finish give them the check and we the insurance will cover any additional cost. it ended up costing almost another $1k which their insurance paid out on top of the check. but yea you get the choice of where to take it.

 
Rep Power: 281

When I got in my first not at fault accident the insurance company had no problem paying for my cell phone that was broken in the accident. Told me to buy a new one, show them the receipt for the new one and to send them the old one. They gave me a pretty resonable "market value" for the phone.

As for using non oem parts, happens a lot in claims. Not sure if you can demand OEM, would be good to ask.

Which body shop are you using?

 
Rep Power: 281

It sound as a poorly done job.
I owed several accident repaired cars and they all had imperfections, but not where you could see or feel that there is something wrong or not working.