Is there some way to get your insurance company who wants to total your car because the cost to repair the car by their estimates exceeds the value of the car to not total your car? For example if the car is worth 4000 but they total the car at $3200 in repairs and you've got $4500 worth of repairs to do, can you just negotiate with the bodyshop to cut corners like not repainting the damaged part or only repaired the bent frame but leaving the damaged bumper intact? You wouldn't necessarily have to do this behind the insurer's back, but the idea would be to get as much of the car repaired as possible while preventing the car from getting a salvage title. There are some things that I'd want a body shop to do for me but there are other things that I'd be willing to do myself and if that is enough to allow the insurance company pay for the work while at the same time not totaling the car, shouldn't they be able to do that?
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If you file a claim with the insurance company, and the estimate is too high...
- Thread starter fleabag
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zerocool84
Lifer
Another hare-brained scheme of yours.
DeviousTrap
Diamond Member
Most likely no, as the car will no longer be safe. But the better question is why would you want to?
Unless the car has some sort of sentimental value (and if it did you wouldn't want to cut corners), why would you want to partially repair a car, only to keep it usable, when a full repair is worth more than the car itself?
Unless the car has some sort of sentimental value (and if it did you wouldn't want to cut corners), why would you want to partially repair a car, only to keep it usable, when a full repair is worth more than the car itself?
Because a full repair by a body shop is going to be more expensive than if I did the rest of the time consuming but easy work. There is some work that I simply cannot do but I body shop can do in not too much time but then there is other work that I can do that a body shop can do as well, but in much more time. The worst part of all would be if the insurance company got my car to be considered "salvage" even though the damage on there wasn't very significant at all.
If you get an estimate that doesn't entirely fixes the car but fixes it enough so that the car isn't totaled but at the same time is giving you money, you can just accept the check but choose not to have that body shop do the work, right? (Use the money to do the repair yourself)
DeviousTrap
Diamond Member
Theoretically, your time is worth money. There is no reasonable explanation as to why you would want to pour your time (or lack of payable income for work) into fixing a car, when there are other alternatives. Explain to me this, if the cost of your labor + the cost of the body shop's labor > the value of the car, why would you fix it?
Bignate603
Lifer
I won't argue with that...
You mentioned frame damage. If the frame is damaged I would do my best to try and get the insurance to total it. It's very hard to make a body on frame car run well after frame damage and almost impossible to straighten out a unibody vehicle after the unibody has been bent.
I don't really see why you'd want to keep the car. If it's worth $4k and that's what the insurance company gives you what's to keep you from going out and buying another one in similar condition? Why do you want to fight so hard to keep it from getting a salvage title? You can usually see damage on a car that's been in a wreck if you look even when a body shop has done the work. If you do it in your garage it will most likely stand out like you wouldn't believe. It won't need a salvage title for people to know it's been mangled.
CurseTheSky
Diamond Member
If this is some kind of collectible, rare, or exotic car, I'd say yes, do everything you can to avoid a salvage title. If it's an every day driver, no, just total it.
Ok, here is an example... If a car gets into an accident that could very well total it, like damaging the radiator support, something that can only be repaired with welding but doesn't affect the ride of the car, or if the car gets dented badly in the rear corner of the car, requiring some body work but doesn't affect the ride of the car.
So, these are things that would benefit from repairs from a body shop but at the same time, due to cost could very well total the car.
BenSkywalker
Diamond Member
Normally what you can do in that situation is offer the insurance company like $50 for the car and they'll take it(prevents them from having to have it disposed of). It may change in the area where you live, but your best option is to let them total the car and buy it back from them for a pittance.
Why would people want to do this? One of my buddies as an example was building a drag car up, '86 Stang. It hadn't had a couple major modifications done yet but the prep work was all set up for it to take a monster motor as soon as he had it built(gutted, tubbed, sub frames all welded in, roll cage etc- tipped the scales at 2800lbs), with a mildly modded "5.0" it was running 11s. He ended up getting smacked in the rear quarter on the way to the track one day by some idiot who couldn't change lanes properly. The car booked for like $4K ball park when it happened, the shop estimated the repairs to be like $5K(did I mention the spin the bump caused? 😉 worked out for him, every steel piece that was damaged was replaced by glass) so the insurance company totalled it. He told them they could go to hell they weren't taking his car, they said no problem, they could total it and take the money they were going to pay the two truck to haul it to the salvage yard as payment for the vehicle(he just had to go pick it up right away to avoid additional storage charges). Anyway, it runs 9s now, and on paper at least he 'bought' the car for $50 from the insurance company(that was anecdotal just to give an example of why someone would want to keep a 'totalled' car).
Why would people want to do this? One of my buddies as an example was building a drag car up, '86 Stang. It hadn't had a couple major modifications done yet but the prep work was all set up for it to take a monster motor as soon as he had it built(gutted, tubbed, sub frames all welded in, roll cage etc- tipped the scales at 2800lbs), with a mildly modded "5.0" it was running 11s. He ended up getting smacked in the rear quarter on the way to the track one day by some idiot who couldn't change lanes properly. The car booked for like $4K ball park when it happened, the shop estimated the repairs to be like $5K(did I mention the spin the bump caused? 😉 worked out for him, every steel piece that was damaged was replaced by glass) so the insurance company totalled it. He told them they could go to hell they weren't taking his car, they said no problem, they could total it and take the money they were going to pay the two truck to haul it to the salvage yard as payment for the vehicle(he just had to go pick it up right away to avoid additional storage charges). Anyway, it runs 9s now, and on paper at least he 'bought' the car for $50 from the insurance company(that was anecdotal just to give an example of why someone would want to keep a 'totalled' car).
Bignate603
Lifer
I've got to ask, is this about a specific car or are you thinking you can buy a semi-wrecked car cheaper?
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