Is this the end?

So...if you've been on this site long enough you know that:
my Talon caught my wallet left I left on my roof
my Talon damaged an 18 wheeler when it hit me (i was fine)
my Talon introduced me to a hot female Talon fan

And Thursday...

Come out of the train and walk to my Talon in the lot.
Notice immediately the broken sidelight and ripped off front bumper.

As the rage builds, I see a piece of paper flapping on my wiper.

The person left information. They'll pay for it.

Get to the autobody shop...they tell me it'll likely be paid out.

Is that it? After all these years, an insurance company can tell me that my classic car is scrap?

It just turned 113000miles...has no underbody rust, body isn't bad.

Am I just panicking??

If the guy is paying....is there a need to go through insurance? Save the car and still not pay a dime.

That's really not fun.

But on the bright side, the person who hit your car actually left their information.. And that in itself is a pretty rare thing nowadays.

If it were me, I would pick the best body shop in town and get their quote. Give the person responsible to either go through their insurance, or pay cash, and get it fixed.

Although I am curious to know if they consider it a write off, what happens if you do want to keep the car..?

I told them it would be over $1k in repairs.
She said, just go through insurance.

The Auto Body guy said the same thing.
The Bumper is ripped off, and damaged.

Just a bumper? get a used one, repaint and good to go, you can get a used bumper for 50$ I'm guessing there's no frame damage as it's in a parking lot, can't be that big of a shunt.

I can't see why it would be totalled, but like most things it's probably very much fixable. If you want to keep the car, I'm sure there are ways to get around it.

Just get him to out of his pocket. Going through the insurances would be pointless as a deductible would have to be paid and the Insurance premium would go up till the cost would be recovered.

Ghislain

Well, just talked to the insurance.

They put me into some trouble, because they wouldn't bring the car to the Collision Reporting Centre. So I called the police and they compromised. WHEW!

Now the real story...
Looks like she did a lot of damage to her car.

Mine comes out to over $2300 in front end damage.

The insurance company is sending an "expert" adjuster to determine if it warrants repairs.

I love how this works out...my car has low miles, no underbody rust...and they decide to pay me out as a possibility?

I don't have money to fix her if I just take the car...which stinks. And it's in total running condition, just not with the damage.

This really sucks...I'll keep y'all posted.

That's insurance companies for you. They don't care about you, just how much money they'll make in the end of it all. Yet we blindly pay them every month....talk about the biggest scam in the world, which of course is obligatory.

Liability is all you need and all any of my cars get. This is why.

Update:

So there are other body repairs that need to be done.

Looks like that little piece of surface rust on the fender was actually from some device that held the bumper (apologies for my lack of terms). It had rusted through.

That's $600 that the insurance company won't cover. They say it was pre-existing and don't buy it that the accident accelerated the decay.

I got a copy of the body shop.

$550 for parts
$1500 for labour

I'm in the wrong business...

haha yeah that's insane. most of the time I find labour is equal to parts.
They may be adding extra as they know insurance is paying for it.

Collision is useful for a vehicle that would not get written off by the slightest of dings. I've been hit in my daily driver a couple times, 0% fault on me, and it was nice that I could go straight to the body shop & car rental with no deductible, just on my word in a phone call.

On the flip side, be involved in an accident with "minor" injuries and you'll see that liability is actually the useless coverage! They'll happily spend more money on the car than on your health..

I agree with the health comment. My gf still has a bad back from an accident we were in where my car was rear ended at a red light.. Guy had to be going at least 60-70 km/h.

They only covered her trip by ambulance to the hospital, and trying to collect something from them for the lost time from work was like pulling teeth.. And never ended up happening.

I plain fracking hate insurance.

I think everyone in this province except the politicians and the police and the insurance company employees hate the insurance companies.

Seems like insurance companies like to "total" anything over 10 years old.

My buddies car was totaled for this, he simply got backed into. He bought it back from the insurance and fixed it himself, though the car now has a salvage title.

Looks like the painting is what's going to cost the most. I suppose they need to watch the paint dry, or something.

Haha there you go!!

It's not the shop that gives the quote. It's the insurance company that inspects the car and gives damage estimate.

Well, I just got the call. They want to write it off. I want to tell them to F**K a cow.

For $2300 they won't repair a vehicle that was hit and wasn't liable. What a crock of sh!t.

Problem is that I don't have money to play with.

If, as someone suggested, I "buy it back" how does that work?
Last time I tried that (the car I had before the Talon) I was told it was the cheque or the car, not a mixture of both.

If anyone can give me options.
It's almost impossible to find a Tsi AT with moon roof anymore.

Curious to know the next steps here.

Figure they pay you out, you repair it, it gets branded as rebuilt.. And you're shopping for a new policy.

You should seriously get in touch with Grant Redfern at Allstate insurance. He's in Etobicoke. Saved me a couple grand a year for my rebuilt title eclipse.

He's got a website.

Text4quote.ca

Just because its going to be a rideoff doesn't mean it will get branded as salvage.

Really? Then what's the point of writing it off?

So it's a broken bumper cover, side light and fender? Except for the broken light is there any reason it couldn't be driven in it's current state? Sourcing those parts from this board, Kijiji or a wreckers shouldn't set you back more than $200. And it's not really techincal work replacing any of those items.

Do you have any pictures? I'd be interested in seeing what $2300 of damage on a DSM looks like.

If the repair is valued more than the car is worth or near it the insurance would write it off. Then its up to the person inspecting/adjuster to declare a title for that car.

Clean title is usually nothing structurally damaged

Salvage is structurally damaged. Once you buy it and fix it, you will need to go through a salvage inspection ($300-350) and get it branded rebuilt.

I have seen lots of salvage cars that have barely any damage. Especially new cars where the rad supports are made out of plastic!

Edit: Steve Ive been so busy or I would've recommended bringing this car to my shop. I am shocked the shop has not helped you out one bit in this process. We know alot of adjusters from various insurance companies and most likely I could have gotten them to fix it for you!

Now if they are paying you a X amount of money, take it. I think the car will turn up in a insurance auction and I can buy it back for you for half the price the insurance company is going to pay you out.

Tell the shop to track where the car is going.

Deep: I really appreciate it. The only reason I'm so attached to the car is that it's an American AT ride, with moon roof. Don't have too many of those. I think (from research) only 5% of all Talons fit that model.

I just got off the phone with the "expert" appraiser. He talked some smack about surface rust, bad seats, etc...eye stuff. When I told him that I had replaced the engine, turbo, transmission, ECU, etc, etc, he asked for receipts.

Well, I never thought to keep receipts since I can't write it off...why keep all that extra paper lying about gathering dust. Says that there's nothing he can do.

He indicated that the thing that tipped it over was the fact that there MAY be hidden damages. She hit me so hard my radiator was affected.

So he told me to tell my adjuster about the no rust on the underbody, etc to get a better price. But he won't raise the quality of the vehicle without receipts.

He thought I was angry...brother, if I were angry he would know anger. I told him I was very disappointed. After all, I paid 20k insurance and am getting shafted for something that wasn't my fault.

Sorry...venting here...but onto the next stage.

Keep y'all posted.

Sounds familiar. Just like anyone, they will take money with ease, but when it comes their time to pay, the excuses come out.

Reason why I think we should have a DSM-only insurance!

I thought we had something like that?

Grant Redfern DSM insurance

I thought he was just a broker that also dealt with people on the board.

I was being a smart ass......but what more do we need than Grant?

An actual insurance that cares about the car/people and not the money. I realize insurance and caring is apples and oranges, but it would be nice.

and peace on earth and an end to global hunger and all diseases

If they're paying cash, they should fix it. End of story.
I had a guy pay 3000 to repair my front end after he dropped some scaffolding on the highway and a truck kicked it up into my front end. Hole through the bumper, knocked out some AC components, and needed the front frame to be pulled.
Got it all done, and people just keep hitting my car. :'(

OKAY guys, need some advice here:

Insurance settlement is $2666 without the car.
Insurance settlement is $2100 WITH the car

Now the bill was $2300 for the repairs, but could that conceivably be inflated due to insurance?

I'm concerned that there's more damage that could exceed the $2100.

In addition, would the insurance company insure the Talon after I get it fixed? And would that cost more money?

Any options would be great. I have a couple of days at most.

I would take the car for sure, even if you end up having to see it all off you would definitely end up with more money.

Like Deep said bring it by the shop and he can take a look for you. I have seen their work and you wouldn't believe they are the same cars.

Take the car. Bring it to my shop. Send me some pics also. PM.

Just a example. I've seen high end cars with 50k repair estimates that I have repaired for 3-5k including parts.

Some of Those guys making estimates are clowns.

But your estimate doesn't sound bad. It will be a lot less for sure.

Sounds to me like if you take the money and keep the car, that premium is going to sky rocket.

In which case I'd get in touch with Grant Redfern. He's a godsend.

Why would it skyrocket ? It wasn't his fault.

That's one thing i was wondering about.
I was called "NOT AT FAULT"

But does anyone know the process to put a write off back on the street?
Will it be insured?

I'm leaning very closely towards taking the car and the money and seeing if the old girl can be fixed. If not...part it out.

Right, I forgot about that part.

My bad!

I only deal with accident repair cars and Insurance writeoffs. You will have no problems.

The only reason that i logically see the insurance going up is because that vehicle being insured has now been involved in an accident and maybe because you can never be 100% sure everything was repaired...their could be damage elsewhere that virtually no one would be able to pick up

Most 2g eclipses (not Talons) brought in from the States have been crashed or have salvage titles. Insurance still takes them, they just care about getting a pay day for nothing every month. They couldn't care less if it's been repaired or not.

Not always true. Although grant would agree, my last broker (who clearly ripped me off) charged me double than my policy with Grant and for just liability. Not even comprehensive.

And that had to do with "Rebuilt title".

Update for all of you out in Talon Land!

My Talon was picked up by the Tow company and will be at Deep's place for (with luck and hope) a new look.

I want to thank all of you for advice and good words.

I'm hoping that when I see the car next, it'll look like it came off the assembly line in Illinois in 1992.

Glad to hear she's staying in the family

I'm anxious to see pics of her makeover.

Deep does great work.

I think you made the right decision!

Deep does great work.

I think you made the right decision!

Deep does great work.

I think you made the right decision!

Wow.. Do I ever look like a deep lover. Lol no idea WTF happened.

LOL...that was kinda creepy, you know.