Rear ended need advice...

[blazenem]

i dont know if it was right but when i totaled my mazda i took exhaust and other mods off and put stock stuff back on...towtruck driver was waiting for me to put exhaust back on lol...only thing i didnt get off were the springs cuz it was too much work...

[cloudasc]

Honestly, I would let them total the car, then buy it back and fix that (they just cut you a check for the original value of the car then subract the salvaged value), its only some sheet metal, its not like the whole bumper got pushed in or anything to really affect the frame. I'd just pop off the plastic covering, grab my rubber mallet and start banging away to straighten it out as much as possible, at least so the new trunklid can close properly, and you can reattach the trim, then I'd drive the car into the ground. If you can get a new trunklid to close properly, the damage to the car won't even be noticeable until you open the trunk, and even then it might be hidden by the factory trim and trunk interior, or you could always bondo imperfections out. Also when they total the car, your registration gets invalidated or title destroyed, and you would have to re-certify the car for road safetly, or whatever requirements for the area you live.

Take a look at my MRT, my cb has been totalled and rebuilt, and it benefitted a new deck and alarm professionally installed because of it, along with the repairs, and I got to take my wife out to a nice dinner, with money to spare. I also managed to aquire a fresh title, and it doesn't mention totalled/salvage anywhere on it, if the accident had happened sooner, it might have shown up. Although if a carfax was ran on the car, it would show up.

[Theos92VR4]

Go to a cheap junk yard, get all of the stock parts you can. And take all of the good shit off of your car. Though if you have aftermarket stuff, and they arent paying you for it, i dont see why you wouldnt be able to keep it...

[jdmwannabee]

i'm waiting on an offer to be made to me by the insurance company.

the repair estimate was about 3k, 2k in parts and 1k in labor.... i told the body shop i can take care of the parts. and was told it'd be about 120 to pull out the sheet metal.

so, depending on the offer i get, i'll know what i'm going to do.

cloud you got 2k that's not bad at all. that gives me hope, but we'll see.

thanks for all the support and info guys, i appreciate it a lot.

[cbscandal]

Sounds like they're gonna total it.
I, personally, would buy it back and fix it myself. It looks like you could pull that out without too much of a problem. Just go pick up another trunk lid.

Plus it would suck to see another DX meet its demise.
Is it a coupe or sedan?

[jdmwannabee]

Sounds like they're gonna total it.
I, personally, would buy it back and fix it myself. It looks like you could pull that out without too much of a problem. Just go pick up another trunk lid.

Plus it would suck to see another DX meet its demise.
Is it a coupe or sedan?

yeah, they totaled it.... i'm just waiting to see how much they're going to offer me.

[cloudasc]

i'm waiting on an offer to be made to me by the insurance company.

the repair estimate was about 3k, 2k in parts and 1k in labor.... i told the body shop i can take care of the parts. and was told it'd be about 120 to pull out the sheet metal.

so, depending on the offer i get, i'll know what i'm going to do.

cloud you got 2k that's not bad at all. that gives me hope, but we'll see.

thanks for all the support and info guys, i appreciate it a lot.

Actually I got $3200 total, repairs were $2200, car was valued at $3800, salvage 700, although it had 133k on it then. Bought it for $3708 before title and tax, about a year and 16k miles before the accident.

[Fleetw00d]

You shouldn't have to let them total it, then buy it from them. I totaled a car once and told the insurance company I wanted to keep it, so they just deducted the scrap value from the check they gave me, no exchange or change in status of the title.

I used a come-along to pull my radiator support out from a minor front impact. I would think a jack from inside would work well to push it out without having to put holes in it to pull. Put some heavy timbers across between the spring towers for something to push against.

As for the trunk lid, it is probably easiest to replace it.