Just have been looking around to try and get a guess on an estimate on my 97 Accord SE. Last week a driver crashed into a trash dumpster, that was then pushed into the car, which pushed the car 2 feet. The passenger side tires are popped, the driver side front panel is damaged, and the drivers door is damaged, which wont open fully, and falls down once opened. I'm pretty sure alignments will be needed, as well as a semi-paint job, could anything else be wrong as well from this hit?

Just trying to get an idea if this is something that the insurance company might total out, or go ahead and fix. I know it's very broad, but any help would be appreciated.

 

I was also reading about a similar problem where the "cradle" of the door frame was damaged...what does this mean exactly?

 

That would mean where the door attaches to the car is out of spec, so even if you got a new door it wouldn't fit right.

My guess will be the insurance company will total the car. Seeing as 5th gen accord aren't worth much any more it doesn't take much to total them. Also body work is insanely expensive. Just to get a new fender, door, rims, and tires, plus paint I would imagine it would be over $2,000.

 

live2rice - first off, thanks for the reply, it helped answer my first question, and helped confirm what I already was thinking.

The tow company is picking the car up today (happened last Tuesday but wasn't able to get things in progress till Friday due to neck surgery I had a few weeks ago) and the adjustor should be able to look at it tomorrow it looks like so nothing is official yet, but since the door won't open all the way, and falls down when opened the little way, i'm pretty sure that the cradle is damaged. Looking at replacement value for my car, with the mileage, shows around $4,800.

With the items we discussed I'm sure it would be quite pricey...not to mention a wheel and tire alignment. The car is also on a weird lean which could be due to the tires, but I'm wondering if it could of hurt the axle, or other mechanical problems (could other things happen from a hit like this?)

I've added some pictures...which doesn't look to bad, but knowing the problem with the door, and the cost of fixing the panels...yea... Also if they do total it, is it worth buying back and working on it (if so how much do you think they'd charge?) Sorry I'm asking so many questions, just haven't been in a car accident (knock on wood), yet my car now has lol...

 

pictures have to be approved by a moderator, which i see you are one live2rice, you obviously are the right person to help me out, thank you

 

If you want to get that car back on the road the best and easiest way is to buy another 96-97 with either a blown motor or trans and put your driveline in it.

I see good condition cars like that on CL for $500 - $700 all the time.

I bought one recently that was not in great shape for $350 delivered to my house. It had a blown motor in it.

 

Its really hard to say from the pictures, but the car might not be totaled. Probably the worst part is your car is a special edition so replacement parts like a rim would be hard to find(if its dented) and door and fender in that color would be hard to find so you wouldn't have much choice but to get it painted(which is very costly). I have a friend that works in a body shop and I had him paint my bumper for me and he said if I was a walk in customer it would be $300 or more just to paint the bumper. So I would imagine it would be $5-600 to have a door and fender painted to match.

I personally have never been in an accident so I'm not sure what the insurance company charges to buy the car back from them, but I would imagine its not much(less than $1000 I would say).

If you can get the door opened put up a picture of where the door attaches to the body, we should be able to tell if its out of spec or not.

 

Adjustor came out and said about $1200 to fix the bumper/door, says the tires just popped the seal, and no other damage could be done to the car, including the "cradle" which the adjustor says does not exist...when i pushed to find more out, he was the typical insurance man saying it was all done before...

 

So...just got off the phone with Honda and the auto body shop, and they confirm what I thought. The tires need to be replaced, wheel alignment done, check struts and what not to make sure they are ok (all not in the $1200 quote, and when I asked adjustor about this, he said nonsense). Battery was dead (which I knew and told Honda to replace on my dime). So right there, cheapest were looking at is $300 for 2 tires and alignment over the $1200 (remember, this was just the front panel and door).

When I spoke with the auto body shop, they said their definitely could be more damage done then just that. And that if the door drops when you open it (which Honda confirmed), there definitely could be damage to that part of the frame (when I called this the cradle of the frame to the adjustor he said I knew nothing, when I said this to the auto body shop they new exactly what I meant). They even said they can't tell everything from just looking at it, could always be more in the inside (window motors/power locks/etc).

Add a paint job...it all adds up

Both Honda and the auto body shop will be giving me rough estimates, but I think it may be to much. I'm just shocked the guy said it's only the front panel and door that's damaged...

 

Yeah it sounds like he doesn't really now what he was doing. I know when I had some body work done on my car the shop asked if it was going to be through insurance or not. So what you might want to do is bring the car to the body shop and ask them for a quote to fix the damage and then present this to the insurance claims adjuster.