My wife was hit in the rear by an old man today going about 40 mph. She had slowed down for something and he didn't notice and plowed into the back of her. She was not hurt, but the hit buckled the trunk floor so bad it looks like a pyamid in the trunk, the roof is buckled at the sun roof and of course the trunk and bumper are smashed in. It is a 2002 EX with only 33,000 miles on it. The radio has never even had a tape or CD in it. It was a very clean automobile.
Should I try to fix it or not?

 

well his insurance should cover it if it was his fault. Are they trying to total it? What are they offering you? if you could get a newer car with fewer miles on it then ok. If not then you can attempt to get it fixed. However I wouldnt take it to a cut rate shop. with this amount of damage it needs to be fixed right otherwise it won't have the structural rigidity that it did stock. And in another accident that could be very bad.

 

Absolutely I'd fix it, at the other party's expense.
And I'd trust a repair from a normal or high end body shop.
Been there, done that.

 

From the sound of it, I'm going to bet it is totaled....I know you don't want to hear that.

Glad everyone is ok.

 

That's the one problem with owning an older car that you have taken good care of. If somebody hits you, your S*****D. The car was like new, but since it's 10 years old, it's probably only worth about $8K.

 

I just checked Kelly Blue Book, your car should bring around $11K/

 

even if they pay out 11k (which i think they'd try to skimp on that) that won't go very far. I had my trunk taken up to my rear window and it cost 6k to fix right. This sounds much worse.

 

With the roof bucked, I doubt if they can salvage the car. Unibody construction, which most cars are now, require a good roof to maintain structural integrity.

 

they would change out the entire section probably from the base of the A pillars back. It is possible to fix a uni-body just expensive.