Kista20

Well I was just involved in a car accident on thurs. in my 97 civic hx and the bad thing is it's on the edge of being totalled out but I still need to hear from the other guy's insurance on what they are going to do for me but hey he does have insurance!

Anyways, the accident happened in Charlottesville VA and I was travelling on a 4 lane road and I was all the way in the right lane. A black guy in a caddy (and no I'm not racist) pulled out of a parking lot making a left turn in front of me. I swerved to the left to miss him but it was too late and got into a skid which landed right into his front driver's side corner. I didn't hardly damage his car at all.

So the sad part is when the cop came and reviewed everything he didn't even give the other guy a ticket. I think it was because he was pulling uphill out onto the road and it had two snow banks on each side of the entrance. The funny part is before the cop left he told me that more than likely his ins. will pay to fix my car but then our ins. companies will battle that out. I already have talked to my agent and she said the best thing to do right now is deal through his insurance but if they don't want to cooperate then I would have to go through mine and I have a $500 deductible that I would have to pay.

So yest. morning I took it over to a collision center here in my town to get an estimate from them first just in case the ins. adjuster tries to lowball me, and also I felt like they would look the car over more thoroughly than he would.

So the damages what the collision center estimated was $2544.56 which they told me was would be on the high side and using new but aftermarket parts. I have aftermarket fenders on the car which I'm having a hard time locating another one to match but I would prob. just get the other fender and then pay the difference to get the whole car painted as well and both the estimator and ins. adjuster were cool with that and if they do opt to fix my car they will just send me a check payable to me and I can do whatever to fix it.

The good is that the car is still driveable although it doesn't have a headlight or turn signal and the car is def. repairable. I just nearly missed the radiator support but did hit the A arm underneath and the bumper reinforcement and the inner fender well which those three things right there is were the majority of the cost is. So the only reason of totalling it out is the value of the vehicle compared to the cost of repair. It drives normally and I didn't notice anything different with the ride whatsoever and doesn't pull to the left or right.

It just sucks... I bought it in Aug. '99 and here I've had it 10 1/2 years put 115k miles on and it's been a wonderfull car and has never let me down once, def. the best car I have ever owned. The sad part is if they decide to total it out I don't think I could go buy another one for what they'll give me. I know that I'll be able to buy it back if that happens but hopefully they'll just send me a check and then I'll go get it fixed.

Sorry for the long post I was just wondering how many others have had to deal with they're cars being fixed by ins. companies and the end results.

Niffith

I don't have very much experience with large accidents or insurance battles, however, just don't let them screw you or push you around when you try to talk to them on the phone about it. Get what you know you deserve, or at least try to.

Kista20

Yeah thats why I wanted to have my own estimate done before they looked at it so I would have something to go by. VA has a law where over X amount of dollars they have to issue a ticket but under that they don't have too so I dunno if he estimated my damages way low or what. It didn't really look too bad at first but thats why I wanted someone professional to look at it. It's still at the body shop and I'll try to go over there and take some pictures of it today depending on the weather. I do want to bring it back home till I find out more on whats going to happen. If they do send me a check I might just do a 99-00 conversion since all I'd have to pay the difference between the parts. Have to buy a fender, headlight, bumper and reinforcement bar so all that would be left is the other fender which I'd have to buy anyways cause I'd want them to match and then the headlight, grille and a hood. The estimate they wrote up was for fixing the hood and I would get a new hood so I'm leaning more on doing it that way.

The car is black and I'm not much on the granada so I'm thinking either flamenco or nighthawk.

Kista20

eatsleephonda90

dude you can get all them parts at a junk yard for under 200$

but fyi dont let the company screw you! just keep complainin and arguing trust me it'll work and you'll get some cash

i was once got $1500 for someone that did a lil tap on my back bumper
complained about neck pains,damage,ect blah blah and got the cash

Fibercation

iTrader: (5)

not too bad at all

Kista20

well the ins. company called me today and gave a rough estimate but they are going to total it out at $2500 but then I could buy it back but he would give me the actual figures tommorrow. Now to me this just seems low... I would think at least $3000-$3500 or even higher and they let me keep the car.

I did just find another 97 hx but with 142k miles and says it's a fixer upper so don't know exactly what it needs but it's the same thing as mine for $2500 so hopefully I can get them to give me some more money then I could buy this one and have parts.

ekcoupeh22

iTrader: (2)

i just had a lady hit me in my quarter panel on my 98 coupe and i didnt realize it untill it was over but they totalled my car and of course i bought it back cause i do body work but now im stuck with a salvage title and there is no value anymore to the car it sucks

Kista20

I just finally got their offer today and I'm not too happy about it. Ok my two options are they give me $2600 and take the car, two I loose $480 off that but then keep the car and I get a salvage title which sucks. They have really done their homework too they ran the vin through experian autocheck which btw came out clean but still showed that recall from honda for the driver's side floormat which the dealer said they would not do unless I had honda floor mats so that was a mute point...

anyways they compared mine to 35 other 97-98 civics within 100 mile radius that is either for sale or have been sold within the last month and if I had to guess thats internet pricing and you are not going to be able to walk on a lot and get one for that price and I've already been there and done that so I know to print it off in case you need to throw it in their face.

Anon51

that honda recall is easy to do. just buy the floor mats and their piece for the recall comes with and instructions to do it. all you need is a razor blade and eyes. i'd suggest you keep the car since that really doesn't look that bad. just a fender replaced, headlight, front bumper and then you can have it look near what it used to look for under 150 with new aftermarket parts. i know the fender is about 40 dollars aftermarket, bumper is about the same, headlight is about 50. the only question is what is bent behind that fender.

Kista20

the collision center said it bent the A arm underneath on the pass. side but I did nearly miss the radiator support, the bumper reinforcement and the fender well needs to be replaced so those 3 things are where the majority of the cost is to fix it.

I'm not so worried about the recall it's just that it showed up and I know all I'd have to do is get a driver's oem floor mat and they'd put the peg in for free.

D Griff

I would recommend keeping your car. If you can do a lot of the work yourself, you can probably get it done cheaply. I drive a salvage title EJ6 and it looks great. I'll never sell it, so I don't care. It sounds like you like your car and don't want to sell it either. Good luck to you and sorry you're having to deal with all of this.

Kista20

Yeah I just feel like they're giving me the hard shaft on this one. I know to me it's worth more than $2600 but I would think that I'd be happy if I got $3000 and the car. My agent said that the salvage difference would only be like $200 but ended up being $480. Both my brother and my dad suggested I talk to an atty but even my dad said the problem with that is if I pay him $500 is he going to get me $500 more. I think for the most part consultations are free and could at least go and hear what they have to say but it def. sounds like this company has done their homework of looking at 35 other civic's but there were only a few hx's and to me there is no comparison but I guess when the car is over 10 years old is that the trim level really doesn't affect the value all that much.

ScottF

That damage does not look like it would warrant a total write-off. Get an estimate of say 1000, buy the parts in a salvage yard for 200 and pocket the difference, I have done that several times...

Kista20

well I thought I'd update with the wonderfull news... I finally got to talk to their adjuster today and he got them to add a little extra cause the interior seemed to be in excellent shape and also since I didn't get a rental and it's been so long they are going to give me $400 some for the loss of use of vehicle that which brings the grand total to $2600 and some odd dollars and cents. Also the best part of this is that in the state of VA if it's older than 6 years and valued at less then $7500 they don't even make you get a salvage title for it.

eatsleephonda90

sounds great bro thats a real good come up

96DelSol

I would do all work myself if i was you.
How hard can it possibly be to put ona a fender, headlight and bumper?
After you do that just have someone spray it.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

Hopefully the frame is good, other than that it won't be too expensive to fix yourself


.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

lol

ifIexplode

Good luck with gettin that repaired. I had a lady pull out in front of me last summer and was lucky enough to go under her. Although it dented my hood,cracked my bumper and grill, Also they replaced my rad support. The totaly was 1900 and change. Her insurance comany gave me the option to total it, I was still paying off my motor so no way was i gonna total it. There was 112k on my car at the time,

May be a bad time to ask but what fog lamps are those?

98civdx

all the damage that you have looks pretty simple to fix,

Kista20

I belive they are honda oem's. I had some minor front end damage before obviously was less than this. The lip was creased in on the driver's fender when a lady tried to move over to take an exit and when she bumped me it just felt like I gust a wind just moved me a little and I didn't realize it till I was dropping my brother off at the airport when I got out and looked. On the passenger side my dad wasn't paying attention and backed up but I had parked slightly behind him so he just caught the same corner. So on h-t I found a guy in delaware that was parting out a black civic just like mine and I got the headlights, grille, and bumper which came with the lights so I just went to honda and got the switch, relay and both harnesses and everything just plugged right in.

Imo I like the location of the fog lights better on the 99-00 than the 96-98 but thats just me.

Jimster480

dude that is no damage at all. 2500$ wtf kind of bullshit ****ing price is that. The fender is like $100, the headlight is $50 and the shock (if thats even damaged) is less than $100.
**** the insurance company, dont let them total the car. Tell them you will settle for $600, fix the car for $300 and keep $300. When my rear tire blew into pieces (long story), I ended up spinning out and sliding across grass into trees. I didn't even call my insurance company. I got new tires and me and my dad fixed the dents, put a new bumper on and painted the bumper ourselves. Not even $200. Now i do eventually have to get it bondo'd in a couple places and probably repaint the car. But the total work isnt even $500. They would have totaled it for sure though. And once its totaled, rebuilt title cars aren't worth ****.

Edit: i read your other post. SO they aren't going to total the car?

Kista20

that is correct. I didn't know this but when I was talking to the adjuster on the phone he said that in the state of VA that if the car is older than 6 years or valued less than $7500 than the dmv does not make you change the title over, so naturally my car meets both stipulations. I was hoping for $3000 but I'll take the $2600 vs the $2100 any day. I just told the guy I just wanted what was fair and the $2130 and my car is not fair to me at all, I'm not trying to get rich or anything cause obviously I'm not but I'm only asking for a little bit more and what they're giving me is not even enough to fix my car. I didn't even ask for a rental which I should've got one and that I've been driving the truck which is hurting me on gas. So finally he calls back about 15-20 min later and ended up giving me a little more.

And for some stupid reason they had the area code for my phone number in wrong which is total bs cause I stated above that they were going to total it out at $2500 and thet he would call me back the next day with more definate numbers but they never called back after that.

Jimster480

thats great! so fix the car for <$500 and keep the rest