Body shops usually give free estimates.
Ask for two.
One for a perfect showroom repair like they would usually.
The second one…a ‘‘good enough’’ repair using salvage parts, straightening and painting just good enough to use it.
I see a bent rocker panel and roof. This makes the complete repair a pretty big one but I’d be curious to see if a bare bones repair could be servicable.
My daughter’s 500 dollare used Taurus had a tree limb dent above the driver’s door and it lived like that and was never repaired…’‘good enough’’…or…’‘close enough for rock and roll’’…till she could afford better .
What I don’t understand is, how can you have an outstanding balance of $4,000 on a car loan and not have insurance?
Lenders require that the vehicle has full coverage insurance to protect their interest in case the vehicle is totaled. That way, the lender is still protected from loss if the vehicle is totaled. Also, when insurance is dropped on a vehicle that has an outstanding balance on a loan, the insurance company will contact the lender. The lender will then repossess the vehicle because you broke your end of the loan contract by not having insurance on the vehicle.
You should also look on the title for the vehicle. On the title it should show the lender as being the first secured party and you being shown as the second secured party. This means the lender owns the vehicle until you pay off the loan.
You can get it fixed so the front door opens. The rear door seems optional to me.
They key thing is getting pricing at a body shop(a few) and stating you just want it to work not pretty. Hopefully you can afford to fix, regain proper insurance(esp if secured loan involved with vehicle, and pay this total off.
I am glad my state actually allow for uninsured because I have been in an accident with one not my fault. The person begged me not to call police as they would be required to get it and wanted to pay for damages at her body shop(owner raging alcoholic). They balked at price to fix and skipped meeting for payment.
I called my insurance and for $12/year we have coverage against folks like you who drive uninsured. It covered the $1500+ in damage done to my car with no deductibles etc. I did not have deal with the scum bag lady who hit me and wasted my time. They printed a check off 15 minutes after printing off check. The uninsured boyfriend had the gall to call us after and complain since his wife going to loose license unless purchase overpriced insurance.
@ ken green has the right idea, get estimates from a couple of body shops for repair and “just get it drive-able”. Decide what you want to do or resign yourself to duct-taping clear plastic over the broken window and climbing in from the passenger side every time your drive until you can afford a new car. Good Luck
The car is repairable. A body shop will just cut the whole area that is damaged out and get an undamaged replacement from a wrecked car, wrecked in other areas, and weld it in, then repaint. I don’t know if it is economical to repair.
If you didn’t have full coverage, I’m surprised that the lender did not repossess the vehicle before you got in a wreck. Lenders will often give you a week to obtain insurance, or they will obtain enough insurance to protect them from losses and bill it to you. If you don’t agree to the additional payment, they repossess almost immediately.
If the lender did obtain the additional insurance and you agreed to the payment, you can walk on the car and the lender will get their money, but it will still go on your credit rating, and the insurance company may try to get the money back from you as the responsible party. Lender insurance only covers the payoff of the loan, no more.
I’m with Tester on this one. Actually you have insurance but through the lenders but the rates are astronomical. So when they find out, they’ll tack the extra couple thousand for premiums onto your loan. It’ll be a long time before you’re out of the hole on this one.
Agree though and get a couple estimates and go from there.
And , even when we have insurace…it is still our choice whether to claim it or just pay the repair ourself.
If you have the kind that will instantly bump the premium… it can cost less to just pay the repair bill.
Sure it is fixable, anything is, within limits. Oh you meant the car, not the tree! Really as long as the frame is fine, you should be good to go, but oh my it will be near the worth of the car.