My 2014 Corolla was rear ended on a freeway. KBB says that the going value for private party for my model is about $12k while trade in is between $9.5-10.5k. I took the car to a non-insurer-preferred body shop and Geico (the other party insurer) admitted full liability.
The cost for repairs is about $8k. The body shop is asserting that the car can be repaired but I was wondering if it is indeed so or am I better asking the insurance to total it. I don’t know much about cars but the list of repairs is pretty lengthy.
You can ask , but the decision will be by the insurance company after their adjuster looks at it. Also most insurance companies do not use Kelly Blue Book . They have research parameters of their own.
Since it was rear ended unlikely to be much in the way of drive train problems, so not much risk to you of having it repaired. My old VW Rabbit got rear ended like that, and after the repairs, couldn’t tell the difference from a new car. Make sure the body repair shop is well recommended. I found by talking with friends and coworkers an independent body repair shop in another town some distance away in a rural area who did a really good job. He built one of those steel panel buildings with various gadgets that let him pull on the car in various directions to get all the dimensions correct. Clean as a whistle, looked like a scientific lab. Entirely dedicated to body work.
The only downside of getting the car totaled is that you have to buy a new car, now. If you’re ready to do that, I’d say go for it. Do you really want a project that’s going to go on for a while?
