Hey guys, I've already posted up a bit in teh Canadian section, but I was hoping that I could get a little more info over here. I have an 03 DG coupe and was recently involved in a front end collision. I'm hoping I can get an approximate body shop cost from you guys. It's being towed there today, but I wont have a quote until mid next week. I'm concerned that insurance might write the vehicle off, so I was hoping to find some peace of mind. The list of damages include:

-Both headlights are severely scratched and beaten up
-The front bumper and licence plate bracket are also way beyond repair
-The hood was pushed back into the rad support and radiator, possibly hitting the AC cond.
-The hood also crumpled back and scratched the top of the fenders near the windshield
-The grill and emblem are also shattered along with damage to the horns, hood latch and a number of other smaller pieces

I doubt that there's any major frame damage, but when factoring in upwards of 7-8.5K in parts, plus any bodyshop work that's also has to be done, what kind of bill am I looking at in total?

 

Depends what the value of your car is before we can estimate if they'll total it or not. I dont know what the laws are in Canada about that, but maybe another Canadian member can chime in.

As far as your estimate goes, I wouldnt be surprised if your bill ended up in the 6-9 thousands for new oem parts plus labor and paint. Dont worry about little things such as license plate bracket and emblems. You should be more concerned about the body panes that are going to push your costs upwards.

Plus, why would you think that there isnt frame damage? From what you're telling me, the front end sustained a pretty serious collision. Id be surprised if there WASNT any frame damage.

 

Thanks for the response. When I talked the the insurance agency they didn't really give any solid response on their policy when it comes to write off. Similar cars sell for $18 000 up here, but if I'm looking at upwards of 12-14K in repair costs, I almost wonder if they will write it off.

 

Do a KBB on your car and see what the value of your car is. Generally speaking, if its over 50% the value of the car, it will be totaled. Here in the States, its around 70%.

 

Really? Over 50% seems awfully low to me.

 

I work at a bodyshop and from the way you talk it sound to me you will be under 5000. Here in Md its anything over 75% is done. But sometimes they go up to the 90% mark. Put up some pictures and i can give you a better quote.

 

Wow. Definitely wouldn't expect to be under $5000. After getting quotes for the major components like the hood, headlights, bumper, rad and rad support I'm looking at over $6000 in parts alone.

 

Yeah I think its going to add up quickly, especially when you have to factor in all of the labor and paint supplies... Gl btw.

 

In your opinion, is there a chance the car may be written off? How do you think the price of paint and labour will compare to the parts cost?

 

Last year my 04 got hit on right side. fender, headlight, bumper, rad support. lower part of suspension hood, door, wheel..... total was 7300.
I had 97000 on the clock at that time.
Looks nice whole front end painted does not look like it had those miles on it.
Anyway

 

After talking to the bodyshop today, they said I'm looking at somewhere around 10-11K in damages at a minimum. When pricing out the headlights, bumper, hood, grill, rad, rad support and ac condensor the parts total alone is around $6800. On top of that there's going to be a number of shock absorbers, latches and other minor things that would need to be included as parts.

I had already ordered a TS hood, K2 front and 07 headlights, so I can provide all those to the shop. If the car isn't written off the body shop is going to use those parts, but there's likely going to be ~4K left over because the aftermarket parts are considerably cheaper and were bought used. Any recommendations as to what I should do with that?

 

Wow from the sounds of it you car was not that bad to me. Pictu res would have helped.

 

If they're totalling it out, wont you have to buy back the car from insurance?

 

Insurance would just cut me a check for the value of the vehicle.

 

I've been searching around a bit and after seeing the hit in value that a vehicle takes after an accident, I'm definitely hoping for a write off with the car. The body shop the car was towed to quoted me around $3500 in paint and labour on top of ~$8000 in parts. From what I can gather, they're one of the less expensive shops in town. How much variance is there in terms of pricing on this kind of thing?

I'm hoping the insurance company will declare the vehicle to be a total loss, as I don't want to have an accident worth a minimum of 2/3rds of the vehicles value on record. How would you recommend I push for a total loss with my insurance company? Obviously I should look for more expensive quotes from other shops, but do you really think there will be that much of a difference? What other action can I take to push the insurance company towards writing the vehicle off?