Should I total my car after an accident?

Tim

For the car cost alone, the money is clearly the way to go. $8000 in repairs for a car not worth that, or at least not much more, is something that should result in totaling the car.

However, the complete answer depends on the extent of the knee injury. If it is something that will not require medical attention, you should probably let it go. If it will require therapy or treatment, then you probably need to aggresively pursue the insurance company to provide better compensation, as the total offer of 10K is not going to cut it. Therapy can be quite costly.

la428282

please.. sounds like the person above me has been watching too many lawyer shows. personal injury claims hardly ever reach 10k.. unless you have a permenant life long injury.. dont count on the money from that to get you a new car.

Also, you dont choose to "total" your car. What you can choose however (which im assuming is what you mean) is to take the money for repairs and not repair the vehicle. It is completely up to you in that situation..... obviously if you have a lienholder that may not be the best bet b/c you will likely be left with money to pay off. But.. also know that you can feel comfortable accepting repairs from insurance if they say the car is repairable.. an insurance company doesnt want to get sued for repairing a vehicle that shouldnt be.. they arent going to take the risk.

8k (believe it or not) is not THAT MUCH damage.. your car will be fine if they let you fix it.

lonestar

Most people will say that if it's front end damage the car will never drive the same again. Take the money.

rob1963man

If your car isn't financed it makes things alot simpler for you.

Kiddo, I would take the money and buy something that hasn't been put together again like a Frankenstein Monster after the accident.

Sorry about the knee! It sounds as though it could possibly be included as part of the insurance claim... but only they can advice you on that.

bundysmom

Let me clarify....you can't tell the insurance company to total it or not. It's either a total loss or it isn't. If it's a total, you can choose to retain salvage...what this means is the title is branded "salvage", you keep the car & the cash (less the salvage amount) and you fix the car. The cash you get may or may not cover the total cost of repairs. If you choose not to keep the vehicle, you will receive the actual cash value of the vehicle, you turn the title over to them and you're done.

If your vehicle is repairable it will be repaired and the above won't apply.

If you're hurt, see a doctor.

ahl_phantoms

If your repairs are going to cost that much then you might want to sit back and think about it. There must be something seriously wrong with the car, that might not be corrected if fixed. Take the money and go buy a new one after you finish paying off the wrecked car if its not already paid off.

Phillip S

Personal injury cases usually have greater settlements than $10K. The other party's insurance company will be axious to settle before you get your knee fixed and before you go to court, because they know it will cost more if you have to go to court. What was the value of your car before the accident occurred?

darkkilla122

the last guy is right, my uncle works as an auto technition and the overall cost of something like that is gonna end up being more than what they give at times. the insurance company is most likely give 75-80 percent of what is generally needed or atleast thats what my uncle says.

mister ss

hire a lawyer, you might have problems with that knee the rest of your life and the insurance co. is trying to get off cheap, also I would not want a car that had that much damage to it, tell them you want it totaled.

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