Spicy front end DMV need help/advice

[SpeedAdiction20]

Right now I am on an iPhone so I'm keeping it short till I can edit it..but basically I got into a front end collision and I'm wondering what people have done as far as fixing..take it to the dealer or private shop? I'll add more in an hour thanks

Edit: ok now i can elaborate what the deal is with everything, this literally happened like 2 nights ago, and I have yet to claim it to the insurance company, (doing it in the next few days once I finish with some other stuff related to this) but anyways the insurance company should, as far as i know cover it, I have a few questions as far as fixing it which i will explain now;
-first the condition of the car, it was a slow speed (first gear) collision, from what i can see the frame is bent on the right side, and the right side of the radiator is bent, but surprisingly the custom SMIC is unharmed.. the front bumper and lip are off the car, the bottom wind guard thing (black plastic piece) is off, the front end is generally smashed in, more so on the right side (until about the wheel) and the front right half section of the hood is bent in, i was unable to open the hood to check out the engine bay but I do not see major damage to that area. Also both air bags went off, and it seems that the steering wheel has some sort of disengage system because it "popped" out, and I can only describe it as it is not locked into the normal position... that sound like something that happens with a collision with our cars? or did i break something strange...? Also would like to add that the car, spicy msp, was previously in very good condition, around 54k miles, and running great, and even had until the summer or 60k miles left on the extended warranty lol
-My main concern is when I get an estimate from whoever, that the amount will be very expensive, i do have a $500 deduct. on the damage done, but I am unsure how much damage like this will cost (and if it is even enough to go over the value of the car, giving it a "totaled" label by the insurance adjuster. I am wondering what have other people done, (preferable with personal experience) when they did not want to part the car out, I would really like to keep this car, but my feeling is that when the frame gets bent, there is a lot of hidden damage that usually costs TONS to fix. I have looked in the FS section and noticed that it is pretty rare to see any body parts and such parts for sale, especially spicy color.
-So far I think I might get a quote from the private body shop as well as dealer, (I wasn't sure, (it being a spicy msp) if having a dealership work on the car over a private shop would be better...A few points I would like to ask are, should I attempt to get used spicy body panels or even parts like that from the forum, or should I mostly leave it up to the dealer/private shop to come up with the parts and fix everything? -Also what general approach do you guys suggest me taking (Keeping in mind I would really like to keep the car), from now, until i get to the point of it being fixed.
-Any ideas on what something like this has cost other people? (generally) Or is there no way to tell until it gets looked at.
-Any known problems with repairing damage like this, I know too well that our cars are "finicky", and for people that have fixed their cars, is there something that will come back and bite me in the a$$ later on as a reoccurring problem?.. something like that

-so far that is all i can think of, I will be sure to add if i can, and I would really like some advise and help on this one, and get a wide variety of people chiming in, it would make this processes much smoother, and i would really appreciate it. (feel free to ask any questions, I do have pictures i would like to see what info I can get first, without posting them, but will if it helps out and is needed. Also I would like to try to keep this thread from dying right away before any good info. is gained, it would be very helpful and great, elaborate discussions and explanations I find very helpful and much better than leaving anything out that could be beneficial.)
Thank you all very much and I would like to continue to be a part of this great community.

[Outlawstar98]

Is your insurance going to pay for it?? (aka u pay a deductible and they fix it)

If so get a quote from a Dealer, and make a private shop (make sure they do a good job) do it. because you might come out with extra $ then.

[lil_red_wagon]

if you still have a lien on the car, that may not work though. some insurance companies will cut the check to the shop anyways. i would recommend someone private for timeframe issues. the stealership isn't going to do much of a better job and is going to take 2-3 times as long.

[SpeedAdiction20]

Well i added all the info above.. thanks for the fast posts to far, 1 issue im not sure about is the paint, think it will be a problem getting the paint to match with all of this?
-and Wagon, did you mean lease instead of "lien"? if so, i bought the car used for ~$12-13k (after all taxes and junk) and have put roughly $5k+ into the car with mods and other such things. I believe last time this happened (sadly yes, something somewhat like this where i needed extensive body work done on my previous car, the insurance company claimed the car "totaled" (cost of parts were not an issue it was labor time, because it was a VW passat and removing the back body panel needed to be cut off, and rear glass taken out, ect...damage with that car was very minor, it just happened to scratch/dent every single panel along one side of the car.. pretty unlucky) but anyways the insurance company took the car and gave me a check, but I am now with a new insurance company and I am not sure how it works, either way my main concern is the ability to fix the car, and ways to minimize cost. and other concerns i listed above. I don't care if my car sits for several months or longer as long as it is done right, and my car is returned "good as new" so to speak without robbing my pocket.
-(also would like to add, it would be nice if people did not judge my driving/ driving record, I do that already enough to myself and would like to keep this thread helpful/positive suggestions, thanks)

[MrDiggler]

All I can add is to make sure that the shop you choose has a 3-stage paint system available for our paint code (25T). As of a couple of years ago, PPG only offered our color in a 2-staqe, and after two tries by different shops, couldn't be made to match up properly. Sikkens makes our paint in a 3-stage and it matches up almost flawlessly. I can tell where mine was painted with the Sikkens paint, but nobody else has been able to. So, I'd ask the shop you're thinking about which paint system they use.

[SpeedAdiction20]

Thanks, i will make sure to look into that, i was not sure how they would be able to get the paint to match up, and i love the paint...

just bumpin the thread.. wish i could change it from saying DMG and not "DMV" in the link, might make more sense but oh well..
-I would also like to add that I really have no real clue in the process of getting a car fixed with this type of damage, so any input on what to do or how things went for other people would be great.. hopefully not all of you just parted out the cars when this happened.. ?

[SpeedAdiction20]

Ok guys, well I'm getting a little worried with people telling me that the car is totaled, I personally think that it should be fixable, (I hope) but the front side frame is obviously bent in, and i don't have experience in that... so here are some pics, tell me what you guys think.. and please add anymore advice for the rest of this process.

[SpeedAdiction20]

some more

[axisboldaslove]

Totaled!!!!!!!!!

[SpeedAdiction20]

last ones, couldn't get the hood open yet, but as far as i know, the damage missed pretty much all of the bigger engine/turbo/pipe parts, except for the radiator, and even the SMIC seems fine.
-Although the exhaust is pushed back a little bit, it was not that far out before, the tip and the lip pretty much was even before, im guessing that has to do with the frame being bent..

[SpeedAdiction20]

ouch lol, thank you for the speedy reply haha.. damn

[axisboldaslove]

part it out..sorry for your loss...i got hit lastnight...very minor...2 small dents in fender and some paint cracked on my front lip

[MSP2024]

damn that really sucks sorry bro

[bazooka joe]

looks bad....could be a total(shrug)...sorry

[MSP2024]

sorry to say but im sure its totaled, i have seen cars in way better shape totaled,sucks to see it

[SpeedAdiction20]

Damn, and i liked the car so much too,first car i modded/worked on, bright orange and fun to drive, whats not to like about it lol after that, not sure what kinda car can substitute that..

[bgibb68]

i would have to say totaled to....buy it back and part it out man

[SpeedAdiction20]

Well, just got the official call, "Total loss" .. really really sucks, is about all i can say, so i guess once i figure out the financial parts of this, from what i have heard on here so far is that buying back the salvage vehicle is usually like 1k-1.5k, if that is the case, I should be able to part the car out and get my money back, unfortunately i will still be loosing the $5-6k that I spent so far on mods and all that junk, I will prob. start the F/S thread when i get back home from school for break, should have crap loads of stuff to sell if this is the case.... shit sucks.

[808MP5]

sorry for you unfortunate mishap...

[bgibb68]

yeah tough love man...sucks.....and watch out for the circling vultures

[zuku26]

I'm just threw up thinking about another spicy off the street. I'm going to assume that either the car is paid for or you have gap ins. Did the ins, tell you how much they plan to give you? I'm curious to see how much these are worth to them. Def buy it back and sell the parts. You'll get a few P5 guys looking for the entire stock turbo set-up, You WILL see your money back if you really start getting into it. Most of the NA guys jump into these to get MSP stuff. I know I'm in the market for an exhaust and split second. I might even pick up random parts just to have them.
Good luck

[bgibb68]

dude...gime a month or 2 before you pull the turbo and i'll hump your leg


edit: for that i'll circle....or as bob saget said "I sucked dick for crack"

[Outlawstar98]

yeah sadly its Totaled... I saw the first pic and i saw it coming.

If the airbags deploy, means its totaled. Get the parts off now taht u can sell easily or if you want to buy another MSP make sure u keep parts for that.


Can I haz rear lip? Lol

[blkspdfreak]

bent frame= totaled. sorry dude, unless its a high end sports or exotic car, you insurance is not going to cover it. i worked with colision repair for some time now, take the pay off, get a new car, part that one asap.

[SpeedAdiction20]

ya, I was talking to my dad today and he even said he was sad to see my car like it is, then he reminded me that my insurance is going to sky rocket, (its already at 2.1k for 6months!) so the new car shopping has another variable to add in, im hoping i can find a good deal on a WRX, always open to see any Spicys around, but unlikely, possible chance, depending on how much money i get from this, that I will pick up a couple hundred dollar junker to screw around with until i work this summer lol..

As far as money, i bought the car fully paid from private dealer guy, and insurance guy is going to call me back tomorrow to come up with an estimate if i remember what he said correctly, I bought the car for like $13k, so im really hopping that the value of the car is not much lower than that, if anything, I still have all my stock parts, I'm still not sure what to do with the top part of the cold pipe, there was a bad weld and right now its at WR getting fixed, but I'm suppose to call the guy to arrange payment, (going to be $150 to cut top half off, then custom bent pipe/weld on and weld the flange I gave him on, and he would bend the new one so that it wouldn't hit the break line) Which i was originally going to have the guy that screwed up the weld in the first place pay for.. I think I still might do that, would make for a nice custom WR pipe kit..not sure how that would work out with the welder guy though lol..

Also depending on how much he estimates for the worth of the car, and how much I can estimate if the car can be repaired, if they are close there is a chance that I will fix it, but that is a slight chance, and I'm assuming the cost to fix it would be a bit higher than worth of car.. but who knows...its always that damn frame that kills everything, I will post again tomorrow once i find out what the deal is.. and if the case is that I have to part it out, I will make sure to let you guys know and once I'm home from winter break, I'll have a month to tear the car apart and sell it lol.. should be crazy..but we will see (also, what do people do with the engine? as far as i know nothing past the radiator was damaged)

[bgibb68]

2k for 6 months....DEAR LORD....mine isn't even close to that for a year

[Outlawstar98]

Why may i ask is it that much? I dont even pay that much..... and i was in a car crash where it was 100% my faught and my friend have over 1 million dollars in medical bills (no lie, the crash was fucking bad as hell)


But i dont pay no where near 2k

[SpeedAdiction20]

Well, to start it off, in 2005 (which this will come off my reccord as of... 5 days i think) i was going to swim practice from high school and at a stop sign T intersection an old lady infront of me turns right, BUT slams on her breaks right in the middle of the road, and assuming she had turned all the way, I moved up to the stop line, looking at the car the lady had braked for coming down the hill... about 100yrds away, so I poked a hole in her back bumper, I freaked out, followed her, she ended up stopping at the post office so i turned in, said sorry that was me, she said "oh I thought it was my fault", and i was just so nervious i said, well maybe i could have prevented it or something, but once i said that, it was over, she got my info. and all that, so that's mark one.. which I would like to add, my dad saw her driving crazy and fast around the high school parking lot with a bunch of dents and "battle scars" on her car, he came home later and asked what color the car was, turned out she got into these kind of accidents all the time! lol..

So anyways 2nd mark would be a speeding ticket i got while taking an off ramp (which leads to another "mini-highway" Super 7 for those of you who know, and it was rush hour, traffic was going 70 or so, first exit to the right after merging onto super-7 (lots of cars in right lane) car infront of me was trying to get a space in the lane to exit, so i waited.. Id say a car length behind maybe more, eventually car moves over, I speed off, resuming speed from before (70-topped out at 80 but cruised rest of the way around 65-70) for about 2miles till end of super-7 (btw I even checked, no car near me for about 1/2 mile in either direction) so I am about to turn off super-7 and I see cop lights.. I'm thinking what the hell, did I run the red light or something? lol (took right on red, and no sign saying i can't) state cop gives me the whole deal, said he picked me up with lazer (made a comment about how my radar detector didn't do much for me...) he took a guess at my speed i just said sure w/e, (the whole attitude of the cop was sorta a power driving/smart ass tone) anyways I go for my registration, he sees a warning ticket i had gotten like a year before for going 40 in a 30.. he gives me a speech about how obviously those cops thought i would learn my lesson bla bla bla, anyways end of the story is $500 ticket, 300 for speeding (never showed me actual speed he got me at, just had an estimate on the ticket), i think $125 for not having my license (just got back from college and forgot wallet at home,no car at school for 1st year too) and the remaining money for "following to closely" which i was unable to get a word in there about what was going on, (he said it looked like i was ridding the cars ass until he moved over lol) so anyways luckily the court reduced that ticket to $250 but still sucked.

Last story and biggest booster of insurance, last year around Oct. (which btw first incident happened in dec. ticket in oct. and this last one in oct too lol, something about Oct-Dec. that gets my into trouble with cars i guess?..) Anyways I was out one night (had a 3month old passat GLX very nice, just got tint/sound system hooked up) and i was borred 1 night, and tried to take a wide off ramp that I have wanted to do for a while by trying to kinda "drift" the turn a little, (my first car, Crown Vic. I use to do all sorts of shit with it) and going around the turn, its a little wet out so i figure i can spin the tires pretty easy and not be going fast and just catch traction again, so tires don't spin so I slow down and just gas it real fast, they spin, I'm not use to front wheel drive cars, so i step on breaks and the car (going about 5-10mph) bumps along the guard rail like a damn bumper car.. hits every single panel, which i will post for kicks.. mine as well lol, but anyways the labor on that car made it "totaled" mostly because the back panel they had to cut it off, take out the glass and weld a new one back on.. oh and btw, the front tire was tweaked a little i think it was like an axle pin or something.. was bent wrong way...

Those are my stories, I'm a 20yr old male, at "high risk" so I get nailed.. and now its going to get real bad lol.. pics are below of my previous "love" (first stick car too, which is how i found my MSP) Now its time to drive, when I actually do end up driving again, to drive like an old lady.... or at least nothing over the speed limit and no late night rally driving lol

[bgibb68]

dude you needa go buy a beater, something that won't(can't) go over 65 mph

[TiPapoute]

Esh, first speed crash?? That's a totaled imo.. Sorry for yer loss buddy.

[anomaly19782009]

they tried to up my insurance after getting hit by lightning and them spending about 2K more on the car than what it was worth...but I had to do some calling around and got that taken care of (act of nature doesn't count as your fault)

don't know how old you are...but at 25 your insurance will drop....mine didn't drop much...like $10 a month or something.....but when you hit 30 (yes I'm old) wow....it will drop like a rock. I pay $130 a month for two "sports" cars full coverage with all the bells and whistles....with a $300 deductible. WOOT for old age lol

[bgibb68]

yeah i'm 28 and i pay 75 a month and i have mega numbers for coverage

[nk2a]

i bet that shit could be fixed - buy it back, strip the front down, check the frame, if its not bad, (no suspension damage), spend a little $$ getting everything cleaned up down low. do all the stripping yourself, bring the car to a good collision shop, two three days and you'll be ready to start bolting new parts on. cf hood, aluminum rad, FMIC, etc. other option would be to find a salvaged protege that was hit in the back or side. something that doesn't have front end damage. then you have a whole front clip to work with. might be to much to take on, but its a Spicy, resurrect that bitch.

just get a tercel to drive while you work on it.
http://www.cars-directory.net/pictures/toyota/tercel/pic_toyota_tercel_2673.jpg

[bgibb68]

if it's just the very front that is bent, a good shop might be able to straighten it and weld some steel on for strength and then you'ld be kosher

[mysleeper6]

First gear crash? At what RPM, 8000? And did I miss it? What did you hit?

Not trying to be a dick, but that's a lot more damage than I expected when you said "first gear crash".

Otherwise, I agree with the above poster. Before you commit to that route, check a)what this will do to your insurance---turbo may not be the best choice for you at this time b) the cost of the major parts you will need---air bags in particular. Good luck.

[SpeedAdiction20]

Ya, I've been thinking about it, I still have to talk it over with my dad, but as far as insurance, I still have at least 5 more years (said I was 20) before any type of drop.. and ya I was really surprised that it was that much dmg in 1st gear lol but what i remember happening after doing a k turn the road is a bend and there is a road (the one that i was turning out of) in the middle of the "U" bend.. a wider U, but anyways turned left, hit the gas, and the turbo ended up kicking in, which is what i wasn't expecting and the car pretty much didn't turn and it only took about 2sec to go from 1 side of the road to onto the grass on the other side, "pop up" on the grass and nail a low stone wall, because it was so slow, pop on the stone wall and shave the bark (6X6") area off a smaller tree (about 1' diameter id say) as far as rpm, i don't know, my guess is I let my foot off the gas, which about when I was pulled off the road at....5k-5.5k maybe at most, it really hit everything just on the corner of the car.. which is also why i think there is so much "pinpoint" damage to there.

Once i get things settled with my dad, I am already buying the car back, valued at $11,131.38 with the $500 deduct. already taken out, which i think is slightly lower than what it should be valued at.. but anyways buying the car back, I will get $9,756 +car w/salvage tittle. and the estimated repair for the car the guy said is ~$10k or so, which once I get things worked out I will hopefully get a more accurate estimate and be able to get my car back to "ask good as new" because in the end, I would rather spend some more money to get my car back, than spend more money anyways to buy a new car that I really don't want as much.... minus all the $$ on aftermarket parts...

Insurance like I said is the kicker, which I will be hoping that if I can get my car repaired (praying) that I will take that car off the insurance, garage it and either not drive for a few months and then get a junker at some point, or just get a junker now and have that on the insurance, and just add the msp during the summer or at some point when i have more money..

which brings me to the question, so far I have seen the OEM hood, w/o paint for like ~$300 roughly, the CF hood i was looking at 1.) would be the EVO style for $700, or just the normal OE CF for ~$500.. anyone know how these look painted spicy orange??.. I'm not a huge fan of the CF look on the spicy, and if I could paint it spicy, and have it look ok (I realize that its still going to look CF with paint on it) but anyone have any pics.. might be good to look at..

Thank you everyone so far for the advise.. keep it coming if you have anymore, makes this a lot easier. (and ask any ?s you want, I realize I'm the idiot for even getting into this accident in the first place)

[Protege_MP3_506]

If your interested in an MP3 I know of one for 5k, PM for deatails. You could drop your turbo kit and everything onto it. Just a thought...

[bgibb68]

If your interested in an MP3 I know of one for 5k, PM for deatails. You could drop your turbo kit and everything onto it. Just a thought...

shhh....maybe he'll part it out fool....but i wouldn't if i were him

[SpeedAdiction20]

haha, ya i thought about it, (converting/swaping to an mp5) but the fact that even if I was able to buy another MSP I would want it to be the Spicy or nothing makes me realize that a conversion from the MSP would just seem wrong...

but anyways anyone ever seen a Spicy with CF hood?.. any photoshopers out there?

[zuku26]

I saved a few pics myself of painted spicy CF hoods. I have one sitting in my dads garage that I'm deciding on how I want to paint.
1. just CF
2. Spicy with sides painted
3. center painted....I wish I could find one like this but spicy

Whoever's cars these are thanks for the pics. lol

[MSP2024]

first one is neox.286 i belive

[SpeedAdiction20]

Oo nice, I just wasn't sure if the CF hood would show too much through the paint and take away the "stock color" of the hood, if all goes well I'll try to work the EVO hood painted spicy orange(also are those vents in that hood functional??, because if there not then screw that lol).. give it some good function too with venting the air more.... but I'm probably a little to far away right now to be too sure of what is going to happen.. thanks for the pics too

heres a pic i found.. red instead of spicy but getting closer i guess... http://www.msprotege.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=33761

[zuku26]

I personally like the xcelerated concepts RC style hood but have yet to find one on a spicy.

[MSP2024]

I personally like the xcelerated concepts RC style hood but have yet to find one on a spicy.

there is a photo shoped one, it shows it in all the msp colors, ill see if i can find it again

[zuku26]

If you do I started a thread in Appearance as to not clutter up this thread any further

[nk2a]

here's two of my msp, gemini RC
http://www.spicymsp.com/pics/102308/msp_016.jpg
http://www.spicymsp.com/pics/102308/msp_006.jpg

[SpeedAdiction20]

Oh wow that looks much better than the other pic they show, it looks like it dipped down a lot more from above which I kinda thought looked weird to have a bump right in front of hte hood, but that doesn't look bad at all, too bad its so much $$ lol

[SpeedAdiction20]

crap, well after looking at some more pictures when the actual insurance guy took, and I'm going to be going down tomorrow to check out more of the damage, but there is most likely frame damage which seems caused frame damage in that whole area, basically quite a bit of damage, the general consensus is that a guess without really checking out the car all the way, is to actually repair it completely and good, around $15k, as long as there was no hidden fees, I'm really hopping to try to figure out a way to show there might not be as much damage once i go look at it tomorrow, (to actually see how much frame damage there is) ill get some more pics.. my parents and the mechanic I had talked to was really leaning towards a total loss with the car.. ill post some more pics prob. tomorrow if there is anything new i guess..I saw one of the spicy in here that someone had total front end damage, pretty bad, and someone bought it from auction, and restored it, looked like he did a lot of his own work, but I just wonder how much that had cost him.. anyone have any thoughts, maybe cost if there is more damage into the frame that before?... also if i was able to part it out.. still think I could get a return on $2k at least?

[bgibb68]

if you were to part it out....you would def get more than 2k out of that sucker dude....just buy it back and part it out if it's too much $$ to fix...you'll get more from parting it out then the cost of buy back i swear to god

[SpeedAdiction20]

ok thanks for the info, i just wasn't too sure what the actual numbers were, and if it was something like I would barely get back the money from buying it back, but after finding slug's post about his car, I might have an option, because the mechanic, like I said before, just from looking at the pics on this site that i posted, that its easily $15k, going skimpy, and more like $15++ around there most likely... but waiting on slug to pm me back and for me to check actual damage again tomorrow.. also, i can't seem to figure out... do people sell the whole engine (assuming that its undamaged) or do they strip it and part that out too, same goes with other major/heavy parts??

[bgibb68]

you've been pm'ed

[SpeedAdiction20]

Well heres an update, just looked at my car today.. got the hood open, and looked under the car and all that junk.. car is toast pretty much, but I kinda expected that after I came out of denial that everything was all good lol.. I'll post a couple of the more hurtful pics a little later.. but luckily looks like engine and im pretty sure trans and what I can see is all good, turbo I'm pretty sure is good, nothing got to the heat shield of it (there the radiator fan touching the shield but not pushing against it, so shield is not bent basically), um.. tore up my right(from inside the car) MM insert part (stock insert at least).. but like i said ill post pics later

[intimidator2000]

I kind of have the same problem with my car right now I have 2001 Protege Es except my airbags did not deploy.

SpeedAdiction20 are you still planning to repair your car. What insurance company are you with?

[SpeedAdiction20]

Well I would have liked to repair my car but after looking at it again the other week and really getting a better idea of the damage after I was able to get the hood open, luckily it basically didn't damage anything inside the engine bay other than the radiator and the radiator fan, along with the left side engine mount but the frame is screwed, the impact to the front carried a little further back into the car, like the reason my steering wheel fell down, is that since my right side of my car (if your in the car) got it, it kinda pulled the left side of the frame out after the initial impact so the steering wheel slipped off its hooks or w/e those clip things are

Im with progressive, and I bought the car back, they said it was totaled, the mechanic that i had talked to said that if he was to repair it that it would most likely be around $15 about, but he didn't really want to get into it because you can never really tell how much damage there is sometimes until you really pull things apart..

but anyways ill be parting the car out after I get things settled, my insurance is Progressive, just switched to them a couple weeks ago actually after my 6months ran out with geico, a little bit cheaper, the car's worth was said to be $11.6k which seemed a little low since i had bought the car 7months ago for $13k and the DMV when registering it said the book value they use was a little bit over $13k, so I had tried to nogioate and tell him that after looking online that most of the cars are more than he valued it at.. and that didn't work so i was going to get some examples to show him, but i just found out today that he actualled mailed me the check already lol.. so i guess thats that.. lol oh well though..

If you haven't done this before and your car is said to be totaled if the insurance company doesn't fix it, or actually either way, make sure you find a mechanic you know or at least trust to do a good job and be straight with you to look at it before you say anything final, because if i were to get it fixed, one of the shops I had asked how much it would be said he just goes by what the insurance company says.. when I asked the other mechanic he said it was at lease $5k more than what the adjuster had it at.. because once its over the "totaled" value, they just stop looking.. but ya anyways good luck with it and just make sure that you get a 2nd opinion on whatever before you commit to anything, (when the adjuster origionally asked me what I wanted to do with the car I had said I would prob. buy it back I figured, after he had told me it was totaled, but I didn't realize that once I said that.. he wrote the check right then, I figured I would have some time to get another mechanic look at it, or get a more concrete value of the car after I decided what I wanted to do lol) but ya just take it slow and make sure you don't get screwed.. let us know how it goes

Edit: lol just realized that I write way to much for simple questions, lol oh well, knowledge is power??

[intimidator2000]

No prob with writing a long post I have better undersanding of what to look for now.

Right now, I have not got a chance to look at the car yet but I spoke with the body guy and he told me that frame is damaged but its repairable because the car is a unibody car; I don't that much on what is involved in fixing unibody car. One thing has me little concern since it may be a similar problem like your car is he said that the steering is damaged, I thought it was the power steering pump but it might be the steering fell down but I am not sure because at the accident the steering was up it did not fall, I was able to move the car to the corner.

[SpeedAdiction20]

oh, so your car still started? or were you able to move it by pushing, if you were still able to start the car if that is the case than there is a good chance I would think that the car is not too bad for repair, from what i read online about the unibody is that since it crumples at impact it doesn't really damage the entire frame but just where the impact is so you can repalce the smaller peices and bend back the large peice of the frame if possible.. opposted to those big ass steel frame pieces with older cars, i guess once that is damaged its pretty much the whole car frame is screwed.. but if your mechanic says its fixable ask him to try to get a good estimate on it, and add in any possible things that might be damaged but can't really see now..

the steering wheel is kinda wierd because i think i remember that my dash where the speed and all that is wasn't pulled out (or towards the front of the car, so kinda sunk in) when i had the accident but when i checked it later it was sunk in a little bit, im guess that might be from the towing itself just shifting the frame a little more, but either way it wasn't that sturdy..

I guess best you can do is try to see how much the car is going to fix.. then add some more money on there for things you can't think of.. and if it is anywhere close to the amount that you don't really want to spend to fix the car, might wanna look at your options.. i think of it as if I can't go out and buy a car that is the same as the one I just had if not better for the amount of money I would spend fixing the car I have now.. than I should try to fix the car..(assuming that the car is still intact and safe enough after all is fixed properly) well gl and keep us updated.