A question about car insurance claims

[auburngrad82]

I got nailed by a very large deer yesterday on the way to work. I took the shot directly in the driver's door, and the door was caved in and bent so the seal no longer functions so it will probably allow a lot of water in any time it rains. The car is 17 years old but we have comprehensive insurance on it (probably because we have comprehensive on the newer car which is still being financed), so the damages will be covered. Here's my question.

I suspect that due to the age of the vehicle the repairs will cost more than the vehicle is worth, so there's a possibility that the insurance company will total the vehicle. If they total the vehicle and give us the value of the vehicle minus the deductible, does that mean the car becomes their property and we can no longer drive it? The car is drivable, it's mostly the driver's door that took the damage, with some damage to the front quarter panel.

Do I have any options other than take what the insurance company offers?

[Orrex]

1. When they totalled my vehicle a few years back...

They took the vehicle in order to recoup some of their losses through resale of parts.

If it's just the door, can you get one at a junk yard?

[auburngrad82]

12. That's kind of what I expected. nt

[MineralMan]

2. I'm not sure how that works with the insurance company,

but there may be a solution for your door. If the frame around the door is not damaged, a door from an auto junkyard for that year and model of car should fit just fine. Installing a new door on a car is a little tricky, but not terrible. You have to work to align the door. The door hinge mountings are adjustable. It can take some time to get it all aligned properly.

OTOH, if the frame is distorted, that trick won't work.

[madokie]

4. Can also possibly find a door that is the same color so it won't show like a bum thumb

[MineralMan]

5. That's true, but the car is 17 years old, which

may mean that there aren't a lot of that model around. Once you start shipping stuff from junkyards, the costs go up dramatically. Still, it's worth a try.

[madokie]

3. You can buy it back from the insurance company

and buy a door and put it on and go on about your business. If its still a good car and you really need it and you don't want to put money in another that can be the best thing to do. In the end you can put a few bucks in your pocket too.
Been there and done that, just wasn't a deer that nailed me

[kairos12]

6. We did this in my state, the vehicle had a salvage title though

[madokie]

7. Which is fine if you plan on driving it rather than selling it

[lastlib]

9. and you won't be able to insure it again.

you can possibly get liability coverage, but that's all.

[kairos12]

10. That is the coverage we got

[auburngrad82]

13. That's what I thought

I figured if they total the car it can no longer be insured.

[jberryhill]

8. How is the deer?

[auburngrad82]

11. The deer died instantly when he hit the car

His body was exactly where he made contact and he literally dropped straight down so he was in the position where he made the collision except his legs had collapsed under him.

It's the first time I've ever had an accident involving a deer. I'd guess it weighed at least 150 pounds. Imagine driving along at 45 MPH in the dark and rain and having a very large object slam into your driver's door just inches from where you're sitting. Very disconcerting.

[dionysus]

14. when i totalled my car, i had the option to buy it back for 500 bucks, otherwise they kept it.

[Tracer]

15. Have you called your insurance company?

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago.

A deer leapt out of the woods and crashed into my front left fender. The deer was OK, the car was not.

The insurance company said it was "and act of God" and paid NOTHING.

[auburngrad82]

16. I called the insurance company immediately

They sent me to a collision center for an estimate. The guy who looked at it said exactly what I had suspected, that the insurance company probably would only cover the value of the car, not the cost of the repairs. Looking at it, I would estimate it would cost at least $4000, but being that the car is 17 years old its blue book value is probably only $1000-2000. So we'll have to decide what to do with it.

I'd been planning on getting a new vehicle in a year when my wife's car is paid for. We'll see what happens.

[sweetapogee]

17. teenage Son

hit a deer about 2 years ago. The car was almost 9 years old with 180K miles and we still had full coverage. This was a Saturn VUE with plastic body parts. The front right fender, the entire bumper cover and the left headlight were wrecked.

The estimates to fix were $2200.00 The insurance co paid that less the $1000 deductible which left us with $1200.00 I went to a junk yard and bought a fender, bumper cover (this is actually the entire grill and bumper assy) and headlight. The son of a friend painted the parts to match the car. I replaced the parts, it took about 4 hours as I have never done this before. The hardest part was getting the radio antenna detached from the old fender.

Total costs:

fender, bumper, headlight $450.00
paint $ 500.00
fasteners for wheel well and misc . $50.00

As my total repair costs (less my personal 4 hours of assembly) and plus the time it took to get the parts from the junk yard left me with almost $200.00 left over. So in reality i didn't really make any money but I really cannot say I lost any either. The car still runs today and actually looks good.

As another poster said, try to find a door at a junk yard and replace it yourself. Just take the door to a body shop to have painted. You may need a manual impact driver to remove the bolts holding the door on and you will have to align the door. If the frame is bent, sorry to say, the car is a total.

ON EDIT: not many 17 year old cars have any book value, the NADA book stops at 10 years. But still, the car may be worth fixing to you if it is otherwise in good condition.

[auburngrad82]

18. The costs, as I suspected, were more than the value of the car

I think we're going to take the money and let them total the car, put the money in the bank, and when we get our tax refund look at getting a new vehicle.

It just wasn't in the plans to have two car payments, but the other vehicle will be paid off next year so we can probably manage it for a year.