I have not done this rodeo before so I just want to make sure I'm going about this the best way, I'm being told this and that and I'm not sure if there are other alternatives.
I was involved with a collision that was not my fault earlier today.
Their insurance RAC is going to handle things. I only had 3rd party as I drive an 09 SX Hyundai Getz 152Kkms, only the person at faults RAC is going to do anything for me, which is fine. I was told to ring their RAC and RAC asked if I wanted repairs done, I said if "yeah if I can"
I was then given a location nearest my work to take the car in for an inspection. The car is still drivable and is virtually fine except for a reasonable streak down the left side of the vehicle where about 6 inches of their cars bumper surface area scraped down the side. The doors open and close but the paint has been scraped, I have been told the doors will need to be replaced and repainted as the shell is damaged enough, no car structure damage or pillar issues except for the left rear fender will need to be panel beaten and repainted
All the above work is going to cost more than the vehicle value apparently, this is what the crash repairers said, and I will most likely only get a pay out of the vehicle value which has been set by RAC at $3100
I always looked after the car with proper service history, usually they sell for more than that. Even Redbooks value it higher than that.
This is the main thing though, If I take the payout I lose the car entirely, although I know others who've had write offs and got paid out but also kept the car in a much worse state, which I don't understand !?!?.
If I turn everything down and just keep the car they're saying it could be yellow stickered. I know I can get white doors for around $200 each from a wrecker
I know a couple $1000 might be chump change for some but I would like to know if this is really how it goes
Ideally I'd like to get a payout and sell the car or fix it myself as I know the rest of it is fine, and coming up with a rental while I wait for the money to come through would be something to avoid.
You can try to negotiate with RAC for a higher value if you believe it is worth more and get a pay-out to fix yourself. I am in Qld where someone rear-ended me and it ended up being a repairable write-off. I didn't want to lose the car (as cannot find anything comparable for the same price) so I took the pay-out to fix it myself (cost me $600 out of pocket), but still kept the car and my insurance intact with (apparently) no issues from my insurance company. I have comprehensive though.