Hey, posting this for my girlfriend. She has an 01 Acrua Integra with about 150k miles. It's in terrible condition (mostly body damage)

back story so ya know the deal


Somebody hit her on the highway a while back. They were at fault, and so we went through their insurance. It was GEICO, and we just took it to Haddocks Collision in Crossroads. Estimates were about $1300, Geico cuts us a check and we think it's all cool.

Last week, Geico calls and says there's more damage than they thought, including a bent frame, so they are totaling the vehicle. They gave us $16 extra bucks.

Haddocks won't look at it now. She asks if they could just fix the parts that are needed ot pass inspection. They refuse.

So we have now have a totaled car with expired registration. Not sure how the bent frame will affect drivability, although she drove it after the accident and it seemed ok. We don't have the money to do a complete repair, and it would be silly since the car is surely not worth that much. The repair shop won't do a partial repair, and we don't have the money to fix it all or buy a new car at the moment. As of this moment it kinda looks like we are screwed.


So I was wondering if anybody knew a place around here that would take a shitty car and bring it up to pass inspection for cheap. School starts for her Jan 6th so she really needs a vehicle. Would be great if we had the $$ to buy a new car, but not sure we really have any choice here.

thanks in advance for the help, if there's any

Merry Christmas

[Edited on December 24, 2013 at 12:14 PM. Reason : adfdsa]

12/24/2013 12:13:21 PM

It sounds like she has $1316 to buy a new car

12/24/2013 1:52:35 PM

Don't get involved in your girlfriend's financial choices, btw. She's just a girlfriend.

12/24/2013 1:59:14 PM

So, did Haddocks inspect the car AFTER the check was cut and alert Geico that there is more damage than the original report indicated?

12/24/2013 2:05:23 PM

She needs to contact HER insurance company.

12/24/2013 2:12:46 PM

Quote :

"So, did Haddocks inspect the car AFTER the check was cut and alert Geico that there is more damage than the original report indicated?"

not 100% but i think this sounds about rihgt. Like they did an estimate, and they actually took the car in, noticed more damage than previously thought, and reported to GEICO.

12/24/2013 2:19:36 PM

Quote :

"She needs to contact HER insurance company."

Not sure it's gonna do any good. The car is technically her moms, and her mom def signed some papers at GEICO already. Might be too late.

12/24/2013 2:23:08 PM

Quote :

"Don't get involved in your girlfriend's financial choices, btw. She's just a girlfriend. "

well she's actually my fiance, so i feel a tad bit more obligated to help

12/24/2013 2:25:44 PM

What did her mom sign?

12/24/2013 2:30:33 PM

no clue.

12/24/2013 2:34:30 PM

I don't think you are gonna get much help here not being the principal involved party and not having all the information.

12/24/2013 4:16:47 PM

sounds like haddocks did a poor job of inspecting the vehicle in the first place and should be held to their quote. did you only get one estimate? those cars typically hold their value pretty well . If the vehicle was only worth $1316 geico should have totaled it to begin with, sounds like they're really the ones tryin to screw you.

12/24/2013 6:17:01 PM

More than likely it wasn't obvious how much work would be needed to hang the new parts properly. Frame machine time adds up quick. Without all the info (which the OP does not even have) I wouldn't say anyone is screwing his gf's mama over, $1,300 for a beat down 01 teggy with a bent frame sounds about right to me.

These days people are buying new cars at a high rate, expect to see the values of used cars like this to decline more rapidly. It's not like it's a type rrrrrrrrrrrrrr

12/24/2013 8:57:59 PM

maybe i'm wrong but i thought it used cars were rising in price. even in fair shape a 2 door ls integra has a kbb of close to $3k. sure you could find a ragged out teg for less, but insurance has to assume you can get at least the book value(kbb,nada etc.) bc they can't prove you couldn't especially after their customer has smashed into it. unless the frame damage was there before the accident and they can prove it they can't subtract it from the value of the car.

12/24/2013 9:34:42 PM

IIRC under certain circumstances you could buy a totalled car back from the insurance company and sometimes for dirt cheap. I'd check that out and if it's something reasonable (read: less than a couple hundred bucks), buy it back and take it to another shop with that $1000+ just to get her car back up and running (going to have a salvaged title). NC inspection is pretty basic, a bent frame or shitty looking quarterpanel isn't a disqualifying factor so much as tires w/o decent tread and busted lights.

A normal and reputable body shop probably wouldn't touch your car w/ a 10ft pole trying to do what you're asking for in my mind, too much headache and liability. If money is that tight, I'd try to buy the basic required replacement body parts from Certifit and stopping by a couple hole-in-the-wall type places down on and just off of S Saunders. Try Gowers's? Last time I was down that way there were a dozen indie shops within a few miles of each other.

[Edited on December 25, 2013 at 3:32 AM. Reason : missed your actual question at the bottom]

12/25/2013 3:15:05 AM

Thanks. Mostly the information I needed was for a mechanic, not so much how to handle her situation . It's out of my control, all I can really do is give advice

12/25/2013 10:20:14 AM