I had the misfortune of smashing up my 96 se yesterday. Goes for an estimate on Monday.

Any idea how much would take for an insurance company to total it?

For sure it will need:
Drivers door skin, drivers mirror, radiator, radiator support, drivers front fender, bumper surround, skid plate underneath. Oil pan and transmission pan are also dented in but appears to be functional. In addition, roof is dented and scratched, hood is scratched up, and so on.

Just curious, can't wait till Monday.

if the value of the car is less than the cost to repair the car. You can buy the car from the ins. company and fix it yourself if they do total it

What do you mean buy it from the insurance company?

79ford: I can pretty much guaruntee that the Insurance Company will total your car. That is quite the list of parts you will need.

And I too am curious what this "buy from Insurance Company" thing is. Why would you want ot buy your car from the Insurance Company? Wouldn't it be.. they give you the value of the car, and you fix it?


-justin

It'* really hard to give an estimate, but depending on the miles and the pre-accident condition of the vehicle, could be worth $6,000-$8,000. Very rough estimate.

With that damage (and the unseen damage) you will no doubt be getting a check from you ins for the whole car. Those parts alone are going to cost 60-70% of the value of the car (ins totals cars with damage at 70%+ of the value).
Whatever you do don't let them get you with their first offer which will be way below book -go to www.autotrader.com, www.cars.com and any other local (to you) website'* and newspapers and get prices of other 1996-1997 Bonneville SE'* to show how much it will cost to replace yours.
I guaruntee you that your insurance is going to give you a low-ball offer for around 60-70% of the value -that'* where having printout'* comes in handy -preferably the highest priced 1996-1997 Bonneville SE'* with similar mileage.

Good luck.

They give you a check for the "value" of the car, Lets say $5000. You can then use that $5000 to buy it back from them. I suppose the price could be negotiable, I'm not sure, I've never done that.

Like OlBlueEyesBonne said, they will try to lowball you. Do your homework and be ready to prove your case.

The buy-back price will be roughly what a salvage yard would pay them for it -for a mildly optioned 1996 SE with damage like yours you are going to be looking at a buy-back of anywhere from $500-$1200'ish.
If you do the buy-back option the insurance will then deuct the buy-back price from the check they will be writing you for the car.

If you get somewhere in the 1k'* I would just buy another cheap Bonnie and then fix it up some. You'll be paying the same or even less fixing up this undamaged one than you would the damaged one and the damaged one could possibly have a tweaked frame. My Bonnie was only $1200 so im sure you can find a similar deal.

Thanks for all the replies.
I had forgotten that I posted this! A little update - It appears that they WILL be totaling it. I have yet to speak to the valuation adjustor to negotiate, however I am also shopping around for some other estimates.
As some had indicated here, if they do total it, I don't think I will be to interested in taking it less salvage, then attempting to get it fixed on my own dime.
Time will tell I guess.