Car repair question - accuratehorn

[judgroybeanbag]

or any of you other knowledgeable people...

My Mazda3 got rear-ended on 360 yesterday by a guy doing between 30-40mph, and bounced me into the car in front of me. It hit me hard enough to deploy both his airbags, blow his windshield glass all over my car, and also his antifreeze since his grill punctured his radiator. Also was hard enough that I broke the headreast on the driver's seat when he hit me, and knocked the seat back 2 notches.

He had insurance and I filed a claim, but have not talked to an adjustor or had estimates done yet.

How can I tell if the frame is bent - I know the body (shell) is bent in back because it creased the place where the roof meets the trunk, and also sucked in the metal between the trunk and the roof. It still seems to drive OK, but are there also any long-term mechanical problems taking a shot like that can cause? Trying to determine what is fair repair and also if they total it, should I continue driving it or should I expect constant problems from here on?

Thx.

 

[Blain]

Unibody = fuxored.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

Sorry to hear about the accident & hope your physical injuries are limited.

Give it 2 days after the accident; you'll start to hurt along the seat belt line (soft tissue damage).

 

[accuratehorn]

Most cars now are "unibody" cars, and the body is the frame.
So if there are wrinkles in the structure of the body, or in the trunk area, the "frame" is bent.
There are good frame machines which can do a "frame pull" which will straighten the frame, or body, properly. If done correctly, the car will work right, and not have reliability problems. The only negative effect might be that the car would bend up easier if it had another wreck.
The body shop places sometimes don't always repair (or find) the mechanical problems, like a pinched wiring harness or broken motor mount, or such.
There are also new panels for unibody cars that can be purchased and welded in, which may be better policy than pulling out a wrinkled panel.
Depending on the age of the vehicle and the cost of the repair, it may be totaled.
It can be properly repaired, but it could be repaired where the glass leaks, the gaps between the doors and fenders or trunk and fenders is uneven, and the paint is not blended well with the existing paint.
Airbag repairs alone can be $2500 or more, so unless your car was pretty new, it could be totaled.

 

[judgroybeanbag]

Thanks, and an update. I took it to AMM in Dripping Springs this morning just to get an idea of what I'm looking at. Using OEM parts it comes to about $5K, and that is on a 2005 Mazda3 with 70K miles on it. Caveat is that they can't tell what damage is done underneath until they get the rear body parts off and put it on a lift. What sucks is that I suspect, unless there is major damage underneath, I'm looking at $5K to $6K in repairs, on a car that's worth at the most, $9K. That falls under the 70% to total, but basically IMO the car is ****** and no way will I get any resale out of it, nor is the possibility I can but 150K miles on it still there.

Opinions on that - am I off base?

 

[judgroybeanbag]

Also, since I haven't been through this process before, can I just take the cash from the insurance company and not get the car fixed? Because frankly I'm going to drive it into the ground, and I only owe $6K on it. If I can get another 2 years out of it it will have 120K miles or so and won't be worth anything anyway. I'd prefer not to hassle with fixing it if it doesn't affect the resale price when I'm done abusing it.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

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[judgroybeanbag]

OK thanks. That helps in the decision-making process.