$10K repair or buy a new car?

Liam · 02-02-2013, 12:40 PM

I slid off an icy road and hit a tree head-on in my 2001 Insight. The air bag did not trigger, and I was able to drive away fine, but the auto repair shop "grounded" my car because the hood had been pushed up and was a liability.

The repair shop has estimated the cost of repair at $10,000. They estimate $6600 in parts, pointing out the lack of after-market parts available for the Insight. The list of parts needed includes a bumper cover, rebar, headlights, bumper extensions, hood, hood hinges, hood latch, radiator, AC condenser, rad support, and fenders. There is no apparent engine damage.

My insurance company has deemed the car a "total loss". They will pay me what they think the value of the car was before the accident, but they haven't yet decided how much that is. I think they may be having trouble appraising the car since so few used Insights are sold here in Ontario.

I'm debating whether I should buy a new car or have my Insight repaired. I bought my Insight new in 2001, and it's been a fantastic car for me. I've had regular (twice a year) maintenance done, and the car was in excellent condition before the tree incident. Mileage on the car is only 65,000 km (I don't drive a lot).

I'm finding the decision really tough. My Insight is the only car I've ever owned, and I've always planned to keep driving it for as long as I could. Other cars on the market today don't excite me that much, but if I need to replace my Insight, I would probably choose to buy a new Prius c or Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

New cars aren't cheap, and neither is this repair bill, but I can afford either option. What would you do? Is it silly to pay $10K to repair an 11-year-old car?

bibendum · 02-02-2013, 01:05 PM

yeah that is a hard call to make.

you have two options as I see it.
first decide if you want to own another insight.
the rest is assuming you will want a 2000 insight.
take the money the insurance offers minus the salvage.
and then decide how to spend your cash

here are the options:

1)buy another insight and you have a big pile of spare parts.

2) buy an inexpensive insight with the idea you have
the pieces to make it a good car.

in either case you will likely get more money parting it out
than the salvage the insurance will take from you.

luck and I am sorry for your loss.

**rhall** · 02-02-2013, 01:06 PM

Insights often get front end damage so used front end parts are scarce. But don't despair. I probably have a lot of what you need. Better still I'm only about 45 minutes from you. In fact, two of us are working on our Insights in a heated garage here right now. I'll bet it's not all that bad but I would need to see it. C'mon over! PM me for directions.

02insight · 02-02-2013, 01:27 PM

10k seems way too high of an estimate. Can you post a picture of the damage? I think if you went with used parts, you could get it fixed for under 1k. There is no frame damage right?

Mario · 02-02-2013, 02:03 PM

I'm not sure about your sentimental attachment to the car, but if I were you, I'd get as much money for it as I could and buy a new one. Good Insights can be had for far less than $10k; my 2000 with 127k miles was only $6500.

biododge1 · 02-02-2013, 02:27 PM

"but the auto repair shop "grounded" my car because the hood had been pushed up and was a liability"

That line right there screams to me scam (on their part). Thats a huge scare tactic to get you to have them do the work...shop around, im sure you can get a better price-and Id bet not eveything they said was bad is..

So, with that, i say fix it..

Willie Williford · 02-02-2013, 05:10 PM

What..Who's liability, theirs?
I would get my car out of that shop.
Do they have the authority to "ground the vehicle?"
If your hood is still latched, I'd tell them to shove it and take my business elsewhere.

My opinion.

Willie

jimrm · 02-02-2013, 06:06 PM

I'm with Willie, get your car away from them asap. I'm sure they are charging storage to you as well. Unless something is different in Canada that car is yours and it can be in your driveway until the insurance company settles. I'd show a pic to rhall and see if it can be self repaired. I brought one back from the dead. It's not hard to work on these cars.

Need4Speed · 02-02-2013, 06:50 PM

Is the repair estimate Canadian or us dollars? What does it work out in us dollars? If it is 10k us dollars I think the value is a lot less than that. 10k damage with no air bag deployment seems high. Maybe they are estimating with new Honda parts and not salvage parts.

theaveng · 02-02-2013, 08:33 PM

Keep the insight.
Buy another one off ebay or craigslist.
Use the broken insight for parts to keep insight # 2 operational. Like the oil filter, air filter, tires, battery, and at some point you might even need a new engine.

That's what I'm doing with my old 2002 to keep the 2006 up and running.