Do I repair after a wreck or just get a new car?

Asked by siuleafar Aug 26, 2019 at 11:04 PM about the 2013 Hyundai Elantra GLS FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2013 Hyundai Elantra that has 62,000 miles on it. I recently rear-
ended someone, which resulted in my car needing to replace the hood, front
panel, right front panel, plus probably front brackets, etc. Airbag wasn't
deployed, and the car drives fine. I've tried to get an estimate to get the body
repaired, but no one will give me one because they won't open the hood (in
fear it won't close again} and look inside. Basically, they have said I could be
looking at $3,500-$4,000 in repairs because of my bonehead mistake of not
having collision insurance on the car, only liability. I know, it was a stupid
mistake of me being  cheapskate. If I had collision insurance, the insurance
company would have paid to get it fixed because the car still has value.So,
here are other details, I still owe about $3,900 on the loan, the KBB value for
the car is probably $4,000-$5,000 as is. Do I go ahead and bite the bullet,
repair the car, and keep using it, or do I try to trade it in for hopefully the rest
of the loan and a bit more and just get another car?Are there other options to
consider here?

1 Answer

41,240

You summed it up with Bonehead mistake. I would go ahead and repair it and drive it a few more years and add collision back onto your insurance policy. If you tried trading it in, you would get scrap value for it. Wholesale on your vehicle is $4800 minus the $4000 in repairs equals $800. Or you can pay off the loan and start over. Only remove collision if you can afford to replace the vehicle once it gets damaged.

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