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