I have an old 2004 Honda Accord. I was hit at low speed and got a minor fender bender. The damage is completely cosmetic. I got an estimate for $1600 for repairs. Considering the age and value (Kelly Blue Book claims sell to private party value of $3600), I am thinking it makes more sense to just ask for $1600 (there is zero deductible) than to get it repaired. Any opinions?
Take the cash. If you went to a reputable body shop/dealership you might be paying a premium on that sort of repair. You can find someone on the streets who can do this type of work for a fraction of that cost if it is actually cosmetic as you stated.
Thats one of the best parts of owning an older car like that. Get it dinged up and collect those claims.
I had 2004 Accord sell it now. once you reach crazy mileage over 200k, things start to finally break and repairs aren't worth it.
How many miles? Japanese cars last over 225k, easy. If those repair estimates are from a big company like Mayco, the work can be done cheaper and better quality from a mom-and-pop.
I had a 2003 Honda Accord... I miss that thing. Sell it and buy another Accord. I'm currently Accord-less and I feel it in my bones.
I had a similar situation with a 2003 Odyssey. I took the $2k offered and sold the dinged up car to Carmax for a couple more and bought a newer one. It doesn't make a lot of sense to fix up an old car the right way. However, if you intend to keep driving it, you might find a shop that can do a substandard job for a fraction of the cost to make it look decent, and you keep the difference.
Take the money, especially since it's cosmetic. I had a 2001 Honda Accord, sold it with ~190k on it. This particular model apparently had weak transmissions, and my co-worker who I sold it to had to replace it. He's now over 220k on it, and commutes about 80 miles a day with it. Check and see if your car is known to be susceptible to any problems like this, and if so, sell it while you can.
Thanks for all the replies. Some additional info I left out. The car has 140k miles. The main damage is a large, fist sized dent on the trunk door next to the license plate and hole in the plastic taillight cover. Plastic bumper cover also has some damage. Trunk door works fine still and I've taped over the cracked plastic. I've had work done on it over the years (AC, starter, alternator) although those seem common. It runs well. I guess I could just take the cash and opt for a substandard job or even just live with the cosmetic damage. Considering the paint is noticeably fading, making the rear look like new doesn't make sense I guess. Also, the $1600 quote is from a reputable Gold-Class body shop so maybe a low end shop could do it for less.
Since the issue was the other driver's (assuming other party is Covering wreak and won't hurt your rates/cost)... Might want to see if they might total it, get cash out, even get 2nd appraisal for this. Then you request to buy the car back for... Maybe $100 from insurance and fix it yourself or at cheap shop and resell. The rates when you pay cash probably will cost you like 600 especially if just fixing important stuff, sell it for $2k+ and cash totaled insurance check. Unless insurance is actually going to be cool but they normally depreciate it a lot. One time I doubled money doing that...
