We were driving on a rural highway at 55 mph when we struck a large 8 point buck with our 4 week old new car (2011 VW Jetta). We suffered no injuries thanks to airbags but the car has extensive damage to the front end and driver side. The accident occurred several states away while visiting relatives, the car is undrivable and we came home with a rental car provided by the insurance company.
We thought the car would be totaled (they sell for around $21k +/-) but learned the insurance adjuster feels it can be repaired for $9500. He determined this based on looking at the car and I guess having experience estimating repair bills. Frankly, we want the car totaled because we don't want to own a car that has had to have such extensive repairs. These extensive repairs often lead to premature failures, mismatched paint that fades differently over time, repeated visits to the dealer, etc. Granted, a lot of the car is undamaged and we do not suspect frame damage, but his initial estimate is already close to 50% of the car. We think a real VW dealership will likely charge far more to make factory repairs but are being pressured to accept the initial offer even though a repair facility has not seen the car.
Looking for some advice to handle the negotiation with the adjuster. They seem unwilling to tow it to our local VW dealer where we want the repairs made. The fact that this happened seems to be a factor.
We thought the car would be totaled (they sell for around $21k +/-) but learned the insurance adjuster feels it can be repaired for $9500. He determined this based on looking at the car and I guess having experience estimating repair bills. Frankly, we want the car totaled because we don't want to own a car that has had to have such extensive repairs. These extensive repairs often lead to premature failures, mismatched paint that fades differently over time, repeated visits to the dealer, etc. Granted, a lot of the car is undamaged and we do not suspect frame damage, but his initial estimate is already close to 50% of the car. We think a real VW dealership will likely charge far more to make factory repairs but are being pressured to accept the initial offer even though a repair facility has not seen the car.
Looking for some advice to handle the negotiation with the adjuster. They seem unwilling to tow it to our local VW dealer where we want the repairs made. The fact that this happened seems to be a factor.