I just reread your post. If some one else hit you don't you have the option of having your car repaired the way you want it?? Three K is way to low. Is it a V8?? anyway F....um fight the insurance company to get what you want. you can't take the hit and they give you penny on the dollar.


We had a women rearend my wife,they exchanged info and when we called her insurance company we were told that my wife backed up(up hill) into the womens car and we will be paying to have her car fixed. Its crazy!!!!!

 

The first number the insurance company gives you should be considered an offer. Their job is to get you to agree to the lowest number possible. Was the wreck your fault? If not this becomes a lot easier. After you negotiate the best price and they say NO MORE, then say ok If I keep the car for parts. Don’t be afraid to start high. Tell them you think it was worth 12k. Your not going to get that but you can always go down. Car values are always a negotiation, even the most detailed website gives ranges not a single value.

It looks to me that the uni-body frame is damaged. It can be pulled back into shape but metal has a memory over time even vibration can cause the repair to tweak later on. As cheap as you can find a 94 Z28 in solid condition I would not think of repairing a body hit that hard.

Find a nice 94Z with a blown engine or transmission. Ask whoever rebuilt the motor for a quote to swap it to the new car along with, ask who ever painted the car to quote a matching paint job. That could be ammunition to get a better deal.

If you are in a no fault State or it was your fault this can be tuff. Insurance company will say hey you paid for insurance on a 94 Z28 and get the value of a 94 Z28. You should have told us we where insuring a car that worth 3 time what a 94 z28 costs. If you can deal with the at fault insurance company you have no agreement with them so they need to get you back in as good or better car.

 

No, there is still a "totaled amount", whichever insurance company is paying. The sky is not the limit. Generally, if cost of repairs exceeds about 80% of the cars value, they consider it totaled.
By what she said though "My insurance company say it is a TOTAL and will give me approx. $3000 for it", it sounds as if they determined it to be her fault? Otherwise she'd be talking to the other persons insurance company instead, unless they didn't have insurance.

 

Funny thing I noticed in my wifes last fender bender. It was not her fault, since it was minor damage I let her handle it. She said our insurance was paying. I was like WHAT? she said that is how they do it. We even had to pay $100 deductible. 3 weeks later we got a letter and a check repaying our deductible. The insurance companies did not decide who was at fault for a week and we got our refund after the other insurance company paid up. I called Allstate, they said it is part of the service they provide. Since they know they are repairing the car either way they do it before blame is assigned or checks are cut. They also said I was more then welcome to deal directly with the other insurance company if I wanted to. While my insurance company was dealing with my wife they never mentioned any options. I thought that might be the case here since the car was damaged in the back.

Course my wife may have just told them to fix it she didn't care about $100.