Car totaled by hail. Keep or relinquish?

Are you the original owner? If so, that make me lean towards keeping it especially if you are not in a place to swallow a new car payment. There is a value in my mind about knowing the true maintenance history.

 

Golf balls have dents all around the surface because it improved its aerodynamic in transit. Your Prius’ co-efficient could now be lower by .1 vs stock.

 

I'd take the money and buy it back. Invest that money and drive that clunker until the wheels fall off. If your a swerd investor, you may make enough money to buy a new car outright or at least put up a good down payment.....

 

Yes, as long as the damage doesn't bother you, I'd buy it back ...you might get a few more years out of it!

 

Seven Grand will get you a generation too in many places that will carry you until you're so bored you'll change the vehicle by peer pressure. At least that's how it's been here as soon as we got out of the gen threes. The threes were bought to appease women without much thinking it's cute and it's the right color not.

 

If I woke up in your shoes....the first thing I would do is give you your shoes back.
Then If I'm understanding your situation I would put the $5k into a car repair account and cash flow anything that happens to the car between now and 250k miles.

Normally I would never give this advise to car owners that do not DIY, BUT you're aware enough to have already had the EGR work done.
Perhaps even correctly.
This means that if you've paid some passing attention to the maintenance guide and you're doing regular 5,000 mile oil changes (or paying to have them done) then this car will probably give you another 50-100k of service.
You've also already blabbed to your insurance company about the hail damage and you now have a hull-loss incident in your record - so driving a car without comp and collision for a few years would be to your financial benefit, and let's face it.....
7K isn't going to buy you a more reliable car than the one that you're already driving - and you live in one of those nearly uninhabitable states where the weather can kill people a couple of months out of the year!

Reliability > Aesthetics!
Besides.....you already drive a Prius.
HOW much worse does it look with a few dimples in it?

Best of luck!

 

My 94 civic any of the Corollas here and all the gen2 here will out go that car easily . I'd even bet even if I didn't change the oil and one of my Prius it would go until that gen 3 blew up and then I would change my oil and go another $150,000 mi in the two almost guarantee it but we can't do things like that guarantee if that is.

 

I would take the insurance money and buy a newer car. At 155k miles, you are getting to the point that expensive repairs (head gasket, brake actuator, hybrid battery) will start to occur. You owned the car in the prime of its life. I would jump on the $7k money.

 

You can get full insurance coverage on a salvage titled car....I have it on mine. I have had it on 3 different cars over the last 20 years....I don't know why people always say you can't.

 

Key OP statement for me was, "I don't know how to work on cars myself."

This hail-damaged car has 150K mileage.
Some say it has served its lifespan.

I assume a windshield and back glass are needed, and the roof and hood are "dimpled"/ cosmetic damage. The parts and labor (and paint work) totaled the car.

OP has math to do, payout, less buy-back, less windshield install, less hood etc to make the car dependable/ drivable/ legal but retains its damaged look.
Still, with a "don't know how to work on cars" quote, the insurance money may be depleted fast.
Our co-member has a good point that any remaining insurance payout money is for keeping this car on the road past 150K mileage, but how much will remain?

With all that written:
My vote: Buy a replacement car.

Good luck with your decision.

 

If he's going to stick to the same insurance company; I don't think they are going to allow that. They've already paid out once, and why would someone do full coverage on something worth less than $5K, when full coverage is probably around $2K+ a year???? If he tries to move to another insurance company, based on claims, he's going to be paying higher rates to boot.

 

It's not that you cannot get the coverage....
Most people are not willing to pay that much for insurance.
I don't even carry c/c on two of my cars - because they're worth less than $5000 each, and I can write a check for both of them.

It's a 'math' thing.
I use insurance to indemnify me against an unsustainable loss - NOT to 'make me whole' or whatever the insurance agents would want you to believe is the 'smarter' way to do it.

YMMV

 

I used to know a guy that bought full insurance coverage for everything, even the toaster he buys. Of course he never took responsibility for anything he did and blame everyone else for his mistakes....
His insurance broker would send him birthday and X-mas cards.....

 

At what miles was “EGR repair” done? Well back or just recently? DIY, or shop says they’ve done it?

I’d concur, frustrating it’s “totalled” due to hail dents. Maybe just wax it up and keep going. Depending on mechanical condition.

 

If it was a generation too it would be your work or delivery mule. Given that it's a three it goes with the first sign of the nonsense. I had one drop at 396 and another one just under $200.

 

Take the buyout. 7K isn't the best for your car, but it isn't the worst either. After 155K, it seems like the Gen 3s are only downhill from there. (Owner of a Gen 3 myself). That 7K would help but wouldn't totally get you all the way into a Gen 4. The differences there are really nice.

Just my opinion. I've owned a Gen 2, currently own a Gen 3 and a Gen 4 Prime.

 

You get the 7k either way, it's just a question of whether your current car is worth $1400, right?

Best value is to take the $1400 car, assuming it needs minimal work to be drivable. Of course you'll only want liability coverage, but that's just more $$$ savings. The question is if you are okay with driving a beat up car.