I'm really surprised that the insurance on your S is so expensive? I previously drove an RX8 that was totaled when I was hit by another driver. When I was shopping for a new car, the insurance quote I got for an '06 S was $400 per year less than my other choice, a BRZ.

 

Man, that's rough...Sorry for your loss but more importantly I hope everyone is ok and recovers.

I had a rollover accident years ago that required the jaws of life, a helicopter ride and it too was a single car incident. I didn't get dropped but my rates went up about 30%

I don't think the DWS06 tires are bad at all, in fact they're some of the best rated all seasons as I recall. I had some on my MS6 and got around fine in winter with them. That said, they were slick, especially in dry weather. With a car like the S2K I find it really hard to get out of control in a corner unless the engine is in the upper rev band. How fast were you taking that corner? Of course, none of us were in the car and its pointless to analyze...

 

I required the Jaws during my accident and got a flight of the Valkyries ride as well.Of course they dropped me after the payout.

OP- See how things play out and take it from there.

 

The problem with these cars and insurance claims is that payouts are
usually based off of book value like KBB, NADA etc. not market value.
Book value will be much less than market/replacement value unless you
have a policy that guarantees replacement value.

 

I was expecting quite a lot more damage than that. That is easily fixable and the car can drive as good as new, as long as the shop is fastidious about replacing control arms, knuckles, subframe, and other easily bent parts that affect suspension geometry. You didn't even damage a fender.

Also, am I reading your post correctly that you paid a total of $10,000 to have your car painted? Did they paint it in pure 24K gold flake?

 

So Geico estimate is in...
They are going to fix it (Which I am ok - I trust the body shop I am working with to be able to do a good job).
Geico estimate is 14k vs 16K body shop (initial estimates)
key differences are that body shop wants to replace the entire door shell vs only out panel for geico
also there are some things that gieco has better for example geico wants to replace susp cross member ($1000) vs body shop estimate for stab bars, brackets holders and bushings
also new air body in Geico vs only fixing in Body
SO basically there are some deifferences here and there but overall they are pretty close in their esimates.
My body shop got is way with geico for most things in the past, so I will make sure they ask for replacement parts where possible.
ALso the body shop estiamte is in a lot more detail with respect to small items

the left headlight is getting replaced. I am wondering if I should have them do the right one as well ($631) and ask for the used one back (it is in excellent condition and I am hoping I can sell it for atleast half cost on ebay or on here). reason is I want to make sure beam strength and overall look is even (I have OCD). I was already having some issues with factory beam pattern being too short ahead of the car (might ask them to slighly raise the distance ahead of the car - I know the drivers side beam is a bit shorter)

Other concern is the fact that they are removing the soft top for the panel repairs. about 6-7 hours of labor. I wonder if I should buy a new soft top (oem or robbins?) as a preemptive measure. However my current soft top is perfectly fine so maybe I won't.

Last major concern is around unibody damage. I have to talk to my body shop manager to see how confident he feels about the repairs (his initial suggestion was to not get the car repaired). now that geico wants to fix it, i'll have to see if he thinks diff. ultimatley it is more money for him to do the repairs, but I wonder why he was hesitant.

My other concerns is with how long this thing is going to be in the body shop?

NOte: for all concerned, the full respray cost me $6000. That includes $1900 I paid out of pocket for deductible and having panels painted that were not part of the comprehensive claim, including some other jobs like polishing and clear coating the headlights, resealing the tail lights etc and fixing some other minor cosmetic issues.

 

A traditional unibody car is vulnerable to crash damage as all the suspension mounting points are attached directly to the body. Anything that tweaks the body alters these locations, and can affect the cars handling. Even if it can still be properly aligned, it may not be even side to side.

The S not only uses subframes, but these subframes can be aligned to body. They cam also be replaced if damaged. The suspension components mount to the subframes. So if unibody is tweaked, the suspension can still be perfectly symmetrical if the subframes are intact and aligned.

The Car is also designed with 'fuses' that absorb the damage. Its deliberately designed for the replaceable components, control arms, knuckles, etc, to be the parts that suffer damage, while the subframes are more robust.

 

That is encouraging to hear! THANKS for the advice.

In my Body Shop Manager's words (whom I was just talking to a few minutes earlier)... "Any damage is fixable with enough money!". He is surprised that Geico wants to repair this. He says that the Geico inspector never requested the car to be lifted up and only examined it on the lot (His estimate however is pretty close to the body shops). The key difference is new front susp cross member (1000) + new air body (900) = 2k (and they didn't add some parts that the body shop did). That money if added to the body shop estimate bring the repair budget to 18K. That still doesn't include the supplement that my body shop wants to write...

The threshold for total loss in VA is 75%. The KBB on these cars is (dealer price) - $20,788 (trade-in $19,200) - If I add the value of my recent full respray (new wheels and tires windshield headlight etc) and full maintenance records (fluids, alignments, service) As a POSITIVE I could at most get $25000 (from the right buyer). That is the most extremely positive scenario in my favor. In most other cases I would be looking at less than that.

Also I stand to lose 30% of more in depreciated value after this accident. anyways. So I am at an interesting intersection here. I am torn between getting the car back and just totaling it. I'll update you guys on how things proceed on Monday.

NOTE: anyone that is getting sticker shop from repair costs listed - cost of living in NOVA is very high. Also the body shop I am working with is one of the best in the region (they works on high end cars and exotics - I am taking liberty here calling the s2000 an exotic!) ...

 

If you can get ins. to total it for $19-20K i'd take that in a heart beat.

 

Talk to the body shop -- have the body shop start working on the car and update their quote -- it will go up and can push you over the 75% mark when they find more damage and update the quote for your insurance company.