well im not going to get into the full on story of how it happened but the result was a middle aged woman who was unconscious from super high blood sugar (shes diabetic) rammed me nearly square in my left headlight. it wasnt my fault and my parents are working out the insurance stuff, but they have left it up to me as far as how i want to go about the repairs. the estimate came back and its a little over $4800, which is what we paid for the car originally but we dont have enough money to sell it now and get another. plus i really like Maxine and since shes my first car, i dont want to get rid of her. but heres what mainly needs to be replaced-

hood
grille
all lights on the left side (fog light too)
front bumper
front left fender

now after the accident i figured this would be a great time to just convert the front end to 97-99 and throw on a stillen lip. however, now that the estimate has come back that high even after using used parts and only one of all the lights, i dont think insurance will cover a full conversion.

so heres what i figure my options are-
go the body shop route and use used parts from a 95 or 96
source new parts and do the conversion via wholesale from jerryromenissan.com or other place
or search the classifieds and see if i can find some good used 97-99 parts on here.

finally, i would really like to get the 97 conversion for the front; that would be the best case scenerio. but i realize if the money isnt there then there's not much i can do about it.

what should i do?

 

My neck and my baaack!!! Aagghhh

It all depends on what the insurance will give you .. try and source the 97+ aprts

 

haha i briefly thought about pulling that, but im not that kinda person. get this though, her insurance company is trying to say shes not liable since she is diabetic and had no idea what was going on.

 

You're going to get screwed all your life if you don't try and take some of the pie .. at least some of the time.

Take off a few days from work, and even though you may get sick pay, you can still claim it on her insurance.

Similar thing happened to me, and I got everything down to my full tank of gas that I had just put in reimbursment, 3 days worth of "lost" wages even though I had vacation/sick pay, and my other car was totaled and they paid the remainder I owed (12k) for it .. and i did not even TOUCH my insurance policy





.. since the lady was wacked out on pain killers.

 

That's BS. It's still her fault. Get the adjuster to come and check out your car and give you a check. With $4800 you said the estimate is, you can get these:

hood - carbon fiber hood for $450
grille - sorona grille for $200
all lights on the left side (fog light too) - cefiro lights + fog lights, about $350
front bumper - 97 bumper from junk yard $75
front left fender - junk yard.. $50

Now you got **** load of money left for other things.

 

do the 97 conversion if you can, like you said, look in these classifieds. you should be able to do it. keep the max if you can imo.

 

dam id sue the sheit out of her insurance company. you shouldnt pay because she couldnt control her sugar level.

get as much money as you can, why else are you paying for insurance if you have to pay about 5 gran?