car accident, their insurance is liable, what do they have to pay?

[smoove7]

i was in an accident and they admitted they were at fault, so their insurance is handling the claim, which is great but... my car is 10 years old with about 187,000 miles on it, i have kept it in great shape the 5 years i have owned it, but with so many miles on it, it is only worth about 1,500-2,000 dollars, the damage is said to be about 3,500 dollars and they want to total it. is their anything i can do to get them to pay the whole amt. to fix it.
because their policy holder admitted she was at fault, it still runs fine but it has major door damage. it isnt fair that my nice car is gonna be totaled out because of door damage, and all i am left with is no nice car and a check that might get me something 1/4 as good as what i had. do i have any recourse. plus i dont have the money to fix it myself. ehy either pay for it or it is gone, help me!

 

[JETX]

"is their anything i can do to get them to pay the whole amt. to fix it."
*** No. The insurance company is only required to pay the lesser of fair market value at the time immediately before the accident or to repair it to 'pre-accident' condition.

"it isnt fair that my nice car is gonna be totaled out because of door damage, and all i am left with is no nice car and a check that might get me something 1/4 as good as what i had. do i have any recourse."
*** Your only recourse would be to accept their settlement and then use that to purchase the car back, often at salvage value. You may have enough left over to repair the vehicle.

 

[smoove7]

thank you for your input. their insurance adjuster told me on the phone that he would let me know how much he would give me to total out the car, then if i wanted to buy it back he would call around and see how much that car with that damage is being sold for in the area at auctions, and i could buy it back and get a check for the difference, for example if he is gonna total it at 1000 dollars and i say i wanna but it back he will find out how much it will go for at an auction and if they are going for about 200 dollars then he would subtract the 200 from the 1000 dollar check and give me the car and a check for 800 dollars, is that right?

 

[JETX]

"is that right?"
*** Yep, that is the way it is done.