Salvage Bid Update
Not able to get a Salvage Bid to compare with insurance co. estimate. Asked them how they came up with it & they said it was on the condition of the car. Well, the car looks great except the damaged right fender & wheel. So, last week asked insurance co. if I could inspect car at their "storage lot" before making a decision to either accept settlement where they keep car OR accept settlement minus $650 salvage bid estimate & I keep the car. The storage lot turned to be the "Auto Insurance Auctions" lot where there is a stream of cars in various degrees of disrepair. Some have no visible signs of damage. I took my brother who is a mechanic & he freaked out knowing that he could fix them up for a fraction of the cost the repair shops quote then he could sell them at a reasonable price & still make some money! (Inspected car on 5/6/02.)
Anyway, the decision was to keep the car ... the insurance co. was kind enough to issue a "tow-back" to my home ... they would not tow to my brother's house (where he will work on the car) for liability reasons. The car was towed back to my home on 5/7. Today, 5/8, made an appointment to pay for a towtruck (I thought it would be better requesting a flatbed) to tow car to my brother's tomorrow morning. He has been calling around to get 2 main parts & will go from there .... will post an update once car is repaired with a total cost.