I kind of feel beaten up twice today. Somehow my client did not manage to hurt me despite his best efforts, but for some reason Enterprise e-mailed me at 11pm. They finally have an estimate for the damage and it is over $1,500. I could purchase a perfectly-good beater for that amount!
I didn't think it was that bad. Sand, pull the metal until it is close, use just a little bit of filler, sand, and repaint. The car is less than a year old, so they shouldn't really need to blend it in.
Well, somehow this took twenty-four days, and the estimate came in. I just do not understand what the front bumper, headlamp, and fender have to do with the door. If those are right at the top I wonder how relevant everything else is. A new door is a little over $200 on car-part.com, but they show far more work than that. I would think the rocker panel would be the difficult part. They show $277.40 for that and $493.60 for the door (including the back door!)
They attached these pictures:
I don't see any bumpers, fenders, or headlights!
Since Enterprise requires using a credit card, in theory that will take care of it. I also switched to comprehensive insurance for the rental, but if paying out-of-pocket is cheaper than paying higher premiums for three years, I will do that.
According to
this, your insurance can go up 44% after an accident and will stay up for 36 months. I currently pay $90 a month, which works out to $3,240 for three years. Forty-four percent of that is $1,425.60, or 92% of the estimate.
Does that include my $250 deductible?
I have a great deal of math ahead of me. This will probably delay me paying off my student loan (and credit cards).
By the way, I declined accident forgiveness, but I have it anyway. USAA said that I have been with them at least five years without an accident, but this kind of seems like a waste of a Get out of Jail Free card.