I hope I'm wrong about this, but it looks like it could be totaled. Have they given you any indications yet about that?

They haven't as of yet. It was just towed to the body shop this morning. I think you may be right, I know from experience that body pieces for that stupid car are ridiculously expensive.

Just from my uneducated looks at it these pieces have to be replaced:

- hood (that's really expensive, right?)
- both front quarter panels
- front bumper
- both headlight assemblies
- HVAC ductwork
- radiator grille

I don't think that there's any mechanical damage. Nothing's leaking, surprisingly. There's a loud fan noise when you put the heater on so I'm assuming that the HVAC is crushed. The radiator seems to be okay.

Honestly, I sort of hope it's totaled. That would be a pain in the ass to deal with, in know, but I don't want it back if it's going to be compromised in some way and I DO want a new car. I'm still making payments, though, I don't think that I'm upside-down with the book value but I don't know. That would royally suck.

Check with your carrier (and your car loan people). You may well have something called 'gap insurance.' Which takes care of the difference. So say, just for simplicity's sake, you still owe ten dollars on the car, but the car's value is only eight dollars. The car gets totalled, and you receive eight dollars from the insurance claim. You still owe the bank two dollars, though. Well, the gap insurance will pay the bank that extra two dollars, and that way, you're not paying on a car you no longer own.

Usually, in a wreck this bad, there's a lot of structural damage you can't easily see. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they totalled it, which may leave you much better off, frankly.

I'm here if you have questions.