Ill try to help you out with a professional opinion since i am an actual collision estimator for a body shop and deal with insurances companies all day long. First of all you will have to go through your insurance company for the estimate but you don't have to have it repaired at their preferred body shop. Once you get the estimate you can take it where ever you want to get repaired. Don't let them tell you what to do. You can also just tow it to your preferred body shop and tell them to send an adjuster out to write the estimate as well.
Second it may not be a total. Currently there is not even close to enough info to figure out if its a total or not. Maybe if i saw some detailed pics. And no, just because airbags are deployed doesn't automatically mean its a total. It depends on the insurance company, but normally you need to get within 70%-80% of the current retail value of the vehicle to be considered a total loss. Don't know your mileage or equipment but lets just say $20-$24k retail value average...so $16-18k repair to total it. If it does total, when they are trying to come up with a value make sure they compare like vehicles. For instance they need to take into concideration base/touring/sport/nav, etc.
Anyway, sorry for your loss and try not to stress out. It's usually not too painful of a process. Btw who is you insurance compnay.
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Vlad
2010 370Z MB Persimmon Touring/Sport/Nav 6MT | K&N Typhoon | F.I. 18" CBE #661 | F.I. Res. TP | NISMO Sway Bars |
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