Gordon Shumway

I 'd be pushing for it to be totaled. I'm not saying it can't be repaired perfectly, but that is the least of your problems. I'd be more worried about having a $51K or more repair w/airbag deployment on CarFax. Airbag deployment is the coup de grâce on resale value. You will be lucky to give the caraway when it comes time to sell. Add to that the problem of no DV to offset the loss of value, and financially it just gets worse. I'd definitely want to be out from under it. Whether you want to try and buy it back from the insurance company after being totalled is a different decision tree.

onedae

Regardless of your preference to total the car, your shop's estimate looks absurd. Its all body panels, paint, etc. No wheels or drive train parts. Even with some hidden damage no way that it should get to $51K. What a rip!!

ericmeds

If the insurance company is willing to give you what you feel it's worth, it may be a good option! - depends on how attached you are to the vehicle.

1) The car will never be truly the same as far as paint meter not matching, gaps/fitment, overall paint quality however depends on the workmanship of the shop to some extent.
2) Which leads to the fact that the value of the car will take a hit due to the repair should you sell it in the future.

IMO I would take the $ and grab another 911. Glad you are safe - most important thing!

Valvefloat991

That might be true for aircraft, where tire size is carefully matched to aircraft width, but there are a few more factors at work with cars. Tread width and vehicle weight make a huge difference in the amount of weight per square inch of tire tread, and that greatly effects the tendency to hydroplane. Reduced tread depth and the limited open area of high performance tires further reduces a tires ability to siphon the water from between the tire and the road. In other words, I doubt that the aircraft rule of thumb has much applicability to cars.

991.1 Guy

Plus, airplanes have wings which means they get lighter as the speed increases which lowers the speed at which displacement occurs.

bkrantz

The only primary control on weight per square inch between the tire and the road is the air pressure inside the tire. Other factors can influence water evacuation.

RobC4sX51

That is an equation based on non grooved surface (almost all runways are grooved and most highways are too), 1/2” of standing water, & zero tread depth. He had neither I’m pretty sure, and the standing water is the real unknown! So what was his Real aqua-plane speed? Way more complicated Than 9x the square root of the tire pressure. But it is a good starting point. LCA Boeing 767. Sorry for the scary situation but glad you are ok. The car can & should be fixed. Will it lose some value, sure. So drive it and enjoy it.

BSO

As to buying back a totaled car, you will have to deal with title concerns (vary by state, but will likely be labeled as other than a clear title). In re-sale, this decreases value tremendously. Many would walk away.

Insurability may also factor in.

Bob Z.

The person that bought my totalled Viper used at first as a track car but his state let him register it for street use after it was inspected so it depends on the state.

Reader

Thanks again for all your feedback.

The car has been deemed a total loss by Geico. They offered me a decent value that is equivalent to the dealer retail price on similar cars. I guess this was quite an exhaustive two weeks journey, but the outcome is not that bad at the end of the day. I lost a car that I really enjoyed, but I evaded the diminished value hassle.

Now my final question is, how would this settlement affect my future insurance quotations? Should I switch insurance now to another company before the settlement of the total loss is posted on my record?

desmotesta

congrats on the settlement. I wasn't treated so fairly by Geico but I fully understand why and not holding it against Geico.

As for your insurance rates going up, all companies share information. If you switch now, the best you can hope for is 6 months of low rates before they all wise up and either your current or new company raises your rates

JW911

Once the at fault major accident eventually shows on your record, you will be hit by a surcharge at that point. So your initial quote for a new policy may be okay, but you can't escape it for long.