i would think about getting it fixed. A mate of mine had his EF done over by hail, he was uninsured, he went to 5 panel beaters all said they would wright it off. He found one place who did the whole job plus resprayed it BA Blue for $4500, and it came out bloody great not one mark. Unfortunately they couldn't pull another cars front end out of his boot a yr later, it now rests in the happy land of Ford Heaven R.I.P Blue Flash

Sorry to say boys but you's are all way off on the price had 4 quotes done and the cheapest was $9500 and thats was a 18 month wait to get it done. Pics might not be that clear but all the pannels would have to be replaced, every panel was dinted. So yeah and they would not sell the car back they classified it as a salvage car. So they said they would give me $7300 for it but havent seen a cent of that yet.

We're not off the mark. I know I'm not... Allow me to give you an example.

1997 EL Fairmont Ghia.

$10600 payout

Insurance company claims there is $10,500 worth of damage, so they write the car off. The high value of the damage is due to their stupid method of quoting that doesnt actually involve getting a panel beater out to quote. If you want me to explain more on how they quote, I can.

Most insurance companies are bound to offer the salvage rights to the previous owner as first choice, before sending it to auction. Even if its a stat write off, which I very much doubt this would be.

So in this case owner keeps car at a salvage value of $2000. Most companies will want 25% of the payout as salvage costs.

So owner is left with $8100 to play with.

Owner spends $5000 on repairs to get vehicle to a better standard than insurance company ever could. Far cry from the $10500 they quoted hey.

Owner has $3000 left in pocket for spending as they see fit.

I have spoken to and used paintless dent removal people who specialise in restoring cars like that. The last one I used regularly fixed hail damaged cars. He has removed dents from people running over cars from bonnet to boot. It may take him a day or 2 to do it, but he told me it is cheaper for his clients to pay him direct than go through insurance, as he is less than an excess. So its obviously under $500ish to repair a car in your condition.

Insurance companies don't like repairing cars anymore, they prefer to write them off. Its easier and cheaper.

But it doesn't mean you have to lie down and take it. While you still haven't got your payout, make some calls. Assess your options, and you could probably still organise to get the car back and fixed yourself, and still pocket alot of money towards future mods.

The quotes i got done were not through insurance company one was off a mate and the others were local panel beaters they didn't know it had anything to do with insurance. The paintless dent removal thing won't work in this case as there is too many dints too close together so thats out of the questions and the insurance company will not sell me my car back when i took it there they looked at it sayed it was in really good condition looked at values on laptop gave me my number plates and told me to piss off. When i enquired about buying it back they said it was a salvage car so i couldn't. I'm not wrong with the quotes i got 4 done not one was through insurance, mate my car was f**k.

I'm not sure if you guys know but this was not little hail it was a little bit bigger than tennis balls it was f**k huge. They were not little dints in the car they were good size