Need advice

If you were happy with it before WHY NOT Keep it?

A salvage title is like a stock's price.
It's only important on two days: The day you buy it or the day you sell it.
If you decide to sell your 18-year-old G2 you might lose about 60% of your car's current street value which is....what??
A few thou?
Maybe not even that in Joisey depending on how much body cancer it has.
If you do not sell your 18-year-old G2, then having a salvage title will mean even less.

I'm a little bit confused as to why your deductible is an issue!
What if you had not had comp and collision?
Many (smart) people with 18-year-old beaters don't carry either one.
Oh....wait a minute....never mind.
i'm no longer confused about that.
"New Jersey is one of only 12 no-fault car insurance states. To make things more complicated, it uses a unique “choice” no-fault law. You may need assistance from a car accident attorney to understand New Jersey's complex no-fault system and recover fair financial compensation after your car crash."
SO....
There's not NEARLY enough value in your car to get a shyster, and I'm not one of these people who has the mistaken belief that life should be "fair" ('equitable' is the latest fad phrase) but you should ABSOLUTELY rule out any soft tissue or structural issues with your bod after being involved in a hull-loss accident - and the at-fault party SHOULD pay for that.
If I were the insurers I would give you full street value for the car just to get you off the books but that's me being me again.
Either way....
How much is the deductible?
Mine is $1000 for a 2024 - No matter what happens with the accident or the settlement, you should absolutely fix and drive the car again after having it checked out, again IF you're happy with it and IF it doesn't develop a drinking or smoking habit from accident induced PTSD.



Good Luck!
I hope you were not injured in any way!!
(THAT is the important part!!!!)

 

You guys have turnover and money on the mind too much this is your vehicle I didn't even look to see where you are If everything is working on the vehicle and you can live with it I don't care what kind of paperwork it has the less the better you know be okay with me I have no interest when I get done with that car there will be no selling You might sell a few parts off of it but I doubt that I'll be taking them with me to the next car that's how that goes for us here I don't leave a generation too with anything on it when I leave It's completely stripped practically down to a bare hull It only takes a couple hours to do that and I take all that stuff away If I don't then the stuff that's on that car is pretty much worthless so there's always that I would milk the insurance company for whatever you know you can get You should have got neck and back and blah blah blah all that nonsense I don't care what's up with the car The car is staying mine regardless that's generally my story with them You're paying for my neck and back and my chiropractor visits or whatever and the car is in my driveway don't even come around over here pretty much that's that.

 

if your insurance company won't jack the premium, i would keep it. it's not worth much for parts except the cat if it's oem.

 

Open that panel that houses the rear hatch light and it holds your shade thingy up there's a screw and a couple of clips just pull it off let it hang to the side a little bit now take a rubber mallet and you can buy a thing called a dolly if you want to it's a rolling piece of steel like almost a semicircle with a handle on it and you can use that to roll out most of that dent that should take about an hour easy with the hammering take it slow when your bumper will fit back into the clips and look correct That's as close as you're going to get if you have to add a new set of clips to hold the bumper cover well then so be it they're not that expensive and then let it rip You mean you really want to spend time with a body shop to dolly that out Bondo it repaint it and all that No I don't think so keep your money If you really like the car in a few months in the fall drive down here to North Carolina we'll find you another beautiful body with leather interior and a couple of days if that's what you want I'm like seven and a half hours from you You could make a beach trip possibly go back with another rolling chassis.

 

From what I see in the photo, a rubber mallet will not help here. The edge of the quarter panel where the bumper cover attaches is bent inward and stretched. I think a body shop would estimate replacing this quarter panel.

 

On the passenger side I might agree but I don't think the driver side is double wall really over there like I say I'd have to look behind the the trim in the trunk I will bash that out enough to leave it alone and drive the h a l e out of it until I'm done That's all I'm saying It's not that big of a deal the way it is how to fix the bumper cover and all of that nonsense with various adhesives and fasteners pretty quickly and I will drive that car until the tires fall off for whatever purpose I'm using it a long fence lines out on property delivering people's junk whatever no problem there's nothing to catch people or cause anybody any strife It's a little ugly who cares It's a 20-year-old car replace the quarter panel out of the question I can get a new whole rolling chassis to put my parts on. For almost nothing yeah it's a pain in the rear changing all those parts but the rolling chassis I'm going to get is pretty complete so there's always that.

 

Is the alignment still good?
Does the hatch still close so that it latches, is straight, and seals?
Does the fuel door still open and close?
Looking underneath, is nothing important damaged?

If the answer to all 4 is "yes" then mechanically the car is fine, it just looks bad.

For you to be happy, does this need to be repaired to the "can't tell it ever happened" level, or just to the "it looks better and the bumper and tail light are in place"? If you can live with the latter, you can probably find somebody who can pound the panel out enough that it approximates the original, but is still a little wrinkly. Maybe a little paint over any spots where it is cracked or flaked off and a new tail light and some connector pieces for the bumper cover, and good to go. That will cost a whole lot less than replacing the panel, painting, and so forth. I see cars driving around with battle scars like that all the time.

Talk to a couple of body shops, see what it would cost to do the work.

 

This is the silver car smacked in the back right so they're going to give you about $4,000 and let you keep the car certainly I would keep my car I'm not sure if I would fix it or not but I have $4,000 more dollars at the rate I'm buying these things that would be about seven more cars so I should have plenty of money there to get another fix the other if I want or not fix the other if I want and sell it to somebody who's just going to beat it doing silly things like DoorDash or driving it out on fence lines doing whatever and then just get me another one these things are popping up all over the place some of them near perfect condition so there's always that the ones you see online for $8,500 You never see what they really sell for by the time people get done haggling and all the nonsense goes on they probably turn into $5,000 cars there's really not enough buyers out there most people are really looking for generation threes and fours until they have one and have all the problems and then it's off to God knows what Lexus 2.4 l hybrids and larger many people you say 2009 anything in there like oh no we can't have anything like that It's got to be 2013 or newer or or something along those lines.

 

I am not really clear on the numbers you posted but I'm assuming you'll get $4500 back from insurance if you want to keep the car. Not sure what the $1500 (junk value) comes into play because normally that's your buyback price if you want the car back and insurance will deduct it from the $5500 (market value) In this case the title remains clean as if nothing happens and if there's a police report it will show up in the public records (carfax...etc)

If you want to get rid of it then you'll get the $5500 and have to send the title to insurance.. now for $5500 you could probably find a better one with no dents on the rear. If you want to keep it then you have extra $4k in your pocket to pay off future repairs (or new HV battery) The Prius is just butt-ugly that additional dents doesn't make any difference

 

Half an hour or so after my post we took the dog out for a walk and just up the block there was a Gen 3 with a wrinkly driver's side rear corner visiting a neighbor. Looked like it had had almost the same accident, the dents had been mostly pounded out and the area repainted.

 

I think you need to talk properly to your insurance agent. A "salvage" title vehicle can't be driven legally, what's the point of buying it back if insurance will mark it as "salvaged"? If the vehicle is considered unsafe to drive then it will be marked as "salvaged" and insurance will not let you even buy it back. "salvaged" and "totaled" are not same thing in insurance. I have vehicles that were totaled by insurance which I bought back and title remains clear. In some states a private individual can't even sell a "salvaged" vehicle legally, it can only be sold as for parts.

 

That's a crocod dog doo doo You said you wouldn't get a salvage title but either way you're keeping the car it doesn't matter if it's a salvage title or you don't have a title at all You got to registration so you can just keep re-registering that tag as long as you don't let it lapse You can just keep going every year or sending it in I do mine by mail I've done this for two cars that aren't even on the road anymore but I own them have the titles and they were registered when they went down and I just keep the tags alive every year thing comes I renew it and I'm running the tag on one of the other generation twos that I don't have paperwork on and don't care to try to get it nobody cares even if I have an accident they phone in a generation 2 Prius My insurance company is not going to go hey that's not the same VIN number as the one we ensure I don't really think they really give a hoot now if it was a Rolls-Royce or something maybe different if I was sticking the tag on something like that and then wrecked it Big difference One generation two versus the other I have a wreck all I do is tell the officer or whoever is doing the talking oh I just bought this thing here's the papers right here going to transfer this tag to it tomorrow well maybe not now.

 

The major rule of driving that most judges care about and this is all that matters is that you have financial responsibility for the nonsense you're driving down the road You go in and tell the judge that he'll almost throw out anything except the DUI. That's the main rule in the courtroom Do you have financial responsibility You can't show that then you got problems