Sometimes the customer wants to cash in and sometimes they want to save the car. The first shop this car went to they wanted to total it out. Then the customer thought it through and opted for another opinion. The "Bule book" says $3500. But only the owner knows what they have done such as timing belt , oil changes upkeep and what it would take to replace it.

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It be that way sometimes I have 2 cars of my own that fall in the above category. They are worth more to me

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A simple tram gauge to get a quick idea. You can see the pin still in the hole. It's square up front. The headlight fit will be the biggest hurdle

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The tram guage doesn't lie unless its a Jaguar, lol.. That reminds me of the old Honda's with the flip up headlamps. I hated those cars. Is that a Miata?

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Yep , Mazda Miata

A total?? In the real world we fix cars like that all the time. If the parts prices are that high, we may go used or aftermarket(with customer consent), but that doesn't look like that hard of a fix. Who knows, their other car might be brand new and need collision repair next week! You take the good and the bad sometimes. Good luck and have fun.

You know how insurance companies are though. We've had a lot cars that we had to cut our losses on because there just wasn't enough money to fix it. In my state if the repair reaches %75 of the value of the vehicle it will total. To get to fix the car you have to do what you have to do. I think thats what milo was referring to and not how hard the car was hit.

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In this case the owner is the original owner is attached to it and wants to drive it another 100,000 miles. Of course if it were burning oil , needing a clutch ,brakes , timing belt etc.. they would have made out like a bandit and the car would have been hauled off to the boneyard. It comes down to how much is it worth to who owns it especialy when they have taken the right care of it. It's not always numbers on a repair sheet that say yes or no I belive the other shop was high balling this one to rape the insurance and missed. The rest of the car is real clean. . Sometimes you make more dollars not worrying about every dime and you get a returning or recommending customer as well

Are you going to repaint the entire car or just repair? I've never worked on a Miata. We have had a few in the shop but not for me. I hate flip up headlights like that. I fixed an Acura NSX quit awhile back. They dont bend, they break, lol.. The aluminum frame can't be straightened or pulled on without cracking or breaking the aluminum somewhere. Aligning that headlamp was no fun since everything had to be in place and welded in perfect position. I really hated the car and would prefer never to fix another.

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Dave I'm going to do as little as possible to put that Miata right and a complete paint job isn't in the budget.. I will however be blending the right door and across the hood since we will replace the fender and bumper cover on a silver car. I have $3095.00 to work with. Parts & material will be about $800 and time is never of the essence. If I count hours and try to beat the clock it becomes a business and not a hobby lol