This is exactly why you go though your insurance company to fight the battle for you.
Hope it all works out :thumbup:

Got the initial estimate in at $7,000 and estimator said it will go up from there once they see whats going on behind the bumper etc..

Quick question, where do insurance companies get there valuation to determine totaling a car? Is it KBB / NADA / Edmunds or is it below that? I can see how we might get above the threshold quickly :(

I can only speak empirically. When my mom totaled her car through GEICO, she received a very fair pay-out that was about $800 higher than KBB sale value, based on mileage and age of vehicle. No haggling involved, they caem in with a fair price right off the bat. But KBB is a powerful tool and you should definitely have that handy when they offer you a pay-out. Do not accept anything below KBB. GEICO has been very straightforward and helpful with both me and my family members, but that's not to say you should just blindly trust them. Always look out for numero uno.

Well, from my experience when I had an accident with my previous car. 1) I took to the body shop, NOT through the dealer so they wont have it on record. 2) I did not go through insurance so it will not go up in the future ( unless you don't have the money to pay for the damage). and basically that is it, trying to think of something. But that would be the best suggestion from me. Good luck with it :)

As soon as you go through the dealer, they got you on record, and it will be harder to sell the car after .

I think it's usually KBB--they all will be the same. The damage on my '01 was $22K and it was worth $28K at the time in '06 with 60K miles So it was close but I actually wanted it fixed because I didn't want to have a car payment again + my repair shop is top notch. If you are at $7K already it will go up to probably $10K--you will be at the amount of the threshold for totalling it. It's not that the damage is bad--it's the value for an '02 just isn't what it used to be with it being older now.

No matter it's on or off record, you still need to make future buyers aware of the accident. I don't see that it will benefit you to pay out of pocket for repair that costs $7000+ without filing claim. Accident record(if you're at fault) got dropped after a couple years(5 years IIRC) if you maintain your record clean. OP wasn't at fault in this accident. Why saving money for insurance company? Time to get what you paid for.

Estimator wasn't Geico's adjuster, right? Based on the pictures, I don't think Geico would estimate $7000 for that repair. However, experience body shops usually can get insurance company pay what they estimated.

Thanks for feedback everyone. Yes, the initial estimate was 7K from Geico adjuster.

I took it directly to body shop but DO want to go through insurance. I am not so much concerned about resale value as I wanted to drive this thing to the ground anyways. I'm just hoping if they do fix it, a transmission issue all of the sudden doesn't pop up.

Just got back from the Collision shop and he walked me through the X. They are going to total it. The guy said its amazing there wasnt a lot more damage and no one was hurt which is most important thing.

Once they had fenders and hood off, you could see frame was bent and all sorts of engine issues :(

Now its on to looking at newer X5s, 335, or 535...