long story short, got in a small fender bender (its not bent though) with someone.. his fault... yadda yadda yadda... i got my check in the mail for 704 dollars... said to take it to anywhere to get it fixed and if it was more to contact them... so... im looking for opinions on what to get with the money left over... the damage to the paint is hardly noticeable, everyone thinks im completely insane for harping over it but whatever... i know i can get an OEM 17" wheel for around 130 so that would leave me with roughly 574 dollars to do what i want with it... so now that iv babbled on id like to hear what you guys would do with the 704 (possibly more from dealer's appraisal)

 

im actually waiting to have mine get hit or hailed on so that ill need more paint. i have a custom paint ready to take mine away. im having custom candy black pearl flaked on the bottom, red flaked stripe to break up the silver and black, and then airbrushing! i hate to say it, but im almost waiting for a storm or something to hit my car...

assuming the other person has insurance. bad thing about storm though, its $500 deductible!

 

jeez 31 looks and not one opinion?(within the budget)

 

don't lie.

 

Get TRD struts. You already have the springs, you will most likely need struts/shocks soon anyways. With the leftover cash, get the TRD swaybar.

 

My opinion.....................fix your bumper. The person that hit you has to pay higher rates now cause you wanted "Insurance money".

 

i'm with LED

as tempting as new parts and whatnot are. you made someone's bad day a horrible day by making them pay for unnoticeable damages. go replace whatever got hit and be an honest person.

 

Actually, you may be forced to fix your car if you do not want rust. My roommate Honda Civic 05 just got hit in the bumper, lightely... barely noticeable, on the outside.... It costs 2000 dollars to fix it, because little cracks appears on the INSIDE of the body of the car... they hard to fix these and prime them. No offense, I hate insurance companies, because when you have a COMMON claim, they help, but when you have some EXTRAORDINARY and they should pay for it, they do the math and prefer to be taken to court before they do anything. It won't matter too much if you hit the insurance for 700 or 2000, the other person's insurance is likely to double or triple or get canceled anyway. I say, hit the insurance for all you can, but get your car fixed well, and if you have anything left over, perfect. No one ELSE will watch out for you, you just take care of yourself.

 

By the way, the initial estimate on the Honda was 1100, because they can't tell until they start removing things to see what is damaged.... It almost always goes up, the service department knows the drill... It actually went up to 2200 or so.

 

i would buy carbon fiber for 500 bucks (shipping included)

 

I also vote for fixing the bumper.

 

theres no rust on our bumper... its black plastic under the paint... and a horrible day for him?? he was in his work van delivering papers to my college and just drive right into my car blowing a stop sign when i didn't even have one... most people older than i would pocket the money for groceries or to pay for their kids or something more important then an inch of paint missing, i dont think me spending it on somethin other than the paint is much different seeing as how i dont have liabilities at my ripe old age of 21... i was thinking about the struts though... hopefully the dealer wouldn't kill the notion with the installation costs

 

You are running stock struts? I take back my vote and vote for the TRD struts now. Have someone other than the dealer install them.