should I repair my car or pay it off?

[fingers]

Hi

I am not sure if I am in the right section. I am a newbie here and just looking for advice.

I got into a car accident recently. My vehicle is a 2007 with over 90,000 miles on it and after a refi and extension I still owe about 4800.

The damages were 4600. for which I just received a check for from the ins co. There is a lot of damage to the rear end.

My question is should I have the car repaired or just pay it off? On one hand paying it off would ease an already tough financial situation, it would be nice not to have a car payment for a while but it would mean driving a car with quite a bit of damage to it that would serious reduce the value. Option two...Having it fixed would maintain the value for a decent turn around in the open market if I chose to. I only have a year left of payments. So I can suck up the payments for the next year and have a decent car or pay it off.

Third option is just bank the ins payout, cont making payments on the vehicle and drive a banged up car.

I was probably going to drive it till it's dead anyway.

[snafu]

Hope you weren't injured when back ended. Are you willing to give more details? What brand & model of 2007? What is KBB value if not current damage? Is damage primarily cosmetic like pound out dings, filler and paint? Do you have any other repair option like tech school auto body or back yard repair jockey? Will the vehicle pass omission requirements? Will police demand it be removed from public roads?

[autoxer]

What would the car be worth after making the repairs? I would check KBB & Edmunds, to see if the value is less than cost to fix it.

There are other factors besides the financial, is the car usable and safe without the repairs?

[greenskeeper]

I am surprised that since you have a loan against the title the insurance company issued you a check. Normally it would be in the bank's interest (who actually owns the car right now) to have it repaired.