Sounds like this is your first 'brush' with the world of motor insurer's, Kev.
Keep in mind 2 things:
1 You can do the repairs for £200, but that will not include labour. I don't know what body shops charge these days, but I'd be surprised if it's less than £50 per hour
2 The insurance company will try and settle at the least possible cost to themselves, so if you make them an offer that you will accept £x and keep the car, they will got for it, provided, of course, that x is substantially less than the value of the car or the cost of repairing it.
Look on the bright side, you keep the car (with little or no visible damage), have a few quid to pay off some of your cc debt, and you don't have to borrow more money for a replacement.
BTW, rather an unfortunate number plate in the light of the revelations in the NOTW last Sunday
Del
i have bought the parts to fix it myself for about £80 and a mate who does bodywork in his spare time ( has awards for the cars he has made ) has offered to do the work for £50 and a few beers
if i can keep the car i will be happy - its currently being put back to standard and im selling the bits off
Kev.
Apart from the facist numberplate, and the mahoosive alloys, it looks fine to me.
Bear in mind, that if it's classed as a write off on HPI, you may encounter problems if you decide to sell it in the future. However, £500 is a good chunk to pay off the credit card,(loans thread) as the car doesn't appear to require much (if any) work. If you're worried, get hold of another bumper bar, and weld it on top of the existing, bent one. If you're not worried, then leave it as it is.
Next time, leave the roadcone on front of it, so halfwits can hit that instead.
PS If you fancy a change of job, and are up for a large amount of hard work (But fringe benefits exist - south coast meets on your doorstep, paid to train etc.) visit
www.natscareers.co.uki am actually looking for a new job applied for 15 last week!! - location isnt a problem as i need to move anyway so ill look tonight
as for the car if they pay cash then there will be no mark against the car so its ok..... it doesn't actually need to be repaired as i could bend the bar back!!
as for the idiot who hit me he travelled the space of 2 car parking spaces to hit my car