Car accidents are never a fun thing, and dealing with the aftermath is often more than simply troublesome. Between visits to the insurance company and the police station (if applicable), there are many things you will have to do and look into, which can easily eat into your time meant for other activities. Even the smallest of accidents can result in damage to your vehicle that runs into the hundreds of dollars (or sometimes, even thousands), and sometimes, the damage to your car can simply make it unusable – ‘totalled’, so as to say in insurance language. And whilst the image that this specific image invokes might be more similar to a fully dented bonnet or a vehicle bent beyond recognition, the truth is that specific damage to specific parts of a vehicle can rend it unusable, even if the damage itself might be small at first glance (and this often applies more to older vehicles than newer models).Car accidents are never a fun thing, and dealing with the aftermath is often more than simply troublesome. Between visits to the insurance company and the police station (if applicable), there are many things you will have to do and look into, which can easily eat into your time meant for other activities. Even the smallest of accidents can result in damage to your vehicle that runs into the hundreds of dollars (or sometimes, even thousands), and sometimes, the damage to your car can simply make it unusable – ‘totalled’, so as to say in insurance language. And whilst the image that this specific image invokes might be more similar to a fully dented bonnet or a vehicle bent beyond recognition, the truth is that specific damage to specific parts of a vehicle can rend it unusable, even if the damage itself might be small at first glance (and this often applies more to older vehicles than newer models).

That being said, how many options do you truly have once your vehicle has been fully wrecked? Below are some of the most common choices available to you: 

• File a claim for repairs with your insurance company – if you have a full insurance plan, you can easily file a claim with your company and ask for repair funds. What you should keep in mind here is that different insurance companies have different standards to decide whether a specific damage is worth the repair fees. Simply put, the insurance company provides you money for the repairs according to the current market value of the vehicle and the degree of the damage: if the repairs exceed the value of the car itself, you most definitely won’t be getting any money for it, in other words.

• Talk it out with the other party – before you decide to look for centres that better recycle cars in NZ, it might be worth it to talk to the other party involved in the accident, regardless of which one is the guilty party. This is a helpful avenue to consider if the insurance company has either refused to make a payment, or has advised you to settle the issue between yourselves as amicably as possible. Keep in mind to be reasonable with your demands, and likewise, to not listen to unreasonable demands as well.

• Look for a wrecking yard – wrecking yards are definitely an option to consider if repairing your car is too expensive and you cannot drive it otherwise. These accept unwanted car for cash Hamilton, as they often try to salvage parts of the car for other purposes, and have the scrap metal recycled by selling it to other recycling centres.

• Skip the repairs if you can – and finally, do not forget that you also have the option of skipping repairs altogether, however, only if your vehicle still properly works only! This is usually applicable when the damage is only cosmetic in nature.