EDIT: Bolded the most important part so this doesn't become a "feel bad for you thread" although I do appreciate the love.

So a few weeks ago I got rear ended at about 20mph by some s@!t head that wasn't paying attention. He was at fault and his insurance is paying. The car has 28k miles and was extremely mint before this happened. I take ridiculously meticulous care of the car to keep it pristine so this is heart breaking for me. I'm currently battling in my mind on whether I can keep it after it gets fixed because it is now tainted and that will eat at me forever. That however is secondary to why I have come to the forum seeking help.

Right now the car is at the body shop and is partially stripped down as you can see. The insurance estimated 12k in damage including:

Quarter panel
Trunk Floor
RR frame rail
RR tail light
Rear bumper and everything behind it
Trunk lid
RR upper and lower control arms
Rear sway bar
Full exhaust (it was bent all the way up to the turbo...)
Alignment
Labor
Plus all the misc associated with those things

I stopped by the body shop the other day and the manager wanted talk to me about the repairs, particularly the trunk floor. He is telling me that instead of replacing the entire truck floor (which actually goes up to the rear passenger floor ) he would like to section it just behind the rear seats. I am for and against this idea. I am against it because in my eyes that is not doing the repair 100% correctly and the car MUST be flawless when it is done. However I am for this repair because then they are messing less with the structural integrity of the car by pulling it all apart and reinstalling everything. Other than the section pictured the truck floor is unharmed. He told me the final say is up to me but I don't know which way would be better?

Give me your opinions and if possible first hand experience with having major repair work done. Thanks guys!

 

More pics

 

Muffler

 

First off this is terrible and a shame it happened to you man. The car looks mint and has such low mileage. A damn shame. To answer your question I would have them put it back exactly the way it was meant to be together, thats the only way you'll retain even a little piece of mind. I know it requires them to do more and disrupt the "strucrural integrity" as you say but if they are any kind of certified and qualified body shop they'll put it back together just fine. If you need a stock rear sway bar and brackets let me know as I have one sitting in my garage. Came off my car at 38k miles, I'm at 41k currently. I don't drive it much, especially in the AZ summer heat. I'm like you in the fact that I'm super OCD and a perfectionist when it comes to my cars, especially my Evo. Anyways let me know if you need the sway bar and good luck man. I hope it all works out and you can get your car back together and on the road soon.

P.S. you should take this opportunity to swoop up a JDM rear and some JDM rear tail lights. A buddy of mine got rear ended last year in this apex silver Evo IX MR and got a jdm rear bumper and some jdm tail lights out of the insurance company.

 

Man that sucks, it look like a real hard hit, im surprised they didnt total it, i would ask the body shop to estimate the damage again because thats probably alot more then 12k worth of work and damage also check up front for any damage to the turbo etc. in my eyes ur car is totaled the crease in the c piller says it all the body is going to need a fair amount of pulling probably at least an inch or 2

 

Thanks for the kind words. She is very mint, I searched for three years before I found her. Yes we are very much the same when it comes to cars especially the Evo. Everything has to be perfect which is why this has been such a large source of stress for me. I cringe at the thought of anyone other than me touching the car. I do have some assurance as the one painter has a silver IX MR that he had to put a quarter on.

I am taking the opportunity to upgrade to JDM rear components (I actually had the bumper already). I'll be making my first power mods as a result of this as well. PM me info on the sway bar and brackets with some pics.

 

My first thought was that it was totaled as well. It was relatively low speed and I didn't take a hard blow in the seat at all but that was because she took the brunt of it. The turbo and exhaust manifold etc look to be in tact but I am going to pull it all off and inspect everything once I can get it back to my shop. I expect them to find considerably more damage once the quarter comes off.

 

PM'd

This some insane damage for such a low speed accident.

 

I know I can't believe it is so extensive. Only reason I can come up with is because he didn't hit me square so only the edge of the crash beam got contacted.

 

I would think they could pull all that out on a frame machine rather than sectioning or replacing entire subframe/unibody components

 

Make sure that your rear passenger suspension is still straight, most likey at least the strut may be bent or damage since the muffler made good impact with it, but on the real i would see what the body shop thinks cost wise before you get to deep into the repairs, it seem like a lot of damage for the car not to be totaled, dont get screwed by the insurance company because they dont want to pay out on your low mileage car

 

Make sure you discuss with the insurance company a check for diminished value. With this type of damage, the value of your car just took a hit. It might also be the deciding factor on totalling the car out.

 

Stopped to check on the progress yesterday. She's on the frame machine and the quarter actually pulled out nicely, a few small dents in some spots but the major dents are gone. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take any pictures. After talking with the technician he said it is also possible to roll the floor in the area that it collapsed as flat as possible and then mud to smooth everything out. I'm considering this option as well as it involves no removal of any components.

Still looking for opinions and input.

 

The only damage to the rear suspension appears to be the upper and lower controls arms and sway bar. Nothing else was contacted and they aren't bent much at all but it is noticeable. I'll know more once I get it on the alignment rack.