[1992eclipseGS]

I don't see how they would find reason to total the car based on the pictures. I work for an auto body shop. Damage like this is the reason why we are in buisness... If they went around totalling cars for damage like that, I would be in the un-employment line. But basically here's what a shops going to be paid to do:

You have to cut and weld in a new quater panel.. someone stated that already in this thread... Now the down side to doing that is, you have to remove the rear bumper, tail light, most of the rear interior (minus the seats)... all this shit will have to be re-installed.. which is where the labor prices start to roll in (time consumption)...Thankfully with the hatch trunk, removal of the rear glass isn't involved (this my friend is expensive labor).. now once the new panel is welded on, you have to grind the weld, apply filler to the grinded areas, sand, and get it ready to paint. The downside with painting a quater panel on an eclipse is we don't have a breaking line between the quater panel and the roof (some cars have rubber moldings that seperate the roof and the panel). Since we don't have that, the "RIGHT" way to paint your car is paint the quater panel, the roof, and the panel on the other side of the car. Your also suppose to blend into the rear bumper as well... Like I stated, this is the "RIGHT" way to do it... alot of it comes down to your Insurance company and how anal they want to be. I mean lets be serious here... this is an eclipse, not a 7seris BMW... if it was me, i would just say fuck it and blend up to the roof and try to paint match the best way I can.

The body shop will write there own estimate, and the insurace appraiser will write his/hers.. from there they will come up with a price, and there you have it... But again, it depends on how anal your insurance company wants to be.. If they take into fact your age, your driving record, the age of the car, the cost of the repair.. all of that shit, and see that it will be to there benefit in the long run to just total the car, cut you a check for the lowest amount possible and send you on your way... then they can do that as well.