164S Totaled

["vasco melo" <vmelo164s@domain.elided>]

I crashed my beloved 164S the day before Christmas, rotten luck. In order to
avoid crashing into someone else who crossed in front of me from a side
street, he left me no choice but to plow onto someone's front yard, hitting a
tree and finally stopping, slightly hitting the house. Luckily I was ok.
However, after dealing, still dealing with the insurance company, I wish that
I had hit the other car, it would have made things simpler. The insurance
company declared my car totaled and will give me the market value sometime
next week.

So I have a question for any of you who've had this experience before; the car
has $5K+ damage but it's reparable. I know that I can't afford to fix it now,
but I don't really want to give the insurance company my car so that they or
someone else can profit from all my labor, tons of money and time and love
that I've invested on it. Have any of you ever had this happen, where they'll
give you the market value and let you keep the car? I guess it's the company's
policy is to keep a totaled vehicle, but how dare they? And why isn't my
insurance company going after the other guy's insurance company, even if he's
79 YEARS OF AGE? It really wasn't my fault.

I would appreciate any advice...

Vasco
Former daily driver 1991 164S

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