On Easter Sunday I got hit by a driver in an intersection in Santa Barbara. His company admitted fault and sent me to Caliber Collision for an estimate. Even though the damage was only the front driver side bumper, hood, quarter panel and headlight housing they determined that the car was a ""total loss"" because Caliber Collision's estimate came out to $3,154.32. Much more than the blue book value of $2,000 for the car. \r
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I found that if I corrected the lighting and obtained a ""light & break certificate"" I could keep my car and it would be considered ""street legal"" by DMV, so I called Caliber to see if they would just do the lighting housing and leave the quarter panel, bumper and hood for later. They said they would not do that, they could only to ""all or nothing"" with the repairs. \r
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I went to my mechanic in Goleta (""The Shop"") and he referred me to Mission Auto Wrecking for the parts I needed to repair the headlight housing. He not only fixed that but he knocked out the dents in the quarter panel and the hood and made sure the bumper was securely in place. Now the car looks almost as good as it did before the accident with only a few tell tale scratches. The parts cost me $300 and the labor cost me $200 NOT the $3,154.32 that Caliber Collision had estimated and you can hardly tell I was involved in the accident.
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