Must be car-issue month. :-(

My car got hit on Sunday; fortunately, no one was injured. The driver door took most of the damage: Click image for larger version.  Name: cardoor.jpg  Views: 246  Size: 70.9 KB  ID: 11403

(My second split-second thought while the other car was hitting mine was something along the lines of "Gee, I hope I don't have to go to the hospital; I have on old underwear!" I wish I were kidding about this... but ~~ sigh ~~ I'm not... )

It's an old car, 1998, ~ 210K miles, a Honda Civic which has been very reliable. I hadn't planned to replace it for at least another two years, not with a kid in college at the moment.

My insurance company has declared it a total loss, which seems to be in their best (financial) interest; it does not seem to be in my best (financial) interest, however, given that I don't have a car payment now and would like to keep it that way (see "kid in college" above).

Has anyone here been through this before? I've not and suspect I should be more educated about my options before I make a decision to accept (or fight) the company's decision. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful for them!

Thanks!