My wife hit the back of a truck. Low speed impact; the air bag did NOT deploy. The truck had one of those steel brackets that come down to prevent a vehicle from going under the truck bed. The front bumper first made contact with this bracket and then the bracket gave way and the final impact ended at the upper one-half of the grill. Insurance co. wants to total car. It has 140,000 mi. and I considered it to be in perfect condition, properly maintained, no door dings, etc. We are still negotiating on value. I have been offered $11,200 + tax & title for a total loss settlement or about $7,900 if I keep the car. I have looked at car twice now and feel that there is no frame damage but cannot be certain. Fenders are both just slightly bowed and you must look hard to see this. Damage under the hood is limited to the top side of the radiator pushing back just enough to prevent the fan blade from turning; no loss of coolant; no apparent fin damage. Wife turned off engine immediately after impact. I have priced out parts on a worst case scenario replacing fan, clutch, radiator, condensor, both fenders, hood and grill assembly, bumper assembly, both headlight and turn signal assemblies, upper and lower radiator reinforcing members, & numerous minor parts and come up with a total price of about $3,000. I am guessing that painting fenders and hood + a second color for the bumper would run $1,500 tops given that I would take the car to a shop minus the grill, trim parts and headlights to reduce make ready and also make for a better job. The $7,900 I would receive less $4,500 for parts and paint leave a comfortable cushion to pay myself for the effort and have a contingency for anything unknown. Am I missing something? Am I nuts for even thinking about doing this? We obviously love the car and looking for a comparable replacement is like looking for a needle in a haystack.