The insurance company compares the repair cost to the value of an un-crashed vehicle of the same vintage and pays the lesser of the two amounts. In my opinion, if this were a collector and show car, he would entitled to getting it back to the same condition as before the crash, however, it is not. Is very unfortuante: I see two options: Total the car and take the appraised value, or keep the car and accept the cash settlement and have it repaired on his own. However, he should first get an estimate of the repair. I see $4000 to $6000 or more repair cost. There is something more wrong under the hood since it will not start. You did not say what that damage was. Was the engine damaged, say a cracked block? Maybe a bunch of busted accessories and brackets on the front of the engine? Cracked manifold? The visible damage is front bumper, bumper cover, probably 2 radiators (engine and air conditioner), left fron fender, hood, grill, front headlamp assembly, running lamp in bumper, possible frame and steering links, 2 shock absorbers (if there is any age on these, these are replaced in pairs to keep the front suspension action balanced), possible front suspension spring and spring brackets, There could be distortion of the sheet metal under the windshield, Possible wiring harness damage, battery and battery pan depending on where the battery is located, possible battery acid damage if the battery was cracked, The right front door may have scratches that will have to be fixed and included in the paint job, and front end alignment after everything is put back together. The paint job will be over $1000 for color matching and fairing the paint into the old paint. The front wheel should be checked for damage and replaced if there is any dents or distortion. The front brake may need rebuilding and any damaged brake lines replaced. As you can see, the repair is extensive, and that's unfortunate because your vehicle appears rust free, rare for an Explorer that age. There will be no settlement until the police report is available. You did have the police survey the scene, didn't you? Expect about 1 week before the report is available from the police station. The police report and witness statements are used to determine fault or percentage of fault of each party.

Almost (not even) a year later... the Hoya is going nuts. I've had to loop vines around eachother multiple times just to keep the plant compact enough to fit in my room. The last picture is hard to see but I think the little nub is the start of a flower spike!!! I'm so excited to see what color it's blooms are. At this point the plant is about 2 and a half years old and if I unwound all the vines it would be probably over 6 ft long and still actively growing. So exciting :)

Since you are tearing the garage down and rebuilding that part how about turning it like PPF has in his rendering. It just looks better and not like two almost identical houses connected by a long low area in your current rendering. This is one case where I'm for adding a gable in the front. This would likely also save you some money and be lower maintenance going forward too. The dormers are more expensive and always a potential area for roof leaks to develop. More to paint and maintain. You can still have a loft, just may need to rearrange the interior some. What is the new parts in the plan? It is not clear to me. Can you draw some lines to highlight what is actually new? Is the laundry area new? If so how about adding in the powder room there since you have to add plumbing in that area for the master and laundry anyways. This way you can have that extra space in your TV room and no need to get new furniture for it unless you want to. I just think it would make the TV room flow better and give you more space and more furniture arrangement options. It is just one of those items that looks like it wasn't original and someone just needed to find a spot for a powder room downstairs. Seems like if renovating and improving this is one that should go on the list. Humans are very adaptable and will work around things, but if you have the opportunity why not fix it so it works even better. I think the cost wouldn't be that much extra (considering the other plumbing that will be done in that area and it would do a lot for your TV room. It would look updated and not have the remnants of it was the only place available before so it was stuck there. What do you plan to use the loft for? Seems like an expensive feature that wouldn't get much use in our house if in the master bedroom. However if accessible by kids (that I prefer to not have in my bedroom) then it would see a lot of use for us. Just want you to think about it as my personal opinion would be not something I'd want to spend my money on, I'd rather spend it on relocating the powder room to have a nice rectangular TV room and then use the rest that is left over for something else. In my area re-locating the powder room would likely be around 4K, but the loft area would run about 15-25k. It is a neat feature, but I just can't see myself using it on a regular basis. Love the idea of the book cases framing the windows. Have you considered widening the opening to your existing living room as well or just move it if widening is not an option? This way you'd have a straight walkway available between the kitchen and dining area and thus feel less cramped with the table and chairs there and the flow would make more sense between the rooms as the dining area would be more defined. I think your house as it currently exists is looking so pretty, but your new rendering just doesn't have the same charm at all. Unfortunately the two prominent doors makes it confusing. I understand wanting to move the entry, however I think you need to figure out a way to not have two doors competing and both looking like entries. Painting the brick and bricking up that area and add a window helps a lot as shown in PPF's rendering.

We did what you are contemplating but thought we would save money and tax Bill. It was less expensive and we designed HVAC to be easy add later. I put loads of electricals so we had flexibility down the road. That was less cost to do at construction. Certain fire code items were needed as well. Truthfully, that was about 2/3 of the cost. So, we saved but then when we finished off that was cash out of pocket. So it’s a choice. If I had it to do again, I would do it all at initial build. Ours was 750 sq ft heated/cool space. And I wouldn’t have had the mess after moving in. Getting sheetrock up to second floor was messy! Good luck.