Curious how that is 5500 worth of damage.
Labor is probably about 80% of that. They estimate total repair cost, not part cost.
5k down payment on LS2 gto, 3k cushion money, boom
When a car is totalled it takes more than just fixing the car to make it road legal again. You have to jump through a ton of loops just to be allowed to even register the car again. Take the $8000 and buy another car.
Another factor to consider. Even if you can fix it and get it registered, you are going to have a car with a R title, and that is going to cut the value in half making it even harder to sell in the future.
I kept my el Camino after it got totaled and kept driving it. It won't have a rebuilt title if he keeps it it'll have a regular title
If he keeps it WITHOUT insurance paying him for it it will have a regular title. The damage estimate is at a high enough value to where it is considered totalled. If he takes the money to fix it, it will have an R title because he is attempting to fix it.
This is why it would be smarter to just take the $8,000 that they (over) valued it at