Surprised my Honda civic wasn’t totaled

[lc4yah]

My car had extensive damage after being rear-ended by a drunk driver. We’re talking $15,000 worth of damage after the auto shop tore it up and sent a supplement. Geico wants to repair it (it’s a 2019 civic and I’m guessing worth ~$20k)
Everyone told me it would be totaled. I’m surprised geico is saying otherwise. Is this safe? Is there a chance to get compensation for diminishment of value (i live in CA, the at-fault driver has insurance but since he also damaged a house, my insurance suggested I file through my own insurance to speed up the process and they will try to get compensation from his insurance)
I love my car and I’d be happy to have it back as long as it’s safe to drive.

 

[netwaxer]

@lc4yah It depends. Much of many estimates is paint work and labor not actually body/structure work or the parts.

To put it into perspective a 500 dollar front bumper replacement may cost over 3 thousand because of labor hours to remove the old bumper take any any undamaged pieces(fog lights inserts etc off) prep and paint and clear coat the new bumper and then install the inserts/fog lights etc then any new parts that need replacement on top of that(lights fog lights inserts etc on top of that)

I had a car that the only damage was cosmetic (no main frame/supporting frame/structural damage) a 400 dollar front fender 300 dollar fender shroud and 200 dollar headlight cost 5500 after prep/paint/labor to install it

 

[netwaxer]

If my airbags deployed it would have been an additional 200-400 bucks per airbag plus labor to remove and install the new ones

 

[lc4yah]

Ah, gotcha. That make sense. Here’s a link to a photo I posted in the r/civic channel. Suspension is damaged but not the frame, so I guess that’s what saved this car from being totaled. I’m definitely worried about the car being safe and not having issues in the future due to the extent of this damage

https://www.reddit.com/r/civic/s/AL1VZAMPL4