I won't go as far as
@Gauss Guzzler on claiming that scratches on more than a couple of panels will end up with a car totaled. I've had a car that got smacked around pretty badly (T-boned by a red-light runner) that didn't get totaled.. although, in that case, if the insurance company had known what the final bill was, they might have totaled it right off.
Wellyup, this is why you've got insurance, so your pocket isn't as badly picked as it would be if you
didn't have insurance. Your car goes into a Tesla-approved body shop. An adjuster (or the shop, depends upon state law and whether the insurance company trusts the body shop or not) goes through the car, bit by bit, counts up all the bent pieces and what it'll take to bring it back to Square One. I should note that this part usually doesn't take all that long: The most mechanical bit that might happen is pulling off something like a bumper to get an eyeball at something underneath.
The adjuster/body shop will then generate one of
those reports, of which you'll get a copy, that lists what-all in excruciating detail with the costs of paint, hardware, labor, and all thrown in. For what it's worth, the costs for this-and-that are pretty much fixed on the adjuster's computer.
At this point, the adjuster and the insurance company (assuming that the adjuster isn't actually working for the insurance company; sometimes, they simply pop on by to do the look-see) throw some minor brickbats back and forth at each other. If the cost to repair is less than the value of the car, the car gets totaled, given to the insurance company, and you get a check for the value of the car minus the deductible. The "value" is sometimes up for argument, depending upon how the insurance contract is written. Haven recently driven through Florida I noted the unusually large number of billboards with lawyers promising untold riches if one hired their services after an auto accident; but those seemed to mainly be involved with pain and suffering, so don't know if bringing one of them online would be good for you or not, seeing as when lawyers get involved, they always get their cut, leaving (usually) you with less.
In any case, once the insurance company adjuster and the body shop have agreed, you tend to get politely shoved out of the way and the body shop does its bit. If your insurance company offers (and you've paid for) rental insurance, then you get to use it. If not, Enterprise (which is practically everywhere) usually offers competitive long-term rental rates.
Two things about the "at fault" bit. If you got a ticket out of this, your run through the municipal court will be fun. In NJ, one gets points for at-fault accident; but it is possible to plea-bargin those down, if your record isn't too bad. Don't know how that works in FL, if at all. Usually, an at-fault accident will raise your insurance rates, although (at least around here) insurance companies will sometimes give you a "gimmie" on the first round of such a thing.
Finally, a story. Once upon a time, many decades in the past, I was driving my trusty '71 VW Bug south on an interstate in New Hampshire, returning from a company picnic. Yes, I had imbibed a single beer; but that had been three hours in the past. Left lane, pulling about 65 on a downhill, getting set to pass somebody doing about 55 or so, nothing unusual. There's an entrance ramp on the right; some gonzo comes flying down the ramp, gets into the right travel lane and, rather than slow down for the 55-mph guy, decided that pulling right in front of me was the Right Thing To Do. Braking wasn't an option - the gonzo was too darn close and slow, and so I dodged onto the soft verge on the left side of the road.
A smarter driver than I was at the time would have touched the brakes lightly and tried to slow; I braked relatively hard, the front bumper of the Bug dug into the dirt, and the car went $ss over teakettle, end for end, landing on the engine compartment (in the rear.. it was an air-cooled VW), piroretting and landing on the left side of the car. Thank $DIETY VW's of that age and time had headrest and seat and shoulder harness; got knocked out, but stayed in the car, and wasn't injured. Car was rather totaled, though. The Gonzo, his woman companion, and a number of bystanders were nice, stuck around, helped me out of the passenger's side door, helped push the car off the main interstate, and gave statements to the State Cops when they showed.
The fun part, though, was getting insurance to pay up. At the time I was a resident of Massachusetts which had recently put no-fault insurance in place and
required that all insurance policies be written in High School-level English with no mouseprint. Or Latin words. I had gotten a discount: If I wasn't at fault for an accident, the insurance company would pay up. If not, they wouldn't. The insurance company stated that the Gonzo had said that there was a car on his right on the entrance ramp that had moved into the Gonzo, forcing the Gonzo to move into my lane; If I wanted to be paid, go find this (hypothetical) driver and sue
him. Or her. But, since the Gonzo hadn't actually touched my car, it was my fault. I pointed out that if I hadn't swerved, I would have hit the Gonzo pretty hard, since he was going at least 20 mph slower than I was, and then it
would have been his fault. And people might have been killed or injured. They said they didn't care.
So, I got a lawyer. Since the accident was in NH, I got given a referral to this fellow who lived and worked in Portsmouth. I brought my policy with me, told the guy the facts, and looked hangdog. He started reading through the policy. And he did a Bela Lugosi laugh that went on and on and just wouldn't stop. It was seriously scary. He had found the part in the policy where the Legislature of Massachusetts, having Had It with weaselly insurance companies, had inserted the fateful words, "If the insurance company refuses to pay and is found in the wrong in a Court of Law, they will be liable for Double Damages and Reasonable Lawyer's Fees." It's been a while; it might have been treble damages, I don't remember. This is all before Arbitration became a Thing, mind you.
The lawyer then made a Phone Call. It was entertaining to listen to his side of it. But, after fifteen minutes, he hung up, and told me that I was going to be paid. Less his 30% cut, of course, but that was a lot better for a starving college student than nothing.
As a result of all this, my opinions about how All Lawyers Were Evil were reversed. Hope you don't need one.
