Claiming in your Car Insurance
The car insurance company may decide your car is totaled. In insurance lingo, "totaled" means the car's market value, after the deductible, is less than the restoration costs. In other words, it would theoretically have cost less to buy the exact same car of the same age than to repair your car. The insurance will just pay you the value of the car rather than pay for repairs.
If your car was in exceptional condition prior to the accident, provide whatever documentation you can to support that fact. Otherwise, the totaled car will be valued as if it were only in average condition.
After making a car insurance claim for a totaled car, you probably don't want to keep buying comprehensive protection on the same vehicle. If you have another accident in the same vehicle, it will be much more difficult to prove to the car insurance company that a twice-totaled car has any value for which it's worth compensating.
Call your car insurance provider as soon as you're able, and keep notes of all related conversations. Track resulting medical, home-care, baby-sitting, or housekeeping bills, since some policies cover a portion of those costs.
Read your car insurance policy now, because you'll be most satisfied with your settlement if you know in advance what's covered.