What's this Miata worth?

A co-worker wrecked her 2009 Miata yesterday. Insurance is totaling it, and I may have the opportunity to buy it back. 

Prior to the accident, It was in extremely good shape. Retractable hardtop, 50,000 miles. Beautiful car. Downside- it's an automatic. 

And it actually was driven by a sweet little old lady.  Haha!

The wreck- she crossed over a center divider on an off-ramp, and clipped an oncoming vehicle (lightly). The car has front end damage, and the primary reason for the total is the front suspension was damaged. When I saw the car, the right wheel was flopping, and the bumper wrap was hanging, but it still looked overall good. 

I know... I'm not giving you much info. I dont have much, and won't. I don't know the options, rear end, etc.  I also don't know the extent of the undercarriage damage. Assume base model car, and I am assuming it will need a frame rack and a new front subframe hub to hub. 

I loved this car (except for the auto). 

I know you guys are enablers, but I really need you to talk me off the ledge on this one. I'm trying to put a very conservative price on this to make it worth the effort. 

I have the capability to do all of the work (except the frame rack).  I would swap it to a manual. 

Thoughts?  What price would make this irresistible, even with the unknowns?

you can get non hardtop manual nc's in the 6-8k range now you will spend at least that on a donor + this car

Doesn't sounds worth it to me... 

$500 and part it out.

Hard pass.

What? I would think an auto PRHT would make a SWEET daily. If you can get it on the cheap and get it all fixed (with existing drivetrain) for less than $2000 I don't see how you can lose.

If it just needs a bumper cover, suspension corner and a bit of an alignment that doesn't seem crazy. Will it win FTD? Probably not. Will it deliver you to work with a smile on your face? Likely. Will it take you on great dates? Also likely. Will it be fun to cruise around in on weekends and not be a total deadbeat in the twisties? Absolutely.

There is one for sale near me. 

It is currently worth $625 at the time of this writing, but I think it will probably go for more than $2k.

A running, driving, clean title one is listed at $8k locally.

Have her request a buyback quote and see what it looks like. It might be worth it, it may not.


 

I'm not sure about the market for automatics but I think that's about a 10k car normally. Look into what goes into an Auto to manual swap. The computer on the NC is pretty picky about what it connects to and might freak out if you change the transmission.