If the car is a cat C/D then surely it will be a write off even if the crash structure is not damaged.
Also somebody on here posted a while back that if you wrote off a car that was already on the insurance register then they would not sell it back to you a second time ... I don't know why that would be and I could have misunderstood what they wrote.
So assuming that you can get the car back the first question is do you want it back?
If the answer is yes then I think you should agree a write off with your insurer with a buy back as part of the deal.
Then take whatever cash you can get out of the deal and buy a lot of tank tape
The smart move, however, may be to let the insurers write it off - bargain hard for the best value you can get (even cat C/D elises can be expensive to buy if they are in good condition - so make sure you do your research on what it will cost to buy a similar car). Don't buy it back - let somebody else have that pain - instead buy a pre-repaired cat C/D elise with the money, assuming you can continue to afford the insurance - in part it depends on your renewal date too - if it's 6 months away you could run an elise into the spring/early summer and then sell when prices are higher.
Elises don't make good first cars ... expensive to repair, easy to damage, off the road for months when crashed, too many emotions ... if this had been a Ford Focus you would already have moved on
Cheers,
Robin
Still not sure what's happening with mine, the quote was sent in to the insurance company before Christmas but i can imagine they're inundated with flood damage claims at the moment too... Thinking I might be seeing a write off for my rear clam as the quote was circa £5500+ VAT and the cost of a rental while I wait the 3 months for a new clam 
