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Smart Shopper Questions About Auto Insurance & Accidents
4409 messages, Last post on Nov 29, 2009 at 5:58 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: funkypetals (Jun 07, 2008 4:35 pm) Each price guide uses different methods and their "values" may represent different things. Kelley could be "dealer asking prices", or it could be "dealer selling prices as reported by the dealer" whereas Edmunds or someone else could be reporting private party REALIZED prices as gathered by Edmunds, not reported by a dealer. Guide books are just that "guide" books. The insurance company uses an appraiser and so should you, if you don't agree with them. Keep in mind that some states REQUIRE an insurance company to total a car if the percentage of damage is too high versus the Fair Market value. Before you hire your own appraiser, do some research, say on Craigslist, or autotrader.com, of COMPARABLE cars to yours---trim level, mileage, exterior and interior condition. An Eddie Bauer with 20,000 miles and pristine condition is not an Eddie Bauer with 120,000 miles and 4 dents in it. If you find in your research that the MAJORITY of the cars you see are NOT selling at Kelley's price, then chances are you shouldn't bother hiring an appraiser and going to arbitration to battle it out. Also if the damage estimate is very close to the Kelley Value, you probably will not get the car repaired even if they offer you more money. Here's a sample ad I found: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/car/708819160.html If you want to hire an appraiser, that will cost about $250. Then if the insurance company doesn't offer you more money, you will have to go to arbitration which will cost you about $300 for the referee + another fee for your appraiser to represent you. So it's going to cost you about $700 to fight the insurance company, and probably the referee will give you that back if nothing else. Personally, if I were you, I'd look around and find out what it REALLY would cost you to buy a substitute vehicle, and then ask for that amount, without going to your own appraiser. The insurance company may cough up. But if you shove a Kelley Blue Book in front of them, they aren't likely to dislodge their position based strictly on that evidence. |
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Does anyone know of a way I can get a feel for insurance rates on one car vs. another? My 16yo daughter recently got her driver's license and we're starting to car shop. Right now, pretty much anything with 4-cyl, 4 wheels and an auto tranny is on the table. Would a 2-door civic be more expensive than a 4-door civic, all else being equal, for example? A VW cabrio more than a VW golf? (I'm assuming that the answers to both of those questions is yes). It gets much cloudier when the cars become a 2-door civic vs. a 2-door ford probe. I've been calling my insurance company with VINs to get rates, but since so many different cars are being looked at, it's getting to be a real pain in the butt. I guess I'm looking for some database of cars that provides an "insurability" rating of some sort. Where I can quickly and easily see that car "A" would be ~20% more expensive to insure than car "B". Again, I don't need $$ amounts, just something with relative costs. Anyone know of any such thing? Thanks!! |
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 8:18 am) |
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 8:18 am) tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 8:18 am) You might want to chat with your agent to see if they agree. And, I know I've said this more than once on these boards, but I strongly believe that the
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Replying to: michaell (Jun 09, 2008 11:48 am) That's all covered.. I must be doing something right since she keeps telling me "it's not fair!". 
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 2:45 pm) The only time I heard that was when I took back her car keys for a week & when she started to rant some more, I said you just lost the privilege for two weeks. Want to try for a month? 
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 2:45 pm) The agreement was that the savings covered the deductible, then they couldn't resume driving until that amount was replentished in the savings account. |
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Replying to: funkypetals (Jun 07, 2008 4:35 pm) Am going thru the same thing (scroll back a few messages) wherein the other person's insurance company won't offer a reasonable/fair settlement. I've chosen small claims court as the method of resolution. Let the judge decide. Court date is July 11th. I'm suing the lady who hit me, not her insurance carrier. Cost $75 to file the claim. $30 for the sheriff to serve the summons. Took all of 10 minutes to get it done. Best of luck. |
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Replying to: kominsky (Jun 09, 2008 8:18 am)
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