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Smart Shopper Replacement Cost by Insurance Company for Totaled Vehicle
196 messages, Last post on Nov 17, 2009 at 7:17 PM
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| Forgot to mention that insurance company we are dealing with is Ohio Casualty. | |
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Replying to: rhr (Jul 10, 2006 8:22 pm) Best thing I can think of is for you to find out what the "buy-back clause" is, that is, what percentage of the van's value you have to pay to get the car back from the insurance company once they pay you fair market value for it. (usually it's like 10%-13%). Then you can drive it on a salvage title, and take the money to hopefully find a cheaper body shop to get it looking decent again. It's not fair I know, but you are kind of trapped in the system of how insurance works. Your other alternative is to help the kid out and try to find a shop that will fix it for less than $5,000 (seems like a lot of money--did he back into it at 40 mph?), and let the kid pay you out of pocket. I wouldn't "take payments" but I might take collateral + cash if he has anything of value. You can go to any body shop you want even if insurance is paying. If you can get a body shop to fix it for maybe 80% of what the appraisal is, then it won't have to be totalled. But even if it's totalled, so what, if you can buy it back and drive it. I'm thinking you could take say a $3,000 settlement, put it down on a 2006 Scion xB (a cheap van) and have payments of maybe $225 a month or so.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jul 11, 2006 8:45 am) We live in PA - how do I find out the state's policy? How do we figure out which fair market value to use? When I look at the Edmunds site, it lists three values (dealer trade-in, private party, and dealer retail). Am I correct in assuming that it's the dealer retail as that is what it would cost us to buy another one?
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Replying to: rhr (Jul 11, 2006 9:38 am) Should we tell the insurance company person that we have that $5000 estimate or see what they say?
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Replying to: rhr (Jul 11, 2006 9:53 am) If the van is only in fair shape, perhaps you could cut the old man a break and see what Miracle Auto Body would charge for the work. It seem a shame to put totally professional bodywork on a van that might be less than perfect...the repair might make the rest of the van look not so good....still you deserve at least a decent repair. Probably you should use the Edmunds Dealer Price to show to the insurance company. That might be a bit more than your van in its present condition, but you're going to need all the armament you can get on this one. |
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My 2004 Nissan Xterra was hit while parked in front of my house by an uninsured driver involved in a high speed chase. She was going 40 when she hit me and there were 45 feet of skid marks. The speed limit in the area was 25. I want to know how the insurance company will decide whether the car was totaled. Is it based on a percentage of total value or the type of damage done? It will probably be at least a week before an adjuster looks at the car and I am driving myself crazy thinking about "what ifs". The radiator was ripped out, the oil can busted, two doors won't open at all, 3 tires popped, 2 wheels bent (maybe broken axles), and that doesn't begin to describe what it looks like. I am scared! My insurance company is State Farm. If anybody has a clue I would appreciate it!
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Replying to: addee82 (Jul 12, 2006 11:22 am) Don't worry, you might come out all right on this. Sounds like a total to me, though. |
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Hi- I really appreciate everyone's previous advice and hope you don't mind if I ask for more. Since I last posted, here's where we are: To recap, my elderly neighbor backed into our 1995 Ford Clubwagon ($145,000 miles) and put a good size dent in it. We do not have collision on this vehicle and she admitted liability and her insurance company (Ohio Casualty) has accepted that. Ohio sent out an appraiser who determined that the van was not totalled, but he said this was "predicated on the idea that the side panel of the van could be repaired - not replaced." They issued a check for $2076 to cover the cost of the repairs. Originally, we had been told by one body shop that it would cost $5000 to replace the panel which would result in the van being totalled. We went around to at least six other places to see what they thought. The majority of them would not even consider doing a repair on the panel; they felt it needed to be replaced because there was "so much plastic involved." However, we did find one place that said they would try and repair it using a used panel and that it would more likely come in around $3500. The appraiser from Ohio had instructed me to tell the shop to contact him if there was any discrepancy between Ohio's estimate for repair and the body shop's. They have been trying to reach the adjustor for the last couple of days and have not been able to do so. Now, they say that maybe they should get the car in there, take it apart, and then see what's happening. They hope they can get a used panel, but they're not sure. They also are not sure how it will look; probably look ok, but might be "wavy." Our problem with this is that the van is still driveable and we need it for our business, so we can't afford to have it sitting somewhere while they take it apart and wait for the insurance company to get back to them. So - what I am wondering now is what our rights are? Do we get a choice in how this goes down? In other words, if the van is not going to look that good, do we get the option of having it totalled and taking the money to put down on another van? We called the insurance adjustor to ask him what value the appraisor had given him, but he said that the appraisor hadn't assessed a value because the car was repairable. We asked him the question I posed above and he said that unless the apraisor told him the car was totalled, there was nothing he could do. So - I'm not sure what the best thing to do is. The appraisor had mentioned that the car value might be around $4500, but nothing firm. Since the car is in what he considers "fair" condition (got this info. from the estimate we received), maybe it would be less? Still, we could get stuck with a van that is repaired for $2076, doesn't look that good, and then what? Sorry to go on so long, but felt it important to lay out all the facts. Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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Replying to: rhr (Jul 19, 2006 10:41 am) If a damage appraiser doesn't offer you enough to fix the van, then you take one or two estimates from body shops and complain to their insurance company. If they say "oh, the van isn't worth that much", then they should offer you the fair market value for the van prior to damage, and this is done by a value appraiser, not a damage appraiser as a rule. Of course, one person COULD do both I suppose, although personally if a total is involved I'd like to have an impartial inspection rather than have it done by an employee of the insurance company. You think he's going to be generous? Probably not.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jul 19, 2006 11:31 am) Also, is it possible for them to consider a car repairable and then change their mind and consider it totalled? In other words, does this mean that we might be able to "choose" between having the car repaired or having it totalled? I just don't have a sense of what leg we're standing on here. Can we argue that we may not be satisfied with the results of the repair (as several of the auto body shops have said) and so would rather have the car totalled (assuming of course we make out better in the latter scenario)? |
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Smart Shopper Replacement Cost by Insurance Company for Totaled Vehicle
