Totalled Vehicle Question

[TexEx88]

I would appreciate any help y'all could give me. My wife got into an accident. She's fine, the car isn't. The insurance company decided to total it. We owe $6700 but the insurance company is offering only $3700. I was under the assumption that the toalled price would have to be approximately the Blue Book value which is about $6700 according to online Blue Book values and auto ads on the internet.
Short of hiring an attorney what recourse do we have? What does the law say? What is the accepted standard for establishiong value in such cases, if any? The insurance company is pressuring us with a take it or leave it threat. What could they do to us if we do continue to delay on the settlement? I thought that I saw a post that dealt with this topic a while back here, but I could not locate it. Is there a source for info on this topic?Any advice from those in the know would be greatly appreciated.

 

[po elvis]

i had my jeep totaled 4 years or so ago. it was stolen and driven into a lake.

i was under the assumption that i would get the trade in value. they gave me the actual retail value. i got alot more than i thought i would. somebody told me that they had changed the way they did it and gave people the higher retail value.

 

[Baboso]

Contact the state insurance commissioner's office and talk to them.

 

[accuratehorn]

What you owe has no relation to what the car is worth. Many people are "upside down" in their cars-dealers put them in new cars with great low down payments, and they drive off owing much more than the value of the car.
But whether it is really worth the "Blue Book" value, or what the insurance company is offering is realistic, is another question. The on-line "Blue Book" value of cars on some of those websites has little to do with reality in the car market. The high price they quote might be gotten at a dealership that offers a full warranty on a perfect car, but not by any individuals selling cars. If you hold out, the insurance company may up their offer, especially if you have a valid claim for more money, though. You should get a couple of more opinions about what the real value of the car should be, maybe from car lot guys that buy and sell a lot of cars, or a body shop or two.

 

[HatDaddy]

I'm an adjuster for a major insurance company, who shall remain nameless. We pay retail value from the NADA book using the Southwestern index. Some use market surveys in the area. Just depends on which company you are dealing with.
Accurate was right, the amount you owe has no correlation to the amount your car is worth. Most people these days are upside-down on their vehicles. If we paid what was owed, we would be paying for people's bad credit and financing mistakes.

 

[shaq]

Tell them you want the salvage rights.

I got rear ended by a guy that only had $15,000 of liability and my car (97 Tahoe) was worth $18,500 at the time. They agreed to giveme salvage rights and I was able to sell it for $7,000 on top of the $15,000

 

[horn4life]

many insurance companies will give you "trade" value on Blue book. State Farm tends to give "retail" off of their figures (probably the nameless company

).
Just because somebody offers you something does not mean you have to accept it. Did you wife have any injuries? She might start feelign poorly any minute....

Be NICE... at first. Find comparable examples of you car in the newspaper or autobrokers.com. Explain that you are nto trying to profit but that from what you have been able to find that you cannot replace your vehicle with a like vehicle for $3700. Ask them where they get their figures.

Ask them to find you an example of a comparable vehicle for $3700 availible for purchase.

TAPE ALL YOUR CONVERSATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may have to get an attorney involved, but a visit to the doctor for your wifes naggind post accident headaches and neck pain will make the company immediately more responsive....

 

[TexEx88]

Thanks for all the advice. It is appreciated. The insurance company came up with about $800 more as well as agreeing to the salvage rights. Since the engine wasn't damaged at all, it looks like that is a pretty good deal. Since the car actually drives as well now as before the accident, we have some time to make the best deal possible. I think with the trade-in, we will break even. Once again, thanks for taking the time to help out.

 

[7Titles]

I have had this happened twice, both times I took the third offer. What they will pay you in their view is the actual cash value of the car. They will probably get some value from an independent company and use that, the problem is that independent agency isnt really independent, their interests lie with the insurance companies. Depending on what type of car you have it may or may not be reasonably accurate. The best way is to do a newspaper and autotrader search and find similar cars. The middle (average) value in the NADA book also tends to be a pretty good indicator of what you should try and get.

I remember when I was messing with this that since the insurance companies began using so-called dindependent companies to value cars their average pay-outs on damaged cars have fallen 24% or something.