totaling a car out

[Steph1939]

Someone backed into me last night. The body shop told me that I needed to have the fender, bumper, grill, light, and hood replaced along with painting the new parts. My concern is that my car is a 1993 and the blue book value is $1800. I'm afraid the insurance company will total the car out. What exactly happens when that happens? Thanks.

 

[taylor1293]

If the cost to repair the car is more than the value of the car, you'll get a check for the value of the car.

Someone backed into me last night. The body shop told me that I needed to have the fender, bumper, grill, light, and hood replaced along with painting the new parts. My concern is that my car is a 1993 and the blue book value is $1800. I'm afraid the insurance company will total the car out. What exactly happens when that happens? Thanks.

 

[mamacatnv]

This happened to my DS last fall - his 93 Honda was hit in the student garage at his University in the middle of the night by another drunk student.

Cost of repairs was estimated at $2700 and the book value was $2300. Insurance company totalled it - DO NOT accept their first offer - our first offer was $1800 our 3rd offer was $2700. Now the reason we got over book was because I kept pressing them to show me where I could buy a comparible car to the one DS had for the pittance they were offering. Also ask where they are coming up with the value for their offer - specific name of dealership. One of the sources the adjuster tried to foist off onto me was a repair shop that did upholstery not resale.

When the adjuster gave me the offer I asked him where I could buy that car? That was sound mechanically and had excellent tires? He had to get back to me......offer #2 was a little better but again I asked to see the car..........offer #3 was fair in our opinions and we took it.

They also offered to sell us the car back for $350 - heck the brand new tires were worth more.

Remember you are the victim here. Be firm and negotiate. No need to get pissy just remain firm that you are the injured party and you expect to be compensated accordingly. We were negotiating with State Farm the drivers insurance.

In the end we were able to take the $2900 and buy DS a much newer Honda with lower miles for $3000 from a tow yard - it was a recovered stolen vehicle and it took us about a month to find it.

Good luck and and I am sorry this has happened it is a pain. Oh and the insurance company gave us a rental but the revoked the rental the day they gave us the first offer. They figure they have you over a barrel so be prepared to come up with alternate transportation to use in the week to week and a half it will take you to settle up. It took them a day each to come up with the new offers.

 

[mfd25wife]

Someone backed into me last night. The body shop told me that I needed to have the fender, bumper, grill, light, and hood replaced along with painting the new parts. My concern is that my car is a 1993 and the blue book value is $1800. I'm afraid the insurance company will total the car out. What exactly happens when that happens? Thanks.

We actually did just total out our 8 yr old Tahoe on the way to WDW one month ago. In our case, there was no doubt it was totalled. After the ABS locked up, we slid sideways into the rear end of a semi at about 50mph. Our insurance company gave us the option of one offer and I would get to keep the Tahoe and sell parts, etc. They also offered a higher amount and the vehicle changes ownership. Since it happened 400+ miles from home, we took the higher offer and let them become the new owners. We probably would have anyway just to not have the headache. The offer was fair when we looked at KBB. I think they actually use something called a black book, but I'm not sure. It was one heck of a way to start our Disney World vacation. After I was released from the trauma center, we decided to let me recuperate at WDW anyway and rented a vehicle.

 

[dzneelvr]

OUCH--I certainly feel your painI was rear-ended many years ago by a teen who was "high". I wanted to be able to fix the vehicle because it was only a few years old and I special-ordered it, etc....long story short, the insurance company determined it was "totalled"--gave me the value of the car--which isn't near enough to replace it at retail costand so we had to dish out serious money to buy a new vehicle. UGH. the whole situation still makes me mad! Even though the accident was 0% my fault--I ended up having to buy a new vehicle with no option of getting it repaired--they wouldn't even go that route.