Update to town plow hit my car...

[Goofygirl17]

We got a call today from the town's insurance carrier. They got a claim from the town and are going to send a guy (can't think of the name) to do an estimate of the damage so I'm assuming they're accepting liability.

We got the estimate today from our company- $8000 and it's not totaled because it's a 2010 Honda Accord I really don't want to keep and make payments on a car that is only 2 years old and has that amount of repairs. It's not worth what we have left to pay on it! (It had $5000 worth of repairs last January when a woman went through a stop sign and hit it).

I'm trying to figure out if we can get them to total it- take our equity and put it toward a new car. I'm going to call the Honda dealer tomorrow, tell them what happened and ask what the value of the car will be after the repairs.

 

[SandrA9810]

Hopefully their guy will find more damages than your company.

I don't think I'd feel safe driving in a car that's been through two accidents. Even if the dents aren't visible.

 

[mlittig]

Wow, good luck Keep us updated

 

[mama2ella]

fingers crossed that they do the right thing!

 

[reginaastralis]

I don't know how hard the plow hit your car, but I was in an accident where the car hit me going less than 15mph. However, the force shifted my engine block four inches, meaning there was frame damage, and they totaled my car.

That being said, up until the day they started doing repairs *4 weeks after the accident* they told me the car was being repaired. The dealership told me they had never seen that kind of damage before.

 

[msmayor]

We got a call today from the town's insurance carrier. They got a claim from the town and are going to send a guy (can't think of the name) to do an estimate of the damage so I'm assuming they're accepting liability.

We got the estimate today from our company- $8000 and it's not totaled because it's a 2010 Honda Accord I really don't want to keep and make payments on a car that is only 2 years old and has that amount of repairs. It's not worth what we have left to pay on it! (It had $5000 worth of repairs last January when a woman went through a stop sign and hit it).

I'm trying to figure out if we can get them to total it- take our equity and put it toward a new car. I'm going to call the Honda dealer tomorrow, tell them what happened and ask what the value of the car will be after the repairs.

I'm confused... if, as you state, you owe more than the car is worth than you have no equity in it.

If you owe, say, $10,000 and its worth is only $8,000 (which is what you'd get if they total it) then you still owe $2,000 unless you had gap insurance.

The payout from the town's insurance wouldn't go to you...it would go to you AND the finance company because they have a lien on the title.

 

[Goofygirl17]

Sorry I wasn't clear. We owe less than it is technically worth. If it's totaled we would get about $4000-5000 back to put down ona new car. I meant that the car wouldn't have the same resale or trade in value as a comparable that hadn't been hit twice.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I am an insurance appraiser, albeit for a Canadian Insurance company. I hear these arguements all the time. Bottom line is this, if the cost of repairs + other costs (such as rental car, supplemetal damages etc), exceeds the "market value" for the car then we will write it off.

A 2010 Accord is worth far more than $8000 that the car has in damages - so I see no way the insurance will write off the car. The circumstances of the accident have no bearing on wheter or not we would repair or write it off - it's a simple matter or economics. At fault or not at fault have no bearing on our decision - we treat everyone equally.

For example. Let's say your car was worth $15000. If we wrote it off, we would pay you $15,000 + taxes (10% for this example). Settlement cheque to you would be $16500. We would then own your car and sell it to a salvage contractor for $4000 to offset our costs. Our exposure is approx $16500 - $4000 = $12500.

Now, if we decided to repair the car: the damages were $8000, possible hidden damages (10% = $800), rental costs $1000. Our exposure on a repair would be: $9800.

In this situation, we would repair because our exposure would be only $9800 compared to the $12500 if we wrote it off.

To close the gap between the 2 figures, the car would need to have more damages than estimated, we would need to get more $$ for the salvage, rental costs would need to be more. etc....or you would need to be willing to take less than the market value - and in my 10 years experience this has not ever occured for me.

Of course, I don't understand the USA insurance business - maybe they have different rules

 

[girli565]

Hopefully your adjuster can get it totaled for you. Do they know it was damaged previously? Your adjuster should know since it's from your insurance company.

 

[pixiewings71]

I would make sure they know about the previous accident. It's possible you have a different adjustor this time and they don't know. Good luck, I feel the same way, I wouldn't want a car that had been in 2 accidents either.

I am glad the town is sending someone out to review the damages as well, it's a positive sign.

 

[jaleaton]

Even though you may have to pay a deductible, I would also go through your own insurance carrier in case they view the case differently. I t-boned someone who ran a red light, and the damage was extensive (around $12 or $13K) to my car (a 2010 Malibu). My insurance kept trying to say it was repairable, and wasn't worth totaling out. I called the other person's insurance, and they had it totaled out in less than a week. The payoff was sent to the bank to pay off the loan, and then the bank gave me a check for the difference on what was left over after loan payoff. It's worth a shot if you're not happy with the idea of a car repaired with that much damage.

 

[jaleaton]

Also, just because an appraiser gives their idea of how much damage there really is, no one can say for sure until it's looked at by a bodyshop as they may find hidden damage. Part of what helped me (in that I didn't want the car with that much damage) is that after the bodyshop holding fees, ordering parts (which would have required a rental car for even longer) etc., it all added $ to the original $ being totaled out, if that makes sense.

 

[Denise W]

Once the car is torn down for repairs, they may find enough additional structural damage to declare it a total loss. The general amount insurance companies use to determine a total loss is if the repairs are 70-75% of the ACV. In addition, if the frame is bent, that alone may cause the car to be totaled. Since you were hit by a snow plow, it is very possible the frame is damaged. Make sure your body shop checks for this.

Denise

 

[Melrosgirl]

I was recently in an accident. Our car was totaled. It was a 2011. I wasn't sure if ours was going to be totaled, so I did research.

You could ask their insurance company for diminished value damages (something like that).

I also recommend for future use always having coverage for replacement cost. In case you total a car (your fault or others). It would cover you 100% (based on MSRP of your car). This came in very handy for me this year! Otherwise I would have lost a good $10,000 (based on appraised value of my 2011 and what I paid for it).

 

[DVC-Don]

The company I worked for would total if the damages exceeded 80% of the vehicles actual cash value. Frames/unit bodies can be repared on a frame machine. Your Honda would have a unit body.

 

[Goofygirl17]

Update- The town's insurance appraiser checked out the car and came out about $1000 lower than our company. The body shop manager said he would go with the town's insurance because they've agreed to fix the car and will cover any additional repairs needed. We now have a rental car paid for by their insurance. I'm going to call Monday (their adjuster was out Friday) and tell them to repair the car and that we also want to file a claim for diminished value because even when the car is repaired we won't be able to sell it or trade it in for the amount that it would have been worth before the accident. I'm going to call the Honda dealer and see what they would give us for a trade in.

Thanks everyone!