Value of totalled Car

[Belle & Ariel]

Our son totalled his car--thankfully he only has a few cuts from broken glass

Insurance is taking its time gettng back to us--I called tow company to see iif appraiser had been there and he is the one who confirmed it was totalled.

I went on Edmunds.com and got the 3 prices for car--trade in, private party, and retail.

Which one is the amount I should expect to get from insurance?

Thanks!

 

[clh2]

From what I understand, they will give you the lowest amount they can get away with. I know someone who argued the amount, and the insurance company agreed, but it took a fair amount of time, and she did not have a vehicle during the argument time.

 

[Casemily]

Our 2001 Subaru legacy gt ltd was totaled 2 ears ago. I checked Edmonds.com and it said my car was worth $4,000-5,000. We really liked the car and it had 95,000 miles on it so I figured we'd just buy another. Couldn't find any local. Found three back east asking between $8,500-$10,000 and not one was low miles or an ltd with a spoiler. That made me mad. Before the adjustor could send our first offer, it was the weekend, I sent him the links to the three cars. I got a check for $9,800. Do your due diligence, check actual resale prices for replacing your car and if you recently paid for tires/title etc get your receipts together too. Took about 14 days to get our check from the date of the accident, my insurance paid for a rental too.

 

[DrewT]

Just went through this last year, my wife totaled her two year old Lexus. The insurance company should give you what it would cost to replace the car in the same condition it was before the accident. For you to buy the car you would have to pay retail so that is the value they should pay.

My understanding is that the insurance companies use their own industry database to determine values which are typically about 25 to 30% under true market value. In our case we had to invoke the appraisal clause and hire an independent appraiser. It cost us $300 for the appraisal but we ended up settling with the insurance company for about $5000 more than they originally offered for the car.

Good luck and glad your son is ok

 

[luvmy3]

I was involved in an accident and my car was totaled out by the insurance company. He told me that the value would be close to what KBB says for private sale for fair condition and it was.

 

[Shmily1]

If they offer you lower than youre expecting, argue with them. It works. I did it.

 

[johde]

The only suggestion I would add is let the insurance company make the first offer. You can only go up from their first offer. I hate to say I've totaled 2 cars and had to deal with insurance. The first time, their offer seemed low, I challenged and they came up a little. The other time, their offer was actually high compared to the current market. The insurance companies database seems to be of recent sales of cars, not current advertised prices.

The second time I totaled my car was back in 2009. I had a Toyota Corolla. This was just gas prices had jumped over $4.00 a gallon then plummeted back below $2.00 a gallon. During the $4.00 a gallon time small cars had jumped in value in the used car market. Once gas prices dropped again small car prices came back down. The values in the insurance companies database was from the $4.00 a gallon time frame. I actually got more from insurance than I had paid for the car several years earlier. I was able to get a used Corolla 5 years newer than my old one for a little over what my deductible was.

 

[reginaastralis]

It all depends on how easily they want to work with you ... my car was totaled about three years ago. I heard horror stories that I wouldn't get anywhere near what I was owed because the lady who hit me had the same insurance as me, so there was no reason to work with me. But, they offered $2k more than we were expecting. Like others, we'd done our research to see what my car was currently going for, and the price was $2k over that.

It did take pretty long to get to that point though. At first they were going to fix my car, which I was pretty happy with, until they started to do work on the car and found out the engine mount had shifted several inches. It was three weeks to get to that point, and nearly a month on top of that before I'd received my check to have it totaled. I was in a rental that whole time, but I had to fight to keep it after they considered the car totaled.

 

[Woodmnky]

Private party will be closest. Many states allow the value to be based upon what a similar car in similar condition would actually sell for if it was sold privately. These values can come from databases or even Craigslist. Retail value is not considered because that is inflated to cover a dealers expenses and is not truly indicativeof the actual cash value for the car.

 

[tvguy]

Private party will be closest. Many states allow the value to be based upon what a similar car in similar condition would actually sell for if it was sold privately. These values can come from databases or even Craigslist. Retail value is not considered because that is inflated to cover a dealers expenses and is not truly indicativeof the actual cash value for the car.

Exactly. And insurance is replacing the car, they are not covering expenses associated with the purchase of a replacement car, like sales tax, and license.
My neighbor is a retired insurance adjuster, his advice has always been to turn down the cash and have the insurance company track down a like car in like condition. They buy them at wholesale prices.

Never had to deal with a totaled car and insurance. I have had people have to fight with the insurance companies to pay to replace a 2 month old car, and had another friend who had a used pickup totaled, and got $2,000 less than she paid for it, and she put 100,000 miles on it in the meantime.

 

[tinatark]

Many companies use a database. If yours does, look at the "comps" they use to come up with your value - we had a bad experience with USAA and those comps - they used a rebuilt titled car, one with hail damage and another, funky colored one. Their offer was several thousand $$ less than it should have been.

My insurer (Farm Bureau) paid NADA retail plus tax/fees - they got the $$ back from USAA.

 

[mrodgers]

Went through this in January. "Book value" was quite low. The insurance company sent a list of "equal value" cars at dealerships in the area (very broad area as I live in the middle of nowhere.) Worked out great for us because to us it wasn't worth $5000 and the insurance company gave us $10,000 which is what the average retail price was for the same car around the same mileage. For the record, the actual local retail prices and what I got for it were much higher than any retail "book value" from Edmunds, KBB, and NADA.

 

[angierae]

When I totaled my car in 2010 they took the average that similar cars had sold for in the area over the last 30 days, and paid me that.

I actually ended up with several thousand MORE than I'd paid for it, because I'd gotten such a good deal when I bought it.

 

[jedijill]

Exactly. And insurance is replacing the car, they are not covering expenses associated with the purchase of a replacement car, like sales tax, and license.
My neighbor is a retired insurance adjuster, his advice has always been to turn down the cash and have the insurance company track down a like car in like condition. They buy them at wholesale prices.

Never had to deal with a totaled car and insurance. I have had people have to fight with the insurance companies to pay to replace a 2 month old car, and had another friend who had a used pickup totaled, and got $2,000 less than she paid for it, and she put 100,000 miles on it in the meantime.

USAA added on sales tax and license fees when they cut me a check for my totalled jeep in September.

Jill in CO

 

[Sandy61]

I showed them that we had recently bought new tires and they gave us $500 more for the car. I think talking to them works to get more money.