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Old 09-02-2006, 01:46 PM
chesspain chesspain is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Southern New Hampshire
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Default Re: Car accident - damage might be > value of car...what\'s my play?

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Well, if there was a police report and the description is favorable to you, I would go ahead and sue in small claims court. You'll have to pay a $50-$150 filing fee and take a day off work and you might have a hard time collecting a judgment, but you should be able to win a judgment for the full cost of your repairs and maybe court costs as well.

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This is just wrong. If a car is totaled, the maximum you will receive is the blue book value...and maybe a little more if there were add-ons or recent repairs (as when my car was totaled, and the adjuster added to the value of the car an axle job I had just had done the prior month).

But it is extremely unlikely that a judge would award you, say $4000, to repair a car that is only worth $2500.
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