Car accident - damage might be > value of car...what's my play?

[Q8offsuit]

You're f'd unfortunately. Take the money they give you for totaling the car and be pissed off you can't find a car of equal value (to you).

[orange]

yuck. hope things work out for you.

[speedfreek]

The thing is, the damage being more than the value of the car - even when repaired the car isn't worth its full value anymore. That's why it's a write-off. So it's a false economy to invest money repairing the car when you could add that money to the money the insurance people give you and buy a car instead. It's only really worth paying that sort of money on repairs if the car has some sort of sentimental value, and you can easily afford it.

[z28dreams]

[ QUOTE ]
The thing is, the damage being more than the value of the car - even when repaired the car isn't worth its full value anymore. That's why it's a write-off. So it's a false economy to invest money repairing the car when you could add that money to the money the insurance people give you and buy a car instead. It's only really worth paying that sort of money on repairs if the car has some sort of sentimental value, and you can easily afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

The car definitely has no 'sentimental' value. I've really wanted a new car for a while, but it just didn't make financial sense.

The question is - how much would be reasonable to save the car?

Example, $4000 in repairs, they offer me $3500.

For $500, I could basically keep the car, and still drive it forever (only 75k miles!).

The alternative is putting the $3500 towards a new car, but take for example a car worth $10,000, I still owe $6500, which works out to about $200 per month over 3 years on a loan.

So, in 3 months, I'd already have spent more than what the repairs would have been.

However, I would have a new car 'worth' more, but still depreciating.

Does anyone know how insurance companies determine the AVC (actual vehicle cost)? Is it based on blue-books trade in value or retail value?

[speedfreek]

Now I'm confused (maybe things are done differently in the U.S. compared to the U.K).

Where are you getting the repair figure of $500 from?

In the U.K. if the insurance co. offers you $3500 and the car is a write off, you get $3500 and they keep the wreck. I.e. you are given $3500 to buy another car with (their estimate of the cars value).

So in order to keep your car you would need to spend the $4000 repairs yourself and tell the insurance co. you aren't making a claim. So you would need to find $4000 of your own money.

In this case, you would be better served to take the $3500, and use the $4000 you were prepared to spend, and put it all towards a new car.

Maybe it works differently in the U.S.?

[iron81]

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.

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[Klompy]

Why is everyone ready to get a lawyer and sue here? This doesn't make any sense to me, the op is going to get the value for his car which the insurance company figures out to be fair, why should they have to pay more then the car is worth?

[NT!]

You can get the parts at a junkyard for a lot less and repair it yourself. It won't look like new but none of those repairs are too difficult. Worst comes to worst, get one of the junkyard guys to help you out and pay him. Depending on the make / model and availability of parts you can most likely bring the whole thing in under 1k. See if the Asian kid will give you 1500 for repairs in cash to keep it off the books.

NT

[TwoOuter]

I hope this isn't taken the wrong way, because I'm the last person to advocate insurance fraud, but I do believe in fairness:

My truck got hit last year by a woman who missed a stop sign. It was considered totalled, which doesn't take much these days as repair costs are beyond belief.

The woman's insurance company lowballed me on the value. The only leverage I had was to 1) get checked by a doctor and 2) start documenting every minute I spent getting estimates, away from work, arranging alternate transportation, everything.

Re: the doctor visit- I had no intention of claiming non-existent injuries. But I know from experience that certain injuries are not initially apparent, and it's good to have this visit on record in the event of a LEGITIMATE injury.

Re: compensation for lost time

I believe it's reasonable to be compensated for time spent dealing with replacing a car due to an accident that's not your fault. There is a "lost wages/medical costs" component of the insurance claim that's separate from the car damage and by not signing off on this you can pressure the insurer to make a fair settlement.

Ultimately, the insurance adjuster just wants to get your case over with and has a lot of flexibility to accomplish this. If you truly wish to keep the car you may be able to get the adjuster not to total it and offer you a bit less on the car damage side, and make up for it on the lost wages side.

Again- I'm not saying you should scam your way into coming out better than you were going in. But in my opinion you shouldn't have to come out worse.