Car wreck - declared loss. What if I don't want to surrender vehicle?
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I bought a old beater van for 700 bucks, spent 150 bucks fixing it up, found it had a bad valve, shortly thereafter I got rear ended van totaled, insurance paid 1450 bucks
plus another 1500 for pain and suffering..
I believe insurance companies offer full value insurance or premium price for those upside down. saw it mentioned somewhere lately.....
plus another 1500 for pain and suffering..I believe insurance companies offer full value insurance or premium price for those upside down. saw it mentioned somewhere lately.....
Was just making a point that he was lucky that his pay off was better than what I got.
Almost forgot, a month later when I put a motorcycle on the insurance they cancelled my plan stating I was high risk because the car had burned up yet I had no points.
I would assume that the same rules would apply for a totaled car. They pay you for the value impairment (in this case, the value of the car). You choose to do with it what you wish.
Actually not... thats the problem. If they declare it totalled, they basically expect you to hand the car over to them when they pay you its worth.
My options thus far appear to be buying it back for the salvage price, and dealing with a salvage title and all the hastles that implies for insurance, or just refusing the claim altogether.
Actually not... thats the problem. If they declare it totalled, they basically expect you to hand the car over to them when they pay you its worth.
My options thus far appear to be buying it back for the salvage price, and dealing with a salvage title and all the hastles that implies for insurance, or just refusing the claim altogether.
What did they tell you when you called them ?? Did your insurance agent give you any advice when you called him/her ??
Still waiting for their response. I called again today, but they still hadn't finished processing it. ugh. Makes me remember why I canceled my own policy with State Farm years ago.
DannyR Do you have numbers?
How much is the damage estimate from a reliable repair center total?
How much could you get if you sold the car damage free / repaired.
That should tell you whether you should accept the claim or sign off on it and and fix it up.
While the insurance can't accept you profiting from the accident, they will give you what the book value is PLUS any lost use of that vehicle such as car rental etc. Surprising how many people don't realize they can rent a car and the other guy's insurance company must pay that. The idea is that you shoukld be able to buy a new similar used car for what they will give you. (in theory) Unfortunately, few people can work that out to break even, or they upgrage and complain that they got cheated by the insurance company.
How much is the damage estimate from a reliable repair center total?
How much could you get if you sold the car damage free / repaired.
That should tell you whether you should accept the claim or sign off on it and and fix it up.
While the insurance can't accept you profiting from the accident, they will give you what the book value is PLUS any lost use of that vehicle such as car rental etc. Surprising how many people don't realize they can rent a car and the other guy's insurance company must pay that. The idea is that you shoukld be able to buy a new similar used car for what they will give you. (in theory) Unfortunately, few people can work that out to break even, or they upgrage and complain that they got cheated by the insurance company.
They will be open to negotiating if you give them what the car is worth in salvage value. You may have to pay them a slight premium since they know you want to keep it and won't give in easily.....
As other have mentioned, you should be able to buy the car for salvge, which will be pennies on the dollar.
I had the friend who's car was totaled and he didnt' want the car, but I did. He ended up buying the car back for something like 10% of the payoff. I re-imburded him and I had a $750 car to drive. They are saving additional tows and the fees for selling off the car. They don't want your car. If the company doen't play ball, talk to your insurance agent. If you have full coverage you can pay your deductable and let them go after the other insursace company. Just the threat of this had the 'other' company jumping through hoops for me in my last real accident.
My finace totalled our family car a while back. Our insurance company asked if we wanted to keep the vehicle as part of the settlement. I declined.
I had the friend who's car was totaled and he didnt' want the car, but I did. He ended up buying the car back for something like 10% of the payoff. I re-imburded him and I had a $750 car to drive. They are saving additional tows and the fees for selling off the car. They don't want your car. If the company doen't play ball, talk to your insurance agent. If you have full coverage you can pay your deductable and let them go after the other insursace company. Just the threat of this had the 'other' company jumping through hoops for me in my last real accident.
My finace totalled our family car a while back. Our insurance company asked if we wanted to keep the vehicle as part of the settlement. I declined.
i have had two accidents one of them was with a 2000 mustang, so insurance total out the car and gave me 7500 i had to pay 1000 more to get the car fixed, i then had to submitt paper work to the state for a new title. the insurance company gave me all the phone numbers to start me off in the right direction. after 6 months i was able to fix car and drive again. my other car is a van over ten (10) years old the insurance company totl out the car but you are still able to drive it because it is over 10 years old.
Update. Insurance was willing to write me a check for $3368 on the Mazda - far more than I was expecting them to pay. If we decided to keep it, they would deduct $1200 in salvage. Problem is with the salvage she said it would probably take a month to get the paperwork all finished, during which we wouldn't have a legal car, nor the money yet to fix our other vehicle.
Since I originally paid $4000 for this car on ebay, and it needed new tires, brakes, radiator fan and other work... I figured their payoff was pretty generous and much more than I expected. So we turned the car in last friday. I regret having to do so, but the payoff was generous enough that we said bye bye to our little baby.
We put $1000 of the money into repairing our parked 1996 Honda Civic (needed air conditioning compressor, new tires, brakes, and axles) and thus far are pleased... as the Civic does get better gas mileage than the Mazda. Its a smoother riding car as well as the Mazda let you feel every bump, but not as much fun as having a convertable.
Since I originally paid $4000 for this car on ebay, and it needed new tires, brakes, radiator fan and other work... I figured their payoff was pretty generous and much more than I expected. So we turned the car in last friday. I regret having to do so, but the payoff was generous enough that we said bye bye to our little baby.
We put $1000 of the money into repairing our parked 1996 Honda Civic (needed air conditioning compressor, new tires, brakes, and axles) and thus far are pleased... as the Civic does get better gas mileage than the Mazda. Its a smoother riding car as well as the Mazda let you feel every bump, but not as much fun as having a convertable.
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