I was in a minor accident. I was stopped at a stop light. A lady behind pulled out to switch lanes except she didn’t pull out enough and rammed into me, rear driver side. The quarter panel needs to be replaced. Their insurance is paying but they are calling it total loss since repair costs a lot. I hate car shopping and would like to repair the car and keep it. Not sure what driving a salvage car entail. I don’t like the sound of it. What would you do?
6 Likes
How much would it cost to buy a similar car, and how much is the repair estimate?
3 Likes
This happened to one of my kids. Car parked in it’s off street spot behind his apt and was hit/totaled by the neighbor across the alley.
Fortunately, the guy left a note and was insured with a really good company who gave a pretty good settlement allowing my kid to purchase another vehicle. I believe one of the options was to take a lower settlement and keep said vehicle but I doubt the car would have been insurable ( even for just liability ). I would not keep a totaled vehicle. Believe me, this was a nice, well kept car that we had purchased new many years ago, had low mileage, no accidents, etc. I felt really bad for my kid but grateful the person left a note and had great insurance. And since it was parked and happened overnight, no injuries. Sometimes you have to look at the bright side and deal with it.
8 Likes
Blue book value of the car is about $11,000. Repair about $6,000. The insurance will either pay me $11,000 and they take the possession of the car or if I keep the car, they’ll pay me $6,200 for me to do whatever I want with it. I can get it repaired and drive a salvage vehicle. I called my insurance company They would insure it for liability only not for collision.
1 Like
You can negotiate the $11k number. What would it take to make you whole? Include your time and trouble. Also be clear that if they up the pay out you’re willing to sign you won’t sue in the future - that’s worth something to them. I got $2500 on top of the value of the car when mine was totaled and in retrospect I could have negotiated for higher - they were obviously surprised that I took the offer right away.
3 Likes
We were run into years ago & the insurance company deemed it a total loss. We purchased the vehicle from them as a salvage vehicle, but I don’t remember how that worked. We actually never did any repairs, because while one side of the van looked bad, it was structurally sound. Had we repaired it, there would have been issues involving the gas tank (thus the total loss decision) - so we just left it. It was S’s first vehicle, and he drove it until it needed mechanical repairs that didn’t make financial sense.
3 Likes
In my experience, when body shops are providing estimates to insurance companies, they know what the insurance number is to total out a car and will stop their estimate around that number and send it off to avoid spending extra time on the estimate if they think it’s a total loss. So, while they say the repair is around $6000, there is no telling what else they may discover when they get in there to actually do the work. I just went through this with my own car last year. The body shop came close to the total loss number the insurance company was looking for but didn’t quite hit it and the insurance company approved the repair (which really surprised the body shop!), but it turns out there was a lot of damage beneath the surface that they hadn’t even looked at that added thousands to the repair and it ended up being totaled out anyways. The damage we couldn’t see initially would have actually made the car unsafe to drive and I’m sure would have been an enormous repair bill.
If this were my choice, I would negotiate for a higher amount and purchase another car for peace of mind. If your car was in good condition beforehand, you can use that to argue added value to ask them to up that number a bit.
6 Likes
You can also ask for the documentation on how they came up with the valuation. Usually, they contract with a company that surveys recently sold and for sale used cars at local dealers to find comparables to get a valuation for the loss vehicle – the comparables and adjustments (for condition, options, etc.) should be listed in the report. If the comparables and adjustments are missing some that are in your favor, then that may be a point of negotiation.
3 Likes
I would negotiate a higher payment. You need to be made whole. You cannot find a new or even good used car for close to $11K.
And they should have you in a rental.
If you get it fixed, what happens when it breaks again or doesn’t run as well?
Is it just cosmetic? Make sure if you get it fixed it gets aligned.
2 Likes
My insurance came up with the same amount. According to my insurance after 100,000 miles it loses value suddenly. The amount is probably ok.
I have a rental from them but they are stopping it in a few days now that they deemed it total loss. The damage is cosmetic. I am not at all worried about driving. I will be covered for liability only going forward. No collision coverage since it is already totaled.
Try to negotiate a larger amount. Have you had recent work done on the car? How about new tires, brakes, or the like.
We had a 10 year old Nissan Quest…and when it was totaled (more than 100,000 miles), we got an additional at least several thousand dollars by showing the work we had recently had done on the car, plus brand new tires. Our son successfully did the same thing when his car was totaled.
So…try!
2 Likes
It’ is true at 100K miles, it’s also a flash point of valuation change.
It’s not a question of worth. It’s a question of how you will find a replacement, that’s equally reliable, at that price. For the insurance company, it’s a question of worth - but for you, it shouldn’t be.
It’s possible but more likely you will come out of pocket.
If you truly think it’s cosmetic, but I might have an independent mechanic evaluate it, then I suppose you can get a fix - but often times, more things are broken then you think.
If parts are that much on cosmetic, is it a luxury or German car?
1 Like
They have to replace the crumbled panel. Labor 24 hours. My insurance seems to think the repair estimate is about what they’d expect. The car is from 2019, not so old. I did have two new tires. You never know but the other driver was going at 5 miles/hr and she scraped from the side not head on. The dent is about 0.5” deep at its worst. I can’t believe there would be much damage below the surface.
FYI, and this may be a different insurer /situation - I don’t really know how it works: I had a car written off a few years ago for the same reason, repair more than whatever % of the blue book value, on a car I was sure could be fixed and after looking into the salvage issues, I sadly watched them tow it away. But. The actual payout was based on the costs of similar vehicles for sale in the area - here i was perhaps lucky as it was during that post covid supply squeeze when used car prices were stupid - on a book value of around $22k as I recall they ended up paying me $32k!!! It was annoying because if they had calculated the value of the repair on that value it would probably have been approved…
1 Like
Why would a car with 101k miles be worth a lot less than a similar car with 99k miles?
1 Like
However, the COVID-19 supply chain issues that made new and used vehicles scarce also likely made repair parts scarce.
1 Like
I think it depends on your finances. If I had the $$$, I’d take the $11K and get a new car. If I didn’t, I’d take the $6,200 and get this one repaired.
2 Likes
My son was going maybe 5 MPH…less…i was in the car. It’s a curb. $24K later. It’s nuts. I thought it was nothing - tore off the drive shaft.
You should demand repair at a dealership authorized body shop, not the insurers body shop if you go that route - or get more $$.
Their body shops aren’t typically the best.
You need to be made whole - using OEM parts.
My concern is you will likely end up out of pocket for a similar vehicle.
Go on Car Max - find the same vehicle - see what it costs.
2 Likes
Find two and see - in the old days ,no.
But it depends on the make/model. And you have to look at wholesale vs. retail - maybe less so on retail but try to sell it yourlelf, more likley.
You can always price them on carmax or another service like carvana.
1 Like
They had the repair quote though - assume that was at the current value?
1 Like