Insurance totaling pickup

[street]

So, I have a friend that called last night and said he was rear ended at a stop sign.
He went and got an estimate and was ~15K worth of damage. They told him it could be totaled by IC. He is pretty concerned and he lives pay check to pay check, and is worried about totaling his pickup.

What happens when an IC totals a vehicle?? How do they come up with the amount to pay you and what happens to the vehicle??

[pb4uski]

Essentially they buy the vehicle from you for fair market value in the condition that it was before it was totaled... what you could have sold it for.

They commonly low-ball it so you have to push them for a fair price. Then they own the vehicle and it goes to the junkyard.

[Texas Proud]

What PB4 said... they REALLY lowball you.... on mine they looked at comparables and made adjustments for my low mileage but not nearly enough... then after getting a price they discounted it 7% to 'reflect true market'... there is not much you can do about this low number as they will stick to their number unless you sue them...



The thing to know is what they value the wrecked car at... IOW, in general numbers my car was worth $13K, but they said they could get $4K for the wreck... so, if I wanted to keep the car they would send me a check for $9K..


On my son's totaled car it was more reasonable... the total was $5k with salvage value of $1k.... so we kept the car and they had it repaired... the repair shop was able to work with us on the price as they could buy used parts etc to bring the cost of repair down... we were able to get it fixed for what we got from insurance plus a few hundred... but the out of pocket was less than the deductible so it was a good deal for us...

[street]

Thanks for that information, and what to be aware of. I will pass on this information, so he is aware of what happens and how it works.

[KB]

Clark Howard has an article on his website about how to get the best price on your totaled vehicle. Maybe that will help.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KB Clark Howard has an article on his website about how to get the best price on your totaled vehicle. Maybe that will help.

Here is the link: https://clark.com/insurance/learn-ho...auto-insurers/

Also this: https://clark.com/cars/car-totaled-what-to-do/

[mystang52]

I don't know the exact %, but they will total the car if the cost to repair is something like 75% of the assessed car value. They then pay that value and take the car as salvage. One can negotiate, to some extent, what that "value" is.
I don't know the fine details, or if this is still done, but there is another possibility for your friend. Take the cost-to-repair from a lump sum from the insurer, get the car repaired and show proof that it was repaired, and keep the car. I believe the Title is then tagged as a "Salvage Vehicle" which can affect resale value.

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mystang52 I don't know the fine details, or if this is still done, but there is another possibility for your friend. Take the cost-to-repair from a lump sum from the insurer, get the car repaired and show proof that it was repaired, and keep the car. I believe the Title is then tagged as a "Salvage Vehicle" which can affect resale value.

It might be different state-by-state, but I think once the insurer rules a car "totaled" there is no option to repair and stay insured (at least not with that provider).

But yeah...the reimbursement will be the current value pre-wreck.

[REWahoo]

Here is some good info on salvage titles: Can You Insure a Car with a Salvage Title?

Quote:

Most insurance companies offer liability insurance for rebuilt salvage cars. However, few carriers provide full coverage insurance for these types of automobiles...

[street]

Interesting!
I'm not positive on this but I would almost certain that there is a loan on this pickup. I don't know the year or valve of this pickup before the damage.

Would it be possible for his insurance to fi the damage minus his deductible? I would say they will go after the other guy that rear ended him thou.

[CRLLS]

I have heard it used to be possible to tell the insurance company to find you a replacement model in the exact same year, model, color, condition, mileage, options ( and pay for license, sales tax, doc fees etc.) In lieu of receiving cash. Simply, to make you whole. This was many years ago.

In any case, those fees should be added to the cash received IMO.

[Chuckanut]

I had the option of buying my totaled Camry for 'salvage value'. The price would be deducted from the settlement check. I suppose if I had a buddy in the auto-body business I might have been able to get it into driveable condition, maybe. But, all things considered, that did not make sense.

[Sue J]

We had a 1990 Camry that was hit in 2007 so it was already an old car. Other driver's insurance company totaled it and gave us what I thought was a very generous check. They used recent sales on AutoTrader to come up with the amount. It was still driveable so our teenage son kept driving it for a few more years. Our own insurance company still let us insure it.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides It might be different state-by-state, but I think once the insurer rules a car "totaled" there is no option to repair and stay insured (at least not with that provider). But yeah...the reimbursement will be the current value pre-wreck.

Not here.... we fixed it and kept it insured...


Edit to add... I gave this car to my son and it is titled in his name and it is not listed as a totaled or salvaged car... guess if the insurance company does not take it the title stays clean..

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS I have heard it used to be possible to tell the insurance company to find you a replacement model in the exact same year, model, color, condition, mileage, options ( and pay for license, sales tax, doc fees etc.) In lieu of receiving cash. Simply, to make you whole. This was many years ago. In any case, those fees should be added to the cash received IMO.

I dunno if you can do that today, but with Carmax, Carvana and others it should be easier to find the no-haggle value of a similar car so you can pressure the insurer to make you whole. Don't sign off on a settlement until you are happy. Make noise about getting a lawyer if they start yanking your chain and if they aren't reasonable then get one.

[street]

Good info.

[Bamaman]

My thinking is to to to NADA online and price the vehicle at retail and again at trade in value. Add/subtract for options, condition and mileage. Then split the two prices.

If he's being offered that much or more, he's good. If offered less, time to negotiate. And go after them for sales taxes on the settlement as it'll have to be paid on a "new" vehicle.

If then they don't bite, time to see a chiropractor with a hurting back.

[Animorph]

My nice Porsche was totaled in late 2015. I was worried it wouldn't be totaled because then you have a car with "diminished value" when you finally try to sell it. Because who wants to pay full price for a car that's been in a major accident?

The other guy's insurance did lowball me. However I got my insurance company to process the claim and they were within $200 of what it looked like my replacement cost would be. I accepted my company's settlement. They recovered it from the other guys insurance, plus my $1000 deductible. So be sure to get both companies to look at it and hope your insurance is not super cheap.

[Katsmeow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski They commonly low-ball it so you have to push them for a fair price. Then they own the vehicle and it goes to the junkyard.

This may vary by insurer. Over the last couple of years we had two totalled vehicles. One was a 1998 vehicle that my mom had owned that had lass then $30k miles on it. Obviously its value was much higher than most vehicles of that year due to low mileage. I was sure the insurer would offer too little and not recognize that. But...they didn't. It was a very fair offer.

My son totalled a car that was a few years old. Again, the amount they offered was reasonable.

I do recommend though checking to make sure the offer is fair as others have suggested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by street Interesting! I'm not positive on this but I would almost certain that there is a loan on this pickup. I don't know the year or valve of this pickup before the damage.

If there is a loan on the vehicle they will first pay off the loan giving the balance if any to your friend. If the loan is larger than value of the vehicle then it will become important to know if your friend has gap insurance. DS had gap insurance on his vehicle (he totaled it less than a year after buying it). However, he had gap insurance which made up the difference and paid his deductible. Not all gap insurance pays the deductible but it is nice when it does. So, he had no debt after it was all over, but it definitely was a problem for him that he then had no vehicle and no money for a down payment on a new one.

Quote:

Would it be possible for his insurance to fi the damage minus his deductible? I would say they will go after the other guy that rear ended him thou.

They are not usually going to fix the damage if they have totalled the car. I won't say never in that maybe there is a marginal case where they could decide differently. But I wouldn't expect them to do it.

[gayl]

USAA totalled my Saturn with 166k miles. They gave me a check which I immediately gave back to them with a 13k USAA auto loan for a brand new Honda Civic (I got to pick the car) so not all insurance companies RIP you off. Hope your friend is just as fortunate