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To all those out
there wondering and worring about weather your insurance company
is going to total your vehicle out or not: Quit worring.
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....If
an insurance company is going to asses your vehicle as totaled out
it is not always bad. In some situations, I mean a lot of situations,
it can be to your favor if they do. Remember this always:
No one not even your insurance company can take your vehicle from
you weather it is considerated a total loss or not. |
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.....If
an insurance company is going to asses your vehicle as totaled out
it is not always bad. In some situations, I mean a lot of situations,
it can be to your favor if they do. Remember this always: No
one not even your insurance company can take your vehicle from you
weather it is considerated a total loss or not. |
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......You
as the vehicle owner are the one and only that has the first option
weather to keep your vehicle or weather to let the insurance company
take it. Do not be mislead or rushed when making a decision about
your vehicle, no matter what. If your vehicle is at a towing place
that is occurring storage by the day and the insurance company is
on you to get it out of there. Ask yourself, at 10.00 a day storage
or 50.00 dollars for one week, is worth paying for to better see
what various options you might have. Even if the insurance company
will not pay for it, do not shortchange yourself on the time to
think about an important decision concerning your vehicle. |
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......If
you just got a call from the insurance company and they say your
car is a total loss. First of all ask how they determined that it
was. They may tell you that their damage report (to repair the vehicle)
far exceeds what they could pay you to buy another vehicle and the
salavage price they could get out of a salvage bid, and this pushes
it over the total loss price. |
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......If
you just got a call from the insurance company and they say your
car is a total loss. First of all ask how they determined that it
was. They may tell you that their damage report (to repair the vehicle)
far exceeds what they could pay you to buy another vehicle and the
salavage price they could get out of a salvage bid, and this pushes
it over the total loss price. |
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.....After
the insurance company tells you what they feel the fair market
value is of your vehicle, do not agree, if you don’t really
know. Tell the claims handler that you want to check in your
area and with some other resorses you have to find out what you
feel is a fair settlement. No adjustor should ever tell you take
it or leave or that there offer is no good tomorrow. If you feel
they are trying to pressure you then you need a claims supervisor.
Insurance company don’t consider if you just put a new battery in
your vehicle, that you spent 500.00 dollars tuning your vehicle
up, if you just put a new computor in your car, wether your muffler
is new or if brakes are new: they consider this as scheduled maitance
of a vehicle.
No matter what you have spent keeping your vehicle running good
this is no factor to an insurance company when calculating what
they call a fair market value. |
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......The
first thing you want to do
is call your bank or credit union ask for a loan officer and see
if they can tell you what the book vale of your vehicle is. Have
the miliage ready and know what your vehicle is equipped with. They
will give you probually 3 different prices: |
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..1-Retail
NADA book or Blue Book this price is if your vehicle is in tip top
shape.
..2-They will tell you a wholesale
price this is a price of what a dealer would buy your vehicle at
an auction sale.
..3- Loan value this is what
the bank will actually loan you for your car.
Write all 3 quotes down and keep them out when you call your insurance
company back.
These quotes are most generally close but not your only resources. |
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.....Next
call 3 different dealers that sell the same kind of car that
you have and ask for the used car manager. Discribe to them
your vehicle before it was in an accident and ask them if they have
any of these types of vehicles on there lot or ask them if they
did what would they be asking for it if they set it out on there
lot.
After getting Three different quotes:
Add all three of these quotes up then divide these quotes by three
the number you get is what the Insurance Companys refers to as
an (ACV) ACTUAL CASH VALUE : |
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(Example)
One dealer says approx 5000.00 dollars, the next dealer says 4550.00,
the next dealer says 6100.00. Add all 3 of these quotes up which
would be in this case 15650.00 dollars then divide these quotes
by 3 which gives you a figure of 5216.00 and this is what the insurance
companys calls an (ACV) ACTUAL CASH VALUE of your vehicle and this
is pretty hard to argue this point. |
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Write this down when
you get ready to call your insurance company. Sometimes book value
is higher or lower than acv so when settling with your company it
is your interest to always give them the highest amount of
your findings. Sometimes you can not go by book value of a car because
the car market fluctuates so much such as big cars drop in value
when gas prices increase or compact cars are worth more because
of there gas miliage. Insurance companies are aware that the book
value is not always the correct amount. |
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.....Next
look in the newspaper for vehicle like yours and see what they are
selling for. Cut these ads out and have them with you when you call
the insurance company. It is in your interest that before an insurance
company representative comes out to inspect your vehicle to make
sure it is clean inside and out so the appraiser can really see
what it looks like. |
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Previous Damage Issues
To often the insuarance company may tell you that you have previous
damage and this damage deducts off their appraisal/offer. It is
possible for previous damage may be inflated.
It is always a good idea if you have previous damage that you were
unaware of to find out that the cost is the value the insurance
company is claiming. You can call a bodyshop that you go to and
have them fax you an estimate on what it would cost to repair this
old damage. |
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Some times you may
find out that your estimate is a lot lower than your insurance company
( though we hope not). Always keep in mind that the person you are
dealing with wether it be the person that comes out and inspects
your vehicle or wether the claims handler inside your insurance
company that is settling your claim, they could be new at there
job and can make mistakes. Always make sure and ask how long they
have been settling or inspecting claims for the company. Its always
a good idea to have a supervisor look over the settlement terms
and make sure you are getting a fair settlement. |
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..
..Now when an insurance company tells you what
you are going to get out of your car at the very end of the deal
ask them: " what would it cost if you retained your vehicle
how much would it cost you to keep your vehicle rather than let
them take it and run it through an auction or give it to one of
there salavage contractors." |
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You will be surprised of
how much you could buy your vehicle back and be able to have it
repaired for or even sell it your self for a lot higher price than
they are telling you they can get. Call the body shop, 90% of the
time you can make a quick 100.00 dollars or even up to 500.00 dollars
just by letting the body shop buy it from you rather than let it
go and make nothing all. Remember body shops can repair a vehicle
for far less than what a retail customer might pay. So they are
probably willing to give a little more than what the insurance company
is telling you that this is what they feel savage is worth. |
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Now say you decide you
want to repair your vehicle rather than to have it go to the
salvage pool because you know what you have invested in your car
and you don’t always know what to expect what you might have to
put in another vehicle for maitnance. First of all call the body
shop you want to repair your vehicle and ask them if they would
give you an estimate for the repairs and if the guarantee there
work 100% for the life of the vehicle and that it will be safe or
safer than before. You will find out a lot of times you will be
able to repair the vehicle for what the amount of the check is for
that your insurance company is giving you and this way you will
have no deductable. if your insurance company tells you that they
will not insure your car after the repairs are made then you have
the wrong insurance company. This is a scare tactic used by many
claims handlers from companys. |
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Always keep in mind
if you are unsure what company to have your car insurance with ask
a body shop. What better advise could you get from some
one that deals with them every day and knows how the handle there
claims.I have heard a lot of excuse that well I have everything
with my insurance company my house my boat my car. So what! So your
telling me that it causes a hard ship on you to mail an extra envelope
out to a different address than to have a insurance company that
will not penny pinch you to death. (Go Figure) |
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There are a lot of interesting
sites that will help you settle your claim but one thing for sure
if you need an expert opnion than contact scottys body shop where
we work for the customer not the insurance company. We look
out for the best intrest of the customer and strive to achieve the
highest csi rating than any one around. |
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Sincerely,
Robert Buchanan
A
Proud Member Of
The
Better Business Bureau
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Certified
Technicians
Collision Repair
Specialist
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