Scotty’s Body Shop Inc :
Tips on Total Losses and Claims Handling
March 21, 2004
To: Insureds and clamiants

To all those out there wondering and worrying about weather your insurance company is going to total your vehicle out or not: Quit worrying.

....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 considered a total loss or not.

......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 misled 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 per 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.

......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 salvage price they could get out of a salvage bid, and this pushes it over the total loss price.

.....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 resources 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 computer in your car, whether your muffler is new or if brakes are new: they consider this as scheduled maintenance 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.

......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 mileage ready and know what your vehicle is equipped with. They will give you probably 3 different prices:

..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.

.....Next call 3 different dealers that sell the same kind of car that you have and ask for the used car manager. Describe 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 Companies refers to as an (ACV) ACTUAL CASH VALUE :

(Example)
One dealer says approx 5000.00 dollars, the next dealer says 4550.00, and 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 companies calls an (ACV) ACTUAL CASH VALUE of your vehicle and this is pretty hard to argue this point.

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 mileage. Insurance companies are aware that the book value is not always the correct amount.

.....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.

Previous Damage Issues
To often the insurance 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 body shop that you go to and have them fax you an estimate on what it would cost to repair this old damage.

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 whether it be the person that comes out and inspects your vehicle or whether 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. It’s always a good idea to have a supervisor look over the settlement terms and make sure you are getting a fair settlement.

…..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 salvage contractors."

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.

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 maintenance. First, 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 deductible. 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 companies.

Always keep in mind if you are unsure what company to have your car insurance with ask a body shop. What better advice 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)

There are a lot of interesting sites that will help you settle your claim but one thing for sure if you need an expert opinion, than contact Scotty’s body shop where we work for the customer not the insurance company. We look out for the best interest of the customer and strive to achieve the highest customer satisfaction rating of any one around.