My car is in great shape. Want insurance Co to take back salvage tagging of my car

General Discussion
,
41

The insurance company did not commit fraud. Insurance companies will total a car if the damage is a certain percentage of the fair market value of the vehicle. In this case it was around $13k. Each state is different, but this is clearly spelled out in your insurance policy. I suggest you might read it sometime.

The issue of amount might be an issue. I’ve had to deal with my insurance company and other peoples insurance companies over the past 40+ years of driving…and I’ve never had to wait a year for any money. I’ve been low-balled by insurance companies, but did my research and presented them with my discoveries and we came to a reasonable compromise with a few weeks. I don’t what insurance company you’re dealing with, but a year is way out of line.

I’ve never seen or heard of an insurance company doing that.

If the damage is more then a certain percentage…the vehicle will be totaled. If it’s not, then the insurance company will either negotiate with the body shop of your choice to work out the cost to repair, or they’ll cut you a check for you to get it repaired yourself. And you can even choose NOT to get it repaired and keep the money.

1 Like
42

Hi.
By fraud I mean what you and several others purport to imply, that I am seeking to commit fraud in a supposed effort by my part to clear the salvage tittle to then be able to sell the car. That is not true at all and denotes ill tendencies on the ones making those kinds of disparate comments. About insurance companies deciding which cars it repairs and which it does not, and how the ones repaired are returned to circulation with a clear tittle, whereas the ones not repaired are labeled “salvage”, that is common practice. If you have a Mazda RX8 like mine with a smashed trunk, car goes to the toilet. But if the car with the smashed trunk were a Ferrari, the insurance companies would not junk it only to buy another Ferrari, that trunk, for sure, will be repaired to manufacturer standards. The insurance company would not dare label that car a salvage. If a Porsche 911 were to have its airbags deployed upon a fender bender, opposite to the example another member provided earlier, in which a perfectly sound car was labeled a salvage because of the cost and expense of re deploying the air bags was too much against what the company would spend in paying off car, in the Porsche example, make no mistake, the insurance company would happilly re install the air bags, rather than payinfg for an expensive sports car like a Porsche 911 Point is, repairs can be made, when the damage, off course, is not extensive, but the insurance company chooses the easy way out. The law should close out this loophole.

43

I will keep you posted on this. Went to DMV and was advised of all the tests and requirements needed. Fees and such.

Decided on calling insurance Co first to see what they think about this before paying anything. I was told I would get new license plates and it appears no registration is issued, but a certificate. It is too malicious.

If the intention is checking the registration to advise about accidents to prospective buyers, no problem with that. But the set of hurdles posted are malicious.

44

The accident happened mid August 2015

Since then it was an uphill battle. Notwithstanding police report says driver of vehicle 5 ( one nehind me that caused all accident) was at fault for excessive speed

Wanted the car repaired ASAP, but the insurance company not only would not do it, but had me take car home under threat of storage costs.

Months later they offered 6 K. I have an attorney handling the injury side, but the car side is dealt directly, because they wanted me to take 6K, and even my attorney told me to cut my losses. I said no way, this is not my fault, my vehicle is or was pristine, and 6 K would not even buy me a new top of the line mountain bike to go to work !

I only was given 7 days of car rental. My insurance, AAA, would not intervene, because according to them, since the car that hit me was at clear fault, that car’s insurance had to pay. I was in limbo.

Extensive phone and e mail messages asking them to repair my car. I did not want any 6K, I wanted my car back.

Thir response was that their estimate called for 8K in repairs, and they were instead calling my car a salvage.

They played tough, bullying me into accepting. I did not, so I told them, 6K is unacceptable, see you in court.

About one month ago, late July, I received a call. They claimed the company they used for appraisals was different, and their new company would pay 12K I told the insurance person, 12K would leave me one year after the fact, with money to shop for a car, but it would not be enough to buy a one owner, low mileage, A+ car like the one I have.

The agent proposed to me to take the money, keep the car and fix it. That was his advise. Previously I had the car checked with a body shop and a Mazda mechanic. Both told me it was repairable, no frame, engine, transmission, suspension, , any vital parts damaged. It was a big cosmetic smash in the trunk, and the front bumper. Nothing further.

“You can keep the car” They took $900 off for it, leaving me with 12K. I was leery, but a year w/o my flagship car, a/c in summer, leak proof and warm in winter, I had a year of hard times commuting to work in my canvas top Jeep

So I said, lets do it. From what I know, my day in court to end up closingf the case for the injury was not close yet. I was not going to see any judge any soon.

What you ask about the 8K repair price and the 12K payout is exactly what makes me realize insurance companies get all these tax breaks and incentives. I can not understand why they would not fix my car for 8K, but they would pay me 12K. By salvaging my car, yes, they pay more upfront, but on back , tax credits and incentives cut that loss to zero.

The car would had been repaired to manufacturer standards at a pro top of the line shop. So bad work was not into question.

I guess by repairing my car for 8K, they would had lost 8K. By paying out instead 12K, they Wright that cost off easily.

The law should compell them to repair the car for 8K, or whatever the price is but that is not the case. The law does not protect the victim, it protects the money mill ( tax revenue) insurance company

45

Your reasoning is extremely simplistic or else you are an advocate of the insurance system.

You dare not challenge the notion of salvage versus wrecked, the notion of significant damage versus damage that is not significant.

Your logic is too simple, no growth nor development could come out of such overview.

46

You maybe should try calling Mr. Browns office instead of the insurance agency. Normally though I think California has some loony laws but in this case they are in line with the rest of the country.

47

You’re becoming annoying. You’re getting answers you don’t like and so you’re insulting the people giving them to you. Are you an adult?

No one is saying that you intend to commit fraud, but were you to attempt to double dip on the sale price of the car, then whether you intended to or not, you would be acting fraudulently.

Again, you have already been paid for the non-wrecked value of the car. You don’t get to sell it twice at non-wrecked value. Sometimes in certain specific situations, that sucks, but then everything about getting into a wreck sucks.

I’m not a fan of insurance company practices, but you agreed to them when you got your policy, and you agreed to them again when you stuck your hand out and took the money. Cars and car insurance exist solidly in the grownup realm, and adults don’t get take-backsies.

2 Likes
48

If you don’t like the responses then find another forum that agrees with you. Stop whining and move on.

3 Likes
49

You may as well give it up. It is what it is and is because of statute.

You also refer to your car as “pristine” which I take to mean as you think it’s in excellent condition. Not so. It’s more than likely good or very good at best and that’s before the collision. That condition means little in a case like this.
It’s all about X year of car being worth roughly X dollars and if the damage exceeds a certain percentage of the actual loan value (NOT a KBB book retail value) then it will be considered a total loss. Here in in OK that percentage is about 65.

2 Likes
50

You know we all have to grow up a little over time. I think I was 18 at the time when I totaled my VW. I still owed a couple hundred on it. I remember being very irritated at my dad when he came back Saturday morning after getting a check for my car from insurance, going to the bank and paying off the loan, and coming back with the proceeds. I thought I should just get the whole amount and continue paying the $24 a month payments to the bank at my leisure. Ha ha ha, was I an idiot? Dad knew best. I learned the error of my ways and have also had to relay that knowledge to my own son a few times.

1 Like
51

Becoming annoying ?

You do not have to read this thread if you choose not to

I did not force you to read nor participate. Move on if you can not debate an issue. It is you who can not exchange arguments.

Saying I intend to re sell a car and calling that operation fraudulent when I am not seeking nor plan on doing that is annoying and malicious

Have a nice day.

52

If you can not debate an issue and get frustrated when someone refutes your position then move on. Forums are about this, debating.

You simply stick your response and expect it to be utter truth.

Forums are for debating. Seems you can not entertain debate.

Have a nice day.

53

“An opportunity to collect fees and charges.” That’s the California I am familiar with. Live with it or move. I am only half way through this thread. You keep adding more confusing information concerning how you have been “victimized” by the salvage title. This is your last statement that I have read: “I fixed it for my use. For me. When I decide I no longer want it or need it (as soon as the new RX7 comes about. Will get one. My next new car). I then will swap that motor into my Datsun 710. A classic car I have. The engine. Transmission and rear Suspension will go in there”. If your plan is never to sell the car but eventually part it out the salvage title means nothing.

1 Like
54

Your the one who asked for OUR opinion. And then you have a hissy fit when it’s not the answer you want.

This is obviously the first car you’ve ever owned and your first accident.

All the advice we’ve given can be verified with your local DMV and your insurance company. Go debate with them.

2 Likes
55

Are you for real? Seriously. Your example is ridiculous or naive at best. The reason they would repair the sports car is because its residual value dictates the repair makes sense. You need to come to grips with reality- you may love your car but no one else does and no one thinks its worth more than the cost to repair the trunk. It was totaled for a very simple reason; its residual value was below the threshold for repairing it. The Ferrari in your lame analogy would be subject to the same consideration if the damage was significant enough to warrant it. Why? Because the book value of that car is significantly higher than the cost of its airbags. Loophole…right…

2 Likes
56

Insurance is a BUSINESS and they make economic and unsentimental decisions. The physical (mechanical) condition of the car at the time of the accident is totally irrelevant compared to the cost of the repair in relation to the MARKET value of the vehicle.

Insurance companies are not in the collector car business and make routine decisions. That was equally true of my beloved Malibu which I totalled because of its age and marker value. In Latin America this car would have been salvaged due to the low labor costs there.

57

I think the idea that a Mazda RX-8 is worth 18 grand is more wishful thinking than anything else. Super nice ones have sold on eBay for 12-13 grand or even less.

There’s also talk of dropping the motor and trans into an early Nissan body. I wonder if any thought has been given to the wrestling match that might occur with that when trying to register it and so on.

58

I am not going to entertain your hostility any more.

Have a nice day.

Have a nice day.

1 Like
59

Hi.
You may be missing the point.

The issue I am showing in the example above is not my car versus a Ferrari,

What I am talking about is the power to label a car a salvage, which according to the DMV constitutes a safety hazard.

If I take the car to a good shop for repair , that repair in itself will not be able, apparently , to shake off that label. Rendering the vehicle unsafe according to the DMV.

On the other hand if the insurance company were to take care of such repair, the salvage label and its DMV connotation of a safety hazard vehicle disappears and it is never a consideration.

Have a nice day.

60

Hi.
About 18K for a prime RX8, not wishful thinking. Low state RX8s like any brand will sell for less, that is for sure. But a A one costs money.
About engine swapping, that is a swap done all the time. The rotary engine is a popular transplant power plant. The Datsun is a 73. No smog / emissions rules apply to vehicles older than 1975.