While we do not know the condition or options of your vehicle $700 is a joke. KBB is not accurate and most insurance carriers use NADA. Do some research or you will get hosed.
Something doesnāt sound quite right here. Offering you 700 dollars is ludicrous and it sounds like someone is trying to BS lowball you into going away without an argument.
On a car that is declared a total and which they pay off on you should get roughly the loan value of the. That is generally a bit less than average retail.
You might do some checking with a few financial institutions and see what they show as a loan value.
That 700 dollars sounds like even less than wholesale and a wholesale price is not something you should be offered.
Unfortunately I have recently had to go through this process with the insurance company. It took 3 or 4 calls to get an acceptable offer. My ins. co. used AutoSource to determine the value of my car.
The 1st offer was way low. I asked to see how they arrived at that price and they sent me the report. My car was not correctly identified! It had my car as a base Camry with manual transmission. My car is an LE trim with leather seats and automatic transmission! I also noticed that AutoSource found low ball cars with options my car lacked. They then deducted the value of the options arriving at an even lower price.
I got the ins. co. to correct my vehicle description and up the condition of my car. Then I used AutoTrader to find better matches to my car and sent them 5 examples.
So donāt give up, but be calm and present them with examples that show the value of your car.
Good Luck.
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Thanks for all the fantastic advice!
So, the insurance company caved a bit when I showed them all the info about the price of the car. I got around $1600 for it and now Iām repairing it myself. Itās not quite the price I wanted but it will help me out when I use aftermarket parts.
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Just my two cents but you should have no problem finding used parts for that car. I would not use after-market for general fit issues-especially the hood if you are replacing that. A misaligned hood can be a hazard and body shops call after-market parts āsorta fitsā. A used part will fit just like the original though and especially good if you can get them in your color so you donāt have to paint.
Congratulations. Sometimes it just takes patience and homework to get somewhere with these companies. Like I said earlier, being prepared to make a deal always means getting a little less than you hoped for, but a little more than the other side hoped for as well. Thatās what a deal is. People criticize deal-making as somehow corrupt, but it is the absolute foundation of a civilized society. Without deals we would all be hiding in caves, throwing rocks at each other and stealing each othersā food. If that sounds like the Evening News, then you start to understand the need for compromise.
Youāre welcome. Thanks for coming back here and letting us know what happened.
$1600 (or 1600 and keep the car [?]) is better than $700.
CSA
Oops, looks like I am a couple days too lateā¦
My wife is a claims adjuster for a high quality insurance company. I wonāt name it outright, but it has won JD Power award for customer service several years running. I ran your situation by her. She stated they may be aware of prior damage your claim would not pay for.
As far as the settling price, she said any decent insurance company is more than willing to negotiate, though the leg work is usually up to the policy holder. She suggests scanning car sales for the same make/model/year in your area. They will most likely be willing to average those prices out for you. Also, make sure you mention any new tires, etc you may have added. While some after market addons are not coverable, things that would make the salvage worth more can definitely be considered in the final settlement. Just donāt let sentimentality for your vehicle get in the way. My wife is currently dealing with an insured who claims her '04 Pontiac is worth more than she bought it for new, and claims it is her āinvestment, showroom quality vehicleā. She also claimed it was stolen when in fact she gave the keys to her boyfriend while she went out of town and he drunkenly wrecked it.
As far as the inability to contact managers at your insurer, I would seriously consider a new company to deal with.
@GTZaskar
"Oops, looks like I am a couple days too lateā¦"
Perhaps you are a little late to help @Ghostwriter66, but not too late to confirm the advice I offered 8 days ago.
Thanks for the comments.
CSA
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