Just got our 2008 Equinox back from the body shop, total repair bill was approx. $4600.00, car looks great but like I said in the previous post it did have frame damage. Car has 23500miles on it, was in excellent condition prior to the accident, was put is service in 09/2009 and is GM Certified. I’ve asked GEICOs adjuster for the difference in what the value of what the car was worth prior to the accident and the value now. KBB rates the car now as FAIR valued at $13625 compared to an Excellent value of $1592, or a GOOD value of $15075 but it didn’t have an option for being GM Certified.
NADA valuation has a ROUGH, AVERAGE & CLEAN values, with frame damage only mentioned in the rough valuation, it also didn’t have some of the options on the car nor the GM Cert. NADA values were ROUGH - $14350, AVERAGE - $15600 and CLEAN - $16600.
When we bought the car our CU used the NADA prices for valuation.
Both cars involved in the accident were insured by GEICO so they paid out on both cars.
Has anyone tried to collect this difference from an insurance company and what values did they use for the calculation.
If the car is fixed, the frame damage should be fixed. Yes, you may lose money because the repair was reported, but an insurance company won’t pay for “imaginary loss of value”. If people perceive the value to be lower, they won’t want to pay you as much money as a non-crashed car will generate. A good looking repaired car will make up for some of that.
He did send us a form that we have to sign and have notarized that the car was never had abeen damaged prior to this. This policy might be one of those that the insurance industry doesn’t publicize but if you ask for it they do it. We’ll see what happens.
Try www.Autotrader.com …I found them to have more accurate data.
Just got an E-mail from GEICOs’ adjuster and the offer for diminished value of the car is $750. Reran KBB valuation for trade-in value and they increased to Ex. - 16,050 Good - 15,200 and Fair - 13,750. NADAs’ values decreased between $75- $100. AutoTrader is showing 12,500 for a value prior to the accident, it won’t give me a value with the damage listed. We’re going to talk on the matter soon. Do you think I should ask him if the car was totaled prior to the accident what he would have valued the car at, and what he would value it now. or just take his offer and run.
In my opinion, ask for the rough difference between the high and low values. $1500-$2000 is probably pretty fair.
Another idea would be to take it to a dealer - any dealer - and see if they’ll tell you the trade-in value. You’ll probably have to pretend to be interested in getting something new, and this will really waste the dealer’s time, so be prepared to feel like a jerk when you drive away. In any case, I guarantee that they’ll come back with a diminished value much greater than $750. Dealers will typically tell you that since your car doesn’t have a clean title, it’s impossible for them to sell the thing, and they’re doing you a favor by taking it off your hands.
Keep all the paperwork showing that it’s been repaired if you plan on selling it yourself. You can show it to the buyer to prove that the repair was done at a reputable shop, etc.
From what I’ve been told, most dealerships/etc use NADA on the East coast, and KBB tends to be used more on the West. Neither will have anything to indicate that it’s a certified used vehicle because, when push comes to shove, you’re basically buying a warranty; the cost is just wrapped in to the price of the car. You would need to research to see if any of the guarantees included with the certification are transferrable to the new owner, if there’s a cost associated with the transfer, and if it’s still valid now that the car’s been wrecked. Depending on how much longer the various guarantees are in effect and the cost to transfer to the new owner, you could ask for a little more than the KBB or NADA value indicates.
For reference, I believe the first owner of my current car (an 07 Subaru) paid $2700 to get an extended warranty that took the 3 year/30,000 mile bumper-to-bumper factory warranty out to 10 years/100,000 miles on drivetrain only.
Another trick to figure out what a particular vehicle is currently going for is to look on the craigslist site for your area. For example, in my area (Portland, OR) Euro-wagons (Audi, Mercedes, VWs, Volvos) tend to go for the high end of their KBB value. They’re hard to come by and the hipsters around here love 'em.