Insurance is towing my vehicle to a Copart 110 miles away. Is she ever coming back? Should I ask to take her to a local body shop first instead?

I would say you more than make up for it with all of your wise contributions.

i’m sorry i don’t think i understand.

the car is at my house right now. it is in my possession. my insurance will not be involved because i only had liability and comprehensive.

the adjuster has not seen the vehicle yet. the insurance rep told me the adjuster would assess the vehicle at the Copart that they want to tow it to.

would there be any reason for me to try and insist the adjuster come to my home instead of allowing it to be towed to Copart first?

Ah, since you don’t have collision coverage then please ignore my suggestion! In this case, you do need to let the other person’s insurance handle this.

As to where to have the adjuster assess the damage, at your home or elsewhere, others who have posted replies to you have better knowledge to offer than I do. Several of them are experienced, professional auto mechanics, whereas I am not.

Again, I apologize for having caused you any confusion!

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not at all thank you for contributing! it’s nice to know internet strangers are willing to help at a time like this. :slight_smile:

Thank you. You are kind.

You are welcome.

The regulars in this forum are great about offering their knowledge, expertise, and experience to those asking for help.

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If it were me, I’d just let insurance do their thing with the car. Be prepared for it to be totaled, and for you to get a settlement for the car.

We went through this earlier in the year with my daughter’s car. She had a perfectly functional 2014 Mazda that got hit by a hail storm out of the blue. Insurance ended up totaling the car, which shocked me. Copart contacted us almost immediately, wanting to come pick up the car. We fought it at first, but realized the gray areas around a salvage title car in my state were too much to mess with. Turns out they paid us enough to get her a newer car, so it worked out well.

So like I said…let this one go, and prepare to buy a new one. It stinks, but Life Happens sometimes.

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Make sure you document what comparable used cars are going for in your area. Insurance will typically low ball you on price so be prepared and don’t accept just any offer.

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If I had this problem, I would insist that the adjuster come to my house. I would also ask the local body shop person to come, or to look at a complete set of photos. I also suggest that you call your insurance agent so that you get a better idea of your right in your state.
If the car is ruled as totaled, you might get more money for it by accepting the insurance money, and selling the car locally to some one who does their (notice the careful choice of pronoun) own body work.

@Laureng9977_150883 This discussion is not really going anywhere. All I can offer is just let the insurance do what ever they want . If it is totaled they will make an settlement offer , if it needs to be repaired then it will be done . After repair they will most likely bring it back to you .

We had a vehicle totaled and did not like the first offer and said so . They did a second appraisal that was better .

thanks for the advice. i did ask if i could choose to keep the car even if it was deemed a total loss, and the insurance rep said yes.

i would assume they would pay to have it towed back to my house at that point, but i might call to clarify just in case i end up wanting to do that.

Assume nothing, start calling the insurance companies involved. They have the answers.

i just called and asked and they don’t know, but they did say they need to tear down the car and the copart is the closest place with the space to do so, and they can’t do it at my home.

they did give me the number for the adjuster and said i could call and ask him as he might know.

That is an option with all insurance companies but I would not do that unless I had 3 or 4 thousand dollare just laying around I did not need. The last person I know that did that says it was mistake because what they got from the insurance did not even cover 80 % of the repair cost . Plus their insurance did not want to cover the salvage title vehicle .

i was thinking of seller her for parts if i kept her, but honestly i’m most likely just going to let her go and not bother.

I think you are getting a whole lot of crap about the need to have this towed 100 miles away before they can tell you anything. At that point, you will be totally at there mercy. Contact your own insurance company to learn how it would handle this situation. Or, get it in writing that if they tow it 100 miles, and if you don’t like their quote, that they will tow it back in the same condition. Your car was hit in a simple portion of the car at lower speed. An adjuster should be able to inspect it and tell you repair costs, or value if totalled. If you took it to any body shop, they would look at it, tell you the repair cost, and get your signature before proceeding.

Check your state laws. In Nevada a salvage title vehicle can only be sold to an automotive business; salvage yard, dealer, body shop etc. The vehicle cannot be sold to a private party.

You can make the insurance company jump through as many hoops as you want, but that just may just delay the issue. They aren’t going to be anxious to drive a hundred miles to view the car so might take a while. Being close to a major metro area I still had to wait three days for them to visit the shop to approve a radiator replacement after hitting a coon. Just sayin you sometimes shoot yourself in the foot for no reason.

And just to summarize the posts for those that don’t read them, the op has already checked the price and availability of replacement vehicles. Also only has liability insurance so will get no help from their own insurance. Looks like $12,000 is around what would be necessary for a settlement. The sooner they evaluate it the better. If drivable, take it to the lone shop for a quick look see.

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Yes, used cars are very expensive these days and the settlement amount from your neighbor’s insurer should reflect that. You should get enough to buy a similar car in the same condition, not the trade in value. Look on line for similar used cars within 100 miles of your home and use them as a basis for comparison. I’d look at used car lot inventory and maybe CarFax and Autotrader. Also, your insurer should represent you in this. That’s part of what you pay them for. My insurer represents me whenever there is a problem. BTW, I have had GEICO for 50 years and they always represented me professionally. You should expect good treatment from them.

I presume you’ve asked your own insurance company about this as well. If not, that’s the next step. As mentioned above, the insurance companies involved will likely say repairs more than car is worth, so will suggest cash settlement to you for current value. If that’s satisfactory, but you still want car back to repair yourself (i.e. you use part or all of the insurance money to pay your own shop to repair your Corolla), you have that right usually. The insurance company will likely charge you a small fee. Double check w/state DMV won’t complain.

If you don’t think the offer from the insurance company complies w/the insurance contract, or is well below what the car is worth, you probably have the right to refuse the offer and hire your own attorney to (hopefully) negotiate a better deal.

BTW, it is entirely possible insurance company will say the damage is repairable for less than car is worth, and that’ll be their solution. In which case you’ll get your car back after repair.