My concern would be that your car is going a long ways from home and what happens if they make a “Take it or leave it” paltry offer?
About 20 years ago an adjuster used to live 2 blocks from me. He was also proficient with body and paint work. See where this is going? He was known to total a car and end up with it. He would then repair it and sell it. On several occasions people have stopped, asked me where he lived, and their intent was not to be pleasant but to (as Roy D. Mercer would say…) open up a 55 gallon drum of whoopxxx. The adjuster finally bailed out for eastern OK where he got divorced and last I heard was in SE KS. Probably gone from there now also.
The chief of police in a neighboring town even sued him. He tried to pull a fast one on me but that train wreck was obvious so it got nipped in the bud. .
You do NOT want to keep this particular car after it’s been totaled
Be prepared . . . the other person’s insurance will almost certainly try to lowball you
When they do, you mention that list of comparable vehicles for sale . . . just make sure you can show them completed sales, not simply the asking prices
At that point, they’ll probably cave in and agree to pay you a much more reasonable amount
And then you let the car go and good luck finding your next vehicle
One comment-you didn’t have collision coverage. If the car had been totaled and it was your fault could you handle the cost of replacement? I know it’s often recommended to drop collision after a while, but that can cause problems.
The insurance will total it because it will need to be repaired to look like perfect condition according to their standards, which will cost much more than it’s worth.
After buying it back from insurance, if it were me I would bolt or weld an attachment point to the place that got hit. Then I would connect a chain to that and put it around a post or tree. Then drive forward pulling smashed area back out little by little. Maybe it will be enough to make the back door open again. Maybe not. It will still look all smashed up when you’re done, WHen the shape is close to how it should be hopefully the trunk will close again. The back bumper wasn’t move out of position which is good. Then someone who needs a car badly can drive it.
There is a car that is always parked at the Autozone here where the left rear door and wheel area looks like it got hit at 30 MPH. He must have replaced the rear wheel and continues to use it as a daily driver with the area from the middle of the back door to the middle above the rear tire smashed in at least 6 inches.
I would go on like kbb.com and get idea what your was worth before the accident so they dont try to lowball you . You probably wont get much over $4000 or so for a car that old .
That makes zero sense. They want to spend a few hundred dollars for towing the vehicle to another town instead of sending the adjuster to your house? This is dumb
This might be a silly question, but are things like snow chains, full spare tire, scissor jack, ramps, chocks, and other maintenance tools for this vehicle things i can use to argue added value? if i had sold the vehicle these would have all gone along with it since they are specific to this make/model.
I can honestly say that I have never seen or even heard of a vehicle being towed that far for disposal when there has not been one second of meeting of the minds involved as to what they intend to pay you for the wreck; and especially a 110 miles one way trip to what is essentially a disposal facility.
If it were me, that car is going to sit at my house until I have a check in my hands for an acceptable amount or it ain’t going anywhere. Period. This goes back to my question. What are you going to do if they low ball you and then tell you that if you want the car to buy it from Copart and pay for the tow home yourself?
And I hope you have not signed any release papers.
Tester is right. Anything in that car you wanted should be removed before anyone gets near it. I would not be surprised if those items are now missing at the Copart lot. What items…??? Must have been the adjuster…or the tow driver…or homeless people stealing to earn cash…
(Don’t laugh at the last one. I’ve heard that one from a tow outfit…)
My son’s car was totaled and while we were meeting to agree to the terms (quite good ones) the insurance company already had the car in transit for disposal. A lot of his stuff was still in the car and we had to contact the company to get it back. It was towed about 250 miles.
Yeah I think it depends on where exactly the adjuster is and they probably figure it’ll likely end up there anyway. Plus copart may be the ones doing the towing. Sure, protect yourself but reality is reality. You’re not likely to hook a fence puller up to it and pull the quarter back in shape enough to get the door open or the trunk shut. And that little ripple on the roof is telling.
Thank you everyone for all of your amazing advice.
I have somehow already been offered a settlement and it is in the high range of what I found when searching for comps. I am kind of shocked the first offer was so good.
I have been given the full report with the valuation and settlement, but I still have to sign over the car before they pay me. Is that the normal process? I guess it makes sense they wouldn’t pay before I sign over the title but I just want to be sure I don’t rush this part. I’m assuming the report and valuation from the insurance company is proof enough that I will be paid that amount?
Thank you again to everyone for your help through this stressful situation!
they have an online document process instead of handing them the paper title,
and the bill of sale section has N/A for the price. that’s why I was wondering if that’s normal to sign before they process payment.
Has he ever had a insurance claim like this ? We signed the title and mailed it and the keys . And then recieved the check in the mail . The insurance is not going to try and cheat anyone because that settlement is a drop in the bucket of their business.
That’s what I was thinking. He has had a claim but it was decades ago now.
I do see a lot of websites saying not to sign anything until payment is received but the insurance adjuster told me they can’t pay me until I sign it, and I don’t think they will try to switch up the amount or anything honestly.
It was just weird to me that the paperwork I’m supposed to sign didn’t have the settlement amount on it.
