QuestionQUESTION: I was driving in traffic on the highway when it came to a stop. It wasn't a sudden stop, it was a slow stop that has been slowing down for a good two minutes because traffic has been building up with cars coming and going off the highway. I come to a complete stop and actually sit for around 3 seconds and then get hit hard in the back of my Honda Prelude by a small pick up truck.
We go to the side and he claims he is at fault, but didn't want to file a police report (Um, can i say..the guy wanted to come back and possibly put me at fault? LOL, Come on dude, I'm not that stupid to not file a police report. THE POLICE JUSTIFY WHO WAS AT FAULT and I'm not going to get screwed here.) We file a police report, they gave the guy a ticket (I have no idea what for??)
My car is drivable. (My back ass is damaged, the trunk is damaged, the radio has a pop noise, the locks on the car go unlock and lock constantly, the sun roof don't work and the back window shattered) He hit above the axle and everything so it's all good to drive, just looks like shit. LOL.
So i call his insurance company to come out here and get a quote on the car to see how much damages are. Well the quoter gets back to me and says it's a salvaged car. I bought the car 4 months ago for 9,000 and he says repairs are around 8,000. So what they would do is, buy the car for 8,000 and put it towards my loan that i owe on the car which is exactly what they are owing me, so i won't owe anything on the loan. BUT i took it to a body shop and they say it's going to cost only 5,000 to fix it. (I'm taking it is for a tear down on Monday so they can get an exact quote, but if it comes lower than what the estimate says, can't i fight that somehow?) Why would the insurance company not budge and pay 8,000 instead of just paying 5,000 for me to keep the car?
They give us another option, we can keep the car, but they give us salvage value of 800 dollars. OK, well that doesn't help with damages if they are 5,000.
Here is where problems come in....I can go with my insurance company but it costs 1,000 (I am not at fault, so why should i pay) and I'm not even sure yet if they will fix it or look at it exactly how the quoter did. Would they even consider looking at what the auto body can put together?l
ANOTHER THING...I don't have the 2,000-3,000 to put down for a loan for another car, so even though the loan of the salvage car is taken care of, i can't get into another loan because of bad credit and i don't have 2,000 to put down for a loan. SO THAT IS NOT A BENEFIT OF ME SALVAGING MY CAR TO THEM AT ALL!
It gets better...I have a Breathalyzer on the car, and BY LAW i can not drive without it, i only have to have it for 9 more months, BUT if i get rid of the car, i NEED to have the other car available the same day i get rid of the other car because they have to be switched physically the same time while both cars are PRESENT. (WELL I CAN'T BUY A NEW CAR BECAUSE I CAN'T GET INTO A LOAN, AND IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET INTO THIS LOAN WITH THE CURRENT CAR I HAVE).
So where are my options, i would actually HAVE to keep the car (WHICH I TRULY WANT TO KEEP IT and just get it fixed) and get a check for 800 dollars and then pay out of my pocket 5,000 to get the car fixed because i don't have the money or loan money to get a new car AT THE SAME TIME, because the Breathalyzer locks me because i can't give up the car for a week and then get a new one with the Breathalyzer installed then. THEY HAVE TO BE INSTALLED AT THE SAME TIME. i would actually have to own two cars at once and i can't do that.
So is there anything i can do to get the other car insurance to redo their evaluation if i sent them the full break down of the auto body's quote? Otherwise, another thing i have is the original parts of the car that the insurance quoter put on the damages list. (Which is the front bumper, back bumper and taillights...these i have the stock to, because i have after market parts on these. BUT he was saying how after market parts are expensive, but i showed him the receipts on how cheap they were and were i got them etc, and he took down what i paid for them. Now is there anyway where i can lower the insurance's quoter to lower their salvage quote thing to where they can just send a check for the repairs. (((EXAMPLE: They want to pay me 8,000 for the car. Let's say they put 1,500 for the tail lights, front and back bumpers. So if i proved that i have the stock parts, they don't have to pay for those parts nor the auto body shop because i have them handy. So that would put the estimate at 6,500. Is that possible?)))
ANY input would be great or any options that you can think of. I'm thinking about going to legal advice, because i can't get another car so I'm screwed, or i can drive a fucked up car that needs 5,000 worth or work done to it that i have to pay out of my pocket with an accident i did not cause. :(
Please help! Thanks so much!!
-Kris
ANSWER: Kris,
First of all, were you aware that the car had a salvage history when you purchased it? Did the dealer make full disclosure of that fact? If not, you may have a case of dealer fraud agsinst the seller, assuming it was a licensed car dealer. Contact a lemon law attorney in your state. Even if it wasn't a dealer, you have recourse against the seller, but a private seller is not held to the same standard as a car dealer would be.
If the insurance company of the person that hit your car won't increase their offer, you can refuse their offer and threaten to take legal action against their policyholder. That may get a result. If not, you can file the claim with your company. If they don't total loss your car and you have a written estimate to repair it for $5000, that may be a good option for you as your deductible will be refunded once your company subrogates the loss with the liability carrier of the person that hit your car.
The idea of retaining the salvage you presented doesn't make sense. Typically, the insurance company will deduct the salvage value from the total loss settlement if you elect to keep the car, which is usually about 20% of the car's value. You should be getting much more than $800. Check with the insurance company again and have them set their offer in writing to avoid confusion.
Your breathalyzer predicament is something that you would not have incurred had the person not hit your car. So any consequences of the collision are that person's liability, within reason, of course. I would explain this to his insurance company and ask them to accomodate your needs if they still want to take your car. If they refuse, you can file suit against their policyholder in small claims court for the costs you incurred as a result. Be sure to let the liability carrier of the at-fault party know this.
Good luck,
Charlie
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Charlie thank you for responding.
First off, the car is not a salvage vehicle, we bought it from a dealer and it doesn't have any salvage history as for what i believe. I don't know if i understand salvage and all this stuff, but the insurance people are the ones that told us that it is a totaled car, there is more money to be put in the car to get it fixed versus the worth of the car. They called it salvage after the accident(I believe...i'm not sure though, i thought they were using that word especially when they said we can chose Salvage price and that is where the 800 comes in. We keep the car and they write us a check for that) How can you tell if a car is salvage and if it was, i would go after the dealer for not selling a legitimate vehicle or one with a salvage title, because currently as of today i think it's not a salvage title, or i was never aware of it. I bought it from a dealer and it took forever to get the loan on the car because i had no money to put down etc. The car when we first got it drives fine, no damage or anything when we bought it. When do people use the word salvage and when does it come into play?
We are going in monday to get a complete strip down from the auto body shop. Otherwise, as for the breathalyzer, if they want to take the car and they give us 8000 for it, they are going to send that immediately to the loan holder and pay it off then they are going to take the car, which gets me out of a car and suspends my license because i'm under a contract with the gov't saying i would take on a breathalyzer, pay for it, have insurance etc etc. So if they take my car and give me 8000, i have to come up with something to get another car before the take this one in order to transfer the breathalyzer and insurance etc onto a new car. So when they say it beneficial to us that the car was totalled because it gets us out of that car and gets us into a new car...I can't get us into a new car cause i don't have money for a down payment nor the acceptance for a loan.
AnswerAs I said, you have the option of filing a claim with your own company and see what they come up with. Get the shop that is going to write your estimate on Monday to write for salvage (used) or aftermarket (non-OEM) parts if they are available. That will reduce the cost of repairs and possibly keep the car from totaling.
Also, you want to claim the cost of transferring the breathalyzer, or at least the cost to have it removed from your car if they take yours. I assume you are leasing the breathalyzer from a company that has the contract with your state.
You can go to CarFax or AutoCheck and use their online service to see if your car was a prior total loss vehicle. Perhaps that is what the liability carrier did and why they used that term. If the insurance company wants to take the car as a total loss, they owe you the actual cash value of the car (ACV), which is defined as the cost to replace it with one of like kind and quality, plus sales tax and license transfer fees. I'm not sure what your car is worth, but go to Kelly Blue Book or the NADA site and see what they say it's worth. They're free services.
