QuestionMy daughter's car is wrecked. The car had almost $7000 worth of damage, so they are offering me a total loss settlement on it. They value the car at $2500 (1997 Ford Contour with 111,000 miles on it.) They said they are using the CCC value for a dealer ready vehicle and sent me information that quotes NADA value at $2700 and then various ads for 21 1997-98 Contours with various values. When I average those numbers (in various ways) I cannot come to the $2500 value, but between $2600-$2700.
Then they are deducting over $600 for bringing the car to dealer ready. He said he is taking 50% (since the car is over 5 years old) of the damage estimate to get it to dealer ready. That includes a full paint job (he says he is greatly discounting that part), black-out, engine steaming, and repairs to 3-4 different spots on the car.
What are my options? I would like to settle for the $2250-$2700 range and then reduce that by my deductible of $250.00. I plan to meet with the adjuster and go over the car to see what 3-4 repair spots he is referring to. The car may have had 1 or 2 slight damages (bumper ding in the front and car door damage on the side) but had no major damages. What damages can he reduce?
I am in Houston, Tx, if that makes any difference.
Answer
Hi Rozzie Rhea,
Sorry to hear of your daughter's big accident; with that much force involved, we hope she was not injured.
Your question presents an increasingly frustrating problem for insureds: trying to square off against the insurance adjuster who comes armed with a ton of print-outs to support his or her position.
Fortunately, the Internet has recently added some real power for those of us who have to battle those well-armed guys.
There are four steps to solve this problem, and you will likely have to employ all four.
FIRST, do your own research to counter what they provided to you on the fair market value. BE FIRM that what you get is fair market value (FMV), NOT WHAT A DEALER would give you on trade-in.
SECOND, attack the ridiculous deduction of $600 to get the car ready for sale.
THIRD, communicate in writing, showing your own print-outs. It is fine to meet with him or her, but have your ammunition in writing to give to the adjuster.
FOURTH, let him know that you are FIRM IN YOUR RESOLVE to get what you are demanding (NOT "asking", since that invites a counter-offer, but instead "demanding" as fair and reasonable compensation) by asking him what the options are to resolve the matter fairly should he not agree to a reasonable replacement value. In other words, let him know that you will go through with an arbitration or a small claims action if need be.
BUT, before we get started, have you thought about keeping your car? Many times people have put a lot of money into maintenance of high mileage vehicles, and they KNOW what they have will work for them. So, rather than taking $2,500 and trying to find a vehicle that will be reliable, they put the money into fixing the wreck with used parts, leaving aside cosmetic damage (who cares if you drive a nine year old car with some bumps and bruises -- especially when that will reduce the repair bill a ton??).
So the first thing, if you are happy with the performance of your car, and/or if you have put a lot of money into maintenance, would be to explore ways to keep the car. Ask what the body shop would charge to repair your vehicle with USED non-OEM parts? You can negotiate to leave cosmetic stuff showing and just repair the structural damage with USED PARTS. I would not be surprised to see $4,500 to $5,000 come off their repair bill in that case. If you have a car that was running fine, why not keep it, even if you have to drive around with some dents showing?
Thus, you negotiate the value of the car and "buy" the vehicle back from the insurance company for a small amount, and you use the insurance payout to repair your existing vehicle.
Now, changing topics back to how to get that value up for the insurance adjuster, let's get started for you. The first tasks are to get at both the FMV and to throw out that outrageous $600 reduction.
My favorite site for valuation is Edmunds.com, and the page for you to go to and select your model and thence to plug in your options and the present condition of the vehicle is http://www.edmunds.com/used/1997/ford/contour/
Please note that as to the condition, you can use five choices. Why not do the same request with a change in the condition (i.e. choose "rough", "average", "clean", or "outstanding", etc.) and see what difference it makes? You will find that it is a HECK OF A LOT LESS THAN $600 in FMV to move your car from "average" to "clean" or "outstanding" condition. Use that figure as the "penalty" for not having a ready-for-sale condition, NOT $600. Print out those two or three comparisons to attack the $600 deduction
Here are the other used car sites, and of course they want to know your zip code, and then they ask for a range in miles to search. Don't limit yourself to Houston: it is reasonable that someone could go up to 300 miles to pick up a used car.
www.autotrader.com; http://www.carsdirect.com/home; http://www.livedeal.com/index.jsp;
NEXT, learn some tips for putting together your evidence and getting paid for additions to your vehicle by visiting a special page Dr. Settlement has prepared to help:
http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0007.htm Notice in paragraph two the topics "How to Value Your Motor Vehicle" and "Do You Get Paid For New Tires, New Stereo?"
Figure out the remaining car tab tax value of your existing license by the number of months left before you have to renew, divided by twelve, and multiplied by the car tabs tax you paid.
Remember these tips, do your homework, print out your evidence, show resolve to get your fair settlement, and you will DO JUST FINE.
By the way, if your daughter was injured, and if the accident was largely caused by the negligence of someone else, then consider learning about how to pursue her own personal injury insurance claim by visiting Dr. Settlement's site at www.settlementcentral.com.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement
P.S. be sure to leave me some feedback on my suggestions so I can learn what is most useful to future visitors to Allexperts.com.
