QuestionI live in CA and got rear ended. My car was totaled. The insurance wants to settle for an amount that does not look right to me. I still own on the loan close to $12,000.00 and they only offer for the actual cash vaule $8,338.00. I went to the following sites: www.kbb.com, www.edmunds.com, www.nada.com and found my car to be worth from $9,400.00 to $10,515.00. I have a long commute so my 2001 Honda has close to 160,000 miles. I've call the insurace and said that I'm not signing any paperwork since the amount does not satisfy me. I told them that my car is worth more and I did some research on some web sites. They told me if I had any print outs of other car around my area in similar condition they would like to see the paperwork. I was not able to find the same type of car with close milage as mine up to 200 miles from my zip code. Is there a set milage number an insurace appraiser can look for a similar car like mine? What if there are no cars with the same milage as mine? Can I just leverage off on what I found my car to be worth on the site I went into? The insurance say they are going off what the a car with similar condition like mine is worth in my area, but I could not located one. Shouldn't a factor also be also the vaule of the car on these sites and not just off what people are selling it for? I really don't want to settle for less than what my car is really worth.
AnswerFor starters.. the fact that you may owe more to your lender than the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of the car is not really the insurnce company's problem.
Suggest you check with your lender and get the "pay off number"... as you will be paying off the loan ahead of schedule that should translate to interest savings.
Also suggest you check with your lender to see if they purchased GAP insurance to cover exactly this type of shortfall scenario. GAP insurance protects the lender and you pay the premium and it is built into your monthly car payment(s).... ask the lender about it.. might be pleasantly surprised.
Sounds to me as though the at-fault's carrier is willing to work with you... given the opportunity you need to do your homework and get the required supporting data,
Ask the compnay to provide you with their ACV work-up so you can see how they arrived at their figure(s)... easier to attack if you know what/where to attack.
You suggest that your car might have high mileage.... if you average more than 12,000 miles per year that will reduce your ACV...
ACV's may vary from zip code to zip code..... especially in CA.
Work with the company... keep in mind that arriving at an ACV is not an exact science.... do you hoework and you should be able to negotiate to a somewhat higher numberr.
Hope and trust that the above answers your question(s) and provides some direction,
Feel free to get back to me with any additional questions/issues relative to this matter.
Please take the time to rate this response in the various catagories.......
Thanks
