Auto Insurance Claims: I had an accident, now what..., passenger air bags, gap insurance

Question
On 6-14-08 I got into a minor accident, when I fell asleep at the wheel while coming home from work(failure to maintain control). I hit a utility pole and a parked car with that was uninsured and that car hit another car parked behind it on the side of the street @ 30mph. Both driver and passenger air bags went off and I have some front-end damage and the windshield is smashed up pretty good. I was told by several people that seen my vehicle's damage and said they might total it. If they do, what will happen? My truck is an 2004, with JUST over 50,000 and I bought it JUST under a year ago and still ow a bit of money on it. I have GAP insurance through the loan agency. Please help me understand what might be to come and what options I might have. THANKS!

Answer
Hi Brent,

Your insurance company will send someone to inspect your car and assess the damage. If the cost of repairs is more than 70% of the value of the car they will likely total it. If the cost is below 70% they will likely say it is repairable.

If the vehicle is totaled, the insurance company will determine its market value and will make you an offer. You should independently research the value to be sure their offer is fair. To do so you can check www.autotrader.com where you can search for currently for sale vehicles like yours. You should try to locate 5 to 7 comparable vehices. Print them out and average the figures to develope an overall average value. If the insurance company's offer is much below your average, send them the information to try to negotiate a better value. Since you have GAP insurance it will not be that important since your gap insurance will make up any difference between what they pay and what you owe.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh