Insurance trying to s***w me. PLEASE HELP!!!!?

Question

I was recently rear ended by some girl who, according to the police report was answering her phone instead of paying attention to the road. As it turns out both of us are insured by the the same comany. My car is no longer driveable and so the insurance company sent out an adjuster to take a look at it. The damage was significant so he said it was a total loss and that they would pay me $1,000. I went on kbb.com and the retail value of my car is estimated at around $3,000 on there. WTF?!?!?!?! Is there anything I can do? Also what if I just refuse to take the money and try to demand that they fix my car? Can I even do that?

Answer 1

You can sue your own insurance.  It would be you versus them.  Once you file the lawsuit then they are likely to give you what you want as opposed to having to go to court.  They would prefer to pay you $3,000 rather than paying an attorney and the court costs associated with the lawsuit.  More than likely they will settle and give you the $3,000.  Also you have the right to reject their check and tell them you want $3,000 and no less than.  Tell the insurance person that you will file a lawsuit unless you are paid what you want.  This could prevent you from actually having to file a lawsuit, which would entail you hiring an attorney to do so.  I negotiated with the insurance person to get what I wanted and eventually we agreed and I was paid.

Answer 2

Contact a lawyer so you don't get screwed.

Answer 3

No need for a lawyer, and chances are they would not accept a property damage claim.  They are in it for the money.  

Insurance companies do not use Kelly Book.  You are entitled to the Actual Cash Value which is replacement minus depreciation.  The likely arrived at the ACV by employing a company like CCC.  CCC does market research and finds similar vehicles in your area.  

Call the claims rep and find out if they have all of the options.  Is the mileage correct?  What condition did they run it through as, Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor.  Did they deduct for old damage?

I assume that you are going against the other party's liability coverage.  You can buy back the vehicle, but the insurance company will deduct the salvage value.  Given the alleged ACV, it is probably not much.  

You can check nadaguides.com for a rough estimate of your vehicle's value.  Use the low value, not the retail.  You will not ever get the retail value.   Otherwise, do your homework, and prove that your car is worth more.

Edit - You CANNOT sue the insurance company unless you can prove they are acting in bad faith.   If they offered you the ACV, and you cannot prove that your vehicle is worth more, then it is very unlikely you will prevail.   The insurance company will not offer you more just to avoid legal expenses.  You can file a complaint with your state's Insurance Commissioner, but usually the insurance company does not reverse their decision unless for some reason it was unjustified.

Answer 4

Kelly Blue Book is clear when they say that a car is in Excellent condition only if you have all the maintenance papers from the date the car was new....and the car is in excellent condition.   The insurance company doesn't think your car was Excellent.  They are giving you Fair value.   If the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the car, they can refuse to fix the car and pay you the money.   They have an appeals process so write them a letter.

Your state has a Dept of Insurance so write them a letter.

A lawyer will cost $200 an hour so your best bet may be to take advantage of an "introductory special" offered by many attorneys.  They will write you a letter to give to the insurance company and charge you $50.   It is a goodwill gesture to build their business.  But you don't get to call them 20 times to keep them updated on the progress of the case.

Good luck.