Is the ins. adjuster taking us for a ride? my son swerved to miss an oncoming vehicle and hit the guardrail,?

Question

The trooper gave him a ticket . my son has a 2007 cobalt , the book value is about 9000.00. the adjuster for sons ins. company gave him an estimate for 5000.00 worth of damage. I thought they would total the car, my son also has gap ins. shouldent the adjuster total the car? what is the best way to go with this situation? i thought they have to total the car?

Answer 1

The ticket has nothing to do with the insurance.  The insurance company should not "total" a $9000.00 car with $5000.00 worth of damage.  You can't force them to do so either.

Answer 2

Depends on the insurance company, but most will not total a vehicle unless the damage exceeds 70-75% of the vehicle's Actual Cash Value, not book value.  

It is entirely possible that once the vehicle is dismantled, they will find additional damage.  This supplement may total out the vehicle.  You cannot make the insurance company total the vehicle.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, unless there's a witness to the 'phantom vehicle' 95% of all insurance companies will consider your son at fault.

As for the vehicle, in order to consider it a total loss the repairs have to reach at least 80% of the vehicle's value, off the top of my head that's about $7200, so unless there's more damage to be found after the body shop teardown, the vehicle is repairable.

I would be jumping for joy that my son was okay, the vehicle is material.  My son wasn't so lucky!

Answer 4

there's no such thing as them HAVING to total the car. They're stupid.

For us, 9 thousand dollars of damage was supposed to fix a car worth 13 thousand. It took them forever, and now the value of our car is so much less. Over a month, they kept finding new things wrong with it. The estimated cost was about 7.5 thousand.

Once they finally do fix it, be sure to find every little thing that's wrong with your car and make a big fuss about it to get it fixed.

Answer 5

To total a car the damage must be more thatn the car is worth.  if the est is 5G and the worth is 9G then it is worth fixing and your rates will go up to pay for it.

it is virtually impossible to get a replacement for a wreck unless the car is a total loss.

Next time make sure the guardrail is weak and send it into the ocean or over a cliff.  Be sure to jump.

Answer 6

A vehicle is totaled when the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle.  Different insurance companies have different standards, such as the cost of repairs needs to be at least 75% of the value or 80%, etc.   Or if its an obvious total loss, such as a fire basically incinerated your vehicle.  $5000 is only 55% of $9000 which is the value of the vehicle, you've got ways to go before its a total loss.  You policy states they only owe you to repair the vehicle or replace it whichever costs less.  When you purchase your policy you agree to what it says.  And I agree, the ticket has nothing to do with the repairs and replacement of the vehicle.  I would get the vehicle repaired.  If you take it to get it repaired and it ends up being torn down and they find further damage that causes the cost of repair to go up so high it totals the car, the insurance company will then address it as a total loss then.