What can I do when GEICO insurance don't pay me what I think is fear?

Question

My wife had an accident last week. It wasn't her fault as the police saw. They can't fix the car because is more expensive than give us its actual value. Geico has offered us $3306 but we think that's not a fair price. Geico said can't give us any more money. What kind of help or where should we ask for?

The car is a '01 Saturn SL1, manual, Miles: 139000. We didn't have ANY problem with it; it's without a doubt the best car I had in my life.

Answer 1

I had the same problem with them which I just recently resolved. They kept playing games with me. The important thing is to be able to prove the value of your car. I had complete documentation on every repair I made on my van since I owned it (6 Years) and I could prove the investment I had on the van.

What it cam down to was that I was going to have to sue them to get the actual value which would cost lots of bucks and involve lawyers. However in South Carolina and in many other states there is a second option, which is call Nonbinding arbitration. Arbitration is basically three lawyers that you present your case to and they will pass down a judgement with what they believe to be the correct amounts. The ruling can be appealed however.

It only cost me $10 to file at the courthouse and get the paperwork filed and submitted. After I sent this notice of legal procedings for arbitration, they fell overthemselves to offer me more than they started with and I doubled the original settlement offer. Keep in mind that I had plenty of documentation to back up the amounts I was after.

Check you state's book of laws on arbitration. Below is a link to the information on my state's arbitration laws. It is in ARTICLE 7 and SECTION 38-77-710 and greater.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

The vehicle is worth on a high retail only $2745.00 so take what they are offering and look for another vehicle, you are lucky because most people dont get close to the high retail price.................

Answer 3

Blue book value on the Vehicle if it was "in perfect condition" is only $4865 retail. According to Kelly Blue Book, less than 5% of vehicles fall into this catagory. Being the offer is roughly $1000 less, I really don't think you have much to fight with.

Answer 4

First off don't Fear a little green lizzard!  Your accepting an amount means you aggreed to $3306. An 8 year old Saturn with 140 thousand miles may be worth around $3,500/$4500 on todays market. Contact your insurance Adgent that is what you pay them for and see if your insurance can get more money for the Totaled Wreck. See when the value of the car is low and accident damage is over a % of that value you and the insurance would rather buy you out. Because fixing the 8 year old car can cause more problems latter. By the way there are plenty of fine new cars out there these days that are even better than GM Saturn's.

Answer 5

$4000 - $4500....dream on. The car has 139,000 miles on it. Even in perfect condition (no scratches, stains or anything like that) its worth no more than $3300. The only way your car would be worth what you're looking for is if you had 75k or less miles on the car OR you have upgrade options like fancy rims, upgrade stereo system, etc. ....and I don't work for Geico.