my car has been declared a total loss by state farm

[djLefty]

anyone familar with dealing with a total loss settlement? I've been reading up on a few things, namely this here: http://www.insurance.wa.gov/factshee...ctShtRcdNum=47

state farm made an offer last week, and i just faxed off my counter offer to them. they have already mailed me two $250 checks and a form to sign off on the injury and loss of use but those are just bait that don't even add up to what i actually deserve. thankfully i haven't signed anything yet and am still the legal owner of the vehicle. if things get worse i plan on getting a lawyer, but i'm crossing my fingers that state farm will counter my offer with something more reasonable.

any advice on this matter would be appreciated, as this could make the difference between a few hundred extra dollars or a few thousand.

btw i had just bought 2 koi fish, which died the next day..

http://www.animal-lawyer.com/html/wrongful_death.html

State Farm Total Loss Offer: 

	August 24th, 2006 
	  $2,195.00 1993 Volkswagen Passat Wagon 4D GLX VR6
	  + $199.75 Licensing Taxes / Fees
	  + $250.00 Loss of Use 
	  + $250.00 Personal Injury
	-----------
	= $2,894.75 Total
    -----------
	= $2,394.75 Total Loss of Passat
	=   $250.00 Total Personal Injury
	=   $250.00 Total Loss of Use
    -----------

My Preliminary Estimate:

	August 29th, 2006
	  $3,575.00 1993 Volkswagen Passat Wagon 4D GLX VR6
	  $2,022.98 Personal Injury Claim Including Accidental Death of Fish
	  + $199.75 Licensing Taxes / Fees
	  + $360.00 Loss of Use
	  + $100.00 Claim Representation Work
	  +  $45.09 Personal Item Removal Fees
	  +  $54.00 Full Tank of Gas
	-----------
	= $6,356.82 Total
    -----------
	= $3,774.75 Total Loss of Passat
	= $2,022.98 Total Personal Injury
	=   $559.09 Total Loss of Use
    -----------

[B_tech]

my father is a litagator for an insurance company and has told me it's a bidding game between the company and the claimant.

I'm not familiar with the specifics of the accident but they will heavily impact your ability to stand firmly to higher amounts.

[HexRei]

Hey Lefty, I appreciate your putting some thought into where this should go, but I think I'm going to put it in OT for now, it seems less political and more insurance information-oriented.

[Mike S]

Hi

I don’t know if this will help you or not. But in assessing the replacement value of your car. Use the NADA used car guide. That’s the book the dealers, the bank and the adjusters use to assist in assessing worth. Here's the deal. The figures you will have access to using the NADA consumer section online - because you aren’t a dealer and don’t subscribe to the service - will be high retail. mid retail and low retail. Really general stuff. But a bit more accurate than Kelly.
What the insurance assessor is looking at is the high and low book (cost) wholesale. Its trade in value and/or what it would cost THEM to replace the car. You need to keep this in mind because, unless you’re a dealer and have access to the wholesale dealer auctions etc - there’s no way you're going to be able to replace the car for the amount of money they will be able to. So you have to really work hard at getting as close to your replacement cost as possible.
And don’t sign shit until you have someone who knows what they're doing read over the material. And DO NOT cash those checks they send you. That can be used as an implied agreement to their terms.

It may do well to hire an attorney or speak with someone who knows the law pertaining to these matters. I may be wrong.. But if you need to hire lawyers ...good ones will work it so the insurance company has to pay their fee.

If it will help you let me know and I’ll dig up an NADA book with all the wholesale and retail figures on your car. All I need is the mileage it had on it.

Good luck and sorry to hear about your fish.
Mike

[el huesos]

Is State Farm your insurance, or the other parties? As I don't know about the accident details. If it's the other parties, they'll definitely try to be low balling you and you really should get or at least consult an attorney.

[biscuits]

hey I got a quick insurance question.

since I plan to do a swap on my 240sx to the jdm sr20det motor, I have always wondered about if my car would be covered for what it's worth with the new engine, or if it would just go on what a 1990 240sx is worth. I mean, it's a good 3 - 4 thousand dollar difference in price for the car.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by biscuits
hey I got a quick insurance question.

since I plan to do a swap on my 240sx to the jdm sr20det motor, I have always wondered about if my car would be covered for what it's worth with the new engine, or if it would just go on what a 1990 240sx is worth. I mean, it's a good 3 - 4 thousand dollar difference in price for the car.

call your insurance ocmpany and tell them what you are planning on doing. This will change the value of the car and how much you can get for it if something happens to the engine.

[djLefty]

ok it's probably going to end up looking like this...should be pretty nice. the 3995 isn't confirmed, but i have 3 ads to fax off to state farm of comparable vehicles and the 3995 is the lowest one..

and yes this is the at fault person's company, not mine.


$3,995.00 1993 Volkswagen Passat Wagon 4D GLX VR6
+ $199.75 Licensing Taxes / Fees
+ $360.00 Loss of Use
+ $500.00 Personal Injury
-----------
= $5,054.75 Total
-----------
= $3,995.00 Total Loss of Passat
= $500.00 Total Personal Injury
= $360.00 Total Loss of Use
-----------

[oneandoneisone]

I love the personal injury claim on your first list.. for the accidental loss of the fish!! It's very sad, but I wonder if they've ever had someone file a claim like that before...

[djLefty]

they're going to give me 22.98 for the fish since pets are simply considered property, and thus you can only hold a party liable for their replacement cost.

[B_tech]

You should always make a claim for 2x the actual amount (except for vehicle value.. that can't be substantiated and has to be what NADA says), because they will always come back at a FAR lower amount.

So if you estimate all the 'personal' damages to be $1000, then demand/ask for $2000. If you ask for $1000, they will counteroffer that with $750 or even $500... regardless of how 'unfair' their counteroffer is. So, you shoot high to get what you actually want.

Stick to your guns and threaten court action if they try to dick you around too much.. that tends to sway them to settle for your amount.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by oneandoneisone
I love the personal injury claim on your first list.. for the accidental loss of the fish!! It's very sad, but I wonder if they've ever had someone file a claim like that before...

people file claims for EVERYTHING. I have seen it all, I work for a company that transcribes people's insurance claim tapes, this also includes things lost in fires and stuff like that.

[Inertia]

I know that when my friends car was "Totaled" he only got 3,000 for his car and they also told him that any money invested into the vehicle
IE: New Parts, Stereo, Tune ups... ETC would be compensated as well

You might want to check that out... An Attorney never hurts either.

Insurance Companies always tend to nickle and dime trust me I JUST settled a $25,000 settlement last month that happend a YEAR ago.


Good luck [ I ]