Looking for Experience dealing with Insurance

[Desert Fox]

I am expecting the insurance company to declare my 4Runner a total loss.
This will be my first experience with a totaled vehicle.

My insurance is USAA and I am being faulted for the accident.

What experience or advice can you share?

 

[koulee]

They will give you the option of keeping it even though its a total loss, but at a reduced payout. The only reason you will want to keep it is to part it out or keep parts for yourself for another 4Runner.

What kind of damage was done to it to declare it a total loss?

 

[Desert Fox]

They will give you the option of keeping it even though its a total loss, but at a reduced payout. The only reason you will want to keep it is to part it out or keep parts for yourself for another 4Runner.

What kind of damage was done to it to declare it a total loss?

There is some transmission damage too

 

[03_4x4Runner]

As koulee said either buy it back from the insurance company if you want to try to put it back together or part it out. I was thinking that will cost about 25% of its value. Otherwise hope they give you a fair payout and move on.

 

[Desert Fox]

Thanks for the input, I do understand the options.
Let me be a little more specific on what I am asking for.

I expect that the insurance company will offer me the lowest possible amount to settle.

What I am asking for is peoples experience in negotiating with the insurance company to get a fair settlememt.
I am looking for the tactics and logic used in the negotiation.

If someone has experience with USAA totaling a vehicle I would like to understand the process from their point of view. The insurance agent has already explained the process but I would like to know the other side from the consumer.

Knowledge is power and I have very little knowledge in this situation.

 

[aha2988]

for one, I don't understand how the wreck was your fault if someone ran the red light to hit you?

with it being totaled you know of course your options take the pay out or buy it back and do as your wish

you have the ability to negotiate for more settlement by producing receipts for the aftermarket parts you have on the vehicle. Pending your insurance company's coverage. If I'm not mistaken they allow up to or cover like 2000 dollars to aftermarket parts installed this may vary pending state and insurance companies.

If i'm not mistaken you can take the claim to court and have a trial determining who was really at fault if you feel its not your fault the accident happened. A lot of times your insurance company will back you in the trial because they would rather have the other parties insurance pay your losses.

I hate to hear you having to deal with this, it is my worst nightmare to have to deal with a total loss of my 4runner.

 

[NJshadow93]

I went through something similar last summer. My old 2003 4Runner was totaled by some moron who wasn't paying attention, cruising down the left lane with her blinker on, and hit me as I was turning. Of course, it was legally my fault.

My advice to you from that experience, if you haven't already, look at the used car market within 50 miles, at least, of your location. My truck was easily totaled because of the airbags deployed and the visibly bent frame. The reason I say to look at the used car market is because you need to know what is currently available. Make sure you're looking at similar years, mileage, and condition of your truck.

When my insurance called with their amount, we told them it simply wasn't enough to buy something that was in as good shape as my 03 was. (By the way, my 03 was immaculate. Freshly polished and waxed a week prior, and looked like new, nobody thought it was a 2003). The others on the market at the time had higher mileage, minor problems that needed to be addressed, scratches and blemishes all over the body, and just a lot of other things that didn't amount to the condition that I had. They were even looking and suggesting some 4Runners, but we had already looked at a couple and were ready to tell them the problems they had. They called the next day and bumped the settlement up another $1600. And I was able to get all the mods I wanted off as long as the vehicle rolls . I got my wheels and tires, exhaust, LEDs, 06 taillights, headlights, and some other little things. Good luck.

 

[DeadMoney44]

Find your own comparables

As NJshadow93 stated. Find your own comparables. That is how they determine the payout but they will not pay much attention to details like condition, trim level and miles. I had this situation with a Subaru. I search for comps through CarSoup, AutoTrader, CraigsList and called the local dealership. Then I had the insurance co. email me the comps they were using. I was aware of every car they sent me and over the phone convinced them to eliminate a most of the low end cars because of condition, miles and / or trim level. I provided the comps to replace those and settled at $1200 more than their initial offer. I think the person on the phone was more receptive to dropping some of their comparables when I provided replacements.

Hope this helps. Good Luck

 

[koulee]

Actually comparables in trim, condition and mileage is what they look at. I had a 92 Supra Turbo with 70k miles, very very good condition that was totaled due to front end damage. They paid me $9k for it simply because you can't find another Supra Turbo with that many miles in that condition in a reasonable range.

But since your 4Runner is newer, comparables are abundant so what they will most likely go off is market value or something close to that.

Is there a police report on the accident? If the police report says that it is your fault, then thats what the insurance will go by. If there is no police report, then the insurance will investigate and assign blame percentages.

The amount of payout will depend on whether or not they total the 4Runner.

If its not totaled, then the payout is what it would cost THEM to have one of THEIR contracted repair shops to do the repairs. If you take this payout, it may cost you more because you don't get a discount unless you know somebody who does this kind of thing.

If it is totaled, then usually they go by market value for the payout. If you owe more than what they are paying out then you will be screwed because you will have to come up with the difference to pay the bank--only if you have a loan on the car and are still paying if off.

 

[stevec5000]

What's the secret?

If you can find out the secret to getting an insurance company to pay you anything for damage I'd like to know what it is. The last time someone ran into my truck they wouldn't pay me a cent which makes me wonder how those guys running insurance scams by staging fake accidents can possibly every come out ahead?

 

[koulee]

If you can find out the secret to getting an insurance company to pay you anything for damage I'd like to know what it is. The last time someone ran into my truck they wouldn't pay me a cent which makes me wonder how those guys running insurance scams by staging fake accidents can possibly every come out ahead?

Insurance scams has to do with shady or down right dirty doctors that the scammers work with to milk the insurance companies of money.

 

[ebg18t]

Send me a pm. We can talk. My landrover was totaled last fall and I spent 3 months fighting with them..

 

[Derek G]

I am expecting the insurance company to declare my 4Runner a total loss.
This will be my first experience with a totaled vehicle.

My insurance is USAA and I am being faulted for the accident.

What experience or advice can you share?

I've had two vehicles totaled through USAA, although I was not at fault in either. In both cases I've found comparable vehicles (mileage, trim, year) to prepare for my defense in value. In both cases I didn't have to use the evidence I gathered, the payout that was offered was fair and I was happy with the response and I received a check in 2 days. Now, I could have just been lucky but talking to other USAA members that have had similar issues I haven't heard of any complaints. I could find insurance for cheaper (not much) but I willing to pay a little more for the service when I need it.

Let me know how it turns out, I'm interested to hear.

 

[V8Man]

Been There Too!

It sucks for sure. When my son turned left in front of a girl running a red light, it’s still his fault. I did not have compressive insurance so I resorted to parting it out. Searched all the insurance auctions for a truck exactly like yours and could not touch one under $4,000. I was planning to put my front clip on it. I found the same year 4Runner with an engine problem for 4K, so now my Frankenstein 4Runner, as my wife calls it is running with my old engine and transmission. It's Alive!
I would be interested to know what they offer you.

 

[koulee]

Yeah it also definitely depends on the insurance company. But I hear that USAA takes care of their customers so you don't have to worry, especially since their members are all military or their families.

 

[flyrv9]

I'd say first you need to know what your vehicle was worth before the accident. Blue book value for it's condition plus any mod equipment you can't remove. If it's in a wrecking yard go and remove any personal stuff before someone else does. Once you have those figures, you will have an amount to negotiate from.

When a vehicle is totaled Ins companies do a quick calculation to determine cost to repair vs value. Vehicles are often totaled when they might not really be, because of possible hidden damage that's hard to determine until the repair is under way. It's a two edge sword. Parting out a vehicle, or using it as a donor for spare parts to get you back where you were is a lot of work with you doing the labor.

Most states are now no fault insurance states, so being at fault doesn't play the part it once did. No fault avoids costly court battles to determine who pays damages when there are not many insurance companies and they really just trade money back and forth anyway.

 

[stevec5000]

Insurance scams has to do with shady or down right dirty doctors that the scammers work with to milk the insurance companies of money.

What difference does the doctor make if the insurance company won't pay anything?

 

[koulee]

What difference does the doctor make if the insurance company won't pay anything?

If the insurance company won't pay anything, then there would be no insurance scams. The doctors make the scam more "credible" so that the insurance companies payout, granted its becoming harder to do so because insurance companies are becoming better at fraud detection.

For instance, say a scammer got "hurt" and wants to be paid out $10k. Its probably cheaper to pay the $10k than it is to investigate the accident which would cost more than $10k. What would the insurance company do?

 

[iBison]

My dad had was hit from behind one at a light, no real hard. He had some pain in his neck and told her insurance he was going to have it checked out. They offered him a check for a few grand for "medical expenses" if he'd sign a release.

 

[Desert Fox]

Well this story is about to come to a close.

USAA treated me well. Not that I made any money on the situation but I figure I did not lose any. I got to keep most of my mods. I could have kept all of them but did not have replacements to put back on.

One piece of feedback- I had to keep probing to get answers. The agent gave me the run down of the process but as we went through it I had questions and I had to probe and probe.

One thing I dont like about USAA is that you dont have a dedicated representative. They keep good notes but that does not always work.

Also there was some paperwork that needed my signature. I was told that my signature did not need to be notarized. When I get the papers there is a note calling out for a notary. The papers were 2 days late too.

In the big picture these are minor but room for improvement.

I dont like having my vehicle judged/ compared purley by data. I keep pretty good care of my vehicles- quality fluids, quality parts, regular maintenence extra effort cleaning. Kelly Blue Book does not have that kind of rating.