by Guest » Sat Mar 17, 2007 05:20 pm
My husband and I just purchased a 2006 Cadillac DTS Luxury 1. The purchase price was 39,000. Less than 4 weeks after the purchase our car was totalled in an accident on the freeway. The police report says both drivers were at fault. The insurance company offered to pay 32,000 and we consider that way too low. I know we can negotiate to get the price up but what other rights do we have?
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 03:53 pm Post Subject:
You certainly have the right to prove your vehicle is worth more.
I'm guessing that you bought this vehicle at a dealership and that it might have even still been new, not used (you don't mention the miles or it's status). If so, you need to realize that your vehicle depreciated the moment you signed the dotted line on the paperwork as it then became a used vehicle. Typically, vehicles depreciate 20% when going from new to used. Did you have a trade-in on the vehicle? If so, dealerships will sometimes play with the numbers... offering a high amount on the trade-in but not lowering the price of the vehicle being bought. Lastly, if bought at a dealership, you paid a retail price... something that is not owed on your vehicle.
I strongly recommend the following actions....
Obtain the paperwork from the insurance company and see if there are any errors. Appraisers love to inspect vehicles that are a total loss. They can quickly write up the damage report and there is no follow up for supplemental damages. As such, they tend to work these inspections very quickly. They don't write down certain options on the vehicle and sometimes even don't write down the mileage. In addition, the vendor/company used to obtain a value on the vehicle may not account for certain options if they are not told they exist. Review the report to make sure it's accurate.
If you are going to dispute the amount the insurance company is paying, be prepared to prove your case. I cannot tell you the number of times someone has told me their vehicle is worth more, I ask why, and they cannot tell me. Start with running your vehicle on kbb.com and use the Private Party value to obtain a reasonable value of your vehicle.
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 02:25 am Post Subject:
I agree www.kbb.com is a great place to get a value for your car...and yes unfortunatly your car does depriciate the moment you drive it off the lot...you def need to do your homework and yes prove your case. In the future...find a company that will give you all teh money back for a new car that gets totalled. They are out there...I used to write those policies if this is a concern for you you should purchase this type of policy in the future.
link deactivated as per forum rules, thanks
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 01:58 pm Post Subject:
But on that same note, how many agents given potential new customers a copy of the policy to read before they obtain the policy? Also, how many customers even really understand that different insurance companies make different changes to the policy? I'm betting so few that the number is really, none. I have a good example in my posts about the USAA renters policy possibly providing liability coverage for my boat. It requires that I tell them about the boat at policy inception. How was I suppose to know this was in the policy before reading it? This is not to say that your statement is incorrect... it's 100% correct. It's just that it's not pointed out the customers so they really can't know.
With that being said, this is way a few people don't just look at the price of the policy. They might be paying a little more for a "good" insurance company. These companies tend to leave the ISO policies as they are and not put their own exclusion in them.
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 06:17 am Post Subject:
Yeah..I agree with all thats said and done...but what about the basics!
Did you take the contact info of both the drivers involved ?
Did you take the pictures of your car both before and after the mishap ??
Did you take down pics of the other car?
I'd rather suggest you not to frame a false price of the body parts...have patience and get everything under control. Thanx, ArindamSenIndies
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:30 pm Post Subject:
I don't know of any insurance company that would offer to pay $32,000 without inspecting the vehicle themselves, so it's a given that they have pictures of the vehicle after the accident. As far as photos before, this is really a moot point as there is no indication that they are applying a deduction for prior damage and even if they were, they'd only do this is they could show it _was_ prior damage. I have no idea what "body parts" would have to do with this.
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