How much is my totaled car worth?

by Guest » Thu Mar 06, 2008 09:01 pm
Guest

Hit by a semi March 2008. Semi driver took full responsibility, and my car was drivable.

I'm insured by progressive. He is by Great West Casualty.
Progressive told me to take it to their shop, which today says it's totaled.

I see the repair estimate on progressive.com is at $5399,
I still owe $5156, and KBB says I could expect to buy one in my area for around $8000.

2002 Chrysler town and country LE
rear ac tinted windows standard CD player
nothing super special, but nice.
no prior damage, in my opinion excellent condition, no rust, runs great, but 145k miles

Should I expect anything other than paying off the loan (which sucks as I now have no car)... or can I expect at least something to use as a down payment?

Both insurance companies are working on an offer, and I am waiting to hear what they are.

Thanks
Dennis

Total Comments: 31

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 05:39 am Post Subject:

Well,as the first step, inform the carrier that you have done a research and have received a price which is much higher than what they are offering. Take a print out of the car worth estimate and mail it to them and keep the channels of negotiation open. This may solve the problem.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 05:50 am Post Subject:

Hi DWN, you have come to the right place. This community has some very experienced adjusters around. They've dealt with some of the most complicated issues like those when you buy totaled cars out of your own will. So, wait for their responses. They can give a fair car worth estimate.

Thanks,
soulful

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 05:58 am Post Subject:

I wonder, is it a possibility to receive another estimate from another body shop? You said, your car was drivable after the accident, right! Then you must enquire what has driven them to declare the car 'totaled'. Was there any previous un-repaired damage to the car, which might have surfaced during the investigation?

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 02:33 pm Post Subject:

first off progressive will not be using the kelley blue book...rather more than likely nada...i will run a value for you either tonight or in the morning to see what i come up with acv wise...(my laptop is tied up on an update right now)....what they will pay is the ACV (actual cash value) minus your deductible (your carrier), and a percentage of any unrepaired ''prior'' damage (which you say is none)...any balance after the lein pay off will come to you, they will also owe you the sales tax on that ACV all states are different in how they do this...I'll get back to the thread later and give you my opinion re:ACV

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 02:58 pm Post Subject:

Thanks for the replies, I'm still waiting to hear from the companies, but I expected that ;)

Lori: Thank you very much for offering to look up ACV, I will look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Dennis

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 02:06 pm Post Subject:

Here you go Dennis, well the bad news is that mileage hit you for (minus) $2380.00! ACV came to 5420.00 but you need to add the following to that figure (if they apply) fixed running boards=75.00, leather seats=300.00, luggage rack=75.00, right POWER sliding door=300.00, tow/camper Pkg=125.00, fwd/awd=900.00....

So as you can see looks like ACV is right around your pay off, before you get upset though realize that were it not for your mileage deduction you'd be right where you had thought around 7800.00 These figures are based on the March 2008 NADA, 'central' region if your accident was in Feb. they should be using that edition (it should make a couple of hundred difference believe it or not!)

Be sure that when you get the evaluations you look at them and make sure all data is correct, we all make mistakes, so look at that closely.

Let us know if we can be of any further assistance to you, and let us know how things turn out for you....

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 06:02 pm Post Subject: Thank You

Thank you very much for the information.

MY insurance company set a car worth estimate of $4200 for the settlement.

THEIR company offered just short of $5700 (including a payment for sales tax) So I can get the loan paid off, and a few hundred in my pocket.

Interesting note: it's not as 'fun' as it should be shopping for a new car because you HAVE to instead of because you want to ;P

Dennis

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 08:47 pm Post Subject:

wow what a spread!

Interesting note: it's not as 'fun' as it should be shopping for a new car because you HAVE to instead of because you want to ;P

ain't that th :wink: e truth!

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 01:33 pm Post Subject:

I actually hate shopping for a vehicle. There is alot of work in it. Please do check all the figues on the estimate they send you. When they had to pay for my truck last year I went over the report with a fine tooth comb and found several errors in mine. One was the didn't give me any credit for remote starter and I had recently (1 month before) put a tonneau (sp?) cover over the bed. Cost me over $300 and they only gave me a credit of $50. When I contacted them they fixed the estimate. I had to send in my reciept for the bed cover and wait till they readjusted everything. All and all they worked very well with me.

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 06:33 pm Post Subject:

Interesting note: it's not as 'fun' as it should be shopping for a new car because you HAVE to instead of because you want to ;P



How true! I've heard many, myself included, say, "I should've let them hit me!"

No, you should be glad they didn't. Even the smallest claims are not fun. There is paperwork, estimates and just alot of time consumed in the claim process. You are better off being a defensive driver.

I'm glad to see the other carrier offered a good amount since there will be no deductible appicable in the transaction.

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