Almost five years ago, my then "regular car" (a Ford Bronco II) was
rear ended by a Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep hit me at about 40 mph while I
was sitting, stopped, at a red traffic light. It was a bumper to
bumper hit, two vehicles about the same mass. The body damage was very
minimal. Under the body it was more substantial. The rear axle and
chassis were twisted slightly, the transfer case (it was four wheel
drive) was cracked where the rear drive-shaft had torqued when the
rear axle twisted, and the engine fan had been pushed into the
radiator.
The value of the vehicle was not very high, which I knew, and the cost
to repair was higher than the value so his insurance company was
declaring the vehicle a total loss and wanted to send me a check. That
is where the problem started. The amount they were offering was well
below what I could find in a 100 mile radius (I even extended a search
to 500 miles) of vehicles like mine, with similar equipment,
pre-accident condition, etc... I asked them to up their offer by $500
which was actually splitting the difference from their offer and my
research. The adjuster acted like I was asking for $5,000 more and
nearly accused me of attempted fraud. He claimed that they made a fair
offer based on at least sold vehicles in my area during the last 30
days (this was 3 months after the accident and I had been tracking all
the Bronco II's for sale within 100 miles that I could find, its
closest match was one 2-wheel drive base model. Mine was a 4wd XLT). I
was pretty sure he was lying,or at least pushing the truth, so I asked
to see copies of their research. He said he would send them and hung
up. Two days later I recieved a check for the amount I was asking for
but not a single copy of their 'research'. I guess the important
thing here is that you will most likely have to argue with their
version of the value of the car. And as Robert states below, if they
hit you, their insurance company doesn't care how you have it insured
through your own insurance.
I guess another option would be to have your insurance repair your car
(you would still have to pay your deductible) in accordance to your
policy, especially if its for an agreed upon value, and let them go
after the other guy and his insurance company. It might at least be
worth having a conversation with your insurance agent about it anyway.
Shawn
> First, it is important to understand the that the "other guy's"
> insurance company pays what its insured is legally liable to pay. In
> most cases, this is the cost to repair or the market value of the
> damaged property, whatever is less.
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