In An Accident Tonight

[likes2build]

^^ THIS ^^


I know not quite apples to apples but.... I had 64 VW Bug that was stolen. The ins. company offered me peanuts for replacement. I fought with them and ended up having to bring in about $6k in receipts for all the mods I had done to get them to ultimately pay me what I wanted. Don't ever accept their first offer.

adboyd06 , no you don't have to shop it around to to multiple repairers. You just have to be sure you're picking a shop that is going to stand by their repair for the life of your truck. Like I said the repair is only going to be as good as the techs that do the job. And remember the good tech that did your last repair may or may not still be at that shop, the reason those giant Snap-on/MAC tool boxes have wheels on them is for the techs to roll them to their next place of employment. Also remember it's the holidays and a repair is going to take longer for many reasons including parts delays between Christmas and New Years

JohnnyMac is correct in what he wrote and the key word there is "offer". When they try to settle a T/L all the settlement figures are only "offers" and you can be sure their first offer is not the high end of what they're responsible for paying you to make you "whole". Bring in all the receipts and a list of comparable vehicles in your market area at dealers. They also owe you for sales tax, vehicle registration and document fees and any out of pocket expenses.

 

[adboyd06]

Got it, very good points. Thank you so much.

 

[kkreit01]

Wow! glad everyone is OK. It looks pretty bad. Good luck with the insurance...

 

[adboyd06]

Spent way too many hours yesterday dealing with the insurance and rental car companies, the most irritating thing is I still have not heard from my adjuster and she is not returning my calls or answering emails. Fortunately I was able to get a car yesterday, went to the to the tow yard to gather my belongings, the truck was towed to the collision shop and I had the initial walk through with them.

I should have an update on the truck tomorrow as far as repair schedule or total loss. The collision shop said it could go either way, total loss or not. He said if it was an older truck it would be totaled or if it was a 2018 it would be repaired (my truck is a 2015 with 36,000 miles) we shall see. Who knows what the appraised value is. Below are a few more pics I took yesterday the the tow yard.

 

[Maligator]

Damn! Glad you're ok! I recently totaled my 1500 in September and my process was fairly painless. Had a good adjuster that allowed me to pull my aftermarket stuff off before he totaled it and did his final evaluation. I was actually shocked mine was totaled but the body shop tech told me that it was probably a good thing. That when damage is pretty severe vehicles are usually never "right" again. If it is totaled go bigger and badder...lol At least that's what I talked myself into

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[adboyd06]

I'm right there with you, Maligator! Just for kicks I was pricing out new trucks yesterday, '19 loaded Laramie Longhorns are 64k MSRP! That's insane.

 

[Maligator]

I'm right there with you, Maligator! Just for kicks I was pricing out new trucks yesterday, '19 loaded Laramie Longhorns are 64k MSRP! That's insane.

I feel ya on those new truck prices. I got lucky and found a unicorn, 2017 power wagon with only 1,580mi for 43k. To good to pass up. Best of luck, just glad you weren't injured!

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[Kap1]

Spent way too many hours yesterday dealing with the insurance and rental car companies, the most irritating thing is I still have not heard from my adjuster and she is not returning my calls or answering emails. Fortunately I was able to get a car yesterday, went to the to the tow yard to gather my belongings, the truck was towed to the collision shop and I had the initial walk through with them.

I should have an update on the truck tomorrow as far as repair schedule or total loss. The collision shop said it could go either way, total loss or not. He said if it was an older truck it would be totaled or if it was a 2018 it would be repaired (my truck is a 2015 with 36,000 miles) we shall see. Who knows what the appraised value is. Below are a few more pics I took yesterday the the tow yard.

Here's how this works:

Adjuster doesn't care whether you want it totaled or fixed, their job is to get rid of you for lowest cost for the insurance company. It's oftentimes cheaper for them to get truck fixed at cheap body shop than totaling it.

The way to get it totaled it is to find body shop that will give highest estimate, so insurance won't agree to it and will total it. Of course there's little incentive for body shop to total it because they won't get the job, so hopefully you know any body shops that can do you this favor. It also depends on how far away your repair cost is from being totalled. If it's not far off, then it should be easy enough to total it by just putting couple extra parts into the estimate. Talk to your friends, mechanics, etc to see who has any connections and knows a body shop that can help you total it.

If one shop doesn't want to help you to total it, or it doesn't pass with adjuster as totalled, ask how much more of repairs it needs to be totaled, talk to another body shop and get truck to another body shop for another estimate. Have them drive a forklift into the truck to help u get get totalled. You don't want that truck fixed as it could have issues forever

Was truck towed to your preferred body shop or just some random shop that tow truck driver recommended? Don't deal with any other shop besides your preferred one, as tow trucks get kickbacks from shops to bring damaged cars there, and those are often cheapest lowest quality body shops which insurance loves.


Good luck

 

[adboyd06]

Kap1, thank you. The truck was towed to my preferred body shop, which also happens to be one of the most expensive shops in town. My parents and I have both had work done there previously, smaller jobs that were much easier to get multiple estimates on and this shop always came back the highest.

Next topic for discussion - Let's assume the shop fixes the truck, they do a great job but something doesn't seem just right and I decide to sell it (either private party or dealer trade). How much of a decrease in value will I see with the Carfax reporting a front end collision? I understand that coming up with an exact dollar amount is difficult or even impossible but pretty safe to safe the value of the vehicle is now less due to this accident, right?

 

[Fitz-0518]

Most important as all stated,,you and your passenger are good. Concerned that the air bags did not deploy. Ram has had issues with that. You have some great experienced advise. Went thru this in 2010 with my 03. $10,000 in repairs. $500 below what the insurance company called the replacement cost. A couple things. 1. The insurance company must "make you whole" If they total, that is what the truck was worth the day of the accident. Sounds like you have that nailed down and know that improvements you have receipts for, count.
2. If they repair, make sure you have in the contract/repair agreement that OEM parts will be used. Hoping your State insurance laws and policy allow that. yep, bad time of year so it will take longer. Looking for this to turn out positive.

 

[RaftingDave]

FWIW, my wife was in a much less damaging accident in her 1 year old Grand Cherokee - also front end, $13k to fix, at an appraised value of of about $17k. The adjuster said it was right on the line. Basically, if the repairs are > 80% of the appraised vehicle value, they will STRONGLY recommend totalling it. He explained that serious damage repairs usually have after-repair followup, which the insurance company is on the hook to fix - and also, as they said, the thing is never the same. In my wife's case, her repairs took about 8 weeks, and the Jeep looked and ran basically perfect afterward. More than five years later, not a single problem with it. You'd never know the front end got creamed.

Glad you're okay and sorry about the truck. That would break my heart if it were my truck. My first inclination would be to fix it, but it's a dollars and cents decision. Lookin' at those pics...I dunno.

*Edit - can't tell, but if your air bags blew, I'd say that's probably that.

 

[tbone63]

That's not going to total it.

 

[KCaudill]

IF you get it fixed make sure you go after their insurance company for diminished value of the truck. Means that you lost $*** amount of value because of the accident. I bought my 2016 ram sport brand new. A repair guy back into it in my driveway causing $5k worth of damage 30 days after i bout it. it had 150 miles on her. After the repair i hit them up for the diminished value. They paid me an extra $2k for the loss of value of the accident. The insurance wont tell you about it. you will have to ask them.

GL

 

[turkeybird56]

IF you get it fixed make sure you go after their insurance company for diminished value of the truck. Means that you lost $*** amount of value because of the accident. I bought my 2016 ram sport brand new. A repair guy back into it in my driveway causing $5k worth of damage 30 days after i bout it. it had 150 miles on her. After the repair i hit them up for the diminished value. They paid me an extra $2k for the loss of value of the accident. The insurance wont tell you about it. you will have to ask them.

GL

DITTO.,..

The pics look like the frame on the right side took a hit, maybe twisted. If that is so, push for totaled. Those frame straightening BS is for the Birds. I drove a Crown Vic for (2) years that had the frame straightened, and it never drove, tracked right, all IMHO...

 

[JPT]

Kap1, thank you. The truck was towed to my preferred body shop, which also happens to be one of the most expensive shops in town. My parents and I have both had work done there previously, smaller jobs that were much easier to get multiple estimates on and this shop always came back the highest.

Next topic for discussion - Let's assume the shop fixes the truck, they do a great job but something doesn't seem just right and I decide to sell it (either private party or dealer trade). How much of a decrease in value will I see with the Carfax reporting a front end collision? I understand that coming up with an exact dollar amount is difficult or even impossible but pretty safe to safe the value of the vehicle is now less due to this accident, right?

Google Diminished Value. I found a website, cost me about $100. I got the insurance company to pay the estimated diminished value and the cost of the report. In my case it was about $500, but it was just a replacement bumper cover, paint and fitting for my Audi.

 

[likes2build]

Michigan is a 75% T/L threshold state and if you want an accurate figure on "diminished value" you would be best to hire a professional or a service with strong credentials and a winning record in your state. You have 3 year statute of limitations to file for D/V in Michigan and the insurer will balk at DV for sure. If it's close and you want it gone be persistent, the insurance company would probably be more to the plus side if it's a boarder line T/L. Just remind them they are paying that rental every day and it adds up quickly.
I'll bet they'd hate to start fixing it fixing it at anything over 50% and find hidden damage that took it close to 75% and then get some supplements that took it to the point that they spent a lot of money to a shop and had to total it anyway. I see them at the salvage auction frequently, torn apart, partly repaired and loaded with boxes of new parts. Salvage value on your truck is going to be in the 45% + range so their best bet is a complete and thorough tear down so they can really see what they're looking at.

What Ins carrier are you going with your's (assuming you have collision) or the other persons?

 

[Maligator]

Michigan is a 75% T/L threshold state and if you want an accurate figure on "diminished value" you would be best to hire a professional or a service with strong credentials and a winning record in your state. You have 3 year statute of limitations to file for D/V in Michigan and the insurer will balk at DV for sure. If it's close and you want it gone be persistent, the insurance company would probably be more to the plus side if it's a boarder line T/L. Just remind them they are paying that rental every day and it adds up quickly.
I'll bet they'd hate to start fixing it fixing it at anything over 50% and find hidden damage that took it close to 75% and then get some supplements that took it to the point that they spent a lot of money to a shop and had to total it anyway. I see them at the salvage auction frequently, torn apart, partly repaired and loaded with boxes of new parts. Salvage value on your truck is going to be in the 45% + range so their best bet is a complete and thorough tear down so they can really see what they're looking at.

What Ins carrier are you going with your's (assuming you have collision) or the other persons?

When I totaled mine the value they were giving my 2017 sport was 35k the estimate came in @$26800. Right at that 75%(same here in MD) adjuster told me they typically add on a couple Grand to that estimate for hidden damages. Ended up being it for that truck

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[JohnnyMac]

I bought a 1990 GMC truck from a guy in Anchorage that was told it was totaled. He went out and bought a new truck and shortly thereafter, his insurance company changed their collective mind because they said trucks are worth more in Alaska....so they fixed it. It was one of the best trucks I ever had. Drove like new and never had an issue. I sold it about 4 years later to a friend and he said it was the best truck he ever had. It's still running and driving like a champ on Kodiak Island in Alaska, so fixing it rather than totaling it is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[huntergreen]

I bought a 1990 GMC truck from a guy in Anchorage that was told it was totaled. He went out and bought a new truck and shortly thereafter, his insurance company changed their collective mind because they said trucks are worth more in Alaska....so they fixed it. It was one of the best trucks I ever had. Drove like new and never had an issue. I sold it about 4 years later to a friend and he said it was the best truck he ever had. It's still running and driving like a champ on Kodiak Island in Alaska, so fixing it rather than totaling it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Truth. A good shop will fix perfectly or they won't start the job.

 

[indept]

Truth. A good shop will fix perfectly or they won't start the job.

Therein lies the problem, finding that mythical " good shop".