Car insurance question, how does a writeoff work? - Updated, Fixed!
So my wife hit a deer on the way to work this morning, she's ok, but the car might not be that great.. the passenger side door doesn't seem to fit on properly anymore (we're afraid to open it in case it doesn't close again), which sounds expensive and probably not worth fixing.
So if it isn't worth fixing, how does that work with insurance? Do they find the value of the car and just write us a cheque for that amount? How do they determine that amount? Just wanting to do some planning here.
Thanks in advance.
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The cost of repair will need to be equal or greater than the value of the car to be written off. I believe its blue book value for your car with mileage as a consideration.
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But if it is greater value, will they just write a cheque for the blue book value? That doesn't seem fair, as it'll cost us more than that to replace it with the exact same car won't it?
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I'd assume it is similar but I would check your insurers website for info.
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Originally Posted by photon
That doesn't seem fair, as it'll cost us more than that to replace it with the exact same car won't it?
Fair? Photon, naivete at your age!
In general you'll get around the blue book value, plus or minus a few bucks. Unfortunately that usually does end up hosing you for the difference between that and the actual going rate for a similar car.
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When I wrote my car off, I got going market value for my vehicle. It was pretty close to what I paid for it. Mainly just because it happened with a year of me getting my vehicle.
The same thing happened with my brother. He actually got more than what he paid for his car. But that was because he got a really good deal when he bought that car.
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I have actually written off 3 cars (yeah yeah i know, but that was all a while back). Here's my advice.
Never accept their first offer. They will usually try to low ball you so go to autotrader, find some vehicles similar to yours and show them the prices. Demand that they give you that price and if that doesn't work, tell them that you will talk to a lawyer because it's not fair. I was offered $6000 by my insurance company for a 1990 Nissan 240SX back in 2001 and I negotiated it up to $7700 after a week or so.
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That doesn't seem fair, as it'll cost us more than that to replace it with the exact same car won't it?
About the only way to avoid that is on new cars. You're able to add the option to get back the value of a new vehicle of the same make/model for the first few years to account for the rapid depreciation of new cars.
On anything more than a few years old, you're pretty much boned. Although I've heard of a few people go the same route as _Q_ suggested with positive results.
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Yeah it's a 2000 VW.. And yeah, good idea to not accept the first offer, or at least try to negotiate, I'll see what happens.
I took a look at it closer and it might not be as bad as I'd thought, though even with just the hood, bumper, headlights, front quarter panel, and door, that I can see, that's getting up there pretty fast, assuming there's no engine damage.
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I would imagine that would be around $5k. With no frame or engine damage I would think it's not a write off. And engine damage would be pretty severe for just a deer collision.
The door doesn't close? How fast did she hit said deer?
I believe they look more at the market value of the car than blue book value but I'm far from an expert. My wife was involved in a collision where she was not at fault and we ended up getting paid more than she originally paid for the car. It may not be a complete lost cause!
It really depends on the insurance company for most of it. If the damages are around 80% of the market value, they will start considering it a total loss.
For sure get your own research in advance. Not every company low balls though. Some of them have their own authority to counter for a couple hundred more. But if you are going to fight for a fair bit of cash, expect to have some proof to back it up.
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So my wife hit a deer on the way to work this morning, she's ok, but the car might not be that great.. the passenger side door doesn't seem to fit on properly anymore (we're afraid to open it in case it doesn't close again), which sounds expensive and probably not worth fixing.
So if it isn't worth fixing, how does that work with insurance? Do they find the value of the car and just write us a cheque for that amount? How do they determine that amount? Just wanting to do some planning here.
Thanks in advance.
Was this on Deerfoot across from the National Post building?
Yeah, it might not be that bad. When my wife had her accident we ended up getting the top end value for her 2001 Chevy Cavalier. We were actually considering another vehicle at the time and the trade in values we were being offered were like $5500 to $6200. The insurance company valued it at 9200 and cut us a cheque for the GST on that value too which you don't ever collect in a private sale.
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Yeah, it might not be that bad. When my wife had her accident we ended up getting the top end value for her 2001 Chevy Cavalier. We were actually considering another vehicle at the time and the trade in values we were being offered were like $5500 to $6200. The insurance company valued it at 9200 and cut us a cheque for the GST on that value too which you don't ever collect in a private sale.
This isn't true at all, A cavalier isn't worth 9k brand new . . .
The more I look at it the more I think they'll fix it, looking I can't see any change in spacing in gaps and stuff that would indicate the frame is bent. Though my wife does say it smells quite bad driving it which could indicate either an engine problem or maybe something wrong in the heating/ac system letting air in it's not supposed to or something, so who knows.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Car insurance question, how does a writeoff work? - Updated, Fixed!
