Auto insurance

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Yeah, they get a bad rap sometimes, but when I finally had to make a claim, a couple years ago, they were easy to reach, easy to deal with, and I had my money right away. In the end, that's more important to me than the monthly payment.

That is so strange to me, they were the cheapest at the time I switched to them and they are the best customer service I’ve ever dealt with. What are some of the issues people have with them?

[emti]

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the ideal thread for this. I did a search for Car Hail Damage but there was nothing specific so this seemed like this best place.

My brothers 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee got dinged up real nice driving home from Lethbridge last week and he just received his notice the car is a write off. The claim to fix the car was just under 23k and they have his car valued around 18k. Problem is, he still owes 22k on the vehicle. His Insurance broker has been no help whatsoever and her only 'suggestion' was, and i quote to "tell the insurance company the car is worth more"

My brother has made some not so smart financial moves in the past so money is extremely tight to say the least and doesn't exactly have around 4k lying around to pay out the bank after the write off check. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? I suggested he take it to get a secondary opinion on the costs to repair and go from there. Any other ideas?

Thanks guys

[zamler]

What he owes is irrelevant to what insurance will pay out. Need to know more about his car like KMs, trim, options etc. but I'd say an average ask would be more around $23,000.

In 2010 I had a vehicle written off they low balled me I asked them for examples of my car at the payout price. They didn't give me anything but upped the offer. You have to negotiate or you'll get the lowest possible payout.

[Weitz]

Can try and negotiate the payout to some extent but being underwater on the loan probably isn’t a concern to the insurance company.

Take the Lower payout and don’t get it fixed and keep the car would be my suggestion.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by emti

His Insurance broker has been no help whatsoever and her only 'suggestion' was, and i quote to "tell the insurance company the car is worth more"

I hate brokers.

[Ahuch]

If it's just hail damage they might offer some cash to not fix the vehicle as long as it's not considered salvage.

Otherwise best bet is to try and find similar vehicles on Kijiji or Autotrader and show the insurance company that replacing the same vehicle would cost more than what they are offering. Insurance is for replacement value, not loan value.

[calgarygringo]

Just another tip formerly in the business.......without naming names many have said they have gone online and are much happier with those companies. Do your homework as the majority of the online companies are the major ones using a different name online, eg. is Belair Direct is Intact, Sonnet is Economical etc. If you are doing online and despise one of them and you find out who really owns it you may still be with the same company in the end. you may be a little upset. There are many out there though not all are owned by the big guys.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by emti

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the ideal thread for this. I did a search for Car Hail Damage but there was nothing specific so this seemed like this best place.

My brothers 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee got dinged up real nice driving home from Lethbridge last week and he just received his notice the car is a write off. The claim to fix the car was just under 23k and they have his car valued around 18k. Problem is, he still owes 22k on the vehicle. His Insurance broker has been no help whatsoever and her only 'suggestion' was, and i quote to "tell the insurance company the car is worth more"

My brother has made some not so smart financial moves in the past so money is extremely tight to say the least and doesn't exactly have around 4k lying around to pay out the bank after the write off check. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? I suggested he take it to get a secondary opinion on the costs to repair and go from there. Any other ideas?

Thanks guys

A quick autotrader search shows a ton in the sub $20k range. Depending on trim level and what the km are, he may get more as there’s also lots pushing $30k. A Laredo with 180,000 km and an Overland with 75,000km will have a huge gap ($12-$15k) in price. it is up to him to provide the comparables to get more money. What is owed on the vehicle has no bearing on value, that’s what gap protection is for, something he would’ve declined when doing the paperwork on his Grand Cherokee. .

Backwards $4k isn’t too bad. Depending on his credit it shouldn’t be too hard to get that amount financed into his next vehicle (if he can’t come up with the money). This is not and uncommon situation at all, though surely not an easy one either if money is tight.

Given the circumstances he could also contact the lender and try to rewrite the loan at a lower payment over a longer period to drop his monthly payment given that the vehicle is out of service. I have seen this route taken before. Was it an accident or hail damage? There are typically pay out options for hail, but if you take the payout, you’re stuck driving that thing forever, and making payments on a worthless vehicle (I would not advise this route on this vehicle though).

[emti]

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it. I have shared some of your suggestions with my brother.

For some context, its a 2014 GC Overland, however it has 190,000 km because him and his gf drove the #### out of it which doesn't help the value of the car obviously. So the value being around 18k might be pretty close due to the high km.

It was strictly from hail damage, it was the hail storm just outside of Stately over the July 27-29 weekend.

Thanks again guys, appreciate it!

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by emti

His Insurance broker has been no help whatsoever and her only 'suggestion' was, and i quote to "tell the insurance company the car is worth more"

I have a hard time believing that is exactly what they said.

Insurers do sometimes undervalue vehicle in exactly the same manner owners tend to overvalue them.

If you're not happy with the amount they are offering, go to Autotrader, Kijiji, etc...to provide examples of similar vehicle going for more than what his insurer is offering. They'll likely meet you somewhere in the middle.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

I have a hard time believing that is exactly what they said.

Insurers do sometimes undervalue vehicle in exactly the same manner owners tend to overvalue them.

If you're not happy with the amount they are offering, go to Autotrader, Kijiji, etc...to provide examples of similar vehicle going for more than what his insurer is offering. They'll likely meet you somewhere in the middle.

Good advice, you need to do your own research.

That being said, many people do not ask for a copy of the total loss report from the insurer. That is something they should give to you if you ask.

It allows you to see the research that was done to come up with a value on the vehicle.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by emti

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it. I have shared some of your suggestions with my brother.

For some context, its a 2014 GC Overland, however it has 190,000 km because him and his gf drove the #### out of it which doesn't help the value of the car obviously. So the value being around 18k might be pretty close due to the high km.

It was strictly from hail damage, it was the hail storm just outside of Stately over the July 27-29 weekend.

Thanks again guys, appreciate it!

I've had 3 vehicle settlements - 1 due to theft, 1 due to irreparable damage, and 1 due to hail damage. Additionally I've had insurance settlements for home hail damage. In EVERY case I did my homework and came out as much as 50% higher settlement than initial offering. The key is to work WITH the broker/analyst and understand what drives their evaluation. As many have pointed out, you MUST look at current market values of similar vehicles. In my case I created a spreadsheet of same year, make/model, and similar km's. Also pulled info on blue/black book values. All this went into spreadsheet complete with links, graph of values and excel-derived formula of the best-fit line. Sheeesh... I know, OCD. My point being that it worked, every time. Since I was doing their work.



For the hail damaged vehicle it was not a writeoff and instead I took the cash payment. It worked out well for me. Similarly the father-in-law's older BMW X5 was written off, but he had it fixed and recertified after getting the cash payout.



The other life lesson here is not to over extend onself financially, or convince yourself that wants are actually needs. Sh*t does happen of course, but if your life is 1-payment away from major loss then you really gotta look at all your life choices which may include certain TV packages, phone packages, buying new goods/clothes, latest electronica/toys, and blowing your wad on impulse Amazon nickle-n-dime cr@p.


Yeah I know some of my comments aren't popular.

[Fuzz]

Probably to late for your brother, but before having them look at any vehicle, clean the thing out. Make it look like it isn't treated like a trash can. It is a minor amount of effort, and it will look like the vehicle is taken care of, and make a difference when they give it an overall quality score. If your vehicle gets towed, ask if you can spend some time at the yard doing it before the adjuster shows up.

[Ducay]

I don't have too much new to add; but a) negotiate with the adjuster, and b) see what options he might have for a cash payout to get it fixed while still retaining the car. Might be a lower payout but then he'd still have the dinged up car and some cash for future payments.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I don't have too much new to add; but a) negotiate with the adjuster, and b) see what options he might have for a cash payout to get it fixed while still retaining the car. Might be a lower payout but then he'd still have the dinged up car and some cash for future payments.

the math is (well should be easy)

Vehicle value - salvage value = payment

This is why you need to see the total loss report.

But I think he would need to get the vehicle inspected because the VIN would be tagged as written off, I think.

[cral12]

any updated advice on renegotiating auto insurance in this current landscape?
(wife works from home now so will be mentioning that)

2 vehicles, both older than 10 yrs old (one I'd guess value is about $20k, other maybe $8k)

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by cral12

any updated advice on renegotiating auto insurance in this current landscape?
(wife works from home now so will be mentioning that)

2 vehicles, both older than 10 yrs old (one I'd guess value is about $20k, other maybe $8k)

Shop around every year. Multiple brokers if you’re not happy. Or multiple companies.

[malcolmk14]

We pay $221 a month for two Mazda CX-5's - a 2016 and a 2017.

We are with Aviva.

[Dion]

I pay $1,540 a year that covers both my 2006 Ford Escape and 2008 Ford Fusion. Escape has 247,000 km and the Fusion has 124,000 km.

My broker is Marsh Canada and my insurance is with Travellers.

[lazypucker]

An insurance broker friend once told me home and car insurances should be treated the same as your internet and cellphone providers. You MUST shop around every couple of years, and switch companies in order to get good deals. If you stick with the same providers they will just keep upping your rates...

Insurance brokers are more than happy to shop around for you, as they will be paid more by bringing "new customers" to a provider than collecting renewal commissions...