My car got totalled in an accident, insurance company wants to buy it. How much will they pay me?
I have a 1993 Nissan NX which was in a decent condition and never gave me any problems. Recently it got rear-ended. The other party’s insurance took the responsibility and asked me to get an estimate. The estimate says the repair costs are about $5000 and the mechanic thinks the insurance company will buy the car from me. What price would they pay me for the car?
I am a student and wasn’t planning on buying a new car. What price should I be happy with. I paid about $2800 8 months ago for the car. Would they be willing to negotiate. If yes, how do I negotiate?
June 24th, 2010 at 5:31 am
They will pay you the book value of the car, less any prior damage and your deductible. It won’t be as much as you think it should be.
You can check the value of your car here
http://www.nadaguides.com/home.aspx?l=1&w=28&p=0&f=5000&aid=58321&iid=51301&nozip=1
June 24th, 2010 at 5:48 am
Blue book value
June 24th, 2010 at 6:43 am
Generally, they will pay you the “blue book” value minus your deductible amount.
June 24th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Most likely your insurance company will pay the Blue Book value of the car.
June 24th, 2010 at 7:41 am
In other words, the car is a write off, which means it’s not worth much.
June 24th, 2010 at 8:39 am
They should pay somewhere between retail and wholesale blue-book value for what the car was worth 3 seconds before the crash.
June 24th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Ouch – nothing good will come out of this for you. They are legally required to pay you the blue book on your car – which won’t be more than you paid for it – and will quite likely be less. That is why they are going to total it and pay you for it – the repairs will cost more than the value of the car.
June 24th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Don’t make the same mistake I did. After they appraise it, ask for a record sheet from the appraiser and bring it to a mechanic to see what he would ask to fix it. That should be your starting point. Then you will need to determine if you can by a car for that price, or if it would be cheaper to fix the car.
June 24th, 2010 at 10:27 am
they are going to offer 1,200- 1,400
http://www.kbb.com
kelly blue book website
they go by trade in value
June 24th, 2010 at 10:58 am
First turn the estimate into the insurance and quit listening to what others think the insurance might do. Based on that they will either pay to fix or, or if the cost of the repair is more than the worth of the vehicle, or close, they will total it and give you the worth of it, adjusted for condition, at the time of loss. Not what you owe, not what you paid 8 months ago, not the price of a new car, but the worth of your vehicle adjusted for condition at the time of loss.
Who knows, they may decide to fix it.
June 24th, 2010 at 11:11 am
They will pay what current loan value is on the vehicle.If there is no loan value,they will refer to the “blue book” for value.They will not negotiate.
June 24th, 2010 at 11:58 am
5 g at least ..and get that money and down on new car get the honda accord is good
June 24th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Mom knows everything is, as usual, right.
Since it is the other drivers insurance paying, your deductible isn’t factored in. You get blue-book value, unless you can prove the vehicle is worth more than bluebook.
They won’t care about things like a stereo, so if you have an after market stereo you can take that out and keep it.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
blue book
June 24th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Most insurance companies use NADA to detmine the RETAIL value of your car, not Kelley Blue Book. This is because NADA is based on the actual selling prices of vehs, KBB is based on the ASKING prices of dealers for the same veh. KBB will therefore show a higher “value” for your veh. The value will take into account mileage on the veh, and the insurance company may adjust for prior dmg/condition. Most companies will give you more the veh if you have recently put in a new engine, transmission, or possible new paint job on entire veh. (You will need receipts for the same–and you will only recoup part of the cost of the refurbishments.)
Also, the insurace company will take into account the salvage value of your veh–what a salvage yard would buy it for for parts–in deciding if the veh it totaled or not. They will calculate how much repairs are vs the “book” value (less salv value). You may be able to keep the veh (if you want, and depending on the laws in your state) & pay the add’l to have it repaired, but keep in mind that estimates may not include any “hidden” dmg to your veh, and the cost to repair may be higher than what’s on the estimate. Also, the ins co would also reduce what they pay you by the salvage value if you keep the car, as the ins co would not be able to recoup the salvage amt by selling the car–you would be able to.
The ins co will also ck to see if your veh previously had a salvage title issued on your veh–if it has, your settlement will be reduced…(and you got taken when you bought it…)
You should not have a deductible taken from the settlement either if the other company is paying for the dmgs…
Pls feel free to contact me personally if you would like further info…I am an auto claims adjuster for one of the top national insurance companies in the US.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
If local area prices for the car are higher than blue book, then you can negotiate for actual replacement value. This is difficult to do, however. For example, my boyfriends 93 Nissan 240SX is something like 2,300 blue book value, but actual replacement value for a car in similar condition in similar mechanical order is closer to 4,000$, so we could always try to negotiate actual replacement value if he’s in an accident. They’ll usually try to lowball you with book value instead of retail.
June 24th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
1. Most insurance companies do NOT use blue book values for claims. 2. Someone mentioned you will get book value minus your deductible which is wrong – as you stated the other insured’s at fault so there is no deductible involved. What I would do is print out the Kelley Blue Book report on your car and use that to negotiate.