Why do our cars get salvaged so easily?

[DarkPira7e]

Originally Posted by HKz

um? tough crowd guess the visuals aren't funny for some folk

They're not observant enpught to realize Monster with a capital infers a proper noun, the company name. They thought you were referencing your monster

[conehead]

The math is a lot different if you are at fault, and that often makes the difference between totaling and not.

Originally Posted by extrashaky

It's not different. The thresholds and calculations are set by state law or state insurance regulations.

It is. If you are at fault, your insurance company doesn't have to pay your deductible, doesn't have to get you a rental car (unless you have rental coverage), doesn't have to use oem parts, and doesn't have to cover any mods or aftermarket parts. The difference can be thousands.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by conehead

It is. If you are at fault, your insurance company doesn't have to pay your deductible, doesn't have to get you a rental car (unless you have rental coverage), doesn't have to use oem parts, and doesn't have to cover any mods or aftermarket parts. The difference can be thousands.

Your deductible and the cost of a rental car are not included in the calculation to total the car. The deductible is considered after that calculation, and the rental car is considered a separate claim item. The estimates are worked up from a standard list of parts prices. They don't have separate lists for OEM and aftermarket substitutes.

Whether you're at fault may affect your ability to negotiate with the insurance company if you disagree with an estimate, but that's not because you're at fault. It's because you're negotiating with your own insurer. If you're not at fault and decide to file your claim through your own insurer and have them recover from the other driver's insurer through subrogation, you will still lack the leverage you have if you're dealing with someone else's insurance company. The other guy's insurer knows you may sue them if they don't settle. Most people don't sue their own insurers if they intend to stay with them.

[conehead]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Your deductible and the cost of a rental car are not included in the calculation to total the car. The deductible is considered after that calculation, and the rental car is considered a separate claim item. The estimates are worked up from a standard list of parts prices. They don't have separate lists for OEM and aftermarket substitutes.

Whether you're at fault may affect your ability to negotiate with the insurance company if you disagree with an estimate, but that's not because you're at fault. It's because you're negotiating with your own insurer. If you're not at fault and decide to file your claim through your own insurer and have them recover from the other driver's insurer through subrogation, you will still lack the leverage you have if you're dealing with someone else's insurance company. The other guy's insurer knows you may sue them if they don't settle. Most people don't sue their own insurers if they intend to stay with them.

That is not what is actually happening though. You have a contract with your insurance that allows them to not cover certain things (oem parts, mods, diminished value etc.) that change the cost to fix the car. You do not have a contract with the other at fault party, so you have to be made whole. I just finished a two month battle over this exact issue. My insurance would only fight for the basic costs, so I had to deal directly with the other insurance. All of that extra cost pushed them into totaling the car.


And yesterday, I took that check and bought a mint FRS RS 2.0!

[suzyj]

Originally Posted by bkharmony

Wow. You have a journal with 440 entries!?

I'm also gobsmacked by your 33MPG average. I'm sitting here at 20MPG over two years.

How so? I’m on 7.0 /100km (=33.6 mpg). I thought that was pretty normal?

[Seiryuu]

Originally Posted by MJones_RB

It's not just the 86s. My friend recently spun out in his S2000 and sideswiped a pole. The damage wasn't catastrophic, dented fender and rocker panel, bent door panel, damage to the front right suspension, etc. Fixable for sure. The first insurance estimator gave him a repair value of $8000. Another estimator went out, talked with the body shop and simply totaled it. There must be a precedence where an insurance company would lose less money by totaling out than risk fixing a car and then getting sued for faulty repairs.

Heard many stories that an S2000 could be totaled just from having its seats stolen...

[why?]

Originally Posted by conehead

That is not what is actually happening though. You have a contract with your insurance that allows them to not cover certain things (oem parts, mods, diminished value etc.) that change the cost to fix the car. You do not have a contract with the other at fault party, so you have to be made whole. I just finished a two month battle over this exact issue. My insurance would only fight for the basic costs, so I had to deal directly with the other insurance. All of that extra cost pushed them into totaling the car.


And yesterday, I took that check and bought a mint FRS RS 2.0!

You misunderstood. No insurance has to cover oem parts, unless it is specifically stated in the insurance. Almost no insurance will cover oem parts any more unless you pay more for it.

Mods are never covered unless it is specifically stated in the insurance, which it almost never is because it skyrockets the price.

Diminished value is never covered unless the car is brand new. And even then it is usually a court brawl.

You just experienced what everyone experiences when you have a crappy insurance company or a crappy agent. That's normal. It sucks.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by why?

...Diminished value is never covered unless the car is brand new. And even then it is usually a court brawl....

Some of that depends on local insurance laws. For example, in Georgia diminished value is collectible even if you are at fault (you can collect from your own insurance company) for a car with under 100,000 miles on it.

It is a calculation though, and no two companies do it the same from what I understand. You can get a "diminished value" 3rd party estimate but I suppose that could turn into a court brawl if the two parties are far apart.

When I had the accident above, my car was just under 100,000 miles. The insurance company did the calculations and I got a diminished value check for $3.54 (the actual amount)

There was some previous discussion on this, and here is a link to a posting I had on the subject. It includes a link to the Georgia statute and a link with information on it in the US 50 states.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by bkharmony

Wow. You have a journal with 440 entries!?

I'm also gobsmacked by your 33MPG average. I'm sitting here at 20MPG over two years.

Thanks, the journal is sort of front loaded. Since I haven't modded the car or really had any issues, there hasn't been much to share of late.

As far as the gas mileage, I attribute it to the fact that very little of my driving is "city driving". My average commute is in the 45-60MPH speed range, very little stop and go. When I do use the car outside my commute it is almost all highway miles.

The AT also contributes to that a bits since it does get slighty better mileage than the MT.

[xdavidx]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

They're not observant enpught to realize Monster with a capital infers a proper noun, the company name. They thought you were referencing your monster

I knew what he was trying to say.... but still.. came off sounding a bit different then he probably intended.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by xdavidx

I knew what he was trying to say.... but still.. came off sounding a bit different then he probably intended.

Or did it?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs[/ame]

[SuperTom]

I thought Edward Norton went over all of this in Fight Club

[HKz]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

They're not observant enpught to realize Monster with a capital infers a proper noun, the company name. They thought you were referencing your monster

bunch of dirty minds out there..

[conehead]

Originally Posted by why?

You misunderstood. No insurance has to cover oem parts, unless it is specifically stated in the insurance. Almost no insurance will cover oem parts any more unless you pay more for it.

Mods are never covered unless it is specifically stated in the insurance, which it almost never is because it skyrockets the price.

Diminished value is never covered unless the car is brand new. And even then it is usually a court brawl.

You just experienced what everyone experiences when you have a crappy insurance company or a crappy agent. That's normal. It sucks.

Omg dude, you again? Did you even read what I wrote? YOUR insurance doesn't cover that stuff because that is specified in your insurance contract. But if you are not at fault, you haven't made that agreement with the other person's insurance. Then have to pay for all of that. This just happened to me. Do you think the other insurance company paid me more because they "misunderstood"?