Arguing that a vehicle should be totaled /w insurance company?

[frsinpa]

Hey guys,

Photos of the wreckage here: http://imgur.com/a/MFRII

Question for you..

So my car was in a real bad accident and the original damage estimate was tabbed at $9.5K. Pics: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59631

2 months later.. The car is still not fixed and they told me today that more damage was uncovered.. To the tune of $3K.

So the total damage is up to $12.5K and lets say the car is worth $17K. It's a 2013 AT with 15K miles

According to PA law, the car should be totalled if the damage exceeds 75% of the value. At this stage, what would you do? Is there any way to file for the car to be declared a total loss?

Just looking for some guidance here guys, as I have no idea what to do. I've been without the car for about 2 months at this point.

[n2oinferno]

17k seems low, when I'm seeing used M/T models going for 20 with similar miles. Still, 75% of 17k is $12,750, so if your estimate is correct it's still too low for them to total it out unfortunately. Splitting hairs at that point, though.

Have you called your insurance company and spoken with them about the additional costs and everything and found out what's going on? Do you know how much they actually value the car? Those might be important when finding out what the issue is.

[Ak1m0to]

KBB says at the best condition, your car is worth about 19k-20k with Pittsburg zipcode

[frsinpa]

Alright.. so I need to pray that they find another $3K worth of damage.. lol.

[tahdizzle]

^^

What they said.

[J_kennington]

Shoulda took a saws all and cut all the brackets . I know trade in value for my 13 is still at 19k.

The good news, you SHOULD get a check for diminished value(since your car now has a major accident on the carfax)

[CrazyClover]

Originally Posted by J_kennington

Shoulda took a saws all and cut all the brackets . I know trade in value for my 13 is still at 19k.

The good news, you SHOULD get a check for diminished value(since your car now has a major accident on the carfax)

Diminished value is not recognized in PA. Tried that after mine was hit by someone. Gotta love the commonwealth.

[J_kennington]

Originally Posted by CrazyClover

Diminished value is not recognized in PA. Tried that after mine was hit by someone. Gotta love the commonwealth.

Ah, my bad. I know we get here in Georgia if the other person has insurance.

[thill]

Originally Posted by CrazyClover

Diminished value is not recognized in PA. Tried that after mine was hit by someone. Gotta love the commonwealth.

Yeah, it is only recognized until you go to sell or trade-in the car....

[Idriveft86]

Originally Posted by frsinpa

Alright.. so I need to pray that they find another $3K worth of damage.. lol.

Yup... just wait.

[evomike]

If they found that damage after they already started they are gonna fix it, and pa does not use a percentage to determine total loss. Once the vehicle goes over a pre determined threshold amount they will get a salvage value, and that is cost of repair and salvage value need to add up to more than the actual cash value.

[frsinpa]

Originally Posted by evomike

If they found that damage after they already started they are gonna fix it, and pa does not use a percentage to determine total loss. Once the vehicle goes over a pre determined threshold amount they will get a salvage value, and that is cost of repair and salvage value need to add up to more than the actual cash value.

Good call.. Ur right. Talked to Geico guy and he said it's 80%.

So 80% of $19K is the magic number.. Or ~$15,200

Roughly ~$2-3K to go before this baby is a wrap

[evomike]

honestly you should have taken it to the geico approved shop they would have done a teardown and totaled it much faster. the problem is parts are dirt cheap for the cars so they can replace everything for nothing.

[kurbkilla]

I may have missed something but why do you want it totaled?
If the frame is fine and its just body work, why not get it fixed?