Los Angeles, California. I was in an accident where the cost to repair is more than my AVC. I have a 94 Acura Integra with 138k miles. I just spent a 3k upgrading..new wheels etc. What can I expect as a buy back? What should I do? I have witnesses on my behalf and still the other insurance company is saying 20%. Do I get my lawyer involved? That car runs great and looks like hell now and I can’t afford to get something that would be the same.
Unfortunately you cannot do anything about your vehicle being a total loss. The one option you do have, is to retain the salvage (and most likely you will have to if you pursue through the other carrier, as they are not accepting 100%), and fix the car with the money you get. You have a 94 Acura Integra? The car is 13 years old, most likely the salvage value will not be significant, therefore they will not deduct much (The carrier has to deduct the salvage value). You can always attempt to negotiate liability with the other carrier, especially if you have INDEPENDENT witnesses to support your version. If your witnesses were in your vehicle or know you personally – unfortunately that will not be to your benefit.
As for getting your attorney involved, most of the time they will not take on property damage only cases.
#1 by careercollegestudent69 on September 11th, 2009
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Lawyer, don’t let the insurance companies screw you. If you know anything about the court system, just simply filing a suit will probably make them pay about 70 percent, because they figure even if they win in court, the cost of sending someone and analyzing pay for other people will be just as much, and their time is money.
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#2 by DrJonClark on September 11th, 2009
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The insurance company owes you the ACV amount. However; you need to find out how they arrived at the ACV amount. If you can show them cars that are equivalent and they have a higher value than the offer, you may be able to get them to raise their offer. You can also offer to buy the car back from them as salvage.
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#3 by S17V on September 11th, 2009
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Unfortunately you cannot do anything about your vehicle being a total loss. The one option you do have, is to retain the salvage (and most likely you will have to if you pursue through the other carrier, as they are not accepting 100%), and fix the car with the money you get. You have a 94 Acura Integra? The car is 13 years old, most likely the salvage value will not be significant, therefore they will not deduct much (The carrier has to deduct the salvage value). You can always attempt to negotiate liability with the other carrier, especially if you have INDEPENDENT witnesses to support your version. If your witnesses were in your vehicle or know you personally – unfortunately that will not be to your benefit.
As for getting your attorney involved, most of the time they will not take on property damage only cases.
References :
#4 by Michelle P on September 11th, 2009
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What do you mean by "the other insurance company is saying 20%"? Is this their liability decision? The reason I ask is that if you are using collision coverage-you should file through your insurance company and let them subrogate for the loss. If you do not carry collision coverage then the liability decision will affect the settlement you receive. If, let’s say your car is worth $5,000. If they are offering 20% liability, you will wind up with $1,000 less salvage retaining costs. An attorney, most of the time, only slows the matter if you are in a hurry to get some money. And an attorney will not be able to change the value of the vehicle-they are generally only for injuries. So if you hire an attorney for your property damage, they will be charging you and you will wind up with less of a settlement because of your attorney fees. You ought to discuss this with your attorney to see what they might be able to do for you and I would love to advise you on the liability but I do not know anything about the accident itself that the other carrier is only offering 20% liability (If that is the case… your wording is not clear) Good luck!!!
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I am a senior casualty adjuster and have been in the insurance industry for five plus years.
#5 by Roy B on September 11th, 2009
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If you do not have collision insurance take the 20% because with not enough figures to work with I believe they are working with justifiable figures, after taking the 20%, negotiate with the insurance to keep the vehicle, say only ask for 19% and you keep the vehicle and use the 19% to repair the vehicle, the insurance company does not want the wrecked vehicle
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been there with a wrecked Saturn and received enough to have it repaired