Put in IMHO since it might be a legal question. A person turned left illegally and totaled my son’s truck. I spent $4000 buying the truck and then had to replace the engine for $1500. I’m expecting the other driver’s insurance to lowball us.
So let’s say they offer a max of $3000 take it or leave it. If I take it, can I sue* the driver for the other $2500 of my loss?
What’s the bluebook value?
What you paid for the truck is irrelevant. Motor vehicles depreciate over time and, anyway, you may have paid over the odds. What matters is what it would cost to buy a truck of similar make, vintage and condition to replace the one you lost.
So if I can show replacement value is higher that may help me win the case? Or do I deal with that with the insurance company?
If you sue anybody, you sue the driver. He has insurance which should indemnify him against any liability he has, so his insurance pays whatever is awarded. Or, if his insurance is capped at a certain amount, his insurance pays up to the cap, and you enforce your judgment against him for the shortfall.
If the insurance company makes you an offer of $3,000 to settle the matter, that’s an offer made on behalf of the driver and, if you accept it, you can’t later turn around and sue him successfully for more; you have already settled your claim against him. If you don’t think $3k is a fair value, don’t accept the offer. If you don’t get a higher offer that you are willing to accept, sue the driver. His insurers will step in and defend the case on his behalf. They will pay whatever is awarded by the court (subject, as above, to any cap that the policy may have, and for that you chase the driver).
Was your son injured in any way?
Almost surely, the papers you sign in accepting the insurance company offer include a cause stating that this is ful & complete satisfaction of the claim against the insurance company, their insured driver, etc. So you will have given up your right to sue them.
It’s all about replacement value - what the vehicle was worth just before it was wrecked. Look on KBB, Edmunds, NADA for “blue book values”. Look on cars.com and autotrader.com for similar models. Be honest about condition. What you paid isn’t all that relevant. The fact you paid to put a new engine in it doesn’t necessarily translate to increased value, either. It *restored *value by making the vehicle driveable.
And, yes, you will need to deal with the other guy’s insurance company. Present your evidence of higher value (if you can) and don’t sign any paperwork or cash any checks until you are satisfied. If it ends up going to court, you better have solid evidence of value, as in an appraisal.
I have had a couple of vehicles that ended up being totaled.
In both cases, the appraiser from the insurance company went through the vehicle. Taking pictures and documenting the actual wear and tear on the car.
For example “tear in carpet, 2 inches long behind driver seat” or “stain on passenger seat diameter of a quarter”.
Basically they were getting to what the value of the car would have been pre-accident. Then they basically offered me the KBB value of the vehicle in its pre-accident condition.
So, if I had added elements that increased the value in KBB, I would have gotten that. If I had bought the car at a great price, then I ended up good. If I had overpaid or if it depreciated quickly, then I would not have ended up on the good side.
So as stated, the price you paid and work you had done on it do not factor in (unless you had brand new tires or something like that).
And do not accept the offer till you are satisified with the number or that it is as good as it it going to get.
What year, make and model is the truck? What mileage? What condition? These are the question you need to answer. How much you paid for/put into the vehicles makes no difference. The only thing tat matters is the current value of the vehicle as it was before the accident. If you believe the insurance company’s offer to be low, you can negotiate - including asking them to find and procure a replacement in similar condition in lieu of a cash settlement.
Thinking about it, I’ve had three vehicles totaled and paid by insurance. None our fault. One caught fire and the other two were in wrecks caused by other drivers. All three times, we have received payments which I thought were fair. We were not “low-balled” by the insurance companies. We got enough to cover the retail market value of the vehicle, plus an allowance for sales tax to buy a replacement vehicle.
The only real questions will pertain to overall condition of the vehicle and options as they might impact value. Condition will relate to the appearance and condition of the paint, upholstery, carpeting, engine compartment, etc.
When negotiating an insurance settlement, remember to include other indirect losses sustained as a result of the accident: lost time from work, any personal property lost in the car, any miscellaneous expenses such as transportation while he’s without wheels of his own.
When my husband’s car was totalled, there were a number of items that we could not retrieve because the trunk wouldn’t open, for example. We also added up hours lost from work (several hours for each of us).
We wound up asking the other driver’s insurance for 800 dollars for such things; they said “how about 1,200 and you go away forever”. That was separate from the payout for the car itself, which as I recall was reasonable - we used it for the down payment on the replacement car. It was also separate from the rental car cost, which they also paid directly.
As others have said, they don’t care that you sunk 5,500 into the truck, they care what it would cost to replace the truck with something similar. Bear in mind, you could argue that “something similar” means “with a new engine” which presumably adds value to the truck.
If they lowball you a bit, you can always counteroffer. If your figure isn’t too outrageous they may pay it just to have you go away.
Be careful what you sign if there’s any chance of any ongoing health issues, though. You don’t want to accept a higher-than-offered figure for the truck, then lose the ability to sue for medical issues.
If you press it the insurer may attempt to use prices for similar vehicles (year, make, model, detail package level) from your area in justifying their offer. Their opinions on what constitutes your area and similar vehicles may vary from yours. And amazingly enough the difference will assuredly work in the insurer’s favor.
When negotiating with the insurer over my mother’s totaled vehicle the insurer decided that her well-inland South Carolina address is in the same area as coastal North Carolina. And the sample vehicles they priced in making their offer was of vehicles hundreds of miles from her home in an area that just had huge numbers of vehicles flooded by a hurricane. So their offer was a couple thousand lower than what a non-flooded similar vehicle was going for near mom’s home. We argued. A lot. But eventually came to an acceptable number for the car.
That’s my worry. If they use bluebook it looks like it would be 1-2K below what it would cost to replace the vehicle with a similar model.
What is this based on? Do you have “for sale” listings from cars.com, autotrader, classified ads and/or local dealers that show this?
If so, that is pertinent information.
I think they also look at cars being offered for sale as well as the bluebook. If they offer a price that’s too low, you can come back and say that the same cars in your area sell for more than that.
I drive an older car and I worry about this issue as well. There is a huge variance in the reliability of older cars. If you shop for them, you’ll often find the reason they are being sold is because they have problems that the owner got tired of dealing with. On my older car, I’ve proactively replaced things to keep it in good working order. Even though there are similar cars for sale, they wouldn’t be in as good shape. So it seems like the offer should include the cost to buy a replacement car as well as do the expected repairs to fix some of the problems it will have.
BTW: Thank you all for this. I’ve never had to make a claim for a totaled car and am honestly paranoid his insurance will say based on bluebook and the fact that the engine is now on the passenger seat here is your check for $1.09
I’ve had two vehicles totaled and both times the insurance came back with offers that I thought were low. I did a little research with KBB an similar vehicles on autotrader.com and made a counter-proposal. They countered with a figure closer to mine and we shook hands.
The new motor is kind of iffy. Generally agencies try to go with the book value and any extras aren’t covered. If you bought a Pinto and put in a 20k sound system and it caught fire in the parking lot, the sound system is on you. But with the motor being an integral and necessary part of the vehicle, that might make a difference.
btw: The way to cover the 20k sound system is to go to your own insurer for an “agreed upon value” of the vehicle and your premiums will be adjusted according to that. If something happens to it after that, your insurance will pay out on the stereo and work things out with the other insurer if there is one.
What recourse does an individual have if the insurance company comes back with a lowball offer and won’t budge? An attorney probably won’t take the case since the settlement would be too low for the trouble. How would an individual sue for something like this? (sub $10,000 vehicle).
That’s what small claims court is for.