by curious » Fri Mar 07, 2008 04:58 pm
I was in an accident were my car has been declared as "totaled". Its a toyota 1999 ($2000kbb value). with low-moderate damage. If I want to keep the car, don't I have the right to make the Insurance Co. pay for the my car damages.. instead of them declaring it as totalled?
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 08:06 pm Post Subject:
Nope. Most states have a threshold requiring the insurance company to consider the vehicle to be a total loss. This prevents the owner from using Bondo and Duct Tape to put the vehicle back together, give it a good paint job, and selling it to an unsuspecting person as a perfectly good vehicle.
What you _can_ do is retain the vehicle as salvage (you don't want to do this). The insurance company would pay you the total loss value, less it's current salvage value (around 10%-15% of it's pre-accident value). They also may not pay sales tax in this situation.
If this is done, the insurance company _should_ send a letter to the state notifying them that the vehicle was a total loss. If they do this, the state will change the title to a salvage title and I don't think you will be able to get a tag for it very easily.
It depends on the state where the vehicle is titled and/or the age of the vehicle as to what is possible.
If they want, an insurance company can declare a vehicle a total loss if it has $1 in damages... but they would never do that as it does not make good financial sense to do this. I just want to point out that the owner cannot tell a carrier when and when not to declare a vehicle a total loss.
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:10 pm Post Subject:
Great post and answer (as always) tcope...we differ however on this...
What you _can_ do is retain the vehicle as salvage (you don't want to do this).
I think there are many instances when this is a great idea, it depends of course on the individual circumstance, amount of damage, and state laws regarding salvage titled vehicles....many times though retaining salvage truly is the better options for many owners.Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 06:47 am Post Subject:
Good comments!
..but then do we leave it on curious to tell us the reason for wanting to retain the car!
Is it worth mending? Or is the reason an unmeasurable emotional attachment?
Awaiting responses..
PearldropsBell
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 05:07 am Post Subject:
My guess is the thing runs like a gem but with a stated value of 2K value a minor rear end accident has totaled it (cracked bumper, tail lights, trunk won't shut) still runs like gem and the poster knows they will never be able to get another vehicle for 2K to replace it. (I used to find this a lot in old mini-vans that contractors would use, worth transporation value but priceless to them). The poster would rather replace the tail lights, leave the bumper alone, and hook the trunk shut with a strap.
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