by kleineigel » Tue Dec 02, 2008 05:14 pm
Can anyone offer the laws, regs or any guidance I may use use to settle our claim?
My only concern so far is Allstate requesting to remove the vehicle from the tow yard, I am willing to have it moved to a shop of my choice, but have not had time enough to find one. This happened over Thanksgiving, so the claim is still in it's early stages.
Thankfully, no one was injured, so this is purely property damage I'm dealing with. Our car was parked legally on the street in front of our house, hit head on. We are dealing with replacing the following:
'98 Mercury Grand Marquis LS model. Factory cd changer, leather seats, full size spare that matches alloy rim/tire. Car is in excellent condition, odometer is at 100,170 miles. We have a class 3 receiver hitch on the car to transport a wheelchair. Car is damaged on 3 sides, roof is buckled, Frame is severely bent in multiple points front and aft.
The adjuster has authorized a mini-van for my father in-law's wheelchair transport since they have been unable to locate a rental car with a hitch tube and wiring. No prior damage whatsoever.
I have been warned by several people that my son's car seat needs to be replaced, regardless of no visual damage. Is there any law or general rule I should refer to if they dissagree with that? We have already purchased similar model seat, same brand, just newer.
We keep our vehicles free of personal effects as much as possible, so I'm only dealing with the car seat, a small portable DVD player with broken screen, and a few damaged CD's/DVD's.
Our car was hit hard enough to send it into our yard, tearing up the grass, chipping the curb edge and leaning the utility pole our car was stopped against. The property belongs to friend's of ours, however we are documented legal property managers/renters for it. Not sure if we need to file a seperate claim for the lawn and curbing or not, or just hire the repairs and submit them when finished?..
Thank you for any guidance or suggestions on establishing value for our loss. I'm hoping to spend as little time as possible on this, but I don't want to end up with less than fair replacement value. The only motivating issue we have to get this behind us is our need for a vehicle to mount the wheelchair rack on to. I am a military servicemember facing a deployment in January, so I'm hoping to close it by then at the latest. Recommendations to help resolve it quickly would be appreciated as well.
My only concern so far is Allstate requesting to remove the vehicle from the tow yard, I am willing to have it moved to a shop of my choice, but have not had time enough to find one. This happened over Thanksgiving, so the claim is still in it's early stages.
Thankfully, no one was injured, so this is purely property damage I'm dealing with. Our car was parked legally on the street in front of our house, hit head on. We are dealing with replacing the following:
'98 Mercury Grand Marquis LS model. Factory cd changer, leather seats, full size spare that matches alloy rim/tire. Car is in excellent condition, odometer is at 100,170 miles. We have a class 3 receiver hitch on the car to transport a wheelchair. Car is damaged on 3 sides, roof is buckled, Frame is severely bent in multiple points front and aft.
The adjuster has authorized a mini-van for my father in-law's wheelchair transport since they have been unable to locate a rental car with a hitch tube and wiring. No prior damage whatsoever.
I have been warned by several people that my son's car seat needs to be replaced, regardless of no visual damage. Is there any law or general rule I should refer to if they dissagree with that? We have already purchased similar model seat, same brand, just newer.
We keep our vehicles free of personal effects as much as possible, so I'm only dealing with the car seat, a small portable DVD player with broken screen, and a few damaged CD's/DVD's.
Our car was hit hard enough to send it into our yard, tearing up the grass, chipping the curb edge and leaning the utility pole our car was stopped against. The property belongs to friend's of ours, however we are documented legal property managers/renters for it. Not sure if we need to file a seperate claim for the lawn and curbing or not, or just hire the repairs and submit them when finished?..
Thank you for any guidance or suggestions on establishing value for our loss. I'm hoping to spend as little time as possible on this, but I don't want to end up with less than fair replacement value. The only motivating issue we have to get this behind us is our need for a vehicle to mount the wheelchair rack on to. I am a military servicemember facing a deployment in January, so I'm hoping to close it by then at the latest. Recommendations to help resolve it quickly would be appreciated as well.
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 05:37 pm Post Subject:
I have photos to offer if that will help with a 3rd party opinion of our car's condition as far as NADA. I know we all see our possesions in the best possible light, so I would appreciate an unbiased response. Is it acceptable to post photos here, and will I be causing myself any issues with the claim to get that specific in this thread? We are 100% not at fault, so I can not see how/why it would. Just want to make sure ahead of time.
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 05:52 pm Post Subject:
I'm guessing from your post that your vehicle is a total loss. Your looking for regs/laws? Not sure that you are looking for there.
As far as moving the vehicle, I'll break it down in blunt terms. You own the vehicle. You are responsible for the storage charges. Allstate owes you for _reasonable_ storage charges. If _you_ allow it to sit at the towing company incurring daily storage charges _and_ Allstate has offered to pay those charge, then you could be responsible for those excess charges. Question... why not allow it to be moved? You still own it. if you want it back, Allstate will return the vehicle to your home. So the only thing that changes by moving it to a salvage lot is that someone will no longer need to pay the towing yard $20/day ($600/month). It's common that people don't want the vehicle to be moved. They think either it's a bargaining chip they have or they think this will somehow put them at a disadvantage.
Car seat.... yes, it is recommended that they be replaced even if damages cannot be seen. I think this is pretty standard and I don't think you will have any problem with Allstate on this issue. They only owe actual cash value, so they might apply some depreciation but either they won't or it will be a few dollars.
You need to let the Allstate adjuster know about the damage to your property. I'd do it now so that it does not look like you were blindsiding the adjuster later on. Take some photos of the damage at this time. Its all the same claim to the Allstate adjuster. If someone else owns the property, the Allstate adjuster may want to deal with them on the issue. You may want to contact the city to see who is responsible for that damage. I'd think it would be part of the street. If so, the city would need to handle that. If so, you don't need to worry about it as you did not cause the damage.
Also, Allstate is going to stop the rental a few days after they make an _offer_. If you think the vehicle is a total loss, you may want to get an idea what you want to replace it. You may also want to find a vehicle prior to the adjuster making an offer so that you can move quickly. It can be a bit difficult, I know. Just giving you a heads up.
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 09:05 pm Post Subject:
Thank you for your quick response.
I don't want the fees to rack up at the tow yard, I don't believe in being wasteful just because it's "insurance money", as long as I am not forfeiting any rights to the car or claim settlement I will have it hauled out today. Thank you.
We have already started looking for a replacement, we will likely purchase something sooner than later so I'm not dealing with rental cars out of pocket.
I have well documented images of the drama at the time of incident as well as the morning after for better visibility of property damage.
My main question in regards to laws/regs is in dealing with the settlement amount of the car itself. I don't want to drag this out a day longer than possible, but I want to make sure I am getting a reasonable value for the car. If I end up with a low ball offer, I want to make sure I know my options ahead of time.
The dealer I bought this car from in the first place is a good friend, he has offered me NADA Dec '08 appraisals, current wholesale statistics for the last 2 months and supporting doc's to give me a rough idea of what the car is worth.
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:21 pm Post Subject:
There are no laws or regs, other then Allstate owing for what you lost. That is, the market value of your vehicle (plus sales tax, tags, title, etc). My recommendation, as usual, is to obtain Allstate's valuation documentation and review it to make sure that it's accurate. That is, that the mileage and options they considered are correct (trailer hitch, etc). If they used CCC or AutoSource, review the comparable vehicles they used as comparasions. If you doubt the prices of those vehicles, call the location that sold them and speak to the sales person who made the sale. Ask them about the condition of that vehicle.
Best thing you can do is not to think up front that you are going to get screwed. That is, go into this with an open mind. Perhaps you won't agree with their amounts and that is fine. But don't think this before you hear their offer.
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 01:40 am Post Subject:
I have been warned by several people that my son's car seat needs to be replaced, regardless of no visual damage. Is there any law or general rule I should refer to if they dissagree with that?
The information that came with the carseat will say if it must be replaced or not, some now say only if a child was in it, or if damage seen others say replace always...some even have this info on the seats themselves..Sorry but I don't understand the problem with moving the vehicle really. The carrier just wants it at a storage free lot..they are likely charging anywhere from 10-35 dollars A DAY for your car to set there...you do have a duty to mitigate your damages, and they can tell you (in essence), 'tell me where to move it within 24 hours or you will be responsible for the storage from that time forward" and they would be perfectly within their rights to do so.
I ran your vehicle, (although I don't know the state it should still be close) and I come up with clean retail of $6625.00.
Our car was hit hard enough to send it into our yard, tearing up the grass, chipping the curb edge and leaning the utility pole our car was stopped against.
They will owe for all of this, no separate claim (other than the owners need to present a claim) do NOT fix or clean up anything until you tell the adjuster about this, and take a ton of photos, if there are things that HAVE to be cleaned up.just hire the repairs and submit them when finished?..
NO NO NO, they need to inspect it prior to any repairs if you want it paid for.less than fair replacement value
just an fyi they do not owe you a replacement value they owe you only the ACV (actual cash value) of your vehicle prior to the collision.I'm hoping to close it by then at the latest.
there shouldn't be any problem with this shouldn't take more than a week or so.It's perfectly fine to post photos or a link to them here...
Please let us know the state you are in...so i can check for any regulations.
As Tcope said don't gear up to fight...feel free to ask any questions you may have and we'll do our best to help you through this.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 08:38 pm Post Subject:
Thank you Lori,
That is closer to what I would expect, but unfortunately far from what we have been offered so far.
I was offered $5,212.74 for the car today from our insurance (USAA). Nothing in the appraisal for the cd changer(factory), nothing for the hitch referenced. Lot's of references to existing damage, which is a mistake. I don't think the appraiser did their homework to know our car received damged to 4 sides from this claim. I have requested that they review their documents and explain the difference we have between our amounts.
The report was prepared by CCC valuescope.
Allstate has failed to respond with any settlement offer so far. They are in touch with USAA obviously since they cancelled rental car coverage as of tommorow morning, dec 18th.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 01:06 am Post Subject:
Lot's of references to existing damage, which is a mistake. I don't think the appraiser did their homework to know our car received damged to 4 sides from this claim
You're probably right and they are writing damage from this accident as Pre-existing Damage...you need to let them know that this damage was from this accident. (assuming of course that it was)...Nothing in the appraisal for the cd changer(factory), nothing for the hitch referenced
On your vehicle, and most that are this old, these two options are not listed nor do they add any value, the only two options (other than of course low miles) that add anything on your vehicle are Aluminum/Alloy Wheels (100.00) and Leather seats (175.00) both of those are retail add ons...but those are the only two options that will do anything for the value on this vehicle.Allstate has failed to respond with any settlement offer so far. They are in touch with USAA obviously since they cancelled rental car coverage as of tommorow morning, dec 18th.
So are you going thru allstate (the at fault party's carrier) or USAA (your carrier) for this loss? Who had you in the rental? Allstate? I would have thought they would've/had to have made an offer, then stopped the rental (remember you don't have to accept the offer they just have to make one)...Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 02:02 pm Post Subject:
"" On your vehicle, and most that are this old, these two options are not listed nor do they add any value,""
If this were true and accurate, then, just as likely On your vehicle, and most that are this old, minor cosmetic damage does not reduce any value.
FK
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 02:12 pm Post Subject:
If this were true and accurate, then, just as likely On your vehicle, and most that are this old, minor cosmetic damage does not reduce any value.
It is true, and you are absolutely correct Fred...the older the vehicle the less that cosmetic damage reduces value if at all.Maybe I should clarify, as you know as a vehicle gets older, the less that any options other than 4x4 or mileage come into play...what i meant was per NADA and other sources these are the only two options that are even listed.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 04:09 pm Post Subject:
Lori,
Based on one of my older brothers owning a New & Used car Dealership along with a Junk Yard, beginning in the early '60`s and another brother owning a Used car Dealership and a Junk Yard....
My understanding of NADA pricing is...
The NADA price listings are based on "Average" condition. An average 5 to 10 year old car will have a few parking lot door dings, paint chips on the front of the hood and bumper cover along with chipped and dull paint along the rocker panels. Also a little visible wear on the drivers seat and steering wheel.
Any auto in "better" than average condition should attract a higher selling price than average.
Just my thoughts.
FK
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