by tallboy5444 » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:30 am
Hello everyone. I first want to thank everyone for the many posts I've read as the information here is very useful.
My question to the group is as follows. I was recently in a car accident where the other party was ruled at fault. After reviewing the damages to my SUV, Met-Life their insurance company, has informed me that my SUV has been declared a total loss. They have offered me $8,900 as the actual cash value of my vehicle. The vehicle I drove during the accident was a 2002 4wd Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition, fully loaded with only 59K miles. I do not feel this is a fair offer as I have searched around for several dealers who would sell the same make/model/year/condition to find that the cost to replace my vechicle would be more expensive (average $12K). In addtion, I have checked KBB, Edmunds and NADA and thier retial values suggest that my car is worth more. How do I determine the ACV that is fair to replace my vehicle? Thanks in advance for all of your help!
My question to the group is as follows. I was recently in a car accident where the other party was ruled at fault. After reviewing the damages to my SUV, Met-Life their insurance company, has informed me that my SUV has been declared a total loss. They have offered me $8,900 as the actual cash value of my vehicle. The vehicle I drove during the accident was a 2002 4wd Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition, fully loaded with only 59K miles. I do not feel this is a fair offer as I have searched around for several dealers who would sell the same make/model/year/condition to find that the cost to replace my vechicle would be more expensive (average $12K). In addtion, I have checked KBB, Edmunds and NADA and thier retial values suggest that my car is worth more. How do I determine the ACV that is fair to replace my vehicle? Thanks in advance for all of your help!
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 02:10 am Post Subject:
I am showing a retail clean value of 10,650 add 600 for mileage. Showing 7975.00 for average condition and add 725 for low miles. Other options are add 750.00 for leather seats and add 250 for power sunroof in December 2009 Black Book I usually find Black book to be on par or lower than NADA. Even if you split the difference between average and clean you would be at 9975.00 without adding the two options. Deductions are for standard transmission without deduct another 925.00. Without dual air deduct another 250.00. If the vehicle was in excellent shape and a detail job away from sitting on a lot, the high retail would have been 12250.00 If you have any pre-existing damage or unrelated prior damage such as minor hail dings, I could see as large of deduction as another 1500 to 2000 but should still be around 10,000 to 10,500.
Save all your online research and comps to make your case and ask them to reconsider and ask for all the information they used to determine their figures in writing. Bet they come up with another couple thousand pretty quick.
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 01:20 pm Post Subject:
I'm getting a 'clean retail' of 10,400.00 you'll need to add or subtract the following (that apply) from that figure
ADD
===
3rd row seat 125.00
fixed running boards 75.00
luggage rack 75.00
power sunroof 350.00
rear a.c. 100.00
tow/camper pkg 100.00
v8 motor 225.00
winch 175.00
SUBTRACT THE FOLLOWING
==================
W/O automatic 350.00
w/o cruise 175.00
Is there ANY unrepaired prior damage to your vehicle? Is this figure (8900) after your deductible? If so what is your deductible? What state are you in? By what means did they use to determine your vehicles ACV?
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 08:43 pm Post Subject: Thanks for the responses.....
I just recieved a document from the insurance adjuster. Apparently they are using CCC Valuescope to provide an analysis of their estimated ACV. I've never heard of this company before, but they are performing a detail analyis of the market to determine the value. My vehicle resides in area code 32246 (Florida). Based on their analysis and comps of vehicles in my area, their suggested settlement value, including tax is $9787 (no deductable). My car is in excellent condition, fully maintained at a Ford dealership, clean title, no accidents or negative marks on the title. I still beleive my vehicle is worth more based on the research that I've done on NADA, and getting comps of the same vechicle/condition in my area. I am willing to settle for $10900 as I've been able to haggle with a dealer for a similar Explorer (300 miles away!). Not sure if this is a loosing battle with the insruance adjuster or if my counter is fair.
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 03:16 am Post Subject:
Vehicles
'02 EB 100k+ $8000.00 4 miles from you
77k $8000.00 in Tampa
69k $7900.00 in Hillsboro
93k $6400 in Callahan
not listed $8900 in Jacksonville
not listed $8900 in Cocoa
Private sellers on Craiglist and some classified adds in Tampa and Jacksonville are showing more mileage than yours and are asking around $9000.00
CCC in my opinion is not very reliable, some insurers rely to heavily on their recomendations with alternative sources, but I have alot of clients that use them.
http://nada3.nada.com/UCGWeb/ReportOutput.aspx?s=mQlUZ4-173173833-7636&pt=html&rn=USV&rpt=CA819FBC2C4BBF5A155CC3BD68C6B6BC97B933381AFBFAACD5EC9E63625EC67C98666BFC3B3E19FD5C73F741D112288EE096A9837DB7D64AAC4E9C07FE68F5E9891F91FE3FF7134D3E50BBA6D6D2458B43BC1D3438C44446
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 03:24 am Post Subject:
Why not contact your insurance agent? I realize it's not your insurer who is covering this cost, but your P&C agent ought to be able to give you some pointers on how you ca go about fighting to increase the payout.
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 09:24 pm Post Subject:
I just recieved a document from the insurance adjuster. Apparently they are using CCC Valuescope to provide an analysis of their estimated ACV. I've never heard of this company before, but they are performing a detail analyis of the market to determine the value. My vehicle resides in area code 32246 (Florida). Based on their analysis and comps of vehicles in my area, their suggested settlement value, including tax is $9787 (no deductable). My car is in excellent condition, fully maintained at a Ford dealership, clean title, no accidents or negative marks on the title. I still beleive my vehicle is worth more based on the research that I've done on NADA, and getting comps of the same vechicle/condition in my area. I am willing to settle for $10900 as I've been able to haggle with a dealer for a similar Explorer (300 miles away!). Not sure if this is a loosing battle with the insruance adjuster or if my counter is fair.
Did you go through the form from the CCC Valuesource and make sure every little detail and line item is correct and that they used your vehicle's condition, options, mileage, etc correctly?
I cant reiterate this point enough. You know your vehicle better than they do. Make sure they are aware of the history of the vehicle, the condition and that they haven't forgotten anything when doing the valuation.
Your counter is fair as long as you have the research and documents to prove it is so.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 05:35 am Post Subject:
NADA is simply a guide and takes in averages on a national level, not very accurate in the consumer editions. comps are more realistic of what the market is bringing in your area. If CCC's research finds 10-15 vehicles similar to yours in your area it's not likely you'll have much luck getting any more money unless you can provide documentation on how your's is worth more that all the rest.
consider this as well, CCC is supposed to research and obtain cash price comps...meaning even if a NADA or a dealer suggests a list price, the insurance company is providing you cash in hand, dealers as we all know will negotiate from the list price for a real buyer (who pays asking price??LOL). CCC should provide you with the contact numbers so you can follow up on those comps.
You'll likely hear that if you aren't satisfied with thier apprsl, you can always file thru your carrier and have them subrgate the at fault carrier. Since most insurance companies use CCC or Autosource, you'll likely spend a lot of time and not get a much better offer. I would be surprised if your agent knows hows to advise you in claims settlement. My advice would be to speak with the adjuster and scrutiniz the appsl to find where they missed something, otherwise it sounds like a fair offer. Pls post your results, good luck!
Add your comment