car might be totaled

[NYGiants]

i was working and cops pulled up in the parking lot. one of the customers said "someones car had been smacked" so the cops gave a description of the car which was mine. my bumper already had a hole in it and the fender was dented up. she somehow managed to hit my bumper smash my headlight and mess up the fender. oh and damage the cars fender next to me. im not sure but i think the hood is out of allignment also. its a 2000 acura tl with 250,000 and all the bells and whistles. i know i got an estimate for a fender and bumper for $1350

 

[roscoe]

Re: car might be totaled

so throw a new headlight assembly on it and drive it.

Doesn't sound like it will drive any differently than it did last week.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: car might be totaled

Unless Acura's depreciate way faster in NJ, it won't be a total loss. Her insurance carrier truly only owes you HALF of the repair to the fender and the bumper cover, since it was already junk. So it's roughly $675 (half of fender and bumper) plus a headlamp (guessing $200 used) and maybe some straightening of the radiator support (if indeed the "hood" is out of alignment), so they might owe you $1000. Maybe $2000 if they feel like giving you a break. I would think that car is still "worth" $3000 retail. Good luck.

 

[NYGiants]

Re: car might be totaled

Do you think the adjuster will claim i can only get half? The fender was a little crinkled as i had hammered out most of the dent. And the
Bumper had a small hole on the one side

 

[roscoe]

Re: car might be totaled

Around here, with 250,000 miles, it MAY have been a $3000 car, but I doubt it.. Now, it is a $1400 car. Drive it.

 

[wifisher]

Re: car might be totaled

Take whatever you can get from her insurance company, put a headlight in it, drive it till it dies, use the insurance money toward your next car.

 

[infideltarget]

Re: car might be totaled

let them total it, then buy it back from the insurance company for pennies on the dollar, and drive it till it dies. then sell it for parts to some ricer who wants to make his civic faster. in my area, that year and those miles, the damage would in fact total it. if its more than 66% of the total WHOLESALE value to repair it, it will be totaled. just the cost to repaint yours will total it, given the fact that age has faded the paint, and it will take much time to blend the newly painted areas to match...etc.

 

[kailec00]

Re: car might be totaled

I would say that based on your description you need to replace the frt bumper, fender, lamp, repair the radiator support and then to blend the hood and frt door. Based on labor rates and paint materials where I am from the estimate would be around 1,665. This would not be enough to total the vehicle. However the other insurance company should take some off the payment, since they are making your vehicle better than what it was before the loss.
That is just my opinion though and does not mean anything. I would see what the insurance company says and go from there.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: car might be totaled

... the estimate would be around 1,665. This would not be enough to total the vehicle. However the other insurance company should take some off the payment, since they are making your vehicle better than what it was before the loss.
That is just my opinion though and does not mean anything. I would see what the insurance company says and go from there.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, if not with every exact number. The complete damage estimate can/will be about $2000. Still not enough to total it. And yes, you won't get all $2000, because that would put your car in BETTER condition than it was 5 minutes before it was hit. But you will not get all of that previous $1300 in damage deducted. Trust me, you'll come out "way" ahead on this deal. Let the adjuster do his/her job, be polite, ask intelligent questions if confused, and you'll be "amazed" at the offer you are going to get.
(Kailec00, your opinion is factually based and spot on.)

 

[infideltarget]

Re: car might be totaled

This stuff must be based on region. The insurance company totaled my '96 Acura Integra GSR, with 196k miles on it because someone threw a full can of coke through the back hatch glass, and keyed two body panels. The glass hatch was broken, the interior had a few coke stains, and the hood and driver door needed paint. The estimate was 67.3% (to be exact) of what the wholesale value of the car was, and they totaled it out. A 2000 Acura TL in rough trade in condition (high miles, previous unrepaired damage) books for $2400. see NADA link below.

http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2000/Acura/TL-V6/Sedan-4D-3-2-Nav/Standard-Equipment


66% of $2400 is $1584. so...a $2k estimate would most assuredly total it.

dealt with lotsa cars, good and bad, cheap and not, for a long time. It would really surprise me if this does not get totaled. Insurance companies (typically) use one of four methods for figuring actual value: NADA book, Kelley Blue Book (usually not even close to real world figures, usually way high which would be good for you in this case), The BLACK BOOK (this is what dealers and auctioneers use...usually way lower than street value, but typical of wholesale and trade in values) or comparative shopping (what other similar vehicles in your area have recently sold for). They can use one or a combination of all to figure what your value is. Be really nice to the insurance adjuster, and be very cooperative, and they may lean to whichever way benefits YOU more.

just sayin.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: car might be totaled

Good luck. I'd look up the book value to get a baseline. I've always been treated fairly by my insurance companies, but I've heard some ugly stuff from some.

Curious though...As a former investigator, how did the driver hit two parked vehicles to cause that damage?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: car might be totaled

infadel, Insurance companies have to deal in RETAIL values. Not TRADE-INs. His car is "worth" a lot more than $2400 RETAIL. Go back and look up the numbers again.

DaNinja, pretty simple to hit two parked cars. They were sitting still, and the offending vehicle was not. Could have even pushed one into the other. MANY MANY MANY ways to damage more than one vehicle in the same incident.

 

[kailec00]

Re: car might be totaled

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, if not with every exact number. The complete damage estimate can/will be about $2000. Still not enough to total it. And yes, you won't get all $2000, because that would put your car in BETTER condition than it was 5 minutes before it was hit. But you will not get all of that previous $1300 in damage deducted. Trust me, you'll come out "way" ahead on this deal. Let the adjuster do his/her job, be polite, ask intelligent questions if confused, and you'll be "amazed" at the offer you are going to get.
(Kailec00, your opinion is factually based and spot on.)

Thanks TilliamWe. I know a little about the adjusting side of insurance. I don?t like to give my opinion unless I have some facts or knowledge to support it. The total amount might be off a little, I went by the rates around my town and found after market and like kind quality parts.