Overhaulin'

How auto insurance determine how much your car worth after claim?

I had a 1998 Subaru Forester S sport utility 132,000 miles and it was totaled. I read some places and people say that insurance don't follow the Kelley blue book and some say they do. Others say they go by autotrader.com or nada.com. Why is that? are they trying to trick us by which value is lower? My insurance offered me only $3200 but it know it worth more than that. Vehix.com say it value at 3900 and kelly blue book say about 4300 so which is right?

Public Comments

1. It all depends on who the insurance company is. You have well established ones and then you have rinky dinky ones that seem cheaper. If your not satisfied with the outcome of the claim your gonna have to get a lawyer. The good ones I know usually go with kbb.
2. Most good insurance companies will take an average of several sources suh as NADA, Kelly and Galves. They might even check the local papers for the going value. It is sometimes based on the private resale value vs retail on a used car lot. The "retail" price on a used car lot always will reflect a profit to the dealer and the fact they have to warranty the car. Remember the insurance campany will probably use "GOOD" condition not "EXCELLENT" as the base. From there they will estimate any damage to the vehicle that was apparent before the accident and deduct from the base price. Door dings, scratches, dents, interior condition such as a smoker etc. all are deducted. The condition of the tires and mileage are all a factor. Think of it as you were looking for a car. You would look around the car and determine what you would have paid for it before the accident! Please remember that if the car had some issues before the accident you would be looking at the "FAIR" condition in the books!!! You can negotiate with the adjuster "calmly" and bring proof for any recent major repairs such as new tires, tranny etc etc. I have seen some companies honor these, Good luck Woody
3. Insurance companies owe you the "Actual Cash Value" of the vehicle. It is NOT replacement cost. This being said, many insurance companies utilize a company that comes up with the value of the vehicle. Many things are considered with this value. Such as mileage, paint, headliner, interior, prior damage, glass damage, tire wear and so forth. It's a comprehensive value of it. NADA and KBB do not do this. They will also provide you this information of other vehicles that are similar to yours for what they are offering. KBB, NADA and all of those sites are a retail value which is different. There are usually disclosures on the websites as well. Most of these prices are what a retail price would bring. Retail meaning a dealer cost. This would also take in consider dealer preps and so forth. So basically if your vehicle was ready to be sold right now at the dealership this is what you could hope to ask for. I've never seen a vehicle that was able to do this. There are still some companies that utilize NADA or KBB but they are very few and far between. As far as the attorney, remember any attorney who would take the case is not going to do it for free. they want 30%. Most attorney's won't even take this type of a claim. Ask your insurance company for a copy of the evaluation. Ask them to go over it with you line by line. Someitmes and option is left off when they submit or they rate it poor in a category instead of good. I know you won't believe me but insurance companies are not the enemy. They want to help but they're not the lottery either. they're there to make you back to the condition you were in before the loss. it's called indemnification. Good luck
4. No one but car dealers use Kelly. You should be paid the market value or ACV (actual cash value) for your car. This means what the car was worth before the crash based on model, mileage, condition and options. Why don't you just ask your claims adjuster how he/she arrived at that value? It's entirely possible that it is a mistake -- OR it's also possible there are ten other Forresters for sale in your area for $3200.
5. It doesn't matter whose book(s) they use. If you think your car is worth more, get a couple of written appraisals from some car people. If their appraisals are higher, present it to your insurance company and "haggle" with them.