'00 Stratus in Richmond Flood

Start with

and They will be higher than your insurance company's offer. Negotiate.

vehicle to make the settlement?

****** They use the ccc value or whatever they can to try to screw you. Document *everything* you can in a 100 mile radius including local newspaper & trader sales, dealer prices, nada, kelly blue book, etc.; all with comparable options & accessories. I would point you to my website ScrewedByinsurance.com but I'm broke & can't afford hosting at this time. There is some good documentation there

- wish I could help you further. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"

Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!

You should talk to your agent about this. You will probably have to argue with them. Keep in mind also that with the recent storms that a very great many cars have been flood damaged and over the next few weeks will be totaled. This is going to create a huge drain on the supply of used vehicles in your area.

It is to your advantage to draw out this process with the insurance company and keep close watch on the prices of used vehicles that are comparable. Your going to see their prices spike, probably in the next 2-3 weeks. Of course, this will help raise the trade-in values too, so more people will buy new vehicles and eventually the used vehicle prices will drop again.

Also be extremely careful on purchasing a used vehicle for her. It is very common for flood damaged vehicles to be totaled, then the totaled vehicles bought by unscrupulous people who clean them up and dry them out as best they can, then sell them for a quick buck. A couple months later when the interior of the car starts stinking due to mold, and the electronics all go wacko due to corrosion, the buyer is SOL. Your going to see a lot of those flood damaged vehicles show up on the used market over the next year.

Ted

Paul is correct. I recently went thru this on an accident total out. The ins. co. wanted to use the NADA book value which is an absolute low-ball scam value created to serve certain vested interest groups like insurance companies.

After getting advice here on how to fight it, I did what Paul suggested. The two best pieces of ammunition I had that caused them to pay the fair value that I was asking were a printout from

and appraisal values from three local car dealers - all supporting the value that I was asking.

I documented it all and printed it out. I wrote it up just as if it was a piece of evidence to be used in a small claims court case as a subtle hint to them. Any reasonable person reading thru it could see that what I was claiming was (1) reasonable, and (2) credible (it's worth what the local market says it is worth). As soon as I faxed that to them, they immediately agreed to my numbers - I even had them inflate the value so that when I bought it back at salvage value, I still ended up with what I was askigng as the market value (I was able to do this because the value I was asking was actually a little below the true market value - I told them that if they didn't agree to make the bottom line numbers come out to what I was asking for, that I would go to court for the *full* true market value - they took my first offer).

That autotrader.com printout was critical - it shows you what people are actually asking for the exact car with same options in your local area. Take that value and deduct a little for what everyone knows is negotiating room, and tell them that is what you should get for the car. Tell them that any reasonable judge would award that to you if it goes to court (that lets them know you're willing to go to court. Again - the other critical info. was writtin appraisal values from the car dealers. I found that if I told them what I needed the appraisal value for, they were very cooperative in providing a good number - most went by the Kelley value even though the ins. co. insisted that no one goes by them. But having the dealer put that value on paper made a huge difference.

With the time I spent on the phone and getting letters from sales managers at the dealers (had to take a half day off of work to do that, which of course they don't reimburse you for), I figure I broke even on the whole deal. The original offer was $1900. I got a check for $3000 (after all slavage and other fees).. The Kelley was $3400-3600.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

There is lots of good advice posted in this thread for those situations where the insurance company is trying to give you a very low settlement. I once lost a minivan in a flood and I thought my insurance company (USAA) was very fair with it. It probably depends on which insurance company you have.

Of course, if the car is worth more to you than its book value, then no insurance company can make you happy.

-Steve