My girlfriend was going through an intersection and a lady ran a red light and hit my girlfriend another car. The lady who ran the red light and hit the others accepted full responsibility and has insurance. We have been in contact with Red Light Lady's insurance and they said they have sent someone out to look at the car and the car is totalled. The car doesn't look great but has no mechanical issues we can notice while driving. The insurance company says we have to pay cash up front for a rental car and they will reimburse us.

I have a feeling that we are dealing with an insurance company shadier than you average insurance company. What we want is to pay off our car and have enough for a down payment. Not extra money or anything just the car replaced. We just want to know what we can do to twist there arms a tad without bringing a lawyer into it.

Oh and the car is a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage DS. Fucking fantastic little car. We are going to miss it dearly.

says? - get it in writing.

Of course. On the list of action. Thank you.

Isn't she having panic attacks now or have a sore neck?

---

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Why, yes. Yes she is come to think of it.

"I am shocked and chagrined! Mortified and stupefied!"


"Suzie. Call Dr. Bison. Set up an appointment for Mr. Kramer here. Tell him it's from me."

Seriously, did she get looked at by a doctor?

---

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man

I love you so much for that quote. So top drawer.

She hasn't seen a doctor.

Have your insurance agent deal with the other company. You pay them good money to do that and they know (hopefully) what they are doing. Tell your agent what you want and let them negotiate.

It's Tibbs' girlfriend. Of course she's having those issues. Among others.

Look in the auto for sale section of your local paper and online and find vehicles which are similar in model, make,mileage, and other features. Use that for sale price as your baseline for what the car is worth and add for substantial recent repairs or improvements.

This is how it works. The lady totaled your car. It was her fault. Her insurance needs to replace your car. That doesn't mean you get to "pay off the other car and have a down payment for a new car". It means, very specifically, they will pay you the value of your old car. We're talking about going to a Kelly Blue book kind of service and getting the value of your car based on mileage and rough condition. The insurance company will come up with an initial amount. You can just accept that amount if you want. If you don't like the amount quoted you can go out and get your own examples of cars selling for more than they're quoting you. You then end up negotiating for the final price with some insurance agent.

 
Use NADA not KBB to get the value of the car approximated. Insurance values are typically closer to NADA than KBB.

You should be given some examples of "comparables" ie, cars that are for sale and similar to the car you had. Value is determined by that, and it is generally very close to NADA unless it is a special interest car, which yours is not.

Insurance adjusters are people too. Don't start off the relationship with a "I know you are gonna screw me so I'm gonna twist your arm" mentality. You might be surprised at how it works out for you if you aren't a dick. Also don't expect more than you are due, for info on that see the thread about insurance rates in Texas.

It's not the adjuster that is getting to me. It's bumbling incomptence of the company. My girlfriend's company is on the ball. The other driver's insurance customer service line is an answering machine during buisness hours.

Another way to do it is to file it all through your GF's insurance, then they will later go after the other company for all costs incurred (called subrogation).

As for the rental- if she has it on her policy, just do it through her policy and let them subrogate. If not, demand the other insurance pay nits their fault, heave accepted responsibility, so they need to step up. Also track all other expenses- time off work, medical, etc. you should be reimbursed for all of this.

---

******************************
If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

I believe she is going through her company because the mass incompetence of the other is astounding.

Tibbsy wrote:

So my lady just got in a car crash. The other person's fault. Her insurance has totalled my girlfriend's car even though it is fully functional. We are worried they are going to try to fuck us. I can't afford a lawyer so is there anything i can drop on my own to make sure we can pay off her car and have a down payment?

This might be a major "Duh" for a lot of people but since it hasn't been said yet. a "totaled" car just means that repairs exceed a certain percentage of the car's worth. I.e. if you get $3000 damage done on your car but the sell value would be only $3500 had it been in working condition, then that is totaled. With older cars where it is harder to source parts it can be pretty easy to total a car because the value of the car has decreased and the cost of repairs have increased. Yes, even a functional car could be totaled because of this. You can always try to disagree with the insurance company but in general insurance companies don't like older cars.

http://www.insure.com/...ce/totaled-cars.html

And yes, definitely document everything. If she is experiencing panic attacks and did not previously then that is something to make sure you're documenting when they occur.

All insurance companies are shady like that.

Been there...older, fully functional car....a 12 YO Honda Accord.

They didn't want to pay for the repair and totaled it...For way less than it was worth to me......

For the amount I got reimbursed (time value of the car), I could not go out and buy a comparable replacement (same/similar year and model).

I got screwed.....

If that wouldn't happen today with my also over 10 YO Honda, I'd fight tooth and nails to get the REPLACEMENT value out of them...probably meaning going to court.