priyasrik

Hello

I am new to this forum and hope this is the right place to post this under

We own(ed) a 2008 RX 350 which was recently involved in a collision. Other party at fault. We are filing through our insurance ( amica) which we thought was better than theirs( travellers).

OUr car has been declared totaled. I am wondering if anyone has been in this situation before. What value does the insurance choose to give?

Thank you very much

kiwi

not sure what book they use, but unless you contest the value thats what they give you.

you can usually compare yours to another used one and they will match it. at least that is what a friend of mine does when people call him.

and it doesnt have to be a dealer, it can be a private seller.

so go to craiglist, kijiji, or dealers, find one as comparable to yours, mileage, options year. and forward that info over. they should give you that amount.

another trick, if you buy used, is the insurance company will ask you waht you paid for it, i paid 20k for mine, but i told them 27k, so in the event i have an accident, i should get over 20k

nativecal

It’s best to line up your ducks right now, just incase there is an issue. I should say that MOST insurance companies will NOT total a car. It’s always cheaper to repair then cut you a check. With that being said, most use the Kelly Blue Book for value. I would start getting local ads in the newspaper and clip them out with dates and prices for the same car. EBay motors is good for finding values, but remember to look at “Completed Listings”, NOT ones that are currently for sale. It doesn’t matter what’s for sale, it matters what’s sold. Once you have done that homework, you should be in a good position to make sure your getting a reasonable value for your car. Make sure you don’t sign for the check until you are 100% satisfied with the settlement. Remember, it doesn’t matter who you filed through, it matters who’s at fault. They are the ones that will have to pay, filing through your insurance will just make easier. I’m sorry you have to go through this. I hope everyone was OK.

priyasrik

Thank you very much. I will check those out.

We are all fine, thanks to the car and the carseat ( my baby was in the backseat).

The estimated repairs came close to 26 K , which is why they decided to total it.. I feel this is the better option given that the damages are so intensive

Claude7629

What was the milage on your 2008 RX.. I have an '08 with 18000 and I have been offered a lot more for mine whenever I take it in for service at my local dealer. He just wants a trade of course, but that is still an offer from a salesman who is trying to make a buck.

Lex2000TL

Insurance company has to offer identical car market value, if purchased from dealer + tax and registration fee, etc. E. g., you can search different sources (dealers, cars.com or others) and identify what car equal yours (year, brand, condition, options, mileage). Unless you insurer comes with matching or better offer, that is your STARTING POINT for negotiations. In case if insurance company does not want to match marker price, you may want to decline their offer and ask them to buy car for you, given that you research and identify the car. They will not want to waste their time on that exercise.

raygut3

Our experience with a Toyota dealer was criminal. Our Toyota was totaled. The insurance lowballed us and as evidence they offered a "offer to sell" from a local Toyota dealer. When we went by to see what they were offering to sell, it turns out that they didn't even have the car in inventory. That was what they felt they could go to an auction and buy one for. They they got very angry at us when we told them we would never do business with them since their conclusion with the insurance company was costing us several thousand dollars. The insurance company wouldn't budge off the lowball figure. We did get them to add in sales tax and a new set of tires to make us go away.

priyasrik

Our mileage was 22,000 miles.

nativecal

An auction car is far from a comparable vehicle. Auction cars are cars dealers DON’T want, as they have been involved in something (salvage title, flood damage, hurricane damage, etc). When shopping for comps, you want to find a like/kind of vehicle BEFORE it was totaled. Without knowing the options you have, mileage, etc, a quick search shows me a 2008 RX350 is worth about $25K-$30K so $28K is right in there.

mowmow

I would at least ask for 35K, ( cost of car, tax, license, extra amenities that you have to add to make it equal to what you had prior car accident ) You also have to factor in your deductible. I agree with everyone here, do your homework, have proofs and figures to present your case pull your service history report from Lexus if you have any factory add-on on your 2008 RX. They key point is the cost to replace what you had. Without knowing more details, you might also receive additional money for body injury, etc I remember when my celica was totaled I present them with enough facts and figures that they paid me the full amount I was asking for plus body injury and some other things.

ldfog

Our car ('01 ES300) was totaled in December. It took our insurance company almost 2 weeks to decide to total it or not. When they finally decided that it WAS totaled, they offered us KBB value retail, $10,400, which, ironically, was within about $200 of what I had paid for it 2 years earlier. They are also required to include the state tax for your state.

A year earlier, our company vehicle ('02 Ford Focus Wagon w/290,000 miles) was involved in a one-car collision that took off most of the front of the car. Insurance totaled the car, and wrote the company a check for $7,500!! I thought, based on the mileage, it was worth $500. Go figure!!