Insurance Woes
03-09-2001, 02:54 PM
#23
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I've been through that with many patients over the years, believe me I understand the "insurance" industry. Let's not wish harm on any other human being, life is too short the way it is.
Mark
Mark
03-09-2001, 03:08 PM
#26
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I was an auto adjuster for an insurance company several years ago and my experience is that most of the agents are GENERALLY on the same level as lawyers and dont give a shit about anybody as long as they get their commission check.
You should definitley contact an independant adjuster / public adjuster who will end up charging you a small fee but might be able to get the car declared a total loss.
The only thing is that the cars MARKET VALUE is definitely NOT $20K. I would thing more like $28k-$30K. We used to use a market value survey which was done by a company called CCC which was a listing of all the similar cars for sale by (make, model, year same as your car) being sold in the region / state / county etc.
I would estimate that at least 15-25% of the auto claims I adjusted intitially, ended up needing suplemental appraisals due to damage that was unseen at the first appraisal. It virtually impossible to get it 100% right 100% of the FIRST time.
The problem is that your insurance company has the legal right to attempt to repair the car before replacement (declaring total loss)If memory serves me correctly it states this somewhere in you auto policy.
I could only imagine if every time their was an accident and an insured had the choice to repair or replace at their discretion! You all think insurance rates and Insurance companies are unfair now, rates in this scenario would increase substantially. Whether you beleiev me or not insurnace companies generllay LOOSE money on charged premiums. Another words most insurance companies pay out more than the total premium charged. They make money on re-investing collected premiums. I used to see the same people file claims every few months for thousands of dollars. I once had a guy who made over 6 claims in a 12 month period. Total premium paid was like $3k-$5k and we paid him something like $60-$80K. And this was not a rare situation!
You should definitley contact an independant adjuster / public adjuster who will end up charging you a small fee but might be able to get the car declared a total loss.
The only thing is that the cars MARKET VALUE is definitely NOT $20K. I would thing more like $28k-$30K. We used to use a market value survey which was done by a company called CCC which was a listing of all the similar cars for sale by (make, model, year same as your car) being sold in the region / state / county etc.
I would estimate that at least 15-25% of the auto claims I adjusted intitially, ended up needing suplemental appraisals due to damage that was unseen at the first appraisal. It virtually impossible to get it 100% right 100% of the FIRST time.
The problem is that your insurance company has the legal right to attempt to repair the car before replacement (declaring total loss)If memory serves me correctly it states this somewhere in you auto policy.
I could only imagine if every time their was an accident and an insured had the choice to repair or replace at their discretion! You all think insurance rates and Insurance companies are unfair now, rates in this scenario would increase substantially. Whether you beleiev me or not insurnace companies generllay LOOSE money on charged premiums. Another words most insurance companies pay out more than the total premium charged. They make money on re-investing collected premiums. I used to see the same people file claims every few months for thousands of dollars. I once had a guy who made over 6 claims in a 12 month period. Total premium paid was like $3k-$5k and we paid him something like $60-$80K. And this was not a rare situation!
03-09-2001, 05:13 PM
#29
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Interesting that you have State Farm. I did some consulting for them a couple of years ago and got into an accident with one of their insured. For those that don't know, the buzz in the industry is that State Farm has a reputation for being a little, well, cheap when it comes to paying off. Anyway, I called the adjuster from an SF internal extention, and she called me right back. I explained the whole thing, and she asked me if I had a preference for a body shop. I said no, and she said, "We normally take people to X shop, but in this case I think we'll bring it to Y shop." The unspoken comment was, "We take our insured to X shop to get it fixed, but we take care of our employees and contractors better..."
Your mileage may vary.
Your mileage may vary.
