Insurance claim

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you were just before the change over, at the end of 2015

here's the whole process for anybody else that's interested: 19.070 Revived Salvage—New or Nonresident - California DMV

to note: the brake and lamp inspections have to be done by certified shop who has their certification current, a lot don't or still have the signs up and haven't for years. a hard nosed paper pusher could jam you up on this (ask me how i know). also, a work order that just says "brake and light inspection" won't cut it, you have to have the DV paperwork with the shop's BAR and reg # with a tech signature.

also, it's fairly recent about '17 or '18 that most DMV's are now having CHP handle verification and inspections due to the influx of cars being reg'd up out of state trying to skirt backfees and "revived" titles (basically washing a title). this has only ratcheted up now that VT has shut the door on mail in title/paper work. this is also about the time that they switched the backfee process. it used to be 7 yrs and the vehicle would fall off system and be cleared of fees, then it became 10, now it is open ended.
 
Not quite. this section refers to vehicles that have never been registered in California namely by a new or non resident of the state.
The only stipulation of mandatory inspection by the CHP is this:

If a New York Salvage Certificate is accepted as proof of ownership, the vehicle must be referred to the CHP for verification of the confidential number.
also:

If verification has been done by the CHP no further verification is necessary.
The Verification of Vehicle (REG 31) form or an additional verification of vehicle is not required when a California Highway Patrol (CHP) Certificate Inspection (CHP 97C) form is submitted on a revived junk or salvage vehicle application.

What you described in your previous post was exactly the process I undertook.
 
junkyardhero said:
you've got your head on straight. 100% do not release the car to them for anything. they want to gripe and moan, tell 'em to send a field adjuster out to take pics and write up an estimate.

if you want to keep the car, try not to have it totaled out. if it goes salvage you'll need to jump thru all the hoops to get the title cleared-- brake and light inspection, vin inspection and they may also insist on a 2nd party safety check and evaluation. all of which you guessed it, you have to pay for.

then, at the end of that, allstate will probably bounce you from coverage or up your rates considerably. some companies won't insure salvage titles, others will only do PLPD

if you DO want it totaled, find the absolute closest and best comps to what you have. i'm not sure what allstate's radius is, but some companies only will allow for comps within a specific range or geographical area.

no matter how you decide, do not release the car until you have a check in your hand.
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Im leaning towards not giving them the car. It’s actually Copart that keeps on calling us wanting to pick up the car and we just got another call from them a few hours ago telling us the same thing even tho we told them we don’t want you guys to pick up the car. Getting rediculous. I’m gonna finagle with the claims agent more and later on I’m just gonna go through hoops with this car since I’d hate to see it go. I had to go through the hoops with my 72 dart that I got from a junk yard and had to do a brake and light inspection on it. That was fun especially dealing with the shops hear in Fresno which were only a few that would do classic cars and they hassled me on fixing other stuff that wasn’t even part of the brake and light inspection which I got tired of all the bullshit and took it to Visalia an hour away and the shop I took it too said they’d do it and I didn’t have to repair anything that was not related to the brake and light inspection. They passed it within 30 minutes. Mechanic there was suprised that all my lights worked even the backups and I put all new braking in it. Car ran great all the way there and back. I though with the trailblazer it’ll be a different process but I’ll still look into it more and talk to a dmv agent about it. Also definitely looking into getting different insurance too.
 
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Car Nut said:
How is your wife?
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She got little bruised up on her knee, and had back pain so we got her checked out at a Kaiser hospital and they X-rayed her. Found she pinched couple disk in her back but nothing broken. She was hurting for several days but she says she’s getting better and she just had another checkup today and doctor said she’s doing good. She’s little traumatized by it but taking it day by day. Thank god it wasn’t worse. We did talk to the claims agent about our auto insurance covering any medical bills which my health insurance covers pretty much all of it but Allstate said it only covers 1000 which is frkn sad. I need to change our auto insurance. Allstate is a frkn joke
 
schwinger said:
She got little bruised up on her knee, and had back pain so we got her checked out at a Kaiser hospital and they X-rayed her. Found she pinched couple disk in her back but nothing broken. She was hurting for several days but she says she’s getting better and she just had another checkup today and doctor said she’s doing good. She’s little traumatized by it but taking it day by day. Thank god it wasn’t worse. We did talk to the claims agent about our auto insurance covering any medical bills which my health insurance covers pretty much all of it but Allstate said it only covers 1000 which is frkn sad. I need to change our auto insurance. Allstate is a frkn joke
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Good to hear she’s ok, I had whiplash after my accident, didn’t notice it until years later.
 
I say see if they'll go 3250 and take the money and run. We have a 2004 Ford Escape. A pretty comparable vehicle. The Kelly Blue Book clean trade in value is like 900 bucks. I'd be doin backflips if I could get 3K for a total.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I say see if they'll go 3250 and take the money and run. We have a 2004 Ford Escape. A pretty comparable vehicle. The Kelly Blue Book clean trade in value is like 900 bucks. I'd be doin backflips if I could get 3K for a total.
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You would have to make a health insurance claim if you were to do one backflip. Lol
 
Also remember that insurance companies build in some contingency. They are prepared to make adjustments upward for the possibility of additional discovery of damage, fluctuations in parts prices especially when they have no choice but to use used parts
 
The OP is NOT going to get that rear axle put back in spec and fix the body damage for $2800.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I say see if they'll go 3250 and take the money and run. We have a 2004 Ford Escape. A pretty comparable vehicle. The Kelly Blue Book clean trade in value is like 900 bucks. I'd be doin backflips if I could get 3K for a total.
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We are waiting for the claims agent to get back to us with our counteroffer. Allstate did send my wife an email stating that they “Forgot” one repair receipt that we sent them so they are recalculating the payout with that change also. Will keep you guys updated on that.
 
Do not let them take the car. I fought with State Farm for probably 6 mo on a 64 Dodge Polara. Wanted to give me $2,000 when I just paid $5,000. In the end they gave me what I wanted and paid a buddy about the same in storage costs. If they take the car you are at their mercy.
 
66fs said:
Do not let them take the car. I fought with State Farm for probably 6 mo on a 64 Dodge Polara. Wanted to give me $2,000 when I just paid $5,000. In the end they gave me what I wanted and paid a buddy about the same in storage costs. If they take the car you are at their mercy.
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My mom had State Farm and she use to have a 2002 Toyota Echo. She got into a crash, 5 years ago. someone hit from behind and slammed her into another car in front of her. Destroyed the car front end destroyed and frame damaged in the back . State Farm told her to send it to one of there facilities for valuation. They evaluated it and considered it a total loss but they only offered 500 for the car. She was pissed and negotiated on the payout. They didn’t wanna give her any more and the place State Farm got it towed to was gonna start charging fees which was bs so she just caved in and took the 500 which I told her she should of fought them more about it. She did change insurance after that tho.
 
YY1 said:
The OP is NOT going to get that rear axle put back in spec and fix the body damage for $2800.
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i understand where you are coming from, but that is where the "total loss" originates from , right?
the cost to fix the damages exceeds the value of the vehicle

it comes back to what OP is comfortable doing, how skilled he is and, i guess, if he is willing to drive a mechanically sound vehicle with a bunch of body damage (like so often in this hobby, our time is worthless when calculating cost)

there is of course the remote possibility that if the damage is, say 4000 dollars, and we can convince the insurance the vehicle is worth 7000, that they do not total it and instead have it fixed

but that seems unlikely
 
schwinger said:
My mom had State Farm and she use to have a 2002 Toyota Echo. She got into a crash, 5 years ago. someone hit from behind and slammed her into another car in front of her. Destroyed the car front end destroyed and frame damaged in the back . State Farm told her to send it to one of there facilities for valuation. They evaluated it and considered it a total loss but they only offered 500 for the car. She was pissed and negotiated on the payout. They didn’t wanna give her any more and the place State Farm got it towed to was gonna start charging fees which was bs so she just caved in and took the 500 which I told her she should of fought them more about it. She did change insurance after that tho.
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Where can you buy a running, driving car for $500? What crooks.
 
diymirage said:
i understand where you are coming from, but that is where the "total loss" originates from , right?
the cost to fix the damages exceeds the value of the vehicle

it comes back to what OP is comfortable doing, how skilled he is and, i guess, if he is willing to drive a mechanically sound vehicle with a bunch of body damage (like so often in this hobby, our time is worthless when calculating cost)

there is of course the remote possibility that if the damage is, say 4000 dollars, and we can convince the insurance the vehicle is worth 7000, that they do not total it and instead have it fixed

but that seems unlikely
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The claims agent told us about that if the cost exceeds the value of the car then they’ll consider it a total loss which I disagree with that but it is what it is. I am mechanically incline, went to automotive school back in 2005 and did a lot of side work over the years as well as working on my many classic cars to where I know I can fix this. Body wise tho I can get it close to where it’s not a big eyesore. And we are negotiating that also with the repairs we’ve done to the car which im hoping it does make a difference.
 
schwinger said:
The claims agent told us about that if the cost exceeds the value of the car then they’ll consider it a total loss which I disagree with that but it is what it is. I am mechanically incline, went to automotive school back in 2005 and did a lot of side work over the years as well as working on my many classic cars to where I know I can fix this. Body wise tho I can get it close to where it’s not a big eyesore. And we are negotiating that also with the repairs we’ve done to the car which im hoping it does make a difference.
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the point of insurance is to be "made whole"
after the claim is handled, you need to be in an equal state to where you were before
sometimes, that means they pay to fix your car, sometimes it means they pay you the value of your car so you can replace it


to me, the total loss thing makes sense, but if you are comfortable fixing it, have them total it, then buy it back and fix it
personally, ive come to a point where i simply dont always want to deal with fixing things myself
chasing down parts and rebuilding them may be fun on a project, but on a daily driver that needs to get back in rotation, id let the insurance pay a professional

but, thats just me
 
diymirage said:
the point of insurance is to be "made whole"
after the claim is handled, you need to be in an equal state to where you were before
sometimes, that means they pay to fix your car, sometimes it means they pay you the value of your car so you can replace it


to me, the total loss thing makes sense, but if you are comfortable fixing it, have them total it, then buy it back and fix it
personally, ive come to a point where i simply dont always want to deal with fixing things myself
chasing down parts and rebuilding them may be fun on a project, but on a daily driver that needs to get back in rotation, id let the insurance pay a professional

but, thats just me
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Not according to any insurance company I've spoken to. I tried explaining this to them over and over and they just try to weasel their way out of anything! I agree on letting the car go. It's totaled for a reason.. it's not worth fixing. I have to deal with this weekly and to me it rarely makes sense... unless you're a body/paint guy who can fix it easily yourself. I have personally done it a few times but as you mentioned... they older I get the less I want to do that crap.

You pay the ins. company for a car you already own, you then pay someone to fix it.. or fix it yourself with parts you have to buy... and in the end you get to pocket what? $250? Charging them $100/day for it to sit in my parking lot usually moves them along quickly! Also, if this is filed under another parties ins. company they would owe you for a rental. This all depends on how liability was determined.
 
The damage does not have to exceed the value to be considered total. Salvage value plays a part. I do this every day. If a car is worth 5k and has 4k damage but brings a 1k salvage thrn its totaled. Plus rental car makes a difference also
 
lenky1 said:
The damage does not have to exceed the value to be considered total. Salvage value plays a part. I do this every day. If a car is worth 5k and has 4k damage but brings a 1k salvage thrn its totaled. Plus rental car makes a difference also
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Correct. All the damage has to do is be a certain percentage of the calculated value and it'a over and done. I don't get all you other cats sayin "don't let them take the car". Kitty and I were involved in a really bad wreck in 2017 that totaled my 04 Ranger. We were with Geico at the time. Three days later the adjuster was on my front porch with a check for a tic over clean retail value and the truck, while it was a nice little truck, was not clean retail. I was able to pay off the little loan I had left on it and buy Gladys. I have no complaints. The only reason we're not with Geico anymore is because of across the board rate increases and all they could ever tell me for a reason was "the rates just go up". So we had to do something different. I'd say FFFFFFF that trailblazer. Its goose is cooked.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Correct. All the damage has to do is be a certain percentage of the calculated value and it'a over and done. I don't get all you other cats sayin "don't let them take the car". Kitty and I were involved in a really bad wreck in 2017 that totaled my 04 Ranger. We were with Geico at the time. Three days later the adjuster was on my front porch with a check for a tic over clean retail value and the truck, while it was a nice little truck, was not clean retail. I was able to pay off the little loan I had left on it and buy Gladys. I have no complaints. The only reason we're not with Geico anymore is because of across the board rate increases and all they could ever tell me for a reason was "the rates just go up". So we had to do something different. I'd say FFFFFFF that trailblazer. Its goose is cooked.
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exception, not the rule here.

gieco showed with a check that was to your liking. to me that's a done deal. what if geico showed with a check for $1000?

the reason you don't release the car is because it takes away all of your leverage. once they have it you can gar-un-gawd-dammn-tee that they are gonna wear your *** out trying to pay you as little as possible.
 
schwinger said:
The claims agent told us about that if the cost exceeds the value of the car then they’ll consider it a total loss which I disagree with that but it is what it is. I am mechanically incline, went to automotive school back in 2005 and did a lot of side work over the years as well as working on my many classic cars to where I know I can fix this. Body wise tho I can get it close to where it’s not a big eyesore. And we are negotiating that also with the repairs we’ve done to the car which im hoping it does make a difference.
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sounds like you've got a plan going forward.

stick to your guns, but keep a cool head. it's on them to clear your claim, so if you don't need the vehicle grind their asses out. insurance wants to clear claims as quickly and cheaply as possible they give zero-point-zero fucks about anything else. they will try everything to shift the power of this into their favor.

get as much as you can, let them total it out and buy back the salvage. do the mechanical yourself and then roll up to a local independent body shop and have them do a splash and cash on the 1/4 and call it done. you get use out of the car for another several years and when you do go to sell it you can just price it low and adios it.
 
junkyardhero said:
exception, not the rule here.

gieco showed with a check that was to your liking. to me that's a done deal. what if geico showed with a check for $1000?

the reason you don't release the car is because it takes away all of your leverage. once they have it you can gar-un-gawd-dammn-tee that they are gonna wear your *** out trying to pay you as little as possible.
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Oh sure. Now that I can see as the only reason not to release the vehicle. That would be slap stupid. lol
 
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