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I was moving forward and he was crossing in front of me.
Standing on the brakes, I hit him square on the right rear quarter panel.
The damage you see (concave radiator) is from where his rear tire went into the radiator (actually vice versa). This dragged us in the direction he was going pulling the front right side of the car into the slow lane (from the middle lane). You can see this in the liscence plate mount
Because his tire is "soft" with "void space" to either side, it took a lot of the impact out of the collision as Caddie parts stuff "molded" around it.
Regrding the distance to the rental car, it was more a matter of convenience. Obviously with ~3K/year, I don't drive that much.
Of course they found more damage and the estimate is now ~18K. The insurance company will total the car out if the estimate exceeds 70-80% of the value. At 70-80%, this puts the car's value at ~$22.5K - $25.7K. The low mileage now becomes a possible issue.
They are now in the process of contacting the insurance company to possibly total out the car and will get to me on Tuesday.
If I claim a high value for the car, they will possibly fix it and I will have a fixed car that's been in an accident. California is a diminished value state and my insurance agent is aware of it. I would probably have to fight the other insurance company for that.
On the other hand, if they total it, I have to fight to show that it was worth what it was really worth so I don't get low balled.
Then I have to go out and find another car. I won't find another like it, with over 3 years left on the warrentee so will probably buy a new caddie, and I'll be >$20K out of pocket.
I don't care for XT5 replacement as much as the SRX, and the new XT6 model will come out this fall instantantly devaluing the XT5.
If I claim a high value for the car, they will possibly fix it and I will have a fixed car that's been in an accident. California is a diminished value state and my insurance agent is aware of it. I would probably have to fight the other insurance company for that.
On the other hand, if they total it, I have to fight to show that it was worth what it was really worth so I don't get low balled.
Then I have to go out and find another car. I won't find another like it, with over 3 years left on the warrentee so will probably buy a new caddie, and I'll be >$20K out of pocket.
I don't care for XT5 replacement as much as the SRX, and the new XT6 model will come out this fall instantantly devaluing the XT5.
Also, be advised that with newer unibody cars like this, that all of the crumple zones and understructure needs to be restored/repaired to pre-accident condition, so that in event of another collision, the car crumples exactly the way a new, never-hit car would. This can be exceedingly difficult to accomplish (think of crushing an aluminum beer can and trying to pull it out so that it is just as strong as it was when un-crushed). I-CAR certified repair is a must, and often, it is VERY hard for the customer to know what is lurking underneath the shiny new parts and paint. A far cry from the old body-on-frame days when a frame could easily be pulled straight and new parts re-installed on it. Repaired unibody cars involved in a big hit are often repaired to where they LOOK great, but underneath, are far from it.
If I claim a high value for the car, they will possibly fix it and I will have a fixed car that's been in an accident. California is a diminished value state and my insurance agent is aware of it. I would probably have to fight the other insurance company for that.
On the other hand, if they total it, I have to fight to show that it was worth what it was really worth so I don't get low balled.
Then I have to go out and find another car. I won't find another like it, with over 3 years left on the warrentee so will probably buy a new caddie, and I'll be >$20K out of pocket.
I don't care for XT5 replacement as much as the SRX, and the new XT6 model will come out this fall instantantly devaluing the XT5.
You'll likely get a total. Insurance co is looking at repair bill plus rental plus DV. They will clear this as quick as they can. A total wipes these clear on their books plus they get salvage value from the wrecked.
PS: The % value that triggers a total is in law in Va. Check with your insurance commissioner's office for your local.
The repair estimate had gotten up to $18.9K and the body shop found that the frame rails had been tweeked.
So yesterday they let me know that the car is to be totaled out, and they need their person to go assess the car to determine "fair market value" (i.e., how much they can screw me and still get away with it before I balk and possibly bring in a lawyer).
The repair estimate had gotten up to $18.9K and the body shop found that the frame rails had been tweeked.
So yesterday they let me know that the car is to be totaled out, and they need their person to go assess the car to determine "fair market value" (i.e., how much they can screw me and still get away with it before I balk and possibly bring in a lawyer).
Yes, except for the headliner from the deployment of the side curtains, and the dash pad on the passenger's side and center of the steering wheel from the two bags.
Carpet always had the molded liners... front, rear, and in the hatch for protection from new. I never had a child in the car and the back seat was used a dozen times at the most.
After much fighting I got them to raise the value by ~$1,700 with a payout of $28,061.06 including all taxes and license fees.
The final tally was that my 2014 car has just 12,736 miles on it since I bought it new. There are NO 2014 comps with this kind of mileage and their lowest had over 25K miles on it and their highest was over 50k miles. The insurance companies will not look at 2015 or 2016 models that would have similar mileage even though they are all the same car. These go for ~$32-35K through the dealers (+ tax and license).
They then figured that my extremely low mileage was worth $0.05 per mile from the average of the comps. This infers that a Cadillac SRX with 50,000 miles, and the wear and tear incurred with that mileage, is only worth $2,000 less than the same car with 10,000 miles. Alternatively, they figure that a car with 100,000 miles can be brought back to brand new condition in all respects for a cost of $5K.
Everyone I've talked too (dealers and such) said there is no way I will ever get a similar car for that much and I'll probably be over 34K out the door. Insurance prices are based on buying from a private party and don't allow for mark-ups, especially for cars with really low mileage that sell at premium prices. No lawyer will take a case for the "small" difference unless I pay it hourly out of pocket. They all want medical cases. Then I need to get a judge/jury to see it my way.
There's That!
So, during the last over two months, I've had a rental car. I had to change it out because the first car was recalled and they can't rent a car on recall. When I had the second car, Mercury called us and told us they would take care of all of the car rental through July 20. Then Enterprise called and said that Mercury was taking care of everything so long as I had the car back by July 20.
On July 19th I got the bill from Enterprise ($1,265) for the rental of the first car that was recalled. It seems that Enterprise never mentioned this to Mercury in their negotiations and Mercury never condidered the date of the accident and rental agreement for the second car. I mean did they think I was walking around for a month then decided to rent a car a week before they stepped in and took ownership? Incompetance on both ends, and I put a dispute on my card. So now Mercury is deciding if they want to pay out on the first car. SHEESH!!!
What service is valuing the car NADA, or an estimating platform.
You can ask for the search area to be expanded to try and find comps
Again - its all about actual cash value.
What service is valuing the car NADA, or an estimating platform.
You can ask for the search area to be expanded to try and find comps
Again - its all about actual cash value.
Yes, it's all about what they consider the cash value. Their offer is actually in line with that for a similar car of typical "low" mileage/condition in Kelly/NADA/etc.
But NADA also states that cars with exceptionally low mileage may have substantially higher value.
Also actual cash value is not the cost to replace the car, because they assume that you will buy from a private party and don't allow for dealer/Carmax/etc. mark-up, paperwork, etc. I can't even find anything similar from private parties.
You know what they said in the Bible. "Blessed are the insurance companies for they shall inherit the earth". I deal with them all day long in the medical industry. Jerry
Back in the day....you could tell the insurance company to find you a replacement you would accept and it was up to them to purchase it. Kinda takes the screwing out of the equation.
Of course one of the hook lines I bought from State Farm was that if you happened to hit another State Farm insured, they'd wave the deductible. After ~60 years, I finally tapped the back bumper of another car. Could not see any damage and was a State Farm policy holder. Thought good news! Only to find out " oh, we stopped covering that years ago". Thanks for letting me know.
05-25-2018, 10:26 AM
Alternatively, they figure that a car with 100,000 miles can be brought back to brand new condition in all respects for a cost of $5K. 
