How do I know my Prius 2008 total loss real value (fire damage pic inside)?

It may be different by state, and also by agent working on the case. But I once bought back a "totaled" car from GEICO (my insurance company also) after my car was wrecked. You could negotiate with them, but chances are that they will not allow you to move the car from where it is stored. So you will likely have to decide on the spot when they cut you a check. That was what happened to me. Buying back a totaled car to part out is OK if you have a way to move the car and work on parting out, but in my case, I bought it back to repair it to drive it again since the damage was mostly cosmetic issues. If you want to repair the once-totaled car, there are some legal hurdles you have to jump. Some states do not even allow to issue of branded titles on once-totaled cars. So be aware that it may not be an easy process.

 

Yeah, sounds like you're not in the right situation to do a salvage recovery so just focus on getting the biggest loss payout you can, and good luck with the search for new wheels!

 

Not long, as it gets sent to auction after you accept the check.

It's not something they offer during the settlement process as 99.99% of people just want to get another car and move on...you'd need to bring up the possibility that you'd be interested in buying back the wreck, if the price was right

But then, do you really want to buy it back? You need somewhere to store it. You need to get rid of it after you take off the parts you want etc etc.

 

Yeah, I think it is repairable. But I can't say how much that would cost. It will be high. That is if all the damages are just body and smoke, then and I think you said the car drives, didn't you? If you did not have comprehensive coverage on her, then it would be worth a try. But the insurance company is not going to pay you to repair it, they will say it will cost more to repair than the car's value.

 

It's definitely repairable, it's just going to cost more than it is worth- particularly due to the smoke damage.

It's incredibly difficult to eliminate those odors. Not impossible, but it takes time and a not-insignificant amount of skilled labor.

If the car had all the same damage except the smoke? It would probably be fixed for $1500 and back to you in a week.

If the smoke were the only damage it might still be totaled. That's how tough it is.

 

Take buying it back off the table. You need to decide who to file against and how to get the maximum money. I don't know CA law but would bet that GEICO will negotiate a settlement with you then go after state farm for the money. Chances are you will be on the hook for transfer and tax costs, but don't give up on this. Your goal is to be reimbursed for the costs to get a car of equal condition(value) in your hands. It was not your fault and you should not bear expense from the situation. Also look into a rental car until the claim is settled. This process could take weeks, time is on their side. But once a claim is open for over 60 days it goes on reports that adjusters hate to explain about.
I cannot advise about which insurance company to go after. If it happened to me I would be going after state farm and tell geico to hold up on the claim. I would also be researching this with consumer insurance groups as long as they didn't ask for a percentage of the settlement.

 

You can use an ozone generator to get the smoke smell out. That is what people use for a small fire and smoke restoration for houses and buildings. It does a good job of getting rid of "smoke" smells by deactivating most of the smell-causing organic molecules, but may also get rid of many familiar smells as well. I don't know if a regular auto shop would have it, but the machine is not very expensive. I have one for my house and car. You just can't be inside when the enclosed space is filled with ozone.

As I said, the law is different by state. You may have to check to see if you can get the car re-titled after being salvaged in your state. If not, then there is no point in fixing it, since you can't register it and drive it on a public road.

If it is allowed, what GEICO did for me is to subtract the amount of the estimated auction value of the car from the payout check. This is again just their guess, so in reality, the car could sell more or less than that value at an auction. With my car, they gave me something like $5K as the value of the car (it was a 12-year-old Honda Civic Hybrid with ~120k miles on it) but subtracted ~$1K as an auction value. I received ~$4K check. As I said, it was mostly cosmetic damage to the front and side only. The car was mechanically sound and drivable. I took it to a body shop to repair it for about $1.5K in total cost. So, in the end, I pocketed ~$2.5K from the proceed.

 

All of these things and quotes above can apply and you can twist this anyway you want to but at the end of the day. You have a 200,000 mi what 15-year-old car. And you're trying to extract maximum dollar from an insurance company that you pay. In real world terms that car's been off the books almost two cycles now I don't know where in the world all of a sudden people started thinking because they're driving their car $300,000 mi that that makes it in any kind of good shape perfect condition worthy of somebody paying you $4,000 for when the car in reality today even in reasonable condition should only command $2,000 because they're commanding eight with low mileage and people stating that they're in good condition That's a market thing that has nothing to do with insurance. So technically your car is like my car pretty much no insurance value You can try and build the insurance company out of some money because they might just pay it just to keep you quiet you know so you don't start a focus online or something or just depends on the company most insurance companies to be honest about it don't even have to deal with you today You're lucky they're covering real accidents when you have them look at businesses today and how things are run when you go ahead and play with them if you want they might just not need your business anymore whatever so a lot of things can come into play I've had my insurance with USAA for 40 years and I don't have anything but liability I'm not about to start a big hoo ha with USAA over a 15-year old car with 200,000 miles on it there's nothing in my mind that's going to make me want to tell USAA they need to give me more money this car's been written off twice as far as I'm concerned now you may get the insurance company to give you whatever but just realize that's coming out of everybody anyway insurance is a big racket from the get-go Hi family members that have been in it for 70 years and they make real good money. They don't ever worry about where anything's coming from because it's government mandated state mandated. So they're always going to get paid.

 

When my 2005 Prius (200k+ miles) was "totaled" by an insurance company a few years ago (other driver at fault), I received a check for $5700 and after asking, was informed I could buy it back from the ins company for $530, which was essentially scrap price. I passed on it mostly because I didn't want to deal with the hassles of a semi-wrecked car on the property. I would expect his car to need just as much repair, considering body damage, windows, water damage, heat damage. I wouldn't expect the insurance company to make a great offer, but hopefully somewhere reasonable to start (with both offers)

 

I would explore Home Owners insurance as well. If part of the building fell on your car I would call your Home owners insurance company to inquire about coverage. I have Allstate and bundle everything so It is easier to deal with. Make sure you account for personal property inside the car. Everything had a value and a dollar amount. Everything. Iphone charging cables, CD's window tint, Any upgrades with receipts and how much gas is in it. Others are correct. Everything can be repaired. It just depends on how much time and money you have. For $25,000 and 6 months of work..it could be a collector's car. But i'm guessing you don't want to invest that much time or money. With a claim from Auto,Home... you might negotiate a check for $8k-11K depending in what was in the car. Have receipts and fight for everything. An insurance adjuster works for his company not for you. Remember you have paid for insurance for many many years. Here is where it pays off. Best of luck to you. Let us know how it works out. I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

Hmm. If you rent I think you need renters insurance. Check your lease for terms and conditions about fire,theft etc. They may not be liable for personal property damage. If they have signage posted you might be at a loss and have to use your Geico policy.

 

So any update? How did this settle out for you? Di you find a new car?