2007 Prius totaled, now fighting with insurance..need help

Get a lawyer - or at least tell the insurance company you are going to get one. They have to make you whole. They can do it the easy way by offering a fair settlement, or they can do it the hard way with a lawyer... tell them you will sue for legal costs on top of your loss. By law they have to compensate you for your damage, however they'll count on your sense of urgency and will wave a low-ball check under your nose in hope you'll bite on a quick but reduced settlement to get the funds for your new car.

I would give them a figure that is satisfactory to you and notice that you expect a check for that amount in seven days, or they can continue the discussion with your attorney. You do, however, need to follow through on this strategy because they may call your bluff. good luck.

 

The insurance company must make you "whole" again. (btw, you will want to use this term when speaking to them - they know what it means in terms of their contract) In other words, they must put you in the SAME fiscal position you were before the accident. They are, of course, responsible for sales tax and ANY other associated costs.

I had to deal with auto insurance a few years back with my gf's car. Of course, they tried to low-ball me. I responded by stating that they need to make her whole again, and also gave them several examples of similar cars and their asking prices. In the end, and after some work and phone calls, I ended up getting about an additional 3k out of them. In other words, it can we well worth your effort.

Good luck, and don't settle until they make you whole!

... Brad

 

Narf,
Have you considered talking with your insurance agent? They may have some suggestions.
I think you can file a claim on your insurance and let the big-boys fight it out. That shouldn't have any effect on your rates.

 

Check on the price at Kelly Blue Book, too.
When my 2007 Jetta was totaled, I searched Ebay for the same package it had, and printed out the prices that people had paid for it. That worked! When you do the search, click the box that says completed listings. Have you tried calling local dealerships, maybe they can give you some quotes if you tell them your situation?

Good luck with the new one, hope you got a different color!

 

Hey, Narf, sorry to hear of your hassles. Try kbb.com and look for a used Prius just like yours in excellent condition. That will give you a ball-park market price. Then use their search function to try to find a used one in your area for sale and print those listings. Getting help from your own agent and talking to a lawyer are good ideas too.

 

I've had a similar problem in the past with the other driver's insurance company. So I made a claim under my own company and let them fight it out with the other company. Once my insurance company collected from the other driver's insurance company, I received my deductible back. Did not affect my rates.

 

As someone who will take delivery on a magnetic grey Prius next week, this has me a little concerned. I wanted silver as my first choice, but grey was available sooner.

I've had 2 similarly colored cars in the past - an '86 Acura Integra that never got hit by anybody, and an '89 Camry Wagon that was hit from behind twice - both times by drivers talking on cell phones.

I, too, used to worry that grey would be too invisible, but never felt that way with these other two cars. I'll have to see if I feel differently inside my invisible Prius.

 

nmrickie is right!! Your insurance company should reimburse you and then fight the other company for their repayment. That is the way mine works. That is what you pay insurance for.

 

Narf,

If you're not getting satisfaction out of the other driver's insurance company, you should see if you can get your's to help. Isn't that one of the things that you pay them for? You don't have a relationship with the other driver's insurance company and they're simply going to try and low-ball you.

IMHO, they are in fact low-balling you by trying to foist a NADA valuation on you. That's not how total losses are supposed to be handled and they should know better, but then again they may have seen the CCC valuation and decided that they didn't want to pay that much. At a minimum, you should be able to get a CCC valuation from your insurance company.

As an FYI, NADA, Blue Book and Edmunds are all generic values for the described vehicle. The CCC valuation is sort of like finding "comparibles" in realestate, it's based on actual pricing of similar cars in your area. It is also the insurance industry standard for doing this sort of thing and there's little arguing with it (by either party.)

Having said, that, I'd ask for the CCC from my insurance company and then compare it to the NADA value that the other driver's company is offering you (this is because like I said, there's no arguing with the CCC valuation.) Based on that comparison you should be able to figure out how to procede.

 

When you are involved in an accident, even if it's not your fault, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS report it to your insurance company! This should be SOP. As several posters (including the one quoted above) have said, your insurance company can duke it out with the other person's company; you need all the allies you can get in this battle. Unless your state is different from mine, you should not have to hire a lawyer unless there is an injury claim also; your insurance company should have all the lawyers needed. If you need one, they probably will advise you of that.

I assume there was a police report on this accident. You should get a copy of that if you haven't already done so. The police department will charge you a small fee for the copy, but it's worth it to have, just in case you need it.

I have quite a few unfortunate incidents, and the above wisdom (if wisdom it is) was gleaned from those experiences.

Your insurance company is your friend in this case.

 

Going for a spin in a silver vehicle is much safer than any other colour of car - black, brown and green cars are the most dangerous
Silver cars are much less likely to be involved in a serious crash than cars of other colours, suggests a new study of over 1000 cars.

People driving in silver cars were 50 per cent less likely to suffer serious injury in a crash compared with drivers of white cars, the research in New Zealand found.

White, yellow, grey, red and blue cars carried about the same risk of injury. But those taking to the roads in black, brown or green cars were twice as likely to suffer a crash with serious injury.

 

If you don't have a police report, then just let your insurance do their job and let them handle it. Seriously. Even with a police report and a cut and dry case, the other driver's insurance is going to try and eat you alive. Consider this scenario (and yes, this really happend to me):

• It's Sunday morning, we're on our patio in our bath robes having coffee and reading the paper.
• Both our cars are legally parked on private property in the driveway outside of the house. Neither car has been operated since sometime in the early evening on the previous Saturday.
• Suddenly, there's the sound of squeeling breaks and a very loud crash from the front of the house.
• We rush outside to find both of our cars now crushed together, sitting on the lawn with a Land Cruiser embedded in the passenger side of one of them.

Long story short, this is a three car accident, where two of the cars were parked and the respective drivers weren't even thinking about operating them. All the fault was clearly with the driver of the Land Cruiser. A police report was filed.

For as cut and dry as that case was, the other driver's insurance company tried to tell my insurance company that I was 20% at fault for the accident. According to them, I shouldn't have parked in my driveway.....Even with my insurance company fighting on my side, this took a considerable effort to get straightened out (and alot of forceful assertions along the lines of "I won't assume any responsiblity for this whatsoever".)

Maybe you'll have better luck, but there are really times that it's best to let the pro's do what we pay them for....to me, this sounds like one of those times.

Best of luck to you!

 

Man, that's outrageous! Glad that was resolved the "correct" way!

I had a lawyer once tell me that "law is what you boldly proclaim and cautiously defend." This looks like a perfect example of that maxim, though it seems carried a bit far in this case.

Maybe you can't blame them for trying!

 

Congratulations, Narf! What color?

 

Congrats!

Hopefully everything continues to work out for you.

 

Had a similar experience with a totaled BMW - in showroom condition - a few years ago. Told carrier:
1 - Unacceptable.....find me a BMW....same color, same mileage......within ten days.....pay for rental.....and planning to get attorney.
2 - pay $xxxx, which I deemed fair value.....
End result....they came back with offer within $400 of 2)....and as my attorney said " my fee will be more, take it".....I did, but insisted they tell me how they arrived at their earlier figure......which they explained as average of 3 area dealers and the local dealer "low balled" needless to say I will never go to that dealer .....Now have a 2007 #6 touring and am delighted! Good luck:juggle: