First off my wife is a ok. Thats the most important part. She was rear ended today on I-95. The strange thing is that exactly on the same day last year I was rear ended in the Prius. Last time the damege was $4700 dollars. This time they got the rear end and the passenger side quarter panel. The hatch back is shot. The battery is toast. Bumper cover was left behind in the other persons car. The rear small window is shattered. The luggage compartment is all bent up. Makes me sick to think about dealing with the insurance companys again. After the last wreck I lost almost $8000 dollars in value on the car. Luckily I have proof of before the crash value this time. I tried to trade the car in back two months ago. Prius package 6 with 27500 miles on it was going to net me $14000 dollars. I am hoping this time they simply write it off as a total loss. I have gap insurance and well it would be just easier to go that route for me. Anybody gone through this route with there wrecked Prius?
Glad no one hurt. Does it drive ok? If so, take it to Autobeyours.com in IN and have Steve repair it and make it a plug in!
Based on another thread about salvage titled Prius here on the board, it appears the insurance companies are totaling Prius with what I consider to be very little damage (much less than in your picture). Last year your car was probably almost new. This year it's a year older (and, based on what you said, probably has more damage). I'm with you - hopefully they will just total it and you can start over with another Prius. I'll be rootin' for ya'!
Yow, that sucks. How'd it happen, i.e. any way it could have been avoided? . Are you sure the battery's toast? It's between the wheel towers and pretty well-protected, and survives some pretty nasty impacts in most of the cases we've seen go by. . _H*
Sorry to learn about your wife's accident Tazzboo. Hope everything turns out fine and she will be driving a new Prius soon. Most imortant is that your wife is OK. Good luck.
I'm very glad to hear your wife is OK. I'm assuming folks in the other car also are well. I have too much experience with insurance companies and body shops lately (4 collisions in 4 mos - combining my 2007 and 2010 Prius). Thankfully for me, no one has been hurt and the largest bill is the current one ($3,500 estimate). My current argument is that I be paid for the inherent diminished value even with the car fixed "like new." There is no doubt but that the vary information that my 2010 has been hit 3 times (all while not moving!) will devalue the car. We'll see what the latest insurance company says. Meanwhile, if you believe you can be made whole if your Prius is totalled, then go for it. And enjoy a 2010!!
No she was stopped on I-95. There was a wreck that had occured right in front of her she stopped short by like two or three feet in the middle lane. Well the guy behind her, well lets say he was to close and couldn't stop. It was a Dodge Durango. SMACK. We opened up the trunk with alot of force at the body shop and well looking inside the small 12v Start battery is smooshed pretty good in there. It didn't crack the case but I am sure it is going to be replaced due to the damage to it. In fact the right rear door won't even open now. It is wedged shut. Its hard to see in the pick but the door aft edge is bent up too. To top it all off the tow truck driver messed up the front bumper towing it. He used a chain up under the car, which bent up the front bumper and the lower black panel underneath. When I saw that I was like dude don't you know there is a bolt that goes in that little spot right there so you don't do that. He was like I have been towing for twenty years thats the way you do it. So the front bumper will have to be replaced to now. I will keep you all informed of the news. Thank You for your concerns about the little lady. Tazzboo
Well so far its not looking good for the total loss. They are trying to tell me the value of the car is $20000. So with the appriasal coming in around $10,055 thats less than the 75% to make it a total loss. Now you and I both know that I can't get $20,000 for a Wrecked Prius that has a Carfax report of damage repair. Even if it is a package 6 with all the goodies its just not going to happen. So I guess I will drive it till the wheels fall off or I get hit again next year! Any body know of any good info let me know.
Be sure and start talking settlement for the diminished value of the vehicle. AS you said, it's worth $20,000 and now you are entitled to be paid the difference of what it is wortjh and what you could get upon trade in after it is fixed. This could likely be within 3000-4000 dollars. to me, that's significant. The Durango owners policy should be paying for this.
Not to rain on anyone's parade here, but I've seen this urged over and over in this forum, but I'm skeptical that this ever works. Can someone provide actual, hands on experience that insurance companies respond to the "diminished value" claim with anything but a snort of laughter? My dealings with several collisions suggest that they will "make you whole" by fixing your car in the cheapest way possible, then walk away. To keep this a bit on-topic: I saw (out of the corner of my eye) a Prius rear-ended last week about 200 yards ahead of me and one lane to my right in San Jose on 101. My first thought was: looked like a big splash of water and I wondered where THAT came from. Then I realized that it was the safety glass showering the roadway. At once an impressive and painful sight! I was wondering if the driver was a fellow PC'er. If so, my condolences! And I hope you all get the diminished value, but I won't hold my breath on that one!
Still fighting with insurance to get them to total loss the car. So far no luck I had to get my insurance involded just to get a rental car. As far as your question on diminished value and wether or not they pay out. Well last year when I was rear ended in the very same Prius. The insurance company paid me on top of fixing the car $2000.00 in dimished value. The car dimished more than that, but thats all I could get with out getting a lawyer involved. The laywer would have taken a third of what ever I got. So I cut and ran. So yes you can if you are presistant get diminshed value if its not your fault. It took me three months to get that out of the other insurance company with being a VERY VERY SQEAKIE wheel in there ear.
So, actually, they paid you $2K to go away and leave them alone. I'll remember that! Apparently I tend to accept the first settlement offer too easily! Hmmm, I suppose the 33% to a lawyer could be worth it if he could get you more than 3K diminished value. I still think the diminished value argument must hold only in special circumstances, like the car is less than a year old (particularly, you just bought it yesterday): then you have a stronger case. For a 3 year old car like mine, it's probably not worth pursuing. Well, I hope I don't have to find out!
Rent a car from say Hertz and have an accident. Then let me know if they don't not only charge you for each day the car was out of service getting repaired but diminished value. They do both.
he is right dont sign anything till you get a check for diminished value and if they say they dont do that ask for a new adjuster... I use to work as a adjuster, and I would make a nice bonus by keeping the costs low.... you can get it on any
If it is someone elses fault, yes go after the diminished value. If it is your fault and you are going after your own insurance, good luck. Believe me, most collision shops will not even give you a quote on diminished value, as they are afraid of losing their "preferred" shop status with the insurance companies. A "preferred" shop is a shop an insurance company may "steer" you to as they are known to cut costs to save the insurance company any money at all, using re-conditioned or aftermarket parts instead of OEM parts. If you go to trade in your car, they will spot any aftermarket parts like a non OEM fender, hood etc, and they will give you a lot less trade in. a deer ran into my Prius earlier this year. My own insurance, of course. Called the insurance company at 7:00 AM Called my collision shop at 8:00 AM 9:00 AM the adjuster was trying to hand me a check, before my collision man looked at the car. I refused the check, told them I want my shop paid directly. Car went in for repairs and I received a check in the mail before it was done. I called complained, and returned the check to them. Costs were slightly higher than the original adjusters quote. They wanted an aftermarket fender, and a re-conditioned headlight. On my 6 month old car. My collision man went and worked it out, but not before I reamed the insurance company a new one and started talking "diminished" value with the aftermarket fender, and my question about if the re-conditioned headlight faded and did not match the other in a year or so if they would replace it. Of course not, 90 day warranty! I did get what I wanted, but my shop and I had to fight for it.
When a Prius is in a front end collision repair can be VERY expensive because of the hybrid system. however, a rear end collision such as this in really no different then any other car to fix. You proably can get about $8000 for it on Ebay as is, so if you could sell if for that it might be better to take the $10,000 payout and get a new one.
