Last week my wife and children were involved in a car accident through no fault of her own and it looks near certain insurance will determine it to be a total loss, which is crazy as the damage from the outside doesn't look very severe at all.

The vehicle is a 2018 Pacifica Limited, with pretty much all the extras, and about 109,000 miles in excellent condition other than the accident damage.

The pre-disassembly repair estimate was about $8800, and per the body shop that was at the 80% threshold for potential total loss. The revised estimate after the teardown is north of $16,000. That came in late Friday, so I haven't heard from insurance yet, but I don't see how it doesn't get written off, which I did not want.

This is the 3rd vehicle in a row to loose to an total loss, non-fault accident, and frankly I wasn't wanting to go down this path again. We lost both our primary vehicles within 36 hours of each other in 2022, I think, and it was quite stressful and exhausting to fight my own freaking insurance company on valuation (AAA). I'm certainly not looking forward to doing it again.

To top it off, there is a chance the at-fault driver is not insured. The officers who responded told my wife that one of the three involved parties was uninsured and would be cited, but he wouldn't say if it was the at-fault or the other 'victim'. I hope the other victim so we don't get stuck with the deductible on our end.

I know from experience last time that AAA will only consider the exact same model plus/minus one model year when it comes to determining value. As they explained to me last time, my insurance handles our loss up front and then seeks reimbursement via subrogation after the fact.

Wish me luck and send any pointers over!

Having just went through this, wishing you luck.
I'm currently just waiting to sign the settlement papers so they can pay the bank then pay me.
In my case, 3 of the 4 cars involved were all with Progressive, so I couldn't even get my own carrier to go after theirs.

I did a fair bit of research on my car, and contested their initial valuation.

I'm glad there was no serious injury.

Perhaps keep your eye out for a gently used Odyssey or Sienna (pre-PHEV powertrain).

Glad everyone is ok. We never had a claim on our insurance until we had two different vehicles totaled with in a year. My son and daughter both college age kids at the time were driving. My son’s was more severe with side curtain airbags being deployed and the vehicle doing its job. I will say, my insurance company was fantastic to deal with considering the circumstances. Both vehicles came in valued above what I expected, no haggling, and they were very quick to reimburse. Very sorry that you have to fight your own insurance, that’s not right.

If it's not your fault you shouldn't have to pay the deductible if it's covered under uninsured motorist. Only you don't have uninsured motorist coverage then it would have to be under your collision coverage and the deductible would apply.

It does indeed suck. If one of my vehicles gets totaled by an idiot out on the streets, I know I’m out $10k or more because of what they are going to give me for mine. I drive as little as possible now. And that really sucks when your passion is driving and riding motorcycles. We live in a perma-Covid world now where people’s brains are fried. Their attention span is so short, they can’t just drive and be focused on the road. Fries and phones and phones are 90% of that equation. Best of luck to you.

Hopefully it turns out well for you, I have never been in that situation. Houston area drivers are terrible, but one thing that has helped me the most in my driving is taking a MSF (motorcycle safety foundation) course when I was 16. Some of the things taught there have helped me to avoid accidents that would not have been my fault, but would have been very bad. Expecting other drivers to do dumb stuff goes a long way.

Take them to small claims court to try to recover your deductible and any other unreimbursed losses. CA allows settlements up to $12,500.


They may not have any money - but it will be a PIA for them.

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
If it's not your fault you shouldn't have to pay the deductible if it's covered under uninsured motorist. Only you don't have uninsured motorist coverage then it would have to be under your collision coverage and the deductible would apply.

Uninsured coverage isn't all it's cracked up to be, although that may vary by state.
Years ago I was hit buy an uninsured and found out that it was treated (by insurance)like an at fault accident.
I had to pay the deductible plus they dinged my policy to raise my rates the next year. Yes, I checked to be sure that's why.
When I checked around to potentially switch (I had Liberty Mutual at the time), the competitors also treated me like I had a recent claim/at fault accident.
Another insurance company scam.
I went to court when the guy was there for the accident itself thinking that might give me more leverage to collect. Complete waste of time. He had nothing, was getting a divorce, etc.

Been there, done that as well.

From 2015 to 2020, we had three vehicles totaled as well. First one was ruled as my wife's fault, but I disagreed and provided documentation to show our side; no-fault was eventually decided. Other 2 were direct fault of other drivers. USAA insurance took care of us for the most part, but I had to stay on them to ensure that things went as they should. Not really slamming USAA, but the quality of their Customer Service isn't what it used to be.

I’m sorry that happened to you. Thankfully no injuries. It’s remarkable how fast an accident can happen. One minute you’re going along peacefully, then in an instant it all changes. Happened to us on vacation last summer. We were struck from behind by a speeding distracted driver. I never saw him coming.

A Chrysler with 110k miles?? I’d take the insurance money.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

Uninsured coverage isn't all it's cracked up to be, although that may vary by state.
Years ago I was hit buy an uninsured and found out that it was treated (by insurance)like an at fault accident.
I had to pay the deductible plus they dinged my policy to raise my rates the next year. Yes, I checked to be sure that's why.
When I checked around to potentially switch (I had Liberty Mutual at the time), the competitors also treated me like I had a recent claim/at fault accident.
Another insurance company scam.
I went to court when the guy was there for the accident itself thinking that might give me more leverage to collect. Complete waste of time. He had nothing, was getting a divorce, etc.

My wife was hit by a driver running a stop sign. Other driver was uninsured. My insurance paid for the car and injuries, and refunded the deductible. Of course, my MIL is an insurance adjustor for another company and gave me the information I needed to speak the language to insist that the claim was paid correctly.

It sounds like your insurance company settled it incorrectly, and you probably could have taken them to court instead if the other driver was entirely at fault.

When they wanted to take my "totaled" car,
That was not even close to being totaled.
I said no way.

I reduced the amount that they offered by $10.00 and kept the dinged vehicle.

3 months later another moron ran into me.
Again their insurance claimed it was "totaled"

Again not even close , totally drivable.

I reduced the offer they made by ten dollars, kept the car they wanted to scrap.

I kept driving that twice dinged vehicle for another three years.

Once the shop began removing parts they uncovered more damage, almost doubling the repair estimate and pushing it well over the totaled threshold. Not surprised, I suppose. It really is a shame, I truly dislike having my hand forced.

The first settlement offer from insurance has come in and it is better than I feared it would be, perhaps just a bit short. 8-10% short, maybe. Closer starting point than I would have guessed.

Unfortunately, the timing is just terrible... We have a ton going on that is demanding attention and trying to rush through this process is not something I wanted to deal with now, but I suppose that is the way it goes sometimes.

I managed to obtain the police report today which unequivocally states that the other driver is at fault, and apparently, they even cited that driver for a vehicle code infraction. so that is good. The opposing adjuster hasn't yet accepted full liability, hoping to see something on the traffic camera that might change the equation a bit. He won't but I can't blame the guy for doing due diligence. My insurance has sent notice that they want the rental car returned by Tuesday. That isn't ideal for me... as we said, we don't have all the time to deal with this now.

We'll do the best we can and get it done anyway.

This is terrible and can only be avoided in the future by being the most defensive driver one can be. Just trying to give you and her some darn good advice. As has been posted above, people are fooked any more when it comes to driving. I had a friend back in NY State who always drove like a raped ape. He was older and could afford big cars like shiny new Chevy Suburban. He T boned a lady once because he was going to fast to avoid hitting her. He laughed as he told me he put her in the hospital. One of her beasts was torn off. I failed to see the humor in that and nearly lit into his old fucker ass. That's the world we live in so, learn to drive with the utmost in safety...savvy ?

My insurance company just dropped me because of three accidents in 3 years, 2 of which were not our fault, and almost no damage, and the other was in a company car that isn't even insured through them, and was only very minor.

So pay for your insurance, but don't you dare use it. Legalized theft is all it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
My insurance company just dropped me because of three accidents in 3 years, 2 of which were not our fault, and almost no damage, and the other was in a company car that isn't even insured through them, and was only very minor.

So pay for your insurance, but don't you dare use it. Legalized theft is all it is.

The previous incidents happened July 4, 2021 and July 6, 2021. I was driving in both cases, and yes, I was quite skittish to drive for quite a while after that. The second one especially where I got rear-ended at a very significant speed while I was stopped. Rates were unaffected in those cases as we were clearly not at fault (despite some initial lies by the other driver in the first incident). I had to fight with my insurance pretty hard on the value of my truck (it was a 20 year old F150) but they came in at a reasonable number on the other car.

Then last year, or maybe 2024? We had a home claim, same insurance company. They basically were on the hook for a new kitchen, minus appliances and some low-dollar (relatively) mold mitigation. That overall experience was quite smooth from an insurance point of view.

In other words, my insurance company has surely paid out for me. I suspect this claim and one of the previous vehicle claims both had/will have property damage limits in play from the at-fault, so my insurance isn't getting it all back from someone else.

This morning I went through the valuation report and while they correctly accounted for every premium feature in my car (essentially all of them), NONE of the comps matched. Not even close. They didn't have some of the most important premium features at all. So I expanded the geographic area and actually had to go nationwide before find 6ish vehicles that are truly comparable. Mileage on two is close, on the third is way off, so I figured some adjustments for that (8 cents a mile value as a middle of the road per google) and shot back a counter offer, including what I believe to be reasonable travel expenses as these cars are NOT local to me. 2 of the 3 are greater than 2000 miles away, but they truly are the comparably equipped cars. After taking the average of those 3 I am asking for 35% more than their offer. I don't expect to get it, but I'll fight for it because I think it is fair and it is what I'm due per California regulations.

We'll see how it goes. Only thing I can do its try.