I wanted to post some details on how I managed to get 22% more for our totalled car from insurance, in case it is helpful for anyone else in the future.
I'll admit up-front, I'm no expert in how insurance companies typically behave, and my experience may not be indicitive of how yours is/was handled, so take it for what it's worth... a tip.
As mentioned, we were in a wreck recently that totalled our car.
Other driver admitted fault and we had a claim with their insurance accordingly.
Our car has a branded title (was branded when we bought) which meant after they crunched their numbers based on similar cars in the area, we lost an additional 30%!
I get it, branded = bad, but still... 30%!
So we got an offer for $2,881.88
Tip 1 - Ask to see the math
I asked for a copy of the data they used in performing the comparison.
We were on pretty good terms with the adjuster (very amicable) so I requested to see the calculations she used just so I could guage how she came up with the offer she got.
I expected to see some really shady math going on, but once I had the spreadsheet in hand, it all actually lined up for what they were considering.
They took into account difference in mileage, and feature parity.
But their spreadsheet showed me they neglected to take into consideration certain upgrades I put into the car - which leads us to Tip 2.
Tip 2 - Submit recepits for enhancements/upgrades
Your feelings on what a vehicle is worth is arbitrary.
I 'feel' my car is worth a million bucks because 'reasons'.
Receipts are quantifiable though.
We live in a snowy state, so we had snow tires on the car.
Snow tires (much like most tires) are not cheap.
So I submitted a receipt for the $650 in tires I would have to replace since they were with the car.
Now technically, I could probably have asked for them to let me go take them off the car, but since I didn't know about the wheels fitting the new car we got, I just asked for $ to cover replacements.
I also submitted a receipt from the $150 stereo we put in.
Now I didn't get a 1:1 payback on these items, but the adjuster did give me 80% value which was great for the tires, but kind of bullshit for the stereo (stereos life expectancy is not depleted 20% in 8 months... but oh well). From these items, I got a new offer of $3460. - Better
Tip 3 - Ask for more.
Frankly, the new offer of $3460 was way better than I anticipated being able to get, but what I expected they'd offer was still not in line with what I felt was fair considering we weren't at fault, and I couldn't just 'replace' the car we had lost for the amount on the table.
By the end of the discussion, I simply asked for more money.
"Is there anyway we could do $3500? I would feel that $3500 is a fair amount for the vehicle."
Now, they can't just arbitrarily slap extra money on, they have to account for the amount.
But by telling the adjuster what amount would get me to settle, she went back and tweaked some amounts in her formula.
Final offer: $3,518.18
Increase over initial offer ~22%.
I'm sure someone will have a story about this not working for them, but for anyone else who this might help, I hope it does.
Submitted January 30, 2017 at 04:03PM by Shorshack http://ift.tt/2kLqDvE
