Fair-Market Prices For Your Totaled Cars
What does it mean if your car has been declared a “total loss”, and what are your options once that’s happened? What comes next and how do you get back to living your life like normal?
Fair-Market Prices For Your Totaled Cars
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Today, we’re going to give you quick answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about totaled cars — to help save your time and maybe get a little more money out of the whole process …
A car is determined to be “totaled” when it becomes more expensive to repair than the remaining book value of the vehicle. In some states, there are specific laws designating when a car becomes totaled. Alabama law dictates that a car becomes totaled when repairs exceed 75% of the vehicle’s remaining value, for example. So if you’ve got an $8,000 repair bill for a $10,000 car, it’s totaled. But those laws vary from state to state, and in many cases your insurer will decide.
Insurers are supposed to pay the "replacement value" for your vehicle. That is; how much it would cost to buy an exact copy of the car you were driving when you got into the accident. This is complicated with older cars, since no two older cars are quite the same. So an adjuster will look into similar makes & models, sale prices and use comparison prices from vehicles sold in your area to arrive at their price.
You can sometimes negotiate with the insurance company if you believe they’re not making a fair offer, but there’s not always much “wiggle room.” They’ll also subtract any deductibles or related costs that are pre-defined by your plan.
One thing to keep an eye out for is whether you can “owner retain” the vehicle. If you can, they’ll let you keep the totaled car but deduct the salvage price from your payout. Why would you want to do this? Because depending on the situation, you may be able to get more money selling the totaled vehicle on your own than allowing your insurer to salvage it.
Not necessarily. Instead it depends on the extent of the damage and the remaining value of your vehicle. There’s not always a clear-cut answer as to when any specific car will be considered totaled, so you should follow the standard post-accident procedure as follows:
Sometimes, depending on your vehicle, you might be “upside down” on the loan. That means you owe more money than your car is actually worth. This can be problematic if your vehicle gets totaled, since you’ll still owe your lender the difference between the loan amount and your car’s total value.
Gap insurance can help tremendously in the event of totaling your car while upside down on your mortgage, because it will pay the difference between the loan’s remaining amount and your car’s value—sometimes even covering your collision deductible (depending on the policy).
Like we mentioned above, it’s sometimes possible to negotiate with your insurer for a better payout on a totaled vehicle, but that can be an uphill battle. You could be stuck with the hassle of going back and forth for weeks with a big corporation that just wants to close out your account.
One of the best ways to get a slightly better payout from your totaled car is to opt for “owner retention” and find a buyer who’s willing to take on your totaled vehicle for a better price than salvage. This can sometimes be tough since private buyers won’t usually take on a totaled vehicle, but you can use the online pricing tool here at WeBuyTotaledCars to get an instant, guaranteed quote.
It takes just 90 seconds to find out what your totaled car is really worth, and if you like your price, we can send out a tow truck to pick up your vehicle for FREE within 24-48 hours!
Just click HERE to start with your free quote today …