Does anyone know what the value of the vehicle is based on if the insurance company determines it to be totalled?

The reason for the question is that there is a huge difference in the bluebook value of my crunched 4 Runner.

For a 1998 4 Runner in excellent condition (which it was) with 33000 miles, the "trade in" value is $16,900 while the "retail value" is $23,850....

Hence my concern if they decide to total it out. I know if it were in pre-crash condidtion I could easilly have sold it for $21-$22k.... Im just afraid they are going to try to give me $16-17k for it.....

Can I make them fix it if they want to total it and screw me on the value?

 

I think the criteria is that it will cost the insurance more to fix it than to total it. I had a 96 Honda Civic EX with 155,000+ miles on it. They gave $9100 for it!!!!!!! I say I made out like a bandit!!! I think they gave me full retail blue book!!!! I have AAA insurance, and they seem to be really fair!!!!! Don't worry too much right now, get the wifey healthy and let the insurance do their job.

 

I believe its 65+% value, then they total it of course they count in miles as a devaluation aspect. So if your car is worth 16,000 perfect condition and avg mileage then if you do like 10,000 in damage they cut you a check for 16,000 or 15,000 if you have high mileage etc.

 

more like 75-80% value to total. the ins. company should give you fair market value for your car. meaning what it would cost to replace it in your area, somewhere between low and high book. my '90 accord was totalled in oct., and i made $1400 on it. paid $3000 and they cut me a check for $4400. good luck, and don't settle until your satisfied.

 

I had a 1997 4 Runner limited edition, 4wd. when it got totaled back in Jan 2000 (i'm not a fault), the other person's insurance gave me a check for $30,000 for the 4 runner. I would expect you to get back more than 16K-17K.

 

AS may be inferred from some of the posts here, there are a few items that are going to impact the "calcs".


1. (Most mystical first) If it is a car you really want to keep, chances are the folks will figure out a way to do the math to not fix the vehicle. If you don't really want it, they will probably want to fix it. (This behavior seems to be a matter of how "cheezy" the insurance company is...).

2. The retail to wholesale bluebook values along with the regional values will play a large part in how the value is figured. There is also the reputation and cost of the insurance company with some (like AAA) seeming to go the extra mile to help. The cheaper insurance companies will try and low-ball you at every turn and will sometimes adjust their behavior if an injury is involved and/or know that you have an attorney that is connected to every orfice of the local and state government (read that as you please).

3. There is what I call "messy" fixups... If the price of "fixing" a car is near the total amount, but there are a large number of questions that could keep jacking the price of the job up (do to intangibles), the company will probably just take a pass on fixing the car. If the company has their "own" shops and has a policy that allows them to use non-factory parts, they can work the "totalled price" to allow them to "force" you to get an "unfixable" car fixed.

Perhaps I've gotten too cynical, but I've seen more cars that should have been fixed, totalled out *and* cars that had no business being fixed, getting a "full frame straightened" and rebuild at 110% of retail blue book (their figures, not showing the "real" costs, etc)...


So, it depends...

 

Thanks for all the replies...

I guess the bottom line is that my wife really loved the 4 Runner and we took very good care of it.... We have had it for almost 5 years and it only has 33k miles....
The interior is perfect, we just had the thing serviced, just replaced the breaks + rotors, etc.... We also have a big black lab and need something to cart him around in as he is NOT riding in the Acura. SO, we really want the truck, but I dont want it to be fixed if it should really be totalled. I dont want something that I am going to have problems with in the future or that I wouldnt be able to sell. But it seems with these things that there is such a huge difference (7000) between retail and trade in values that they could really screw me. We have state farm so hopefully they wont try anything fishy and just give me what it would take to replace the truck with one in the same condition.... about 24k...

I guess we will see, they are going to look at it today...
does this look totalled to you or fixable?
[IMG]C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\Dsc00171.jpg[/IMG]

 

btw, there was quite a bit of engine damage that you cant see cause they pounded the hood down to tow it...