If a insurance co total's a car out due to being old & not worth fixing, does the owner get to keep the car as well as any $ the insurance co gives?

Congrats on 13,000 posts!

I don't think you get to keep the car. When my old car was totaled, I did not get to keep it. It went to a yard.

How about if you offer to buy it back???

Normally they have a "buyout" amount. That amount can be deducted from the payout. When I totalled my first POS, it was $20 I think. I took some stuff off of it, then some company paid me $50 to take the thing away. Of course your insurance company could vary.

I believe it depends on the reason the car was deemed damaged, state laws and the insurer's practices.
For example, insurers will take a car totaled due to flood/water damage so that it does not show up on the market.
I had an insurer send me a check for the value of my first car (bought used) after a collision without taking title to it, so I kept the car and paid to repair it.

yeah, they usually give you a price to buy it back.


congrats on 13k


edit, please tell me your CL is ok

Generally they will set a "salvage amount" at which you can buy the vehicle back from the "total amount" proceeds. Then the vehicle is yours to do with as you please.

Didn't even notice the post count


Here's the issue...

My mom was stopped at a red light Tuesday with a car in front of her.
Guy in a lifted Jeep for some reason didn't want to stop for the light & then rear ended my mom which cause her to hit the car in front of her. The cops estimated the speed to be 25MPH. It was nuts, the light was red with traffic stopped for at least 20 seconds & the woman didn't even hit the brakes. Mom is ok, but her 95 altima was badly damaged front & rear.

The woman's insurance came out today & totaled the car. I looked up value & my mom will be lucky to get $2K for it. Well, there's a notice in the car now that a truck will be towing it away & it's a totaled car.

Doesn't make sense to me cause what are they going to do with it?

probably sell it to a junk/scrap yard

fuzzy im going through something similar right now. Two weeks ago I was in my lifted explorer and a 16yo girl rear ended me in her mom's mazda tribute. Sent me and my fiancee to the hospital in an ambulance. Luckily we are both mostly ok, just sore necks and back everyday. I have a huge class three hitch on the back of my truck which messed up the other vehicle but other than hitting my hitch she damaged my bumper. My truck was towed away and the insurance guy went and looked at it before I was able to pick it up or see it. He said he would get me a new bumper and have an alignment done. If there ends up being frame damage he would total the truck and only give me about 1K.
I have an appt next week to get the bumper fixed and the alignment done and im hoping the frame is ok because its worth ALOT more than 1K to me. This truck is no where near stock and they don't take those things into consideration.

Also if they try to lowball your mom get some ads from auto trader and such for similar cars and what they are selling for. My uncle got his insurance to double the amount they were offering him by showing that he couldn't replace the vehicle with the original amount

Yeah and listen to spdy. If that advice doesn't work, get some legal representation.

Ask the insurance company what the salvage value is, and tell them you want to keep it...

I bought back my 78 VW bus in the late 90's for the $200 salvage fee and parted it out for close to $2K.

You have to remember, if you buy the car back, they WILL NOT INSURE THE CAR!

Edit:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think liability ONLY.

You are able to do it as long as you can get it repaired and inspected. You will also have to get a salvage title for it.

It can be hard to get insurance on a vehicle with a salvage title, even if you just want liability. If the car isn't safe to operate (a fair assumption with a salvage title), the chances of hurting someone else in a car accident which your liability coverage would pay for are increased. Most companies don't want anything to do with a salvage title.

The only time I would try to keep a "totalled" vehicle would be a classic car that I'm going to rebuild. Try to get as much as you can for the car from the insurance company and call it a day.........

Not sure how it works in OH, but that isn't the case in Ontario. I have a 2004 Highlander w/ Salvage Title, and full insurance and no premium on it( and oddly enough, until 2008, I had full warrenty- not quite sure how that worked, but it never showed up in the Toyota system as a writeoff).

The only issue I have with the branded title is if I want to sell it, but since I saved a fortune on the buy side, not an issue. Maybe it is different depending on the reason for the writeoff( ours was hit on the passenger B pillar frame, which= automatic writeoff)

As for the Altima, get an average of 4 or 5 local ones and use that as your settle price

Probably depends on where you at. My insurance had me take my tl to a mechanic with a couple papers to get it check out. They mechanic has to look at everything. Airbags, shocks etc etc to mak sure its safe to drive. No issue insuring it. Only down fall is now if its ever totaled again i wont get full value. Just 50 - 60%. This is in california btw. Just besure if you are buying it back, it doesnt cost you too much to fix it. If its worth 2k and u buy it back say 200 and spend another 1000-1500 to fix it, thats stupid. I got about a little over 13 for my tl, boght it back for 1100 including taxes and spent about another 1200 on top and its alomst ready.

well ive had about 5 salvaged cars, and ive had full coverage on all of them with no problems, i think it does depend where you are

I'm not entirely sure how it works in the United States, but I believe the insurance company would allow you to buy the car back for an agreed amount prior to any monies being paid out. I do not know it there are specific guidelines for your or the other party's insurance company if this request is being made.

If you do go this route, however, negotiate with the insurance company. They may try to sell you back the car at an artificially high price, thus lessening the amount being paid out to you over the price of the salvage. You are not obligated to settle for the amount they deem to be appropriate. Have an independent appraiser determine the value of the car. It most likely will be less than the amount they claim.

Several years ago I had a motorcycle that was written off. The insurance company, realizing they could sell the motorcycle to a wrecker for an attractive price, were reluctant to allow me to buy the salvage. I got my attorney involved and they eventually relented. They then offered to sell it to me at what I considered to be a high price, forcing me to hire an independent appraiser. The appraiser determined the value substantially less than what my insurance company considered it to be. During this time I also had the bike towed from the insurance company's yard to my residence. As as I was concerned until they paid me out, it was still my property. My attorney assured me I was within my rights. Eventually they relented and sold it back to me at a reduced price and paid an additional cash settlement as well, this amount reflecting the value of the bike before it was damaged. The buggers initially tried to sell it to me as non-rebuildalbe salvage, but once again relented when my attorney became involved.

Long story short: Do NOT think you insurance company is looking out for your best interests. They are not.


Terry

They are taking the car. They offered $2600 for it. It's not horrible, but it's not great. idk what car she can get that is reliable for that. It sucks the altima only had 90K on it.

if that's their first offer, then go back to them, and explain about how the car has such low mileage, lady driven...blah blah blah..
see if they will give you a better second offer.
because they know that you have to sell the car to them, so why wouldn't they try getting it for the best price they can.
when i totalled my last car, the insurance company's first offer was about 5300 when i gave them a couple recent repair bills worth $500 and told them i had subs in the trunk they could have, they offered me 6300 for it.
worth a try IMO, but i don't know if your insurance company works the same way as mine does

There's NO dealing with this insurance CO. It's the other guys insurance. I talked to 3 management people & no one would go any higher. They offered to write the car off & give it to my mom & we can try to dump it. No way we would get close to the offer trying to sell a car that has this damage. The engine isn't even worth more the $700

Always turn down their first offer... what's the nada value on it ?? They should at least come close to that...

Also, if you provide them with recent ads for similar cars to prove value, you should be able to get their offer up close to replacement value. Tell 'em you just want to be able to get a altima w/ 90K miles on it.

I tried that. They are not buying it. The value isn't far off. I was expecting less. Got to remember that it's a 1995 car. Nothing that year has 90K miles on it.

Yeah, that sucks then... Perfectly good car ruined, and you can't get enough money to buy a suitable replacement...