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There are
several standard guidelines for determining the value of your car for
insurance purposes. You and your insurer can refer to one of the Blue
Books, which list the depreciated value of all new and used cars. One
Blue Book is published by the National Association of Automobile Dealers
( http://www.nada.com
). The other is published by Kelley Blue Book of Irvine California (
http://www.kbb.com ).
When you file your claim, your insurance company will refer you to a
claims adjuster. The adjuster will verify the loss and determine what it
will cost to repair the car. The adjuster’s estimate can serve as a
benchmark to which to compare your own mechanic’s estimate.
No good adjuster or insurance company will expect you to sign an
agreement accepting the insurer’s estimate as the total claim payment
until you’ve established, to your own satisfaction, that it will cover
the cost of repair. The insurer will expect you to get your own estimate
from your mechanic, garage or car dealer. Don’t allow yourself to feel
pressured into accepting the insurer’s estimate of repair costs without
getting at least one estimate of your own.
Your insurance company can’t require you to have repairs done at a
particular shop. But they can insist that you get more than one estimate
for the work to be done on your car. Just as you want to make sure that
your car is adequately repaired, the insurer wants to make sure it
doesn’t pay a grossly inflated repair bill.
Don’t be surprised if your insurance company opts to pay for the lowest
bid. You don’t have to accept that bid if you believe the low bid won’t
adequately repair your car. Don’t hesitate to argue with the adjuster if
you really believe his repair estimate is too low based on what your
mechanic has told you.
One factor that could reduce the amount of your claim for a repair job
is what insurance companies call betterment. If your old car is repaired
with brand-new parts, your insurer may argue that the repairs have
actually enhanced the car’s value and therefore they can legitimately
reduce your claim by the difference between a used part and a new one.
It is up to your insurer to decide whether to pay for repairing your car
or to declare it a total loss and pay you its book value. Most standard
auto policies will not pay to repair a vehicle if the repairs cost more
than the cash value assigned to the car. There won’t be any dispute
about whether to repair the car if it was completely totaled. But you
may argue about what the pieces of the car were worth when they were
assembled as a car. For you to get a settlement higher than the Blue
Book value of your car’s make and model, you will have to submit
evidence such as mileage records, service history and affidavits from
mechanics to show that your car was worth more. You’re entitled to the
market price of the car you just lost. You shouldn’t get more or less
than what you are due.
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