Woman hit my car, insurance company is being weird about it

[Eeezee]

So on Friday this 85 year old woman crosses 3 lanes of traffic and smashes the back of her car into the front passenger side of my car. The police officer that came by told me that the she was being found at fault and that it'd say so on the police report. Naturally in California the police report doesn't actually say anything about who is at fault or even what happened, I just have a report number to give to my insurance company.

My right turn signal doesn't work, there's a dent in the fender, and the parking light on that side is gone (the bulb and the colored plastic part need replacing). My bumper doesn't seem to have taken any damage. The car is otherwise in good working condition, and it's been maintained very well. It's a '95 Camry with 72000 miles on it and in pristine working order.

My insurance company is talking about totaling the car if the damage exceeds the price of the car. Does that make sense? My insurance company shouldn't have to pay anything to fix the car since she was found at fault by the police officer. Her insurance is USAA and according to my assessor they haven't claimed fault yet, but should since the accident report states that she was found at fault.

Shouldn't the insurance companies have to pay to completely fix my car? I don't want to just take a cash check, I just want to get my car fixed. I've taken a look under the hood and everything looks fine, this has been a purely aesthetic problem. My insurance has given me a rental car to use in the meantime since I can't drive without a turn signal.

Can anyone with more experience at this tell me why my insurance company is talking about totaling my car? It doesn't make any sense, they're not the ones that have to pay right?

Cliffs
- Woman hit my car
- Police officer found her at fault
- My insurance is talking about totaling my car despite minimal damage
- My car is a 95 camry
- Why is my insurance company talking about totaling my car? I thought they wouldn't even have to pay anything to fix it, since the woman that hit my car was at fault.

 

[Tobolo]

They have to pay for the car. If the repairs to the car cost more than the car is worth then they will "total" it. At that point you would get a check and you would have to turn over the car. If you want to keep the car, you can refuse the money, but then you are on your own to fix it.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

have you seen this report and confirmed for yourself that he stated the other driver was at fault?
was the other driver cited?

 

[smack Down]

Your insurance company is talking about totaling your car because you are talking to them about filing a claim under your collision insurance. They would then sue the woman driver to recover their costs. Make the claim against the other driver insurance policy directly.

If you don't want them to total, you need to get an estimate that is lower then the state threshold for totaling your car. Your other option is to let them total your car and then buy it back, but you will no longer have a clean title.

Edit: Also you are under no legal obligation to get your car repair you can take the cash for the damages and not get your car fixed.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Tobolo
They have to pay for the car. If the repairs to the car cost more than the car is worth then they will "total" it. At that point you would get a check and you would have to turn over the car. If you want to keep the car, you can refuse the money, but then you are on your own to fix it.

That's not true, you can let them total the car, take the check, and buy it back with a salvage title and fix the minimal damage yourself (or at a trusted shop)

 

[Aharami]

I had a bitch of a time dealing with USAA when someone with that ins hit me. IMO USAA is very good to their customers but a dick to others

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Aharami
I had a bitch of a time dealing with USAA when someone with that ins hit me. IMO USAA is very good to their customers but a dick to others

Isn't that what you want from insurance companies.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Aharami
I had a bitch of a time dealing with USAA when someone with that ins hit me. IMO USAA is very good to their customers but a dick to others

Isn't that what you want from insurance companies.

not when their client is completely at fault. The police report said that w/o a doubt. They had no reason to give me all the crap they did. They wanted me to get my car repaired only at the shop they work with. The thing is, their shop was grossly overestimating the damage which would have made the car a total loss. I got estimates at two different shops and repairs would have been significantly less. Makes no sense why they insisted on the most expensive estimate. Was a huge inconvenience because that was my only car and I couldnt have it totaled. But whatever...I took it to their shop. But I had some expensive audio components installed in my car. I wanted to take them out and swap out for stock speakers/head unit which I still had. They wouldnt let me. The were offering me 1/10 the market value of the parts I wanted to swap out. Took a call from my lawyer before they finally let me take my audio stuff out and swap in stock parts

 

[Semidevil]

the other insurance company is not wanting to accept fault because
1) they are still in the process of their investigation(still need to verify the facts with their driver.

or

2)their driver told them a different story that sounds like you are at fault, so they are preparing to deny you.

If you get your car repaired through your own insurance, they will almost always pick the most cost effecient method to bring you back to 'preloss' condition. so if it is cheaper to total, they will total it.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Aharami
not when their client is completely at fault. The police report said that w/o a doubt. They had no reason to give me all the crap they did. They wanted me to get my car repaired only at the shop they work with. The thing is, their shop was grossly overestimating the damage which would have made the car a total loss. I got estimates at two different shops and repairs would have been significantly less. Makes no sense why they insisted on the most expensive estimate. Was a huge inconvenience because that was my only car and I couldnt have it totaled. But whatever...I took it to their shop. But I had some expensive audio components installed in my car. I wanted to take them out and swap out for stock speakers/head unit which I still had. They wouldnt let me. The were offering me 1/10 the market value of the parts I wanted to swap out. Took a call from my lawyer before they finally let me take my audio stuff out and swap in stock parts

...so you DID take the check, let them total it, and then buy back the salvage title and fix it yourself, right?

 

[Kelemvor]

You shouldn't even mention this to YOUR insurance company at all. There's no reason to since she was at fault and her ins company will be footing the bill. Tell your ins co to never mind and you aren't filing a claim and contact HER ins co and find out when they will come to see your car to pay for the damages.

DOn't have any work done until her company agrees to it though or you'll be screwing yourself over possibly.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Tobolo
They have to pay for the car. If the repairs to the car cost more than the car is worth then they will "total" it. At that point you would get a check and you would have to turn over the car. If you want to keep the car, you can refuse the money, but then you are on your own to fix it.

partly correct...then you wouls take her to court to settle this.....
We had to do that with mom`s car!!

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
You shouldn't even mention this to YOUR insurance company at all. There's no reason to since she was at fault and her ins company will be footing the bill. Tell your ins co to never mind and you aren't filing a claim and contact HER ins co and find out when they will come to see your car to pay for the damages.

DOn't have any work done until her company agrees to it though or you'll be screwing yourself over possibly.

The police officer told me that by law I had to inform my insurance company of what happened.

My assessor has been fairly cool so far, but it's like what you and others have said; it sounds like I'm claiming with my insurance company and that they'd try to get the cash back from USAA.

But it sounds like dealing with USAA would be a huge pain in the ass even though this woman is at fault. I really don't want to do that. I believe my insurance is going to go up regardless of whether I make a claim through my company. As such, it's probably easier to just file a claim with my insurance. I use Progressive and so far they have been giving me excellent service. It's as they said, I can keep the car even if they want to total it and they'll give me a check for the value of the car minus the salvage bid.

I've checked the blue book value on my car, if I brought it into the dealership (where it will be worth less than if I sold it on the market) it would be worth $6000. The damage is purely cosmetic and fairly minor. I would be very surprised if it took more than $2000 to repair the car. I've found the part I need to repair my turn signal and it's literally $2.50. I could probably hammer out the dent fairly easily. The parking light is probably another few dollars. I've already wiped off the paint damage with a rag.

So at worst I have to replace the plastic colored part that houses my parking light (probably get it for cheap at a salvage yard) and the bumper (again, cheap at a salvage yard)? Do I even have to replace the bumper if I don't see any damage to it?

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
You shouldn't even mention this to YOUR insurance company at all. There's no reason to since she was at fault and her ins company will be footing the bill. Tell your ins co to never mind and you aren't filing a claim and contact HER ins co and find out when they will come to see your car to pay for the damages.

DOn't have any work done until her company agrees to it though or you'll be screwing yourself over possibly.

The police officer told me that by law I had to inform my insurance company of what happened.

My assessor has been fairly cool so far, but it's like what you and others have said; it sounds like I'm claiming with my insurance company and that they'd try to get the cash back from USAA.

But it sounds like dealing with USAA would be a huge pain in the ass even though this woman is at fault. I really don't want to do that. I believe my insurance is going to go up regardless of whether I make a claim through my company. As such, it's probably easier to just file a claim with my insurance. I use Progressive and so far they have been giving me excellent service. It's as they said, I can keep the car even if they want to total it and they'll give me a check for the value of the car minus the salvage bid.

I've checked the blue book value on my car, if I brought it into the dealership (where it will be worth less than if I sold it on the market) it would be worth $6000. The damage is purely cosmetic and fairly minor. I would be very surprised if it took more than $2000 to repair the car. I've found the part I need to repair my turn signal and it's literally $2.50. I could probably hammer out the dent fairly easily. The parking light is probably another few dollars. I've already wiped off the paint damage with a rag.

So at worst I have to replace the plastic colored part that houses my parking light (probably get it for cheap at a salvage yard) and the bumper (again, cheap at a salvage yard)? Do I even have to replace the bumper if I don't see any damage to it?

I also have progressive, and was involved in a non-at-fault accident last fall. When I spoke with my claims representative, he told me that I had two options:

1) File the claim under them, pay my deductible, have the car fixed, and while this is going on they'd attempt to recoup all costs from the other party's insurance...refunding my deductible if/when successful

2) Attempt to file with the other company directly

I chose to go with option 2, and luckily the other party's insurance company was very accommodating (sent me to a dealer for repairs, gave me a rental with no hassle, and even paid for the extension of the rental--again with no hassle--when the repairs took longer than expected).

All in all, I'd say tell Progressive that you're going to file directly with the other company. If it gets too hectic, as far as I know, you can always call Progressive back and re-open your claim.

 

[DainBramaged]

Originally posted by: smack Down
Your insurance company is talking about totaling your car because you are talking to them about filing a claim under your collision insurance. They would then sue the woman driver to recover their costs. Make the claim against the other driver insurance policy directly.

If you don't want them to total, you need to get an estimate that is lower then the state threshold for totaling your car. Your other option is to let them total your car and then buy it back, but you will no longer have a clean title.

Edit: Also you are under no legal obligation to get your car repair you can take the cash for the damages and not get your car fixed.

I bought my car back in Illinois and the title was not affected.

 

[soydios]

A friend of mine lightly rear-ended someone with his first-generation Toyota Prius. Everything looked fine, it all worked, but if you looked closely, the body gaps were off. The unibody of the car was bent. Watch out for that.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Aharami
I had a bitch of a time dealing with USAA when someone with that ins hit me. IMO USAA is very good to their customers but a dick to others

Isn't that what you want from insurance companies.

No, that's what the insurance companies want. If I hit someone and I'm at fault, I'm an honest person and I want everything to be squared away fairly. As a bonus, it means the person is less likely to try and sue the crap out of me when the check doesn't cover all the bills.

 

[mugs]

It doesn't matter whose insurance company is paying to fix it, they're not going to pay more than the car is worth.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Aharami
I had a bitch of a time dealing with USAA when someone with that ins hit me. IMO USAA is very good to their customers but a dick to others

Isn't that what you want from insurance companies.

No, that's what the insurance companies want. If I hit someone and I'm at fault, I'm an honest person and I want everything to be squared away fairly. As a bonus, it means the person is less likely to try and sue the crap out of me when the check doesn't cover all the bills.

But on the other hand if the insurance company can be enough of dick and avoid paying damages then your rates won't go up.

Edit: You can get sued once the other party accepts the check. And if you do get sued all the cost fall on your insurance company.

 

[Eeezee]

Well, apparently getting the police report to the insurance companies takes 3-6 weeks (Newport Beach police dept). So I've already finished the claim with Progressive. USAA is denying fault until they get the police report. The batty old woman was a real asshole so it's not wonder that USAA is trying to deny that she was at fault. No matter, once both companies have the police report I'll have my $1000 deductible back. Car is being repaired by Thursday and the damages were around $2000.

I'd rather have my car right now and let progressive get the money back from USAA and refund me. They've already set me up with a rental in the meantime. Good insurance company FTW

Progressive rules, just wish my rates weren't so high. That's the price I pay for good service.