Business & Finance

I had a deer basically land in my face Monday on the way home from work. There was a good amount of damage done to the roof, drivers door and of course the front windshield. From what everyone has told me ( and my belief as well) the car should be totaled. Since it was a Saturn and Saturn recommended the collision center I let the car be towed there to be worked on. The collision center works hand in hand with the insurance company...doing the estimate, photos and everything. They say that they want to cut the roof off and put on a new one, replace both the front and rear windshield, the drivers mirror, and all of the other work as well. The "A" Pillar has been damaged as well and needs to be "Fixed" from what the collision center said. They want to chop into it and re weld it instead of replacing it. I am totally against having the top chopped because of the reduction in the structural integrity in the case of a future roll over.

This is the first time I have ever had to file. The accident happened at about 4:50pm after the claims center was closed. I got a hold of the 1800# to file the claim and had to call back the next day. I called for over 4 hours before talking to my claims rep. After she got the information and sent for a tow truck that was the last I heard from her. I called back with more questions...but no answer. I then took Wed. off of work to deal with the issue again and failed to get a hold of her until. I left the last message about noon stating that I was getting pissed and she called me back within 3 Min's. After that I stated my concerns with the copped top integrity issues as well as some other issues the collision center was failing to address. She forwarded my claim to a new "Field Rep". He called yesterday at about 3;50pm before closing and asked what issues I had and that he had little information about why it was transferred to him. I haven't heard from them since. Any help? Pictures are at....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7578&id=100000254468178&l=c0049c1193

The collision center estimated a cost of about $3800 so far and that is without having to fix/replace the A pillar. The car's Fair Market Value is estimated to be about 6800. So that brings the total to about 56% of FMV without even tearing into the car. The collision center also refused to do a tear down when I asked of the surrounding area to see if there is any other unseen damage to to the impact, as well as basically refused to check the suspension as well...stating they did not have a just reasoning to perform the work. I feel that they are fishing for ways to keep cost down so it doesn't get totaled out just so they can make money off me. I don't think I would feel safe driving it with my kids in the car afterwords. Could I possibly require a certificate of certification for the welders and a guarantee that if the weld doesn't hold in a roll over they will be liable if they will not total?

You can't require a certificate from the welders. You have no right to demand that they make up paperwork.

You DO have the right to pay the hourly labor rate yourself, to have whatever you want torn down and inspected, and put back together. Especially if they don't find damage, you're never going to get reimbursed for that, though.

Totalled means, the cost to FIX the car is more than the value of the car. You're not even close, with $3800 and a deer collision.

But to directly answer your question, yes, if your vehicle is FLOOD damaged, it can be totalled out even if the damages are under the value of the car, if the electrical system is under water.

If you're not comfortable driving around in that car, you can sell it after it's fixed up.

Ok here is how it works. At this point, the collision center knows for certain the costs to repair your auto is around 56%, but they will know based on the impact and damages that other things they may suspect "are hidden" and most likely damaged and will need repaired also.

The cost for a tear down can be expensive and they are waiting for the adjuster to agree to pay or not. The adjuster will talk to the collision center and get his "best estimate" of the total costs to fix your car. So if I calculate right, the max they can pay to fix your auto is about $1,300 more or $5,100. So if the shop thinks that they can get parts that will fall w/in the price plus labor/paint/materials etc w/in that range, then most likely your adjuster will agree to the tear down to verify no other problems. But say the collision guy states that based on the damages (with deers they do enormous damages to vehicle), I can anticipate this and this plus this is most likely will be damaged, they will not tear down and just total out your vehicle since they suspect that the total amount of your damages could be around $6,000, which by law in most states they have no choice to total it, since the law states 75% of the value of your car.

I know you are frustrated, but the adjuster and the collision center are trying to do their job. When I did claims for over 10 years, it was not uncommon to get between 30 to 50 phone calls a day plus phone messages to call back.

Right now, believe it or not, the insurance company would prefer to fix your car vs totaling it. But they have to follow the law and verify all will be fixed and safe. And if they are pretty sure they cannot do w/in the $5,100 to fix, they will have no choice but to total your car.

good luck