Hey guys, this last friday night my maxima was t-boned at an intersection here in town. It was icy and I couldnt stop in time to avoid the accident. The other guy driving was my friend jason and he was driving his neon at about 45 miles per hour when he hit my driver side door. The side air bag deployed and im pretty sure that if it hadn't i wouldnt be here today. The problem now though is that I'm unsure what's going to happen with my insurance claim. Its a 2001 Maxima fully loaded with all options and 86000 miles. I looked up the value and it estimated it at 15,500. It's only my second car and I'm only 18 so I don't know how the insurance company will handle the claim. It's got about 10000 left on loan...so will the insurance company give me money to purchase a different vehicle or will they only give me enough to pay off the loan. It has full coverage. Im in college and I routinely have to drive trips in excess of 1000 miles, and my maxima was more than dependable. I loved that car and I would really like to get another one, but my question is...will the insurance company do that for me???

 

They give you a check for what its worth at the current time before the accident.

 

so theres no way they;ll cover the cost of me getting another 01 maxima

 

Nope, they cut you a check (if its actually totalled). You can get whatever you want with the $$ (including another 01 max).

 

if they give u a check for $15,000 you could buy a decent 2k2. i got my max for 13K way back in aug 2003 so....

 

the only thing is that theres still 10K on loan...not much you can do with 5000 dollars

 

yeah u are scrwed unless you part it out or fix it. sucks to hear it. so your friend hit you?

 

You will get 85% or something (depends on your state and local laws) of the value if its totalled and they take the car. If you choose to keep the car, you will get less money but you may be able to fix the car with the money you get and pay down some of the loan.

And if its his fault, his insurance will pay for it, not yours. If its your fault or deemed no one was at fault, your insurance will more than likely go up since you made a claim against it.

And they won't give you money beyond the value of the car to buy a new car. They will only pay for the damage done to yours or total it out.

Good luck, man. I know it sucks.

 

take the remaining $ and put it down on another car loan, hurry interest rates are rising!

 

pay off your loan, go find a 15K dollar car, put 5k down and finance 10k, your right where you started.

DUH, come on man, don't ask dumb questions.

 

The insurance company will only cover the value of the car it is totalled. Do you remember if you purchased any gap insurance when you first bought the car? That would cover the difference between what the insurance gives you and what you have left on the loan. If you did not, that difference is your responsibility. Good luck.

 

If the car is totaled and you have any mods, salvage anything that's still in good condition while it's still yours. The insurance company ain't gonig to cover any of that.

 

State Farm will cover any aftermarket part on the vehicle, provided you can show them proof of purchase. I am on my 2nd CF hood now thanx to State Farm. I got a radio stolen out of my Sentra, and they asked for a recepit, I didn't have it- but I had pictures of my car with the radio in it and showed them a Crutchfield catalogue with the same radio- got more $$$ than I even paid for it. Mom totalled our 95 Sentra GLE in 2000 and we got 9K bux for the car, it was paid off already and I remember the car was only 14,200 brand new. Ended up using the 9K on a downpayment on our 00 Altima GXE, ended up needing a loan for only 5K bux- car was 14K brand new. Wonderfull car, 5 years old and still runs like a champ, sometimes I regret not getting a 01 Altima SE 5spd and turbocharging it.

 

That is good to know. I have State Farm...

 

This is a little off topic...
but all you had to do was show them pics of your car to get the money???
becuase i don't have recepits for anything...since i got most of them on here..

 

Well I only did that with the radio, I had a pictures of my car from the side angle so you could tell its my black SE-R, and then interior pictures of my gauges that I just installed right below the HVAC controlls. I never thought I would need them for insurance reasons, but it helped out. I showed them the pictures, I had the serial number even- cause I keep all the boxes for years (my closet is full of Alpine boxes), and they just cut me a check. This was like 4-5 years ago. I got my car ran into by some dumb biatch in a dodge spirit, in my condo parking lot. I called the cops in the morning when I walked out to my car. I had nice gouges in the bumper and the grill was broken, my CF hood had a 1" chip right on the edge where it meets with the bumper/grille. State Farm paid for new bumper, repainting it- including painting the whole grill and the chrome surround black, and new CF hood. I just used the CF hood $$$ towards my 500 dollar deductible, since they considered it collision. Funny part is, this dumb biatch called the cops a week later to report I rammed her car with mine in the parking lot, but I took pictures of my car that it was PARKED that nite, and I had her tail light pieces all over the grill off my car. The cop ticketed her for hitting my car, and on top of that she had no insurance so she got arrested I dunno why she got arrested but they searched her car etc... whatever eighter way I got a VIS CF hood not too long ago cause of a small accident on the highway involving construction equippment hitting my car.

 

C'mon man... cut him some slack... he is only 18. Probably worked his assfault off to get that car.... The advice is good though...

 

I agree with him ^^^ and def some good advice just get another car thats worth 15K put down your 5K and finance 10K and its all good.

 

I've seen 02 Maximas (VQ35DE) for a low as $13,985 in my immediate area with several around the $15k mark.

 

pay of your current max with the money and use the rest as a down payment for another car

 

So your friend just happend to be going the other way and t-boned you? How ironic is that?

 

yeah i think ill end up putting that money down on a new car but im still unsure how much theyll give me. The guy in claims said they will go around and call different dealers that have a car with similar miles and options to get a price. I dunno how much my insurance will go up though, im actually really concerned because im a college student with very little money to spend above what i was already paying. I do love that car though and id definitely like to find another one. And as far as the irony...tell me about. I had talked to him previously that night and asked him if he wanted to ride over with me to our friends house and he said no....now i wish i wouldve forced him to ride with me. I am lucky though that him and I were friends. Not so sure anymore...but we'll see after it's all over and done with.

Brad

 

I'm just to let you know, "they" have absolutely no incentive to give you top dollar for your car. In fact, it makes better sense to give you as little as possible. You had better stop relying on their "research" and do some on your own. I'm talking the difference in the thousands of dollars.

 

Hey iam 16 and my 99 limited got totaled 3 weeks ago and jus last friday purchase a 2002 SE They will pay u full value for the car even more then you looked up my car was worth 9,080 i got 10,500 just now in the mail

 

Jeff 92 se is totally wrong ,What insurance is co is it>>>

 

WTF?? How???? Please tell me EXACTLY why another person's insurance company would want to give you more value for your car? In fact, why would your OWN insurance do it??????

 

Lots of talk here. I am an Insurance Agent and i work for Geico. Insurance companies are only required to pay you the actual cash value of the vehicle at the time of the lost. That value will differ depending on where you live in the real world. It will also depend or should depend slightly on the company you have and their claims reputation. If you had custom mods, and they are not mods that void a general warranty on car as for saftey... they may cover them if those mods are obvious. It really depends on the adjuster looking at the car. Also if you reported the mods and the insurance company adjusted your rates to reflect the increase in value, they should be covered. From my experiece personally and on business side, State Farm is really good about paying for aftermarket stuff and mods if they are obvious whether you reported them or not. I would be prepared to show receipts to get your potential full value. If you have any other questions insurance related... you can send pm and i'll get back to you.

 

I have dealt with multiple ins companies before. Some are better, some are not. But here are some universal truths:

All of them have lowballed me for their 1st offer (both totals). All have them were able to up their offer by thousands. But not until I showed them I wasn't going to accept their 1st sucker offer. I wasn't until I showed them what my car was actually worth ie...knew the true value for the car, did they then offer me something decent.

Is this a company policy to lowball on the first offer to see if the owner is ignorant to accept it?

 

When my '95 camaro was t-boned in '02 and totalled by a 76 year old grandma with 3 bratty grandkids distracting her (she turned left on red and i smacked her rt. front doing about 35-40.) I got full retail value + tax + licence from State Farm. This was a good deal, the check was about $6,300, the car was paid off. I took $1,300 paid off credit cards then took $5,000 for a down pmt. on my 2k2 max. Best deal was, trade value on my 77000-mile V6 F-body was only $3500. So it ended up being $3,000 better off for me to get the car totalled than to trade it in!

The only thing about the whole deal was handling my aftermarket HU (an Alpine) -- first SF wouldn't let me take it out of the car, then they finally agreed.

The catch was I had to drive out to the freaking salvage yard in early August (here in TX, that means 100+ deg.) and remove the *%)*!% HU myself AND reinstall the stock unit! So there I was in my suit and tie at 4 PM on a 103. deg day...forklift spears my car through the door, picks it up and drops it roughly in front of me... leaving me in a dusty wrecked car with both airbags popped...trying to remove the dash and get the HU out...finally got all bolts out except 1 and then my damn 3/16" socket stripped that one clean...

..yanked the dash, grabbed the radio and harnesses, threw the old one back in, put in 2 screws back into the dash, and got the heck outta there.

Drank 2 super-size Dr Peppers on the way back home.

The good part: 6 months later some *** broke into my apt. and jacked the HU and harnesses that I had sitting out waiting to be installed into my new Maxima...

..and state farm paid me full retail for my 3 year old Alpine HU, harnesses and install labor, with receipt, $580!

Anyway, enough going OT -- if the damage to your car exceeds 60% of its retail value they will probably total it, give you a check for car's retail value + sales tax + licence fees, you then take that, pay off the car loan, use the rest to buy a cash car or as a down payment to finance a new one.

 

My experience is that they give you "replacement value" which is generally higher than you would expect.... I got 5300 for my 1996 T-Bird with 80k... It had every option though.

 

yeah i go through state farm as well and im hoping i get a decent pay back

 

I wouldn't say they are in there to low ball you. Most companies want to pay you the fair price for the car. Some companies are not very good at payign what they are suppose to pay. Again, sometime if your car is worth more due to customizations, then you may have to show them and provide proof of your claim of higher value. Usually in totalled vehicle cases, it is a lot easier to get a more than fair value for the car. That's the best I can say, and I'm not saying that because I'm on the insurance field. I'm speaking from both sides honestly. All I can say is stick to known named insurance companies if you want good coverage.... and not joe blow agent in the kmart shopping plaza company.

 

the next question for you guys is...how much should i be getting for my max. ive got 85000 on it with every option available including heated seats etc. Someone told me 16,000....and god i hope so otherwise there will be no more maxima for me.

 

My 2001 GXE Maxima was totaled at the end of 2003 and they gave me 17k for it. I think that took into account my spoiler, rims, and CD player. So I'm thinking $15k-$16k sounds about right? I'm just basing it on my experience, don't really know how they calculate it.

 

Ouch, sorry about your car. Double Ouch, with the insurance, good luck with that, I know where I've been and got stuck with the difference with the pay off and what the insurance paid. Learned a hard lesson.

 

Wow, a lot has been said about this. Anyways, first off: Once the insurance company accepts liability (whether it be yours:State Farm, or his:???), they'll either send an appraiser, or tow your car to a shop to write an estimate. At that point, if the estimate is near or over the "estimated" value of the car, the shop or insurance company calls in to another company to get an "Actual Cash Value or ACV." This is similar to Kelly Blue book value, but not exactly. You know how everybody says 12K miles is typical mileage per year...Not exactly......The company actually goes off of what typical mileage is for your particular vehicle('01 Nissan Maxima SE) in your market area (MN 55362). So, if a lot of old grandmas in your area with '01 Maxima SE's drive 5K miles a year....you're SOL! But yeah anyways, After the ACV is received by the insurance company, they usually get in contact with you as far as what you can expect to get back. I personally have never heard of turning down the insurance companies 1st offer, but it kind of makes sense. Especially when it comes to a modified car, in which value may have been missed by an untrained, or uncaring auto damage appraiser. Like Blackbird said, State Farm is a great insurance company to work with. I think a lot has changed since the whole law suit thing. But yes, State Farm is one of the few insurance companies that cover aftermarket equipment.....and doesn't charge extra for it. It kept all of my receipts(stereo and performance parts), as well as took multiple pictures. It doesn't hurt to be safe. Good luck with your claim.

 

welli should be finding out today what the outcome is going to be. the appraiser looked at my car yesterday to determine if it was a total loss or not and with my luck, it is a total loss according to him. He said that the total damage done was 21,257 dollars....a bit much?? I think so..Either way, he said that he would prepare a settlement within 48 hours....so hopefully i get the call today. Thanks for everyones help and ill be sure to post an update when i found out more.

 

Good luck with the insurance. I guess if you do not have a mom & pop agency you should be fine with Progressive, Geico, SF, All-state, etc... I personally have Statefarm, VERY fair prices and when ive made claims against others and my friend whose been in a few accidents, the claims were haldled in an extremely fair fashion. Also it depends on your adjuster... Develop a rapport with him and you will see help come to you fairly quick.
my .02