Insurance totaling a car

[Anonymous]

So we maybe in a situation where the accident repairs to car may exceed the value of the car. Does the insurance just cut a check for the value or can you negotiate and count their offer?

[Anonymous]

One can negotiate; it helps to have published comparables.

[Anonymous]

Both.

Usually car insurance companies will offer you two options moving forward.

A.) They will offer you an amount of $$ for replacing your vehicle (which you can always negotiate too.)
You must relinquish your totaled car to them w/pink slip.

Or:

B.) They may offer you less money but allow you to hold on to your vehicle but it would have to likely be a salvaged title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both.

Usually car insurance companies will offer you two options moving forward.

A.) They will offer you an amount of $$ for replacing your vehicle (which you can always negotiate too.)
You must relinquish your totaled car to them w/pink slip.

Or:

B.) They may offer you less money but allow you to hold on to your vehicle but it would have to likely be a salvaged title.

Thank you for this information.

We have rental coverage which we have not yet utilized as we wait on a decision from the insurance company. Do they allow us to have rental up to the maximum coverage once they make a decision? We would need the rental until we find/buy another car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both.

Usually car insurance companies will offer you two options moving forward.

A.) They will offer you an amount of $$ for replacing your vehicle (which you can always negotiate too.)
You must relinquish your totaled car to them w/pink slip.

Or:

B.) They may offer you less money but allow you to hold on to your vehicle but it would have to likely be a salvaged title.

This is pretty much correct. We had this exact experience. Our car was deemed a total loss yet it was drivable. (Older car damaged on the body where repairs were too expensive). We held onto our car for a few months to buy us some time to find replacement. The only quibble is that the title doesn’t change to ‘salvage’ but the ‘total loss’ does go on cars record. When we finally sold our car, our title was clean yet it was on record as total loss. (FWIW we sold car to one of those online places. We were honest with them and the damage was apparent. They did see ‘total loss’ on cars record.)

[Anonymous]

Meant to add, not sure if your insurance will cover car rental for this but if they do it’s likely for an amount not a time.