JULY 6, 2024
How can I settle my property damage after my car wreck?
When drivers have a car wreck that damages their car or pickup truck it can be frustrating. Settling your property damage claim in a fair amount is hard. You either use your own full coverage car insurance or you must prove the fault of the other driver to get their insurance company to pay.
How do you prove fault of the other driver?
Proving fault or negligence of the other driver requires several key pieces of evidence:
- Police report. You can request the police report from the city police, sheriff's office or highway patrol depending on which law enforcement agency came to the scene.
- Admission of fault. Talk to the other driver and try to get them to admit it is their fault. If they write it down and sign it get that immediately. If not, tell the police officers they admitted fault.
- Call 911. Dial 911 and report the facts telling the operator who caused the accident and describe all injuries. This will be the first official evidence of fault and injuries.
- Hire a car wreck lawyer. Car wreck lawyers like Bull Attorneys will have detectives to take statements from the other driver and witnesses.
- Surveillance video. At the scene look around 360 degrees for businesses who may have a security camera or whom that have a Ring doorbell with camera which may have recorded the accident.
How do you prove the value of damage to your car?
- Body Shop. You can prove the value of damage by having the vehicle towed to a body shop for an estimate.
- Insurance property damage estimate. It is a bad idea to use the property damage estimate from the insurance company adjusters because they intentionally reduce the true value of the actual damage amount to make it look like it was a minor accident in case you are injured. This hurts the injury part of your case.
- Use actual manufacturer body shops. Don't go to smaller body shops. Go only to the dealer body shop owned by the manufacturer of your vehicle. For example, if you have a Honda Accord take it to the Honda Dealership body shop for evaluation to get the full true estimate.
What if the Insurance Company Decides to Total My Car Out?
- 70-80% of value destroyed. Most states follow insurance industry standards that say if a car is 70-80% destroyed they will total the vehicle.
- Check your policy. Your policy may specifically define when the property damage is so great that the car must be totaled.
- Total Loss method. The car becomes a total loss when cost of repair exceeds the actual cash value (ACV). The formula in your state may be lower or higher due to state laws.
- Total loss formula (TLF). When the car's damage exceeds a certain percentage of the state's set actual cash value (ACV) the insurance company will total your car.
How Do I Find the Actual Cash Value (ACV) for My Car?
- NADA. Insurance companies used to use the National Auto Dealer Association's book to value your car's worth. In reality, almost no insurance carrier's use this fair method of evaluation.
- CCC. Most of the more unfair insurance companies now turn to the CCC, which means CCC Intelligent Solutions, which can be found at cccis.com. This computer program looks for the lowest value for your car all over the country and then gives the adjuster a lowball amount for your vehicle.
- Online review. You can go to a number of online used car dealers to see the value of your car using year of build, model type, options, and mileage. The main sites for online used car sales are:
- Auto Nation
- Edmunds
- Car Gurus
- JD Power
- Carfax
Print the different cars for sale similar to yours with similar mileage, options, and model and send to the adjuster. This helps establish the true ask price for a used car. Remember that every car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot.
Contact the experienced car wreck lawyers at Bull Attorneys if you have further questions about your car, truck, or motorcycle accident.
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