rear-ended and totalled, how to deal with the driver insurance company?

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Deleted member 134696

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Jurisdiction
Virginia
My car was rear-ended by a reckless driver in Virginia, who is not the car owner. The car owner is outside VA, whose insurance company deemed my car total loss and provided a low-ball value. It is 20% lower than the market value of my car. The insurance agent does not increase the amount. So, I did not reach an agreement with the insurance agent.

My car was 2008 Honda with low mileage, top trim, garage kept. The tricky thing is no comparable car with similar miles around nearby dealer stores and that is why the insurance company provides a lowball estimate.

As my car has only liability coverage, my insurance company does not intervene.

I plan to have separate claims on body injury and car damage. Is it feasible?
I like to get suggestions if I sue the driver or the car owner or the insurance?
Should I find a lawyer for me?
Normally how lawyer charge on car damage claim?
 
I had the OP message me the CCC evaluation report.

2008 Honda Accord Sedan EX-L
3.5L 6 Cyl
Automatic Transmission.
62,006 miles.

CCC Market Valuation Report $12,276.50

Based on 18 for sale ads, mostly dealers.

Including a car at a dealer in Annapolis with 55,852 miles for $12,500.

Try as I might, by looking at for sale ads in Virginia, I couldn't fault the CCC evaluation.
 
adjusterjack said:
I had the OP message me the CCC evaluation report.

2008 Honda Accord Sedan EX-L
3.5L 6 Cyl
Automatic Transmission.
62,006 miles.

CCC Market Valuation Report $12,276.50

Based on 18 for sale ads, mostly dealers.

Including a car at a dealer in Annapolis with 55,852 miles for $12,500.

Try as I might, by looking at for sale ads in Virginia, I couldn't fault the CCC evaluation.
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Particularly considering that a car being sold at a dealer isn't really indicative of a "private-party" valuation.
 
Looking on Edmunds, such a vehicle (including the navigation option) in "Outstanding" condition is worth only just over $6,152. I think the OP may have greatly overestimated the value of the car.


EDIT: KBB is closer to $11k
 
Zigner said:
Particularly considering that a car being sold at a dealer isn't really indicative of a "private-party" valuation.
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A private party evaluation would likely be a bit lower since dealer's often get top dollar by providing financing.

Zigner said:
Looking on Edmunds, such a vehicle (including the navigation option) in "Outstanding" condition is worth only just over $6,152. I think the OP may have greatly overestimated the value of the car.
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Given the ads that I looked up, I wouldn't go by that. I did see two cars in the 30,000 mile range for $13,000 to $14,000.

I don't think Edmunds, KBB, or NADA have kept pace with used car prices.
 
adjusterjack said:
A private party evaluation would likely be a bit lower since dealer's often get top dollar by providing financing.



Given the ads that I looked up, I wouldn't go by that. I did see two cars in the 30,000 mile range for $13,000 to $14,000.
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Yeah, the Edmonds pricing seems really low. I may have done something wrong. KBB was closer to $11k for a vehicle with 60k miles in "Excellent" condition, private party.
 
I find it curious that you posted a duplicate of what you posted at the other site (see the link in post #2 in this thread) but you have completely ignored that your questions were fully answered at the other site and you also ignored the questions that were asked in responses at the other site.
 
zddoodah said:
I find it curious that you posted a duplicate of what you posted at the other site (see the link in post #2 in this thread) but you have completely ignored that your questions were fully answered at the other site and you also ignored the questions that were asked in responses at the other site.
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I guess the OP's lucky that it's (mostly) the same responders on both sites ;)
 
Zigner said:
Yeah, the Edmonds pricing seems really low. I may have done something wrong. KBB was closer to $11k for a vehicle with 60k miles in "Excellent" condition, private party.
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You did your best guesstimate relying solely upon OP's representation.

All anyone can do is take a SWAG.
 
I invited the OP here by private message because FA doesn't have a feature for uploading documents and deletes links as fast as one puts them in the post.

I wanted to see the evaluation and the car info which he didn't provide at FA either.

At FA he claims that the CCC evaluation is 20% to 25% low which would make his car allegedly worth about $15,000 which is not supported by my investigation.
 

Attachments

adjusterjack said:
At FA he claims that the CCC evaluation is 20% to 25% low which would make his car allegedly worth about $15,000 which is not supported by my investigation.
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I ran it at KBB using a Richmond zip code, very good condition and standard features (which this car seems to have several non-standard features) and got $9,809 as a top value, so it seems to me that the $12,276 offered is more than reasonable and that the OP's characterization of the insurer's offer as "lowball" is absurd. The most important question that the OP hasn't answered is how, despite there being "no comparable car with similar miles around nearby," he/she determined a FMV 20-25% higher than what the insurer offered.
 
zddoodah said:
I ran it at KBB using a Richmond zip code, very good condition and standard features (which this car seems to have several non-standard features) and got $9,809 as a top value, so it seems to me that the $12,276 offered is more than reasonable and that the OP's characterization of the insurer's offer as "lowball" is absurd. The most important question that the OP hasn't answered is how, despite there being "no comparable car with similar miles around nearby," he/she determined a FMV 20-25% higher than what the insurer offered.
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Both are ex v4, lower trim. Do they support a higher price for high trim?

https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/JHMCP26728C004083

https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/JHMCP26728C004083
 
Zigner said:
I got nearly $11k for an EX-L with 60k miles using KBB.
Really - I think you are getting a fair offer from his insurance. I seriously doubt that you could convince a judge otherwise.
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In a way, I agree with you on KBB.
However, KBB seems slow in updating its market data so as to undervalue the car values for many models. For example, I can not find the KBB prices in nearby deal stores or from private sellers.
 
Deleted member 134696 said:
Both are ex v4, lower trim. Do they support a higher price for high trim?
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The two links appear to be the same, and the fact that someone has listed a car for sale at $X doesn't mean it will actually sell for that price.

Zigner said:
I think you are getting a fair offer from his insurance. I seriously doubt that you could convince a judge otherwise.
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Agree. And, even if the OP could get a judge to award $1-2k more, the cost of getting such an award will make it a pyrrhic victory (which I believe I mentioned in my response at the other site).*

* - P.S. This is a consequence of dealing with the at-fault driver's insurance as a third-party claimant, as opposed to your own insurer under first-party collision coverage. Your own insurer owes you various legal duties that aren't owed to a claimant under third-party coverage. The absence of those duties mean that the insurer can take into account the cost of suing (although, again, here, it doesn't appear that the insurer has made an unreasonable offer).
 

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