Our 2010 Prius will be Totaled (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

My wife was recently in an auto accident with the Prius. She is ok, just a little bruised up, so anything else that happens is inconsequential compared to her well being. She was at a 3-way intersection, went on the green and another driver ran the red and it her on the driver's side.
Our insurer, AAA, called last night to indicate that the Toyota Collision Center in North Little Rock is going to total the vehicle. AAA is waiting for the documents and photos before they approve that.
I was hoping for a repair, since we don't have arider that will replace our 2010 with a new Prius. AAA will give us current market value for the car.
What's the best way for me to determine market value for the Prius? I'd like to make sure AAA doesn't low ball us.
Now we've got to decide whether to buy a new prius or used. We sure weren't looking to buy a new car now.
AAA does have a rider that would have replaced the Prius with a 2014, but we didn't have that. Does anyone have that kind of rider on their insurance? How expensive is it?
If anyone has any kind of suggestion on how best for us to proceed with this matter, please let us know.

 

[Sam Posten]

Can't help you on the insurance but glad to hear your wife will be ok!

 

[schan1269]

Insurers use NADA.Just make sure you have something that shows all option, cause they'll start at a base Prius.Glad she is ok.

 

[KeithAP]

Wouldn't the insurance company of the driver that ran the red light be on the hook to make things right? If not a new Prius certainly a used model of at least equal value/condition.

-Keith

 

[Nathan_F]

As Sam mentioned, this is what the insurance companies will use: http://www.nadaguides.com/
I'd also double check with www.kbb.com and www.edmunds.com

 

[Johnny Angell]

As Sam mentioned, this is what the insurance companies will use: http://www.nadaguides.com/I'd also double check with www.kbb.com and www.edmunds.com

When I go thru the process, I get 4 values: Rough, Average, and Clean Trade-In. The 4th (and highest value) is Clean Retail. Which one are they going to use?

 

[schan1269]

You should strive for the difference between clean trade and clean retail.You have the right to keep saying no till you get there.Pretty much a guarantee they'll start at average.If you have pics(pre accident) showing the condition, the better off you are.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Glad your wife is ok Johnny. Working in downtown Little Rock, I've discovered that stop signs in the LR/NLR metro area are more of a suggestion. I've lost count of the times I've almost been hit by someone who blew through a stop sign or red light.

 

[Richard Travale]

When I go thru the process, I get 4 values: Rough, Average, and Clean Trade-In. The 4th (and highest value) is Clean Retail. Which one are they going to use?

I’m not sure if it’s the same as here in Canada Johnny, but our black book values are based solely on the mileage. We have 4 ratings. Extra clean, Clean, Average and Rough. The less mileage, the better the rating and the better the black book value would be.Clean retail sounds similar to our version of new…which is the MSRP provided by Toyota. This would only be for new vehicles as once the new vehicle has been registered as sold with Toyota, the MSRP is as helpful as a Unicorn kiss (not very). Again, your proverbial mileage may vary, as this information is for here in Canada. It may be completely different in the US of A. Glad your wife is ok as well.

 

[Malcolm R]

Wouldn't the insurance company of the driver that ran the red light be on the hook to make things right? If not a new Prius certainly a used model of at least equal value/condition.

-Keith

As Keith noted, if this is the other driver's fault for running the red light, their insurance should be paying, not yours. And most likely you'll get whatever you want, as they'd likely be happy to get you a brand new car if that avoids a potential lawsuit.

 

[schan1269]

Depends if they live in a "no-fault" jurisdiction.

 

[Charles Smith]

I guess I live in a "fault" state. Because I've had no trouble whatever calling the other guy's insurance company and getting repairs covered by them. I'm not talking "totaling", but even rear-enders and other such damage costs a fortune to repair, and I didn't hesitate either time to get their insurance info and pick up the phone to start the ball rolling. Never even had to contact my own.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Time for me to update this thread with some more information. My wife was written up by the police for running the light because there was a witness. I still do not believe she ran that light. My wife is the most cautious and conservative driver. She's always in the right hand lane unless she plans on turning left. She drives the speed limit. I can't emphasize enough how conservatively she drives. If the light is orange before she gets to an intersection she treats it like a red light.

I have been in the car with her at this particular intersection and watched her wait at the red, it turns green, and she waits some more to be sure the cross-drivers are really going to stop. I have been in the drivers seat at this intersection and she tells me to wait and be sure the cross traffic is stoping.

Just after the accident she called me on her cell-phone, very upset, she's been in an accident because "some gal ran a red light and hit me." I believe my wife, but there's that witness and that's all she wrote, legally, I guess. My wife did not run that light.

Just got a call from AAA and they have totaled the car and they low-balled me with the offer. Even after that add a bunch of add-ons like taxes and fees to increase the amount, it only comes t $16,370. I told her was very disappointed and said that wouldn't even buy an identical used 2010. I told her I had found an identical Prius (options identical and mileage very close) for $18,838 and that's before sales tax and all the other crap they tack on.

She asked me to send her the link (it was being sold by a dealer on auto trader). To get an offer change by this would require additional time, if they choose to up the offer. Even tough this is from a dealer, it's an as-is sale, no warranty at all.

I'm hoping they up their offer to match this one.

 

[schan1269]

HHHmmm...how difficult would it be to try and determine if this witness and the other driver are related?

About ^^^ and the offer...

How long can you live w/o a car?

Or...could you go ahead and buy the car and keep dealing with the insurance? (totally separate transactions)

If you call the bank(assuming you still owe) they will stop accruing interest...if you ask(especially if you start a new loan at the same bank).

Last time I had this happen was on a car covered by Hagerty insurance(the company that will insure, certain, cars for the money you want it covered for...).

The car was a 71 Mercury Cougar convertible that I had insured for $25,000. The "offer" from the insurance company was $2000.

It took 9 months to recoup that one as Hagerty was not willing to eat $23,000 on their own.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Find as many comparables as you can for the same year/mileage/condition. Use autotrader and cars.com if you need to. If you don't think your wife ran the red she needs to fight that ticket by requesting a subpoena for the witness to testify at traffic court. Any witness who didn't come forward at the scene should be considered suspect. Glad she is OK

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

My mom was in an accident several weeks ago (rammed by a county snow plow) and her car was totaled. Luckily she was able to get some advice from my cousin, who is a State Farm agent in California. He told her that they really don't rely on blue book values anymore. Instead, he told her to go to auto trader.com and search for cars within 100 miles that fit her car's criteria (year, mileage, trim level, options, etc.) If there are more than a dozen cars available, you lop off the three highest and three lowest prices and then average the remainder to find suitable value. She did that and came back with an average that was higher than what she expected. My cousin said if the adjustor comes back in with a higher number then you happily accept the check. If it's lower, you can ask for an appeal. As luck would have it, the adjustor's estimate pretty much came in dollar for dollar with the average on the AutoTrader website.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Michael, I basically did what you are suggesting. The only difference being that I found one 2013 Prius II which mileage and options-wise, was identical to our car. At first they balked at it because it was for a II and our Prius was not a II, according to their lookup. I had my folder on our Prius in front of me and said au contraire. I convinced them it was a II and the next day they offered me the price of the used Prius, less $500.

After a week of dickering, they had raised their offer $3K. We accepted that one.