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After an accident, an insurance company must answer this question: Can the damaged vehicle be repaired in a cost-effective manner? If the answer is “no,” then the damaged vehicle is declared a total loss.
Actions that will be taken by the insurance company
It will check to see the asking price for other vehicles like yours that have been put up for sale. Insurer will make note of the lowest asking price. Insurer will then use that lowest price as an indication of your car’s value.
Actions that you should take, if you own the car that has been declared a total loss:
Ask for an opportunity to review the insurer’s report. During that review, check to see what accessories the listed vehicles had. Check to see whether or not the listings were old or inactive. Check on the location of the listed vehicles. Were all of them from the local market?
Do some research. Go online and study the prices of vehicles offered at different websites. See what the Blue Book says about your car’s value.
Put together a list of your car’s special features or special abilities. Had you added certain accessories? Had your car ever been in an accident? What was the mileage?
Look for any pictures you have of your car, before the accident. Look for any bills that you received, after you had accessories installed.
Provide the insurance company with a copy of the information you obtained by doing research. Share any other documents or any photographs.
What to expect next?
Ideally, you receive some feedback from the insurance company. If they do not contact you, then you will have to call them. Learn whether or not the company is ready to offer you more for the totalled vehicle. If they agree, be glad that you put so much time and effort into your research.
If they do not agree to offer you more money, you have 2 options. You can go along with their decision and take the amount of money offered. Alternatively, you can speak with a Personal Injury Lawyer in Hamilton and prepare to fight the insurance company.
What to consider if you feel inclined to follow the second option?
Is there a way that you can provide the insurance company with more evidence of your car’s worth? If not, then you do not have much chance for winning the contemplated fight. In other words, you should probably just accept the offer that has been made.
On the other hand, maybe you have found pictures that you forgot you had, or you thought of a positive feature that you forgot to mention earlier. If that is the case, you might want to challenge the insurance company.