So my mother owns a 2004 Passat, it is her only mode on transportation, and mechanically in excellent condition. There is no Colossians coverage on this car due to the relatively low value. A few days ago my sister was running an errand for her and driving the car; my sister was in the travel “lane” of a parking lot and someone backed out and did $4,500 worth of damage to the Passat. The other car needs a bumper cover and likely backup sensors. Similar work was cost about $1,000-$1,2000 in the past.
A police officer was stopped at the light and heard the accident so pulled in an wrote a report. His report states that because the parking lot is private property no fault has been determined. He verbally stated to the owner of the car (via phone as his au pair was driving the car) that even if my sister was going 80mph that you are always obligated to check and make sure it’s clear before baking out of a space. But not assigning fault seems like it’s going to make things more complicated with insurance.
The problem is that the Passat is worth about $3,100.
I see a couple options here:
Don’t report anything to insurance. Explain to the owner of the car that I will handle my mom’s car if he takes care of the damage on his. This option really hurts because we bought the car for $4,000 in August. It seems like we’re just taking a $4,000 loss for an accident that really wasn’t my sister’s fault.
Report the damage to his insurance and hope they assign fault to the au pair, the insurance company will then cut my mom a check for $3,100 and total the car. This is where I have questions and can’t find much information online. Can we accept the $3,100 and keep the damaged car? It really is just cosmetic. Everything functions as it should. I’m not trying to be greedy and take money that isn’t rightfully mine. I feel like the best option involves my mom continuing to drive the car. I don’t see finding a solid replacement for 3k. I know you have a right to keep your car with a salvage title and then get it repaired and get a R title. There really is no damage to repair to make it drivable. Even so, the insurance company won’t insure it with an R title.
Is there another option I’m not seeing? I feel like it would be ridiculous to involve an attorney over relatively small amounts/ it would just cost money. Any advice is appreciated.
TLDR: if an insurance company decides my car is totaled so I have the ability to say “no it’s not, it’s still drivable,” with still receiving some sort of compensation?
Typically when a vehicle is totaled you would not retain ownership of the vehicle. In most cases, you would have the ability to purchase the vehicle “back” from the insurance company. Obviously in this scenario that would likely be illogical.
If you were to receive a check to fix the car, that is where people will occasionally decide to pocket the money and tolerate the damage. I also believe that some insurance companies will send the money directly to the body shop, so that may not always be an option.
I would agree that $3k is a minimal amount to find something decent to drive. You should be able to remove the door panels and lessen many of those dents by hand. A quick buff/polish and you could have this looking OK with relatively low effort.
That doesn’t look like $4,000 worth of damage but get a proper estimate or two. Have the owner pay you an agreed amount in cash or have him pay the body shop directly. Don’t just eat the loss.
The possibility of going through insurance is your leverage here. Who knows if the au pair was even authorized or even if they were how the insurer will recalculate his premium with this knowledge of how bad the driver is.
Worst case scenario, if the guy is a Dick and would rather cut off his nose to spite you, you negotiate a settlement with the insurance company for a $X check.
The $4,500 estimate came from a repeatable body shop I have used in the past. Last time my family had some work done we got 3 estimates and they were the lowest, I know it doesn’t mean they will be this time, but I feel pretty confident in their estimate. However, you bring up a very good point and I’ll get another estimate.
He seemed okay with going through insurance. I don’t recall his exact words but it was something along the lines of let me know what your estimate comes out to be, but I’ll probably file an insurance claim.
Negotiating a payment from the insurance might be the best bet!
How would one “lessen the dents by hand” then give it a “quick buff/polilsh” with relatively low effort. The doors have significant dents, and the paint is scratched to the primer. No polishing is going to get rid of that. The rear quarter has some nice creasing in it too above the wheel well.
So where did this come from? Did you search for comparables within 50 miles of you? That’s what the insurance company will do. But then you have to add tax. Again, that’s what they do when calculating how much to “total” the car.
You should be able to remove/hide much of the damage. I never said it would be returned to new, and that certainly would not be the case. My understanding was OP was looking to patch the car together, pocket the money, and move on. My advice suits those intentions.
Book value is 3,100. It’s hard for find an exact match but nearby similar Passats +- a year and similar mileage range from $2,000-4,100. Seems like 3,100 is close.
Just turn it in (hopefully direct to the at fault’s carrier). If it is a total you are given a settlement amount. You can buy back the car (the insurance company now owns it and can/will sell it to a parts company to recover what they can). You can offer to buy it back- they will give a price (lilkley what they think they can get for it). You will have a branded title and most DMV’s will want an inspection to prove the car is road worthey (doors open and close, all lights work etc).
A good rule of thumb is it will be totalled if the cost of repairs are 70-80% of value of the vehicle on the inital inspection (before tear down).
I’d see how much you can get from the guy in the form of a check/cash vs. having him go through insurance (if he’s willing to do that). Then I’d cover any bare metal with some filler. Polish out the paint and move on. If the car drives well you are going to have enough issues finding a replacement for $4,000. Even with this damage I bet you could still find someone willing to pay $2,500-3,000 for it if mechanically fine.
Personally, the last thing I would do is involve my insurance as I would assume your premiums will go up That being said, some of the folks on this forum are much more knowledgeable than I am on the insurance side.
if you owner retain a total loss vehicle In CT. You are not allowed to have the car on the road. You must have the car towed to the body shop and then once the car is fixed you have to have the car towed To a test center where they inspect the vehicle. You have to pay for the test and tow out of pocket. It wouldn’t be covered by insurance.
