Hi all,
I'm based in NJ and was recently in a collision where the other party was at fault. Finally got my crash report and I filed a claim with the 3rd party's insurance company.
The person hit my rear driver's quarter pretty good and the quarter panel is a bit smashed in, curious on everyone's experience. This is probably 8-10k in damage?
My car is 9 years old and preferably I would like to keep it. I understand NJ does not have a threshold for ACV to totaling a car out but at what instance would it take for this company to just write a check and I keep the car through a buy back?
Car's only valued around 11-12k at the higher end, it's got some miles.
Also, is it common for companies now during and post covid to push adjusters to review damage through pictures then basically have the body shop supplement additional damage?
I had to push this carrier pretty hard to have someone come out to inspect and provide an estimate. I rather have them total it out now if that's the case rather than get set up in a rental and the shop tear down the car completely and be rushed to buy another car.
At what point would this be considered totaled? (NJ)
byu/JagaloonJack inInsurance
Posted by JagaloonJack
1 Comment
I’m not in NJ, but I believe they use a total loss formula to decide when a car must be declared a total loss. That basically means that they add the cost to repair and the salvage value of the car. When it exceeds the actual cash value of the car, then it must be a total loss. Although, insurance can total it at a lower threshold if they want to.
All you can do is wait to see where the numbers come in. Until they hit that repair/salvage threshold that exceeds the value of the car, they can still repair it if they want to. If it ends up being a total loss, you can walk away from it, or look into an owner retain, if that’s what you want to do. That typically is them taking the ACV of the car, subtracting the salvage value, and giving you what’s left. Along with the car. You fix the car on your own. You do whatever your state DMV requires (if anything) for a salvage/rebuilt title.