What should I expect got get from the Insurance company?

This is how it was before the accident:
1997 Civic LX
fully loaded
Perfect mechanical condition
Asside from a few minor dings, perfect physical condition
Few scratches on the rear door interior panels
Steering wheel shows some wear.
110K miles
Also had a replica SI lip and 15" rims (both less than 1 year old).
Have ALL maintenance records from the day it was purchased.





NADA Guides vehicle pricing & information
Low Retail - $4,300
Average Retail - $5,375
Hight retail - $6,125
(but they don't take into account any any options, just the maker, model, year and mileage).

Blue Book - $6,560

Estimated repair/rebuid cost $16,000.

EDIT: ..........................
This is what it looked like a few weeks before....
It was clean and well maintained.


Modified by d16rice at 8:30 PM 10/7/2005

EDIT: ..........................
Here are some better pictures of what's left of the car
The whole frame is twisted... Passenger doors don't open and the driver side doors have pretty big gaps between them.
https://honda-tech.com/gara...=4347





Modified by d16rice at 6:00 PM 10/17/2005

 

i bet the insurance company will give only what the car is worth (before the wreck) at least thats how mine is.

unless you have comp then they may cover some of the extras

 

You shouldnt expect much

 

It didn't really have any extras aside from the lip and the rims, and I was told I'll most likely be able to get the rims back as long as I put the stock steelies back on.

I was also told that according to law, insurance is supposed to pay out the fair market value, but when I tried looking for it, it comes out between $4300-6560, that's more than $2,000 difference.

The $4,300 is assuming the car had some mechanical problems and or needed minor body repair, but my car was in perfect condition.
It had new R and L axles (Autozone)
New wheel bearings (Honda Co.)
New Exhaust (Honda Co.), you can see the mufflers didn't have a spec of rust on it.
And just did all the required maintenance to prepare for the winter.

Although I'm sure the insurance won't be willing to pay out $6.5K, could I still expect $5.5K?

I know this varies by mileage, trim, location and what not, but what have other's received and what should I expect?

The insurance company that the person at fault has seems kind of flaky, so I want to be prepared and not to get taken advantage of.

 

man, i got rear ended. My car is almost exactly like that. Its a 96 LX but mine is silver, and i got a m/t. Same mileage, same condition, maybe better, and they told me itd total if cost to fix was over 3600 bucks. I told em to blow me cause i dont care what they say the car is worth, before the accident i coulda sold it for 6 grand easy.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Redline96LX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> before the accident i coulda sold it for 6 grand easy.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, to a moron.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16rice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What should I expect got get from the Insurance company?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

a higher premium...

 

Search within a 50 mile radius of your location and find about 3 vehicles mathcing your description, or at least close to, and wait for the INS company to call you. Take the average of those cars you found and see what price it is. Always select the higher priced ones and provide the INS company that info. 10 out 10 they will lowball you. My INS company was about to give me only 10K when my 2000 Si was stolen. I laughed right at the guy and said I would call him later. I found 3 similar Si's in the area and the average was 12,500. I faxed the company the info and thats what I got. 2500 difference. Do your research.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blaze the chemi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Search within a 50 mile radius of your location and find about 3 vehicles mathcing your description, or at least close to, and wait for the INS company to call you. Take the average of those cars you found and see what price it is. Always select the higher priced ones and provide the INS company that info. 10 out 10 they will lowball you. My INS company was about to give me only 10K when my 2000 Si was stolen. I laughed right at the guy and said I would call him later. I found 3 similar Si's in the area and the average was 12,500. I faxed the company the info and thats what I got. 2500 difference. Do your research.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank you, I'll definetelly do this right bofore I negotiate with them.

And spoonsports12, my premium will not go up because of two reasons
-It wasn't my dads fault
-We are not going through our insurance, but rather through the one who's cliant is at fault.

 

Thanks for the support.

I realize I won't get compensate for the axels or any other maintenance and what not
The only reason I mentioned it was to show that the car was taken care of and nothing was ever neglected.
I can't remember if the pictures I had were digital or paper coppies, but I do have a month old picture of the engine bay of this civic, and it looks like it just left the factory.... or at least if used to look like that untill Monday morning.

 

i totaled my 96civic coupe with 69,000 miles on it. insurance gave me 5,800.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoonsports12 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

a higher premium...</TD></TR></TABLE>ROFL, but the OP already stated why this isn't the case. Usually the ins co will based its value more on wholesale than retail so keep that in mind..

 

I'm at a loss, I can't find '97 civic LX's with around 110K miles.
I tried the following sites
carmax.com
cars.com
vehix.com

The only one I could find is below.

$5990 112.6K miles
http://www.cars.com/go/search/...=true

What other sites whould I look at?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16rice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm at a loss, I can't find '97 civic LX's with around 110K miles.
I tried the following sites
carmax.com
cars.com
vehix.com

What other sites whould I look at?</TD></TR></TABLE>

This might be an easy one, http://www.autotrader.com

 

I totaled two cars, and all I got from the insurance company was the blue book +/- about 1k. It's probably going to be a low blue book if it's modified. In insurance companies' eyes, non oem-modifications take away value. Sad to see this happen to another project civic.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 808draggers &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I totaled two cars, and all I got from the insurance company was the blue book +/- about 1k. It's probably going to be a low blue book if it's modified. In insurance companies' eyes, non oem-modifications take away value. Sad to see this happen to another project civic. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thaks for the simpathy, but I'd be very happy if I got the blue book vale plus 1K, seeing how KBB value is around $6.5K
This civic was bone stock (my dad's daily driver) asside from the front lip and the rims, and as you can see, they're both very suddle. O.E.M Si style lip and 15" rims. I just put those on because they were leftovers from my own civic project.


This is what I drive, but I lent it to my dad for now.

And thanks, I totally forgot about autotrader.

 

You could always call dealerships in the area too. They might not advertise in any publication to sell those cars as they usually go very quickly just from walk-ins. Then if you find one get the info on that car. It's hard work and it took me about 2-3 weeks total just to get all the information.

 

The ******* Bitch has the audacity to tell the insurance that my dad swerved in front of her and caused the accident . It delays the whole proceedings, but the police said she has no case, so that’s not such a big thing.

The insurance “American Service,” though, says that even if it does turn out that it’s their clients fault, they will only pay for the fraction of the vehicle and medical bill cost and will not pay for the tow or the storage.

Are there any laws or anything stating what the insurance is suppose to legally pay out in a case like this?

I am getting a lawyer tomorrow. I believe University of Illinois (Chicago) provides legal aid to it’s students for no fee. The lawyers for higher are not interested because there were no serious injuries, although my dad has pretty bad neck pains and has a butt load of prescription pills (pain killesr, muscle relaxers) do to the accident.

 

Apparently UIC "legal assistance" is for students only, which obviously does not include my dad.
On the other hand, seeing how I live with my parents and this would greatly affect not only my parents, but me as well, they will check if there's anything they can do.

I also called up my insurance agent as well.
I'm sure they'll try to sort this out as well, because if they don't, they'll have to pay for that b**ches car, which I'm sure they won't like.
My agent also says that it's ridiculous that they refuse to pay for it, because getting rear-ended is an "open and shut" case, especially since she got tickets issued for it.

I tried getting a lawyer, but most of them say it's not worth their time.
None the less, I would appreciate any and all advices on what I should do.

 

I feel like I’m getting totally screwed over.
Since all I had was liability and my insurance (Allstate) has no monetary interest in it, they’re washing their hands clean.
The lawyers I’ve talked to so far say it's not worth their time (they want $3000 up front and then hourly rate, too).
And the bastard's who hit me insurance (American Service ), says they're not going to pay up either, although all cops say it’s their clients fault.

Does any one know any good lawyers in Chicago land area that would take (and win) this case without making me broke?

 

GL, I wanna see how this turns out since you only have liability.

 

Bump for a # or address of a good lawyer

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16rice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I feel like I’m getting totally screwed over.
Since all I had was liability and my insurance (Allstate) has no monetary interest in it, they’re washing their hands clean.
The lawyers I’ve talked to so far say it's not worth their time (they want $3000 up front and then hourly rate, too).
And the bastard's who hit me insurance (American Service ), says they're not going to pay up either, although all cops say it’s their clients fault.

Does any one know any good lawyers in Chicago land area that would take (and win) this case without making me broke?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont know how chicago law works but what you can do is take what the police found in the report and some pictures of the area, tiremarks and maybe any witnesses you had and use it all as evidence. You should probably try to meet the lady and the attorney for their company to settle, if they dont then just fake an injury and sue for whatever the max is for small claims court. Small claims in cali is a max of $5k and you can represent yourself.

I had an accident once where i was driving straight down the road with a van to my right. As the van turned into a taco bell, a white truck came out and smashed my mom's 00' Gt Mustang on the passenger side. ALL the damage to my car was completely on the passenger side. There was a witness who said he'd testify on my behalf and the guy who hit me said he was sorry and it was his fault......But when the CHP got there everyone changed their ******* story and they all said i was speeding @ 65 + mph.

I know the CHP officer was thinking, '18 yr old black kid in a car I cant afford, they say he's speeding, expletive it ill just say he was'. Sure enough when i got the report on the accident, the CHP officer said that the accident was 100% my fault, i was speeding in excess of 65 mph and that the other guy stopped his car and I hit him. This was despite the fact that all the damage on my car was the passenger side while all the damage on his car was on the front. That and now the guy decided to try and cash in and sue me.......

Now i dont know if Ford made a new car that drives sideways but i somehow find it physically impossible to hit a car with my passenger side while going straight forward

Long story short, i got a book on small claims, took pictures of the area, wrote out what i had to say in court and rehearsed it and won.

The cops sided with you on this one, so your lucky. But thats not a guaranteed victory. Just do some homework on it and you'll be fine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16rice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The ******* Bitch has the audacity to tell the insurance that my dad swerved in front of her and caused the accident . It delays the whole proceedings, but the police said she has no case, so that’s not such a big thing.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

K so im a little confused because you have damage in the front and the back. If the lady is the one who caused the damage in the back, she's 100% at fault. She should have been traveling at a safe distance. The ONLY thing that could have changed that is if your father was braking and making a lane change into a lane that was going faster than the one he was in.

I.E. If your stuck going 20 mph in the 'fast lane' and you decide to get in the carpool lane. Someone is coming up behind you going the speed limit and hits you because you basically cut them off, that would be you at fault.

Like i said, just do the homework on it, take pics of the skid marks (ESPECIALLY if she's trying to say you swerved into the lane at the last second, take pics of your skid marks to prove otherwise), try to get witnesses and DEFINTELY talk to the DMV about what the specific rules of the road are in your state. The example above is for cali, so i dont know if its diff for IL but i would assume not

 

Thanks for the advice, I will take some pictures of the street and check if there's anything else useful.

This is how it happened.
My dad was going on a straight street. He stopped at a red light behind some car. There were no lane changes, he has sitting still at the red light in the far right lane, which I believe is for slower traveling vehicles. Some 20-30 seconds later that woman plows into him with such a force that the back rest of the driver seat breaks off, and my dads car was pushed into the red car in front of him. That’s why there’s front and back damage.
The guy from the car in front of my dad got out, said something in Spanish and drove off.
Since this happened around 5:30am in a non-residential neighborhood, there weren’t any witnesses, or at least non that came forward.
As for the skid marks, there were none, she didn’t even try braking, probably fell asleep behind the wheel.

I will take some pictures of the street and maybe try posting a flyer to see if some witnesses do come forward.

I’ve heard that sometimes people are allowed to use computer presentations, so I did a power point animation to show how it happened, maybe that’ll help.