I was just on KBB.com and was looking at the value of our cars and they couldnt give me one. It said that since this particular trim of integra was so small that they couldnt give a value for it.

SO my question is how do insurance companys put a value on our cars.

 

KBB only lists a high (retail) bluebook for the R since it was a limited production vehicle. There is no low (wholesale) value.

 

I know this, but then lets say i get into a wreck and my car is pretty much all banged up. what would they base the value of my car on?

 

they will base it on how much they feel like paying you. which is nothing. so you will be lucky to get like $7000 for your R. if its a clean title.

 

Absolutely, positively NOT true.

Insurance companies base their payments on market value. However, KBB estimates do not represent market value; with low-volume vehicles like ours, they simply take a mathematical percentage depreciation every year, and do not base it on actual sale prices they way they do with high-volume vehicles. Market value is reflected in actual sale prices as well as in advertised asking prices (less a "haggle factor").

That does not necessarily mean that an insurance company is going to give you what your car is worth, especially on their initial offer. Some companies are better than others (which is why there are services like Consumer Reports and JD Power that rate customer satisfaction with their auto insurance company). Some will give you a fair offer to begin with. Others may give you an offer which you feel is substantially less than market value; you may then decline their offer, in which case your options include negotiating with them and finding cars for sale similar to yours to back up your contention that their offer is below market value, or going to court to sue the insurance company.

Bottom line, if you haven't had an accident, check out ratings of auto insurance companies in Consumer Reports and on the JD Power website (which rates overall satisfaction as well as claims satisfaction), and pick one that has high ratings for customer satisfaction. The best are typically USAA and Amica; State Farm is usually the best of the "big three". These three companies, plus Auto-Owners, got the highest rating on settlement satisfaction from JD Power.

If you search past posts, you'll find that some owners of totalled or stolen ITRs got fair (and even generous) settlement offers from their insurance company, while others did not and had to fight/negotiate for higher prices by doing research on recent sale prices and current asking prices. Most eventually received a settlement at least reasonably close to market value.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Insurance companies use NADA for some values.

Try www.nada.com