sadly, my wife was rear ended and totaled her clean low mileage '95 lx sedan. payout is coming from company who insured the other person who was 100% responsible. our agent is handling it all.
without going into $ details, during our first talk his payout number is $150 more than edmund's clean dealer retail. i know nada value is higher but vehicle does not have a clean history-2 damage claims in 15 years-since we bought it new from a dealer. thus nada book should use average condition #. still, i want to average the nada and edmunds books and would be satisfied with only $300 more than their offer.

i am a bit p.o.'ed since my company lost my claim for 12 days in their system and then they appear saving money for the other insur. company. nor did i like the adjusters attitude.
also, in my area, talking about purchases with car salesman, they belittle the lower edmunds in the price reference books and say i can't find good cars for that.
apparently, insurance has a seperate book c.c.c. to which dealers and consumers don't have access. i guess its typical insurance companies only want to use their book that others cannot see.
you comments are welcomed.
p.o.'ed in houston.

 

Ok, its a little hard to understand what you are wanting, but I'll give it a stab.

First off, sorry to hear about the accident. Hope everyone was alright.

Second, since you didn't give the exact amount of what the insurance company is willing to give you, I can't really say if you are being "had" or not. Just saying its over book value means nothing (as book values vary by location AND are not always accurate).

Third, theres not much you can do about what the insurance company will give you for the car. I'm sorry to hear about your negative experience, but thats just the way it is sometimes. Insurance companies are in this to make money and/or to lose the least amount of money possible (depending on which side of the battle they are on). It sucks.

Forth, I don't quite understand your statement about the car salesmen. If you are referring to the fact that they don't like the way edmunds rates prices, you will find the same deal with all salesmen and rating websites/magazines. Sites like edmunds can throw off peoples perception of price in a negative way for dealers (its bad for THEM at least, but good for you).

Just a bit of insight. Good luck.

 

thanks for your comments.
agent offered me $3800 which is $150 above edmunds dealer price.
a couple gripes about how my agent is not serving his policyholder-me.

of course by using a ccc vehicle cost report which he knows consumers and dealers do not use he is saving money. ccc list is a joke, 20 or so comparables, which most are not automatics and have double and triple my odometer.
i have countered by averaging edmunds, NADA and kelley books and am seeking $4300.
we will see where this goes.
perhaps, i will ask where where there is a similar vehicle-like mine-for only $3800; have him find one for me. if ccc is so good they can tell me where to get one.

 

What is the mileage on the car?

Having two damage claims on your policy doesn't help much. NADA is what DMV uses in my state for tax purposes, but Texas could be different.

If you're being taxed for a $4300 car then I'd say go with that. The state thinks it is worth $4300, so should the insurance company.

 

Go out and see what it would cost to buy a similar 95 accord and average out the prices. that is fair.

 

accord has/had only 84000 miles.
if they don't give me what i believe is fair, i guess next i will ask them to find-do the legwork-me a comparable accord for $4300. i'm sure they won't like that.
also, in coming up with the 3 books average of $4300 i had to use the books "average" condition ratings since the 2 prior damages "did" show in autocheck.

 

my previous settlement discussions with my insurance co finally resulted in the other insurance co doing the actual payout calling me out of the blue to give me what i want.

when i asked, they claimed they knew nothing of my ongoing back and forth with my company. sure.
i wonder if their technique is to keep the acrimony down during the settlement discussion?