2004 Toyota Land Cruiser, totaled, Insurance says $11,302 to surrender vehicle ...

[cwmoser]

My son bumped the rear end of another vehicle.
Damage is on the Left Front.
Repair shop says its $7,860 to repair.
Insurance Company wants to total it and pay out $11,302
Before wreck the LC was in great shape and ran great.
It still drives OK but don't look good on the LF.
264K miles

We can keep the LC for $3,300 less than the pay out.

So what do you think? Fair offer or should I hold out for more?

 

[delz05]

NEVER accept the first offer, do your homework and research current "retail" values. Search the mud forum for similar posts and gather first hand information. If you had no issues with the vehicle prior to the damage, refuse the "total" claim and have the Insurance Company process the repairs. Only you can decide if it is worth the "buy back" option. That should be discussed with the repair shop. If the inner fender apron is twisted, it will have to be pulled and straighted before fitting on replacement fender, bumper cover, headlight etc...

 

[LXfromTX]

My son bumped the rear end of another vehicle.
Damage is on the Left Front.
Repair shop says its $7,860 to repair.
Insurance Company wants to total it and pay out $11,302
Before wreck the LC was in great shape and ran great.
It still drives OK but don't look good on the LF.
264K miles

We can keep the LC for $3,300 less than the pay out.

So what do you think? Fair offer or should I hold out for more?

View attachment 3864885

NEVER accept the first offer, do your homework and research current "retail" values. Search the mud forum for similar posts and gather first hand information. If you had no issues with the vehicle prior to the damage, refuse the "total" claim and have the Insurance Company process the repairs. Only you can decide if it is worth the "buy back" option. That should be discussed with the repair shop. If the inner fender apron is twisted, it will have to be pulled and straighted before fitting on replacement fender, bumper cover, headlight etc...

You can also go to Bring a Trailer and Cars and Bids to find closed auctions with comparable vehicles and see what they went for. Use that data to get a fair settlement or show that it's worth fixing. There was another thread for the same issue not long ago where the individual hired an independent adjuster. He was very happy with what they were able to do and provided their contact info.

 

[DuckLN]

Your carrier of their contractor can do a market survey study of your area to identify value and remember their hustle is not paying policy holders less than fair market value- they’re actuarily supported. Usually market studies come back less is what i’m told.

If you do study yourself a bit you might search for executed sales prices rather than a listing. For example ebay shows “completed listings”. You could contact dealerships and ask if they’ve sold similar vehicles and if so they’ll provide you some documentation reflecting a sales price.

Good luck!

 

[NevadaMAC]

Check out Collision Safety Consultants. I started following them on FB. They have lots of posts of their results. They get increased diminished value compensation if not totaled or makes sure insurance pays what is fair when totaled out via the appraisal clause route most policies have.

 

[Import Driver]

That is a decent amount is damage - more that what I would call a bump. But that doesn't matter.

Let's talk about the logistics of buying it back. Quickly adding up parts in my head based on prior experience... Buying new parts you could easily be at $4,000-$6,000 in parts/paint alone, no labor. So that's assuming that like me, you would do the work (including painting) yourself. Buyback is $3,300 then you have $7300-$9300 into it if you did all the work yourself. Hire a shop to do the work and we'll... I don't even want to guess.

I hope that helps you work through with the buyback idea.

On the other hand, $3,300 is a good deal for that vehicle. If you don't buy it back, it will sell for $5,000-$9,000 at auction and go to the middle east.

 

[NearJetties]

That is a decent amount is damage - more that what I would call a bump. But that doesn't matter.

Let's talk about the logistics of buying it back. Quickly adding up parts in my head based on prior experience... Buying new parts you could easily be at $4,000-$6,000 in parts/paint alone, no labor. So that's assuming that like me, you would do the work (including painting) yourself. Buyback is $3,300 then you have $7300-$9300 into it if you did all the work yourself. Hire a shop to do the work and we'll... I don't even want to guess.

I hope that helps you work through with the buyback idea.

On the other hand, $3,300 is a good deal for that vehicle. If you don't buy it back, it will sell for $5,000-$9,000 at auction and go to the middle east.

Buy back is the payout less $3,300 so $9k.

As others have mentioned, work on increasing the payout and/or lowering the buyout if you want to fix it.

 

[REKCUT]

Any insurance transaction is always a negotiation. Do your homework and see how far you get. For some people it’s just not worth their time or effort to get more money out of the truck. You can also produce any recent upgrades or service work you have done to increase value

 

[spazzyfry123]

Any insurance transaction is always a negotiation. Do your homework and see how far you get. For some people it’s just not worth their time or effort to get more money out of the truck. You can also produce any recent upgrades or service work you have done to increase value

Yep. When someone totaled out my car some years back, we had a couple months of back and forth before we could agree to a number. During this time, I'm clearly without a vehicle with the potential of rental costs going through the roof as there is a horizon on rental duration. Fortunately for me, I had access to other means of transportation, so I was able to go through the ball-ache of a process to end up getting roughly 30% higher than initial offer.

They bank on you not having the time and resources to go through their silly dance and more than not people will get an extra 2% from initial offer and feel they won despite it still being awfully lower than what you should see. Stubbornness and patience will get you where you want to be.

That out of the way... What's your intent with the vehicle should you buy it back? Is it turning into a dedicated offroad machine or are you planning to restore it back to its former glory? With the minimal details from the pictures and factoring in the buyback cost and their initial offer, it looks like you'll net spending a bit more than their initial offer to bring it back to its former glory - and you'll be left with a salvage titled vehicle that you now have more money into than it's worth. Saving Land Cruisers aside, it would be a tough sale unless you're able to do every bit of the repair on your own and are fine with a branded title.

My vote, negotiate to get the best return possible, buy the truck back at $3k, and turn it into a carefree camp/exploration vehicle with minimal parts thrown to get you there.

 

[Bisho]

Buy it back and make your son do the work to fix it. My son learned to wrench rebuilding the front of a 2002 Ranger when he rear ended someone while likely looking at his phone... He wasn't very happy about it, but ended up loving to wrench on cars as a result. And it was good penance.