Dealing with State Farm after car was hit in a parking lot

Rossi86

Rossi86

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My car was hit pretty bad in a parking lot, it got squeezed between 2 cars and looks like it's totaled. The car is old so I doubt the State Farm will pay to fix the damage on both sides instead of writting it off.

My question is, they will try to lowball me as much as they can as they always do but what options do I have to negotiate the price up with them? Is there another institution that gets involved if we don't agree on the write off price?

This pisses me off, even though the car was old, it ran fine I never had any problems with it and was going to keep it for a few more years. Now, no matter how much money they give me I'm going to have to add more myself to buy another car. So in the end I'll still lose money...
 
All you can really do is search the market (Autotrader, Kijiji, etc.) and find cars that are similar to yours in terms of year, mileage and options.
The will lowball you, but they're supposed to offer you the cost of a replacement.
So fight hard and don't settle until you're satisfied.

Good luck.
 
I'm not sure how much this will apply to you because it was a long time ago (about 15 years). I had on old, POS car that I got into an accident with. 100% the other driver's fault, and my car was a write-off. I was with State Farm, and don't remember what the actual $$ numbers were. However I DO remember that they offered me about 1200 more than I thought the car was worth.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you DO have some hope.
 
You may have some hope.

About 10 years ago my car got t-boned by an old lady who ran a stop sign. She was found 100% at fault, and State Farm put $3200 plus 24 days of a rental into a car I had paid $600 for 3 years before. The person managing my claim told me that since she was at fault her and her insurance was footing the bill they basically would fix it no matter the cost.

I couldn't believe they were going to fix it. I had already picked up a new auto trader and was making calls for a new one.

Best of luck. Let us know how you make out
 
A neighbour had his old Crown Vickie hit and he was offered $2500 as a write off. He negotiated to get the $2500 plus keeping his car. He got it fixed for about $2200 but had to accept some imperfect chrome.
 
As expected they lowballed me, with their offer I'll have to pay $1000 or more to get a car of the same condition. Is there a number or institutiuon to contact that deals with insurance claims?
 
Out of curiosity, what year/make/model car were you driving and how much are they offering you?
 
Rossi86 said:
As expected they lowballed me, with their offer I'll have to pay $1000 or more to get a car of the same condition. Is there a number or institutiuon to contact that deals with insurance claims?
Click to expand...

Just keep insisting they fix it until you get a fair price.
 
Your policy covers your car for actual cash value which may not always be the same as your actual replacement cost. Having said that, you feel you've been low balled so what are your options?

First step is perhaps to try to renegotiate the value. Ask your adjuster for a copy of the valuation report and it will show references they used to determine your car's value. From there, you can do your own research and use your own sources to come up with your perceived value. The usual sites like Autotrader and Kijiji are good places to start. Another site here may help as well: http://www.vmrcanada.com/

You need to be able to justify why you feel your car is worth what you think it's worth. Obviously you won't form a strong argument if you reference a mint condition vehicle on sale on Autotrader when your car was a rust bucket. Pictures, maintenance records, anything you can use in your favour will help. Once you feel you've made a strong case, go back to the adjuster and present them with your research. Remember that yelling and profanity doesn't get anywhere. Be professional but assertive.

If that doesn't work, you can look at mediation through the General Insurance OmbudService (GIO): http://www.giocanada.org/. It's a free service. Should that be another dead end, you've got the option of arbitration and perhaps seeking out legal representation. Best of luck.
 
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