Insurance companies are such bloody crooks

D

Delboy

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I was hit buy a truck. I was in a 2009 RX8 and the insurance company determined it was a total loss as in their words "it would cost more to fix than it was worth". BTW, the car was never taken to a body shop, this was based on an insurance adjuster looking at it. It actually didn't look that bad to me but in their words "What would you know"

They offered me $16000 for it - take it of leave it. The car was spotless with only 23000km on it, garaged all its life.

Looking around on autotrader it would take at least $25000 to replace it and those don't have all the options mine did. When I brought this up they said that autotrader was not accurate.

I was advised to hire an independant apraiser that could access the damage and give me the real value of the car. Before I could do this they had it moved from the tow companys compound and taken for whatever they do with scrap. It still had all my personal stuff in their including my laptop and my plates.

Do I have any recourse with these guys? I called FSCO but they basically said there was nothing they could do.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

BTW, its TD Home and Auto. If you have any insurance with them I would suggest you look elsewhere.
 
Delboy said:
I was hit buy a truck. I was in a 2009 RX8 and the insurance company determined it was a total loss as in their words "it would cost more to fix than it was worth". BTW, the car was never taken to a body shop, this was based on an insurance adjuster looking at it. It actually didn't look that bad to me but in their words "What would you know"

They offered me $16000 for it - take it of leave it. The car was spotless with only 23000km on it, garaged all its life.

Looking around on autotrader it would take at least $25000 to replace it and those don't have all the options mine did. When I brought this up they said that autotrader was not accurate.

I was advised to hire an independant apraiser that could access the damage and give me the real value of the car. Before I could do this they had it moved from the tow companys compound and taken for whatever they do with scrap. It still had all my personal stuff in their including my laptop and my plates.

Do I have any recourse with these guys? I called FSCO but they basically said there was nothing they could do.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

BTW, its TD Home and Auto. If you have any insurance with them I would suggest you look elsewhere.
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How long ago was this?
 
If it's still in your name and you didn't sign anything call the police and report it stolen. Worth a try but you might confuse the insurance company enough to give you more money....lol
 
Delboy said:
BTW, its TD Home and Auto. If you have any insurance with them I would suggest you look elsewhere.
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WOW I really wish I had some advice. I would have blown up and done something stupid at that point.

I had a friend who had stuff stolen and had a TD home policy and they game him the run around. It took 2 years and the threats of legal action to get the money to replace his stolen property. He even asked them to go source out the exact products stolen as he wanted them replaced not the money to do other things with.
 
All you have to do is search around for the same year car in the same condition for sale, print out the asking price.
Get a copy of the Blue Book and bring it to your insurance company.
They must give you what the current asking price is for that car.
 
Low rider said:
All you have to do is search around for the same year car in the same condition for sale, print out the asking price.
Get a copy of the Blue Book and bring it to your insurance company.
They must give you what the current asking price is for that car.
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That used to work. Lately insurance companies seem to have been going the appraisal route (which is very difficult for the customer to get an accurate appraisal of the before condition (even if they don't lose your car)).
 
Funny that. Adjusters are qualified to estimate both repair costs and approx vehicle worth. You don't need to take the car to a body shop to do either, especially when damage is obviously severe.

I'm surprised at the offer you were given though. My great condition no-rust but 7-times-older car with over 7-times the mileage netted me an offer of 70% of what you were offered for your car. I thought that was most fair, and had my cheque in hand on the fifth business day after the crash. Apparently not all insurance companies are bloody crooks.
 
Low rider said:
All you have to do is search around for the same year car in the same condition for sale, print out the asking price.
Get a copy of the Blue Book and bring it to your insurance company.
They must give you what the current asking price is for that car.
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Tried that. They use a private company that some how determines the "typical" sale price for a model, make and year. They claim auto trader, blue book, black book, etc. Are not accurate
 
turbodish said:
Funny that. Adjusters are qualified to estimate both repair costs and approx vehicle worth. You don't need to take the car to a body shop to do either, especially when damage is obviously severe.

I'm surprised at the offer you were given though. My great condition no-rust but 7-times-older car with over 7-times the mileage netted me an offer of 70% of what you were offered for your car. I thought that was most fair, and had my cheque in hand on the fifth business day after the crash. Apparently not all insurance companies are bloody crooks.
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What car and what company? What year was it?
 
Delboy said:
Tried that. They use a private company that some how determines the "typical" sale price for a model, make and year. They claim auto trader, blue book, black book, etc. Are not accurate
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Well, Autotrader is most certainly not accurate, and it can be manipulated by having friends in, say, an RX-8 club listing their own vehicles for sale at grossly unrealistic prices so those prices can be pointed to as "proof" of an RX-8's value.

Even without that happening, Autotrader prices are asking prices, sometimes realistic, often times not, and cannot be relied on as being an indicator of actual selling prices. In Ontario, the best source for that kind of information might actually be the MTO given that they track claimed purchase prices of vehicles.
 
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Just curious how could you possibly leave your laptop in the car? Assuming you were not badly injured or taken away to a hosptial after the accident? Why didn't you take it out and bring it home with you immediately? I would never trust leaving it in the car knowing that a tow truck driver is going to have access to the vehicle. Those guys are so skeezy, and i would especially not leave it i there knowing it would be in the car for days in a compound. On occassions where i have to take my laptop out with me i freak out if it's of my line of sight for more than 5 seconds.
 
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Johnny5 said:
Just curious how could you possibly leave your laptop in the car? Assuming you were not badly injured or taken away to a hosptial after the accident? Why didn't you take it out and bring it home with you immediately? I would never trust leaving it in the car knowing that a tow truck driver is going to have access to the vehicle. Those guys are so skeezy, and i would especially not leave it i there knowing it would be in the car for days in a compound. On occassions where i have to take my laptop out with me i freak out if it's of my line of sight for more than 5 seconds.
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It was not on purpose. I was out of it and was removed from the car by fire and paramedics and put on a back board. I didn't really come round until later at the hospital.
 
turbodish said:
Wawanesa, 91 Mercedes 500SL, virtually mint condition inside/outside/underneath aside from the heavy front end damage after the crash.
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That sounds about right. My father in law just sold his 92 with 88k for $11.5k

I don't know how a $50k car depreciates to $16k after 26 months. I assume you work for TD or the insurance industry.
 
Have you asked the adjuster where the car is? They should know - it is still legally your car until you accept the offer. Let them know you need to recover your personal belongings and plates. That should be step one. If your items are not in the car, then you'll need to take further action.

In terms of the valuation of the car, ask your adjuster to explain what your options are concerning arbitration. They may increase the offer if there is room to do so. Most appraisals are very fairly done in my experience, but if it's a write off, asking questions won't hurt.
 
Delboy said:
That sounds about right. My father in law just sold his 92 with 88k for $11.5k

I don't know how a $50k car depreciates to $16k after 26 months. I assume you work for TD or the insurance industry.
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It shouldn't. 40 to 50%, maybe even 60% depreciation if a car is seriously used up or beat to hell even before the crash. What's the book value of your car in average condition? And no, Autotrader and Kijiji are not reliable sources for car values.
 
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Based on the feed back from some board members I went and joined Car Help Canada.

They got me hooked up with an independant apraiser and the insurance company are about $9k low. He says they do this all the time. $60 well spent as far as I'm concerned
 
Glad to hear it's working out Delboy. Always good to hear Insurance Companies being righted.
 
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