So I was in a accident few weeks ago. A sandwich. The body shop took it and it was going to cost around 8000 bucks to fix. So for 19 days its been in the shop me thinking they were starting to fix it. I called today to check up on the update to find out they had not started it.
They said the insurance company claimed it as a total loss but no one called me letting me know this. So for 19 days + 9 days at my house before they took it to the shop. The car had been sitting around doing nothing.

I have a expensive sound system, GPS several horns 4 to be exact, rims and tires 18inch in my car. It will cost to much for me to take it out and re put it in rather than just buy it and put it in the other car.
My question they are going to give me money for what the car is worth I am guessing? How do I get the most out of my car?

What should I do? Should I collect the money wait for the new xB to come out and just go with that new xB and pay the difference?

Any help will do.

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Be sure to have the receipt for everything that you did to your xB and turn it in to the insurance company. Any good insurance company will reimburse you for it all. And BTW, that sucks about your xB. Hope everything works out for you.

P.S. Get your car out of the body shop if they will let you w/ the insurance okay.

 

What'd he say?? ^^^

 

Insurance will pay the agreed upon value of the car minus your deductible, tax and title fees and so on. they should of contacted you to tell you this and sent you a request for the title of your car so they can "buy" the car from you.
As for the audio system and rims and so on, unless you insured that too, it is not covered, if it is, I hope you have the receipts to prove the value of everything you've put into it, otherwise i guess you can say that you want it all uninstalled and returned to you or you gotta go pick it up, whatever.

What i don't understand is why your insurance company didn't contact you earlier because they usually have to pay body shops a storage fee. anyway, either get a new First Gen xB, or if you can afford to wait a few months or however long, get a Second Gen xB.

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if it is your Insurance company then the coverage of value for your mods may or may not be taken care of (depends on the policy), BUT, if the other guys Insurance is totalling your car they need to compensate you for every part in order to make you "whole". Proving values with depreciation etc. can make it a headache. An alternative might be to negotiate remove some of the items and either use them or resell them yourself. Good Luck

 

They did contact me but not about selling my car. All I got was some guy called and to call back so when I called back they did not know what was going on. I found out because I called the body shop today. I called the insurence company today and left a message asking what is going on. I even spoke to the manager and asked him for the status of my car and to call me back. He never called me back. I have expenisve equitment in there and I can't drive the car or take it out. The shop that did it all is not in the same area. If they buy it from me am I getting the better end of the deal. I am bumed becuase for weeks I though they were werking on it. I only got a call just a few days ago. It has been in the shop more than JUST a few days.

 

As far a receipts I can get invoices from the other body shop for the installation etc. I can also get a invoice sent to me for my sound system. As far as my GPS I don't remember which online store I bought it from. I can always just get a invoice from like tweaters or something.

 

If I am not mistaken when a car is written off as a total loss you are able to to take out any aditional items you have installed however the car has to have everything that it would as if it was just purchased. For Example, you can remove your aftermarket rims however you have to replace it with oem rims. You can take out your stereo system but they need 4 oem speakers and stereo unit. You should be able to remove everything that you installed that does not come stock.

 

I don't know how to. I had the shop do it for me. Will they take it out for me and I do not have the orginal stuff as I did not know they were going to BUY it from me let alone get in a accident.

 

You don't by chance have Geico for your insurance do you ?

 

prng

 

wtf^^^

 

You don't know how to remove your wheels?
I'm sure you can pay someone to do it for you. But that will be out of your pocket. Your insurance will pay for anything you told them you wanted them to cover. If you didn't tell them to do so... They didn't.

 

I am waiting for them to contact me so I can see what the situation is. I am with 21 centry. Wheels If I remove them I can't place stock wheels on the car. Do they just minus that. I do not know how to take out the sound system. I also have dynamat in the car to so can not be removed.

 

MODERATOR - please delete Dean's post. Crashers are not appreciated!

 

An insurance company can tell you what they deem to be a total loss, but the car is still your possession and you have the ultimate authority on what is to be done with it.

That being said you probably will not get as much for your sound system as you paid for it, even with receipts unless if you had an endorsement for your upgraded system. If you decide to remove items such as an upgraded stereo and cant replace it with the original, they will simply deduct the amount of the stock radio from the value of the car.

As for the actual cash value they will give you it based on fair market value, not blue book. they will minus your deductible, and any depreciation on the car. (tires, seats, battery, etc) they will add to the value on upgraded items and if you have anything left on your tags they will prorate that amount as well as tax and license.

Before they move the car anywhere ask them to run the value at the shop. Do not release your car until they have done this. The reason being if the value comes in high enough you can possibly get some dialogue going with the management to see if they can repair it.

As for all the delays with both the body shop and the insurance company make sure and document every conversation including dates and times. If you have not been doing this so far then back track and do this as accurately as possible. Then report the insurance company to the Department of Insurance.

If you need any further advice you can pm me. I am an insurance adjuster and I deal with total loss scenarios everyday.

 

Thankyou for your kind words. Do you have AIM or yahoo messenger?

 

I mean 19 days and they did not notify me. Had I not called I would have though they were workign on my car this whole time.