What is the value of my car?
January 25th, 2020
Information about my car
2010 Honda Accord EX-L V6 3.5 (Black)
Leather Seat (Black)
Dual Power Seats, Multi Disc, XM Radio
Traction Control, Premium Sound
All stocks, clean record, no modifications.
State: Michigan
Excellent Condition. no dents.
How much should I actually get from my insurance? can I fight their offer of the ACV?
“Why is the amount you’re going to pay me for the car nearly $4000 less than what KBB says?”
I’d start with that.
You can certainly call them up and ask. It’s not like they can (legally) refuse to pay you entirely.
There may be an excess taken out of that figure?
Don’t accept their offer and tell them that you have done your research on what your vehicle would be worth before the accident. An insurance company is always going to try to low ball you because that’s what their suppose to do because they want to keep as much as they can in their pocket, and this scheme works on people. Show them what you found yours vehicles worth on autotrader, kbb, etc.. show it to them, and if you got any special trim packages or whatever make that known. Don’t let them walk all over you. Threaten to switch companies if need be.
Don't accept their offer and tell them that you have done your research on what your vehicle would be worth before the accident. An insurance company is always going to try to low ball you because that's what their suppose to do because they want to keep as much as they can in their pocket, and this scheme works on people. Show them what you found yours vehicles worth on autotrader, kbb, etc.. show it to them, and if you got any special trim packages or whatever make that known. Don't let them walk all over you. Threaten to switch companies if need be.
^^^^ This ……….. Insurance companies are a pain in the ass when it comes to valuations and you are always best fighting them no matter what offer you get. I never accept any first offer I am given by an insurance company. Fight fire with fire.
You have to remember though that any value you get from Kelly Blue Book has no legal standing as far as you are concerned and the insurance company has no legal obligation to use them or even to take their valuations into consideration. Kelly Blue Book is a private company providing a service to the automotive industry in the same way that a company making brake linings provides a service to the automotive industry.
Insurances and traders work with lists that contain any series vehicle on the market. You find a base prize from model and age and then add or take off bonuses depending on extras, condition and driven milage. These lists are on top split into if you want to buy or sell.
Best if you know some friend that works in a garage or alike. Go ask him to tell you what your car is worth according the listings used in your country. Given all your extras its likely your insurance is just offering you a low base prize – simply because in most cases they get away with it. You will need solid reference, like these common listings from cartraders, to counter your insurance if needed.
You might want to ask the insurance company what appraisal tool they use to estimate the blue book value of your car because not everyone in the industry uses Kelley Blue Book, exclusively.
An auto dealership will tell you what they use for appraisal value of vehicles as a second opinion. Not that they are anymore trustworthy in their assessment until you can pull more numbers from reputable sources.
In other words, there is another website you can access to get an estimated value of your car that will probably give less than desirable results, much lower than what is being reported from Kelley BB. And that may be another factor for the low ball figure. The dealership scoffed and told me once that they never reference Kelley Blue Book as a primary evaluation tool.
UPDATE: to the alternative site in an answer of more reliable industry quote acceptance: http://www.edmunds.com/
<—-<<<< ASE Master Automobile Technician 25 years experience in dealerships (including Honda) Okay first thing, you did not give enough info to find the value of your car. Missing are mileage and your location (Zip Code), both of which can make a HUGE difference in the value. Secondly, there is NO SUCH THING as excellent condition except in the mind of the owner. Unless you have had it stored off ground in a climate controlled garage, have every service record since day one, had it washed, detailed, and waxed once a week, and kept the mileage under about 10k a year, you are going to get average value. You can argue with them about it but think about it like you were going in there to buy it and they told you all that. Now being as you are in a dispute with an insurance company about the value it makes things even more interesting. You can still dispute it. They might even give you a little bump to shut you up. But if you want much more than that it’s going to be up to you to PROVE that the vehicle was for some reason worth substantially more than they are willing to pay. Then if you are really determined to get what it’s worth, you can always take them to court. Have you checked on the price of lawyers lately. It will cost more than you’ll ever get out of them just to get a lawyer to take the case much less walk into a courtroom. On the other hand they keep lawyers on hand to stomp people like you into the dust to set an example for anyone else who might want to try it.
My advise is to call them back up and make sure they have the year, make, model, mileage, and trim level (ES, LS, etc) of your car correct. Have the KBB value of your car in average condition, and request a re-appraisal. Good Luck