Kentucky Farm Bureau Offer for Vehicle

[krobe]

I need some advice and help for an accident my husband had last week. He drives a 95 Chevy S10 that runs well, but does not have collision or comprehensive coverage. He did not call the police and file a report since it happened in a parking lot.

He was pulling into a parking lot, the other driver was driving through it. Driver is staring at the store and not paying attention. My husband hit his breaks and honks to get him to stop, but they didn't and ended up running into the front driver side. It bent the tire, but no other damage. Driver admitted fault at the scene to my husband and his passenger, gave his information and left. We called our insurance and had them tow it to our mechanic until Driver's insurance agrees to pay.

We spent two weeks trying to get a hold of Kentucky Farm Bureau, because apparently only one agent could take the claim. After two weeks, the receptionist gave my husband the agents cell phone number. It took another 4 days for her to perform her "liability assessment." Finally came back and said they went to the scene, and determined he was 50% at fault and they would pay us $450 dollars for the repairs.

My husband said fine because he was tired of messing with it, and he needs his vehicle back. We call our mechanic to check the estimate and tell him to get started, and come to find out there is frame damage and it has to go to a different shop before they can know how much it will be to repair.

My question is, how can they decide that $450 will cover the 50% of the repairs Driver is responsible for? Our mechanic couldn't give us an estimate, and didn't talk to anyone at Kentucky Farm Bureau. Are we SOL because he said fine, even though the vehicle could now possibly be totaled? It is only worth a couple thousand, and we were told this repair could be thousands to fix.

I feel like something isn't right because the passenger was never called for a statement. No one went and reviewed actual damage on the vehicle.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[experiencedautoadjuster]

I can assist you with this give me a couple minutes to look over it and I'll shoot you an answer.
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Ok so here's my answer. Kentucky is known as a "pure comparative" negligence state thus the settlement involves certain percentages. Now second, parking lot accidents are normally 50/50 when it comes to who's at fault. Remember the other insurance company is there to protect their insured while still paying what they owe. Filing a police report wouldn't have worked bc parking lots are private property. Just because the other driver admitted fault doesn't mean anything bc he's not the adjuster.
If I were you because you don't have collision coverage you should be happy they are paying for something. BE NICE TO THEM. The insured technically had 30 days to get back to his insurance company so 2 weeks is quite good.
As far as the damages go- you need to call the adjuster explain you took it to the shop, authorize the shop to do a "tear down" get them to write an estimate so the insurance company can determine if it's a total loss or not and tell them there is going to be a supplement. If the vehicle isn't a total then you can ask the insurance adjuster to pay the supplement directly to the shop and you give them the check you already got and pay your half.
If it is a total then understand that you have 2 options you can either choose to repair the vehicle and get a salvage title or settle for the total loss and be done with it. Insurance companies DO NOT USE KELLY BLUE BOOK. They use the business version of the NADA the numbers are different than what you can see but goto the website you'll get a rough idea.
Other than that you're on your own because you don't carry that coverage so your insurance company won't be involved.
Does that help?

 

[krobe]

As far as the damages go- you need to call the adjuster explain you took it to the shop, authorize the shop to do a "tear down" get them to write an estimate so the insurance company can determine if it's a total loss or not and tell them there is going to be a supplement.

It does somewhat. Thank you for explaining how they could have come to the 50/50 decision.

I'm still unsure about where $450 came from. Is the verbal agreement on it a done deal, or can we go back and say Wait, the damage is much higher.

 

[experiencedautoadjuster]

Yeah you can go back that's what I was explaining is called a supplement. But don't waste anyone's time. You can't know whether or not the vehicle is totaled without the shop putting it on a lift and doing a tear down. You MUST authorize that.
After you get the estimate back go back to the insurance company and tell them the numbers.
They got the $450 when they ran it through estimating software. It's not the end of the world it's an estimate not a final estimate so there's always room for more. Remember they owe to put you in the position you were prior to the accident less 50%.
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Did you get the check yet? Did you cash it? Bc if I were you I'd save it and sign it over to the shop or hang on to it bc your vehicle might be totaled and that's a pain in the ass if you cash the check first.

 

[krobe]

Yeah you can go back that's what I was explaining is called a supplement.
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Did you get the check yet? Did you cash it? Bc if I were you I'd save it and sign it over to the shop or hang on to it bc your vehicle might be totaled and that's a pain in the ass if you cash the check first.

No, we have not received the check yet. I'll wait to cash it and will probably sign it over to the shop. The truck went to the shop that is capable of doing a tear-down for frame damage today. Estimate should (hopefully) be completed tomorrow, so we'll go from there.

Thank you again for your help!

 

[experiencedautoadjuster]

How many miles are on that truck?
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Is it reg cab or extended cab
Power locks and windows? V4 or v6?
Leather seats? I'll run a value for you

 

[krobe]

The truck has around 140,000 miles on it, regular cab, power lock and window. After market cd/mp3 player. Normal seats.

 

[experiencedautoadjuster]

Ok let's just do in general terms using avg miles driven each year. If its a reg cab truck no special options assuming 200k miles your looking in the ball park of it's ACV (actual cash value) being around $3575
Now KY DMV who makes the rules about what threshold of damages can be before the car is totaled is 75%. Most insurance companies take totals at around 70%. If that's the case your looking at $2502.50 totaling your vehicle. So what that means is if the total amount of damages exceeds that amount it's considered a total loss.
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Ok that brings it up to $4325 threshold being around $3243.75
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Ok that brings it up to $4325 threshold being around $3243.75
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Is that kinda making sense?

Sent from my iPhone using InsForums

 

[krobe]

So as long as the repair is not over 3200, they will (in theory) pay half. And if it's over that, they will pay 2100. Right? Assuming they use the same calculations for ACV that you do.

If they say the truck is a total loss based on that, I can still choose to have it repaired. I think I read something about having to do a special title if it's written off. Does Kentucky require that?

 

[djs]

For the record, it would be almost IMPOSSIBLE for a parking lot accident to cause frame damage. Be careful with what the body shop is telling you, or there may have been preexisting damage.

If it 'bent the tire' but no other damage, its not frame damage.

Don't let them do a tear down until the insurance adjuster says to do it. Make sure you have pictures. The damage claim and the accident do not add up.

Dan