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Insurance question

ramack

ramack

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The short story...

Last week, my daughter was driving my former daily driver (now her's) a 2006 Ford Focus wagon ZXW and was in an accident. No bodily injury to either party. The other vehicle, a 2016 Nissan Murano had a lot of front end body damage and had to be towed. The Focus was beat up pretty bad on the driver's side in addition to suspension damage. My wife and I went to the accident scene to help my daughter sort through all the "stuff" and when I saw the Focus I knew it was totaled. I was was able to limp it home a few miles from the accident and it's been parked in the driveway. The day after the accident, I called my insurance company to report the accident and to start the claim going. They sent an appraiser out a couple days ago and I'm waiting to hear back, but I will have two options; Cash out the Focus and the insurance company gets the car, or I retain the Focus and get less cash out.

So... with all that said, is there any reason why I can't cancel the claim and fix the Focus myself? No exchange between me and the insurance company, just pay out of pocket for the repair. It looks like I will only need to replace one piece which costs ~ $125. Then I'll get it aligned.

My experience with insurance companies and wrecks has fortunately been pretty limited, but I am thinking that since i haven't signed off anything yet, I am able to cancel the claim on my Focus, right???
 
Honestly, I would let insurance take it. I between me and my wife, and a few times with my parents. Every single time a vehicle got totaled they ended out paying way more then the vehicle was worth.
The last time, my wife had a 03 Chevy Malibu. It was her collage car, two hundred thousand plus miles. Might have been worth a grand on a good day with a needy buyer at night. Lol, got paid 4500 for it. I walked away feeling great.
Now, that said the down sides are a claim on your insurance so possibly of higher premiums. And the idea you need to replace the car. Some people can't afford to the upgrade of a replacement car. And if you can't get a upgrade you might end up with a car that's not as good as the one you just crashed. So their are some downsides. But depending on what you get back from them. I probably would take the money and run.
 
IME. The less amount was 10% of the full amount, if it’s a total. I took the money and kept the truck, then sold it for 1/2 of what I got for settlement and made a few grand in the process.
 
A few weeks before my daughter's accident, my wife rear-ended another car in our Sienna a few blocks from our house. I drove it home and thought about trying to fix it, but it is well beyond my ability. The insurance company is giving us an acceptable amount for the van, so that was a no-brainer. I'm down two vehicles in a short period and don't have funds to replace one let alone two. That's the main reason I'm looking at fixing the Focus. I don't care what it looks like as long as it's safe.

Ha!!! Right now I can't afford a replacement!!! Upgrade, out of the question, downgrade is probably more realistic for me, ha. My '79 has become my daily driver, man I am glad I have the rebuilt carb on it from National Carb. in Florida. We haven't had single digit overnight temps yet, but they are very near, starts right up (after pumping the gas pedal 10-20 times!). Over the past couple years my wife has asked why we still have it since I didn't really drive it that much, she has asked me once after her accident in the van. I'm sure my response wasn't very edifying. It hasn't come up after the daughter's accident : ) .

I appreciate your comments and feedback.
 
You should be able to cancel the claim.
Although I don't think that's predicated on signing anything.
 
My daughter recently had someone back into her 2000 Jetta and drive off without leaving a note or anything. We bought the VW for her 5 years ago for $1500. She put about 50,000 miles on it in that time. It had almost 270,000 miles on it. Me and her boyfriend have patched that thing up many times trying to make it last. The basics were good, decent winter tires, good brakes. Beyond that...$500 car anymore. She had rear ended two cars, both somewhat minor but the bumper structure under the mask was suspect now.

Insurance took a look and offered here $1900 for it. No brainer.

Her Boyfriend works at a local Honda dealer and found her a 2005 Civic. Good shape, but 180,000 miles. He paid $800 for it, which is absurdly low for the market here...but that's what the dealership paid on trade. He put $250 in parts into it, and about 20 hours of his time going through it from stem to stern. Body is perfect, so is paint and interior. He was about to bring it home finally and the dealership took another 05 civic in on trade. This one only had 90,000 miles on it, and only needed an alternator. He paid $2000 for that one and my daughter is now driving that. He sold the first one for $3800. It cost him some of his free time, but they ended up in the black on the whole thing. She now has a Civic worth $4K or better and they made a few bucks.
 
So....just a quick update how the insurance ended up with the 2006 Ford Focus Wagon. Before the insurance officially totaled the vehicle I fixed the mechanical stuff, took it to Big-O and had them align all fours. Then I contacted them and told them that I am retaining the vehicle, then we started the paperwork exchange. DURING all of this exchange the tone and verbiage went from "it must have a salvage title" to "it may require filing for a salvage title. Contact the Colorado DMV for more information". That's all I've heard since. I have all the information I need, ha. The only stipulation the insurance company had/has, is that I no longer can have collision or comprehensive coverage unless I can provide evidence that it has been repaired to pre-accident condition.

So...No salvage title, the car is mechanically in great shape, it just looks beat up and my daughter has a car again. I'll see if it makes it through the winter without getting smacked then pop most of the dents out this spring. Total cost of parts were about $420 and $80 for alignment.
 
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