Auto Insurance company stole my car?Paid off the bank,and I get nothing.Don't even keep my car. the law in NC?

savannah63638

I know NC has some very precarious insurance laws. I was down there taking care of my elderly mother and found that they only pay like $2500 in an accident and then your private health insurance is responsible unless you add some kind of rider to the policy. So I would say that's probably an accurate assessment.

I've bookmarked this site to go back to...

http://www.knowledged.info/go.php?link=insurance

All the best to you.

Margarita D

The insurance company should have advised you that the vehicle was a total loss and then proceeded to make you a settlement offer for the vehicle. In the majority of the cases they make two offers one in which they keep the vehicle and sell it for the salvage value and the second offer letting you keep the vehicle and they deduct the salvage value. In addition in the majority of states they also include the cost to obtain a replacement title, transfer or replacement of the tags and any state tax based on the current value of the vehicle.

Depending on when you purchased it, how many miles you have driven it and its condition prior to the loss, the actual cash value can be significantly lower than your loan balance. The current market situation has also severely lowered the value of all vehicles new & used! However, you can still negotiate with the insurance company to try to get them to offer you more money. You will need to provide them with documentation though--i.e. look up the Kelly Blue Book Value on the internet, check local newspaper listings that are offering your same vehicle (detailing same or approximate miles, equipment, etc.), call and check pricing and inventory for same vehicle at local dealerships, etc. If during this research you find a higher price, provide them with the proof and use this to negotiate a higher offer.

Bottom line ask the insurance company how much they valued the vehicle at and how did they determine their offer. And then negotiate!

Also you might want to consider your keeping the car. If it is still repairable and the lien holder lets you keep it in many cases you can come out ahead.

Also by the way the insurance company did not "steal" your car! They are only required to pay you the Actual Cash Value of the car which is the value that the vehicle had right before the accident. Believe it or not you are actually better off than many people I have seen recently in total loss accidents--many of them have lost the car and they still owe the bank thousands of dollars because the Actual Cash Value of the vehicle was significantly lower than what they owed the bank so they are stuck on foot and with a large debt to boot! Count your blessings!

I hope this helps. Good Luck!

oklatom

They didn't 'steal' your car. Apparently you were in an accident that was severe enough that your car was totaled. Since you had full coverage, which I assume included uninsured motorist, your company stepped up and took care of things. Without that coverage you may have been left with absolutely nothing expect a payment that needed to be paid.

Once the insurance paid the claim to the bank, they became the owner of the car. If the fair market value of the vehicle is less that what you owed you would be billed for the difference. If it's more than what you owe, the bank will send you a check for the difference.

Of course, if you had a deductible amount you would have to pay that, but your insurance will be going after the at fault person, assuming it was the other car, to get that back for you.

You could have asked to keep your car, but that's never a good idea. You would have paid them salvage value, kept the car, and been issued a salvage title which would have made it hard to insure and worth about 50% of fair market value if you managed to get it repaired to the point where you could have registered and driven it.

The law in NC is very much like the law anywhere else. In the event of a loss, you get the damage repaired, or the fair market value of the vehicle, which ever is less, and the insurance makes that decision.

If you don't want to walk, go buy another car. If you are thinking insurance will both pay your loss AND give you money to go buy another car, that will never happen. You are entitled to be compensated, not make a profit. Good luck.

Baby Poots

I don't think there is anything you can do.

In 1986, my car was "totaled", which means that the cost of fixing the car would have been more than what was owed on the car. My car was a 1984 model with less than 10,000 miles. Since my car was "financed", I was required to maintain full coverage. My insurance company paid the lien on the car; but, there was no money coming to me, and I was left without a car. I had to finance another car.

Your insurance company did not "steal" your car.

CwboyBill

This is clearly spelled out in your policy -- your insurer has every right to minimize their loss by auctioning off your car for parts. Once they pay for it (as in a total loss settlement) the car is THEIRS, not yours. You should be thankful you don't have to pay the bank an additional $5k and STILL have no car -- this happens every day.

Hal G

For car insurance the obvious way to get a low quote is do a policy comparison on car policies. Make sure that you choose similar options with the same limits, auto model, location, etc so that all options are an accurate comparison.

What I usually recommend is an online comparison quote at http://www.lowratetoday.com since they have lots of insurers and will give several quotes on auto insurance polices.

Kurt B

Welcome to the auto insurance industry in America.

Insurance companies are not in business to lose money. They are in business to collect premiums and pay as little as possible in claims.

Your problem is that the damage done to the car costs more to repair than the car is worth. This is the definition of "Totalling a Car". The repairs cost more than the "total" value of the car.

Why would an insurance company pay you more to fix a car than it would cost them to buy you a replacement? That is their logic.

Unfortunately, the cost of auto repairs is so ridiculously high that many cars that are perfectly drivable with only "minor" cosmetic damages are totalled.

Most insurance companies will allow you to buy the car back from them. This will usually be less than the cost of the repairs, and possibly less than the amount they paid off for you.

You can check with them on this. Then you will have to pay to have the repairs done yourself. In any case, it really is a lose-lose situation for you.

That is the nature of the Auto Insurance Scam in America today. There is not much you can do, since they have all the cards in their hands. :(

Tim

Scam Kurt B? not really. sounds like a pretty logical system to me. your real complaint is not with insurance, but the high cost of repairs on modern vehicles.

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