Our 3rd car (a 1993 Volvo 850), used by our sitter, was hit the other night and from the looks of the damage will be written off by the insurance company. (The person who hit the car also took off from the accident scene without stopping - the b*stard.) Fortunately nobody was hurt and it happened when the kids weren't in the car.

I've never had a car totalled before, so I am looking for advice/information. Given that there's at least 4-5K in damage, and wholesale value on the car is only around 1,000, I'm assuming the insurance company will give us a check for the wholesale value of the car and be done with it. Is that correct? Do we still ownthe car and could we sell if to a junk yard to try to get some more money, or does the car become the property of the Insurance company at that point?

We're really bummed -- the car had to last about another year as our sitter is also an International college student we are helping support and will be done with classes this December. She her in her own vehicle to help with childcare transportation and getting herself to class. Now, we are looking at another car payment. Ugh. Given that our children ride in the car on a daily basis, it has to be a safe vehicle, so the "beater-mobile" is not an option.

 

[size=5][font=Century Gothic]Sorry to about your sister Volvo indimini [/font][/size]

[font='Century Gothic']The good news is that no one was in the car at the time and from my experience with the insurance company. Once they paid you for the total lost of your vehicle. The damage car belongs to them.[/font]

 

They should give you replacement value, not wholesale value (wholesale is less). The ins co will take ownership of the car when you agree to a value. You usually have the option to buy it back from them for cheap, but that is probably only a good idea if you plan to part it out or fix it.

 

After the pay out, the car belongs to the Insurance Co! That's the first item. The second is registration. If the car is drivable, or close to it, it may be worth buying the "wreck" but it will have a salvage title. To get it registered, you'll need an inspection, so it should be close enough to savable to fix for low cost as well.

I had a motorcylce that was hit in a parking lot. The neck (down-tube) was torn up, and when at the insurence compay, the ajuster made a mistake and heard that the bike was worth $60, instead of evaluating the bike for value was $60. So I bought it back for $60, fixed it with a hammer and some welding, and sold it to my roommate for $500!

He knew about the metal tear (the stop for the forks, nothing near the bearings). And he loved the value!

Good luck, and I glad no one was hurt.....

Matt

 

Thanks everybody. I'm relieved to hear that we will get something approximating retail vs. wholesale value :smile:. We have used a small, local shop for all our used Volvo needs and checked his inventory today. Looks like that he may have a good replacement to get our college student/sitter through the next year without too much cash beyond what we should get from insurance.

The car is definitely not driveable and I wouldn't want to fix it and put my kids back in it. One reason we love Volvo's - they really do make sure the people inside are protected.