If some sort of accident took place, it would make sense to file an insurance claim as soon as possible. The thing is, would you be in a position to know what the car is worth? For many people, the answer is no. Opting to have the car appraised and learning the true car value for insurance claims is something you should do. Here are a few ways that information will help.
Assessing Why The Insurance Company Wants to Repair Your Damaged Vehicle
You contact the insurance company and the damage is assessed. The provider offers to pay for the costs of repair. do you know how they arrived at that decision? If you know the car’s true value, then you have a basis for evaluating the projected costs.
You can take the estimate for the repairs and compare it to the car’s value. Do you find that the vehicle has a value that is much higher than the repairs? Will the difference between what it was worth prior to the event and what it will be worth after the repairs is still significantly more? If so, you can readily see why the insurance company wants to repair the car.
Or Why The Insurance Company Wants to Total It
Depending on the amount of damage done, the provider may not be open to the idea of repairing the car. Instead, you may receive an offer to total the vehicle. This would involve providing you with a specific amount of compensation in return for surrendering the vehicle to the insurance company. Why would they go with this solution?
In this scenario, the provider believes that it would be less expensive to provide you with compensation than paying for the repairs to be made. If you know the car’s true value, it’s easy enough to confirm if this is a reasonable deal for you. When the amount of damage is so significant that the car would no longer have much value, it would be to your advantage to accept the offer and prepare to go car shopping.
Deciding If You Want to Keep the Vehicle
Remember that no matter what the insurance company offers, you are under no obligation to accept the terms. It’s possible for you to reject the offer and decide to take action on your own. That action may be paying for repairs out of your own pocket, or it could involve dismantling the vehicle and selling the individual parts as a way to recoup some of the loss.
Knowing the true car value for insurance claims will tell you if these alternatives are worth the time and effort. You may decide to repair the vehicle if if happens to carry a lot of sentimental value. At the same time, knowing the value may be enough to convince you that what the insurance provider is offering to do is the most practical solution.
Understanding the Amount of Insurance to Keep in Place
Assuming you keep the car, it will have less market value after the repairs than it did before the accident. When the difference is significant, it may impact the amount of insurance coverage that you need to maintain. By knowing the car’s current value, you can decide what to do.
The decision may be to renew the current policy for another term without any changes. You may also decide to alter the benefits in some manner, while still keeping them in compliance with any state laws that apply to auto insurance. By knowing the value, it’s easier to make sensible choices about what happens with the insurance going forward.
Never assume that you can’t seek help from an appraiser after an auto accident. Feel free to contact an expert and have your own appraisal done. What you learn could turn out to be beneficial in more than one way.