Hi my peeps. If you check the "what have you done to your vehicle lately" thread, you'll see that I was in an accident in my sentra last night where my car was rolled and is obviously totaled. I am trying to do some research now, but I'm not having a lot of luck. I doubt they'd offer me a fair value for the car in the first place, but additionally, my car was "limited edition" (alloy rims, power everything, etc), had a good stereo, aftermarket alarm, etc. and I'm worried that I'll get screwed on this stuff, not to mention my ipod that went flying out the window at some point. For those who have been through the experience, how did you go about getting what was fair for your vehicle/belongings? I'm going to be dealing with Geico, if that's relevant.



[Edited on January 25, 2012 at 11:47 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2012 11:45:33 PM

It's an old sentra. I think you're going to be happy with what they offer you.

And that A-pillar is

1/26/2012 12:47:26 AM

Best to take the wheels (replace them with cheap steel wheels) and everything they'll let you off the car, and sell them or whatever. They're not likely to compensate you for aftermarket accessories, like alarms. Pretty sure personal belongings aren't covered either, but I suppose that depends on your insurance.

[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 12:55 AM. Reason : clarity]

1/26/2012 12:54:06 AM

Last insurance claim wanted to total my wife's Mazda MX3 over a broken head lamp, dented hood, and misaligned front bumper (woman driving in reverse up an on-ramp ) . Insurance looked at local auctions and evaluated it with KBB. Allstate was "fair" in their pricing, but I was able to finagle it so the repairs were completed without totaling the car.

As long as you have Proof of Purchase on the Ipod, i'd report it as well as any personal items that were damaged/lost (ie: cell phones, etc). It should fall into some kind of personal property damage with his insurance policy.


[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 1:52 AM. Reason : .]

1/26/2012 1:50:42 AM

Ok 1st who's insurance is going to be paying. yours or someone elses?

2nd if it is your insurance company your rate will raise based on what they pay you... so... it's best to just suck it up and move on because they will get more then their share of the money you negotiate with them back from you.

Anything other than that will require receipts etc. and you may want to check your county taxes because if you're paying taxes on more then they are willing to give you that means the government appraised the car at higher then they are willing to pay you and you need to be compensated at the taxable rate.

1/26/2012 8:14:25 AM

My bro-in-law had a Jeep stolen a few years back and they tried to give him crappy KBB value or something like that. He stood his ground and said, "alright, then find me a comparable one for sale at that price and I'll accept." They took a day or two and then came back with a much higher offer, one comparable to what you could expect to pay for an equivalent Jeep to that which was stolen. I don't know if that'll help you or not with a Sentra, but just thought I'd share his experience and how he was able to get an extra 2-3 grand out of the insurance company.

1/26/2012 8:58:36 AM

On both instances I have had to deal with totaled cars (my car and my mother's), the insurance companies gave me MORE than I was expecting. I had a 93 300ZX that I paid 13k for. The comparibles made state farm offer me 19k and year after I purchased it. With my mother's avalon, they also used recent sells to offer more money than I expected. two companies were State Farm and Farm Bureau.

1/26/2012 9:40:42 AM

I got $20 on the stereo

1/26/2012 10:07:28 AM

I got rid of Geico for this very reason. They are cheaper than others for a reason.

1/26/2012 10:27:21 AM

Also, if you DON'T get a rental in the meantime, they will give you the cash equivalent of what they would be paying for your rental.

1/26/2012 10:33:52 AM

Quote :

"2nd if it is your insurance company your rate will raise based on what they pay you... so... it's best to just suck it up and move on because they will get more then their share of the money you negotiate with them back from you. "

I don't know if that's always solid advice. From the description it was not his fault. If the other driver ran, wouldn't that fall under uninsured/underinsured? I don't know if your rates will go up in that instance. And even if they will, it depends on whether he can afford to take the hit for the value of the car all at once and still procure replacement transportation, or whether having the money to buy another car now is worth having higher rates for a couple of years.
In this case it doesn't seem like much of a question. A quick check of Autotrader seems to place the going rate for a '99 Sentra in the vague ballpark of $3k, so they'd have to really jack up your rates for that not to be worth covering. (If an accident is anything like a ticket it will stay on your record for 3 years, so they'd have to bump your rate by about $1000/yr for you not to come out at least a little ahead).

[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 4:40 PM. Reason : d]

1/26/2012 4:40:29 PM

^That being said I, too, have had good luck with insurance settlements. When my '91 Crown Vic caught fire in 2001, the insurance company gave me $1000 more than I had paid for it six months before. Considering I had only paid 1800 for it, hell of a deal. On my own insurance (Nationwide) and my rate didn't go up at all. And when my '96 Lincoln Mark VIII was totaled when someone pulled out in front of me in 2004, I was also given a settlement that I thought was completely fair. On that one the other (at fault) driver was also a Nationwide customer so it was handled internally, after a fashion.

1/26/2012 4:48:33 PM

Quote :

"Also, if you DON'T get a rental in the meantime, they will give you the cash equivalent of what they would be paying for your rental."

My mom got in a wreck last year and they wouldn't do that. My dad told them to just give him the $25/day or whatever and he would DD his pickup and let my mom drive his car until it was fixed, but they wouldn't do it. So they got the rental car and drove it to Florida.

[Edited on January 27, 2012 at 9:33 AM. Reason : s]

1/27/2012 9:32:46 AM

I got around $100/day in rental compensation when my wife totalled our car. Twas a nice surprise

1/27/2012 10:19:53 AM

$100/day? Shiiiit. I think mine was like $30/day (this was in 2006, granted. Still got me a Maxima as the rental. I was pleased.)

1/27/2012 3:05:48 PM

My geico adjuster turned out to be the shit. She's the only person I've dealt with from geico so far that wasn't a fuckin' snake and a half. We chit-chatted a great deal and when she finally went to take care of her paperwork, she came back offering me dealer value for the car and paid (perhaps excessively) for my rockford-fosgate 6x9s and my old CD collection.

In related news, anyone here owned an NA Miata? Thoughts? I'm eyeballing a couple 94-95s now(These years had the upgraded 1.8l but are pre-OBDii).

[Edited on January 28, 2012 at 9:03 AM. Reason : .]

1/28/2012 8:47:34 AM

I had one. Damn fun cars.

1/28/2012 10:43:08 AM

Going from a sentra to a miata was an eye opener for me. Don't worry about the year so much, just find the most well-maintained car you can afford. I would also start looking for a proper roll bar, knowing that you will be even less visible to other drivers than you were before.

[Edited on January 28, 2012 at 11:10 AM. Reason : mer]

1/28/2012 10:44:08 AM

My thoughts EXACTLY. I've read that there are three types of true roll bars. I'm only vaguely informed, so correct me if I'm wrong, please.

1) Ones that bolt to the existing holes in the pillars above the seat belts
2) Ones that bolt to the seat belt pillars as well as one or two mounting locations behind the seats (holes must be drilled, I believe)
3) Same as #2, just with diagonal supports within the bar to increase its rigidity in all directions.

Anyone know much about this? I'd like to go with a #2 or #3 type bar, as the #1 sound inherently weak with only two mounting points, but I don't know how much trouble installation is in those senarios since one would have to drill holes and all. What do tracks require? I don't have any immediate intention to go to a track or anything, but I figure they know better than I what will hold up and what won't.

1/28/2012 11:15:26 PM

#1 doesn't get a lot of respect as a "true roll bar" for various reasons, but if you do plan on spending time at the track, I would find out what they require. http://www.bossfrog.biz/ and http://www.bethania-garage.com/ are both good options.

As far as installation goes, cutting up the interior bits would be more intimidating to me than drilling a few holes.

1/29/2012 10:53:26 PM

If you want to argue the value, find sales for cars with similar mileage and features in the local area (100 miles). If you can't find them locally find the closest ones.

If you have any recent maintenance or other add ons, prepare the receipts. Show that you just got your Coolant flushed, transmission flushed ect.

Provide receipts or proof of purchase for your alarm and the install cost.

You can take a reasonable amount of time finding a new car 2 weeks is probably the mid to high end. You may be able to get more days based on certain factors.

1/30/2012 9:50:48 AM

they gave me 3 days with my rental when my car got stolen

i didn't have time to spend on researching another car as i was in school and in the middle of midterms

you definitely made out better

1/30/2012 10:06:29 AM

Quote :

"I've read that there are three types of true roll bars. I'm only vaguely informed, so correct me if I'm wrong, please. 1) Ones that bolt to the existing holes in the pillars above the seat belts 2) Ones that bolt to the seat belt pillars as well as one or two mounting locations behind the seats (holes must be drilled, I believe) 3) Same as #2, just with diagonal supports within the bar to increase its rigidity in all directions. Anyone know much about this? I'd like to go with a #2 or #3 type bar, as the #1 sound inherently weak with only two mounting points, but I don't know how much trouble installation is in those senarios since one would have to drill holes and all. What do tracks require? I don't have any immediate intention to go to a track or anything, but I figure they know better than I what will hold up and what won't."

I've got a '93 with #2 as you describe it above. I got the Ace bar from Hard Dog/Bethania garage. I spent about 8 hours putting it in, taking my time with everything. There is some cutting and drilling involved, but it's nothing too major. If you do decide to go that route, take the seats out before you start. It's not worth it trying to work around them.

As far as I know, tracks require a roll bar (#2 or #3) that clears your helmet when you're seated in the car. Autocross/SCCA Solo II doesn't require a roll bar.

This is why a roll bar was my first purchase for this car:

1/30/2012 11:06:07 AM

Just flipped car

Buys car with soft top

1/30/2012 11:23:07 AM

Hence, the roll bar discussion

1/30/2012 4:55:07 PM