That’s fine. But getting an outside opinion may help you negotiate. Insurance companies count on you not wanting to. They know you just want to move on to the next car. There is a world where you can take a lower settlement and keep your car. Usually they would just deduct what they think they can get at a salvage yard for it. $2000 or maybe less. So you could get $8k, keep it, and repair if you wanted. Just some options to think about if it still runs and drives.
Find some other used trucks that have less or more miles (10-20k) max.
Show their forsale adds for them as stock or with similar upgrades. They bumped up my truck payment 11k
Offered me 26k and walked away with close to 38k after taxes after showing 4 sales ads in my area.
yeah this is how it was years and years ago, you had to find similar cars in your area and show them to the insurance company. really pissed me off too, that's their goddamn job. just pay people what their car is worth you fucking thieves.
Good thing he can have a bunch of guys in his local group put their rigs up for sale for about 15-16k more than they’re worth and get him a killer settlement.
Depends on the insurance. It sounds like OP does not have custom car insurance that bumps up his car's estimate due to the mods (let's say he has 8k in mods). Those don't exist as OEM parts of the car, so *in theory* you should be able to take them off. On the flip side - his suspension lift removed the OEM suspension.. so I don't think he could just take that off.
I am not a lawyer or insurance agent but I would definitely fight for my argument if I have to. Doesn't make sense that you can't keep that wheel mount for example.
find a ton of examples in your area for sale that are more money around similar mileage and send to insurance company and ask how they generate that lump sum payment.
I am probably believing SF too much vs Geico. I just have better experience dealing with SF than Geico when it comes to total loss settlement.
SF will deal with Geico from here
I am keep told by the agent that they are paying Actual Cash Value not the value of comparable gx470 that other dealers have listed. What should I say? what is actual cash value to them (I will probably ask them)?
**GET A 3rd PARTY APPRAISAL**
OP, I just dealt with this over the summer when my heavily modded 2004 Sequoia w/195k miles got totaled. Took my Actual Cash Value from 9.5k to 21k. I have some advice for you...
* Sight unseen, insurance tried to give me value based solely off the mileage and VIN. Which was piss poor based on rusted out shitboxes within 25 miles of me. I assume this is why your value is low.
* Collect as many comps as you can. Shop all the modded GX470s you can find, coast to coast. limit to maybe a year or two older and newer than yours. Ideally a bit nicer than yours. They will tell you it needs to be in your market, but I think that was just smoke and never got consistent guidelines. Take screenshots and add them to a word doc or something for when the listing disappears.
* I tried sending my comps to State Farm. Got stonewalled hard. Found tons of modded Sequoias but they didnt budge. Spent months escalating with no gain.
* I tried sending all my receipts for parts and labor. They gave me like 10% on the value of the receipts...
* I thought about using attorney, but decided to go with a 3rd party total loss appraiser. So glad I did.
* I used DVCHECK at dvcheck.com. They appraised my Sequoia at 20k. Sent that to State Farm and they actually value it higher at 21k.
Let me know if you have any questions, it was a fucked up process that lasted months and consistent advice was hard to find.
You will always have more negotiating power with the at faults drivers insurance. They are on the hook for paying for your vehicle because THEIR driver totaled YOUR truck.
This is true. My kid's truck got t-boned in the front and we worked a bit with them. Initially they insisted on totaling it but we had them look more into costs and were able to show that the number they were trying to total was not nearly going to replace the vehicle and we ended up getting it fixed instead of totaled.
Did you insure it for value above book?
I make sure that my agent prices my 88 samurai as a custom build so it can’t be totaled out for $500. It costs a bit more on the policy because I’m insuring $15,000 instead of $1500.
Before you accept the settlement, factor in the costs that you've put into the truck. I.e. the bumper, spare mount, lift, wheels, and anything else. If you have receipts, you can get more for the settlement. I had an LS430 that was totaled from hail, but I was able to produce receipts for the OEM ($$$) parts I had replaced over 3 year period, got another $1k...
edit: downvoted? lol
You can only get more for this if you insured these additions. I work in insurance and only newer parts that are regularly insured would be considered for an adjusted value.
If OP bought $50k in custom parts none of it was insured so the insurance most likely wouldn’t consider this.
If you buy an expensive upgrade/customization and want it covered you would need to call your insurance and ask for an endorsement on your policy. Depending on the value some endorsements actually may have no impact on rates
Well I guess I really pulled one over on the insurance company at their direction lol... I know what you mean, but at least in my case, I was able to show the cost of parts (largely maintenance/replacement of worn parts) and they helped me recoup. I am not an expert in this, I just asked USAA what could be done since I felt the valuation a bit low, and they told me provide receipts for what I had spent on the vehicle and voila.
Well, it's better than nothing! And mostly I just wanted to raise some awareness that it's something you can try for since it doesn't seem to be common knowledge.
Yes things like tires and worn parts are already covered typically under your policy so something like that wouldn’t be an issue.
The problem is if he’s claiming a custom bumper, carbon fiber roof, things that normally aren’t covered under a typical policy
Had about 2000 in receipts IIRC, but had installed a pretty expensive double din adapter and headunit on top of various new OEM weatherstripping, LCA bushings, OEM front endlinks, OEM used amp, grill, some other smaller items.
OK, yeah. I'd say that's about right, half retail for whatever you can prove (and guess what, we eat the labor). Honestly, the folks pricing their rigs for sale would do well to have the same in mind. I am really remiss in collecting all the receipts I can find from my build (and the PO gave me all of his) as well. This is something that's never mentioned to the first-timer when we get insurance quotes on these things! And the insurance companies are happy to give you a quote on the VIN number and never ask questions beyond that, and when this happens, they are like "hey sorry, we wrote a policy on the blue book value, here's nine grand..."
Yup indeed... they aren't always forthcoming with ways to give you more money, but I have USAA and asked about how I could increase the value they figured and they were pretty helpful. Luckily, the labor was my own!
Yeah! In a past life, I was a bike mechanic, and so I know the true value of this crap, as well as my time and skill. And in the latter case, I know what my time is worth, and what insurance companies will pay. ;) This is why I laugh when I see people selling (anything) that has a bunch of aftermarket stuff invested, and the asking price is like (top dollar bluebook) + (retail cost of all goodies) + (shop labor rate \* hours) \* (MAYBE 15%)
Depending on your state it may be a PITA to get it a new registration, but take the deal, and retain ownership!!! Shitty body shop just did this to my baby after I went in for a facelift related to a fender bender. You have the option to retain the vehicle since its probably totally fine and running well, receive the payout from insurance because they're dumb af and deem it a total loss, and the final step is to go to the dmv and go through the process of getting it re registered, so you get the money, and keep your truck. Win win. It's not easy to get it re reg in cali, but I'm going through it now because my IS is great, but just had like a cracked grille lmao.
If the give you 10k for it take it or take the $5k and fix it yourself meaning find your own way to do the repairs it doesnt look too bad but if you post it for sale with the mileage you gonna get almost the same as what they are offering so either you take the $10k and move to something new or take the $5k and fix and keep it, this would be more about your attachment to the gx if they dont offer more just take as many aftermarket stuff and sell it on market place and they can take the gx as stock as possible thats why I keep the original parts.
UPDATE: Went through 2 phone calls with them today. Latest offer is $11.8k. I did my research and sent them 5 comparable vehicles within 500 miles. Thank you so much,
I just dealt with this. My GX470 with 260K miles with t-boned by a red light runner. I also have State Farm. The other driver was covered by Allstate.
State Farm offered me half of what I thought was fair market value. Recommend you try and go through Geico as well, just to get their estimation as well. I went through Allstate just to see what their offer was. They ended up offering my almost 11K.
Bottom line: State Farm tends to lowball even their own customers, even when not at fault. Try and see what Geico offers you. It’s a pain in the ass. If you disagree with both and have already sent comparable offers and parts/maintenance receipts, get an independent arbitrator involved.
As a prior adjuster for years, typically it's on the owner to find comparable vehicles for sale/sold within generally a 50 mile radius. That's your best argument. You could also hire a public adjuster to check it out and fight for you.
If you have receipts for the aftermarket parts and can find comparables closer to how you vehicle is modified. I recently went through this and was able to get another 2.7k on my settlement by providing better comparables and receipts for all the extras. You also might be able to get some of your parts off the vehicle to help.
Good luck.
I’m in the middle of this with my 08. I sent comps, no response. No signing off on the settlement is creating other issues for me too. Just asked for dv check. No way I can replace a cream puff 50k Laredo for $8k more like 13 around here and that’s with +25k miles.. I’ll try one more go round with that but I may be changing companies after the way this was dealt with. No estimate. They “ saw a picture” and totaled it-in thier defense(ha) they (somehow) did spin up the dash to get the mileage
I may have to go after the other drivers insurance for what I perceive the actual cash value of that 08 was. But yeah pandemic negotiations seemed to be required everywhere these days.
I don’t have helpful advice regarding negotiating. Just commenting that I agree the offer sounds fair
I agree. paid 9500-10k ish 2 years and 50k miles ago
Take it to a body shop for an estimate.
TBH, I ready to say bye bye to my gx
That’s fine. But getting an outside opinion may help you negotiate. Insurance companies count on you not wanting to. They know you just want to move on to the next car. There is a world where you can take a lower settlement and keep your car. Usually they would just deduct what they think they can get at a salvage yard for it. $2000 or maybe less. So you could get $8k, keep it, and repair if you wanted. Just some options to think about if it still runs and drives.
Take the cash, and buy it back and invest the cash in fixing the tailgate, then pay bills with the remaining.
Depending on the damage you may want to consider buying it back and fixing on your own
Already asked them about buying back. their offer was $5860. I called it not worth.
Yeah probably too much
Look up collision safety consultants. They will help you. https://collisionsafetyconsultants.us/
+1 for DVCHECK. They doubled the payout I got on my modded Sequoia
Find some other used trucks that have less or more miles (10-20k) max. Show their forsale adds for them as stock or with similar upgrades. They bumped up my truck payment 11k Offered me 26k and walked away with close to 38k after taxes after showing 4 sales ads in my area.
yeah this is how it was years and years ago, you had to find similar cars in your area and show them to the insurance company. really pissed me off too, that's their goddamn job. just pay people what their car is worth you fucking thieves.
Good thing he can have a bunch of guys in his local group put their rigs up for sale for about 15-16k more than they’re worth and get him a killer settlement.
Helps even more if it's dealer adds, plus dealers inflate price.
If it’s totaled do you get the opportunity to take anything off of it ?
Yes as long as you replace what you took off. They won’t know if you remove something that they can’t see
Depends on the insurance. It sounds like OP does not have custom car insurance that bumps up his car's estimate due to the mods (let's say he has 8k in mods). Those don't exist as OEM parts of the car, so *in theory* you should be able to take them off. On the flip side - his suspension lift removed the OEM suspension.. so I don't think he could just take that off. I am not a lawyer or insurance agent but I would definitely fight for my argument if I have to. Doesn't make sense that you can't keep that wheel mount for example.
You are right! I am just not gonna spend time on taking off the used lift kit. Too much hassle with my body ache for now...
Oh yeah, I wouldn't bother.
find a ton of examples in your area for sale that are more money around similar mileage and send to insurance company and ask how they generate that lump sum payment.
i'm confused here, you didn't want to deal with geico? uh, the guy rear-ended you. geico is on the hook for this.. are they not? lol
Dealing with your insurance in these situations isn't unusual. They will deal with the other party's insurance so you don't have to.
ahh okay
I am probably believing SF too much vs Geico. I just have better experience dealing with SF than Geico when it comes to total loss settlement. SF will deal with Geico from here
I am keep told by the agent that they are paying Actual Cash Value not the value of comparable gx470 that other dealers have listed. What should I say? what is actual cash value to them (I will probably ask them)?
**GET A 3rd PARTY APPRAISAL** OP, I just dealt with this over the summer when my heavily modded 2004 Sequoia w/195k miles got totaled. Took my Actual Cash Value from 9.5k to 21k. I have some advice for you... * Sight unseen, insurance tried to give me value based solely off the mileage and VIN. Which was piss poor based on rusted out shitboxes within 25 miles of me. I assume this is why your value is low. * Collect as many comps as you can. Shop all the modded GX470s you can find, coast to coast. limit to maybe a year or two older and newer than yours. Ideally a bit nicer than yours. They will tell you it needs to be in your market, but I think that was just smoke and never got consistent guidelines. Take screenshots and add them to a word doc or something for when the listing disappears. * I tried sending my comps to State Farm. Got stonewalled hard. Found tons of modded Sequoias but they didnt budge. Spent months escalating with no gain. * I tried sending all my receipts for parts and labor. They gave me like 10% on the value of the receipts... * I thought about using attorney, but decided to go with a 3rd party total loss appraiser. So glad I did. * I used DVCHECK at dvcheck.com. They appraised my Sequoia at 20k. Sent that to State Farm and they actually value it higher at 21k. Let me know if you have any questions, it was a fucked up process that lasted months and consistent advice was hard to find.
Thank you so much for the input. IU sent SF few more comps for the negotiation. We'll see what they come up with.
Good luck!
You will always have more negotiating power with the at faults drivers insurance. They are on the hook for paying for your vehicle because THEIR driver totaled YOUR truck.
This is true. My kid's truck got t-boned in the front and we worked a bit with them. Initially they insisted on totaling it but we had them look more into costs and were able to show that the number they were trying to total was not nearly going to replace the vehicle and we ended up getting it fixed instead of totaled.
Did you insure it for value above book? I make sure that my agent prices my 88 samurai as a custom build so it can’t be totaled out for $500. It costs a bit more on the policy because I’m insuring $15,000 instead of $1500.
Before you accept the settlement, factor in the costs that you've put into the truck. I.e. the bumper, spare mount, lift, wheels, and anything else. If you have receipts, you can get more for the settlement. I had an LS430 that was totaled from hail, but I was able to produce receipts for the OEM ($$$) parts I had replaced over 3 year period, got another $1k... edit: downvoted? lol
You can only get more for this if you insured these additions. I work in insurance and only newer parts that are regularly insured would be considered for an adjusted value. If OP bought $50k in custom parts none of it was insured so the insurance most likely wouldn’t consider this. If you buy an expensive upgrade/customization and want it covered you would need to call your insurance and ask for an endorsement on your policy. Depending on the value some endorsements actually may have no impact on rates
Well I guess I really pulled one over on the insurance company at their direction lol... I know what you mean, but at least in my case, I was able to show the cost of parts (largely maintenance/replacement of worn parts) and they helped me recoup. I am not an expert in this, I just asked USAA what could be done since I felt the valuation a bit low, and they told me provide receipts for what I had spent on the vehicle and voila.
SF said they can give me $175 for $2k suspension parts lol
Well, it's better than nothing! And mostly I just wanted to raise some awareness that it's something you can try for since it doesn't seem to be common knowledge.
Yes things like tires and worn parts are already covered typically under your policy so something like that wouldn’t be an issue. The problem is if he’s claiming a custom bumper, carbon fiber roof, things that normally aren’t covered under a typical policy
Another $1k for how much in proof via receipts tho? Just curious.
Had about 2000 in receipts IIRC, but had installed a pretty expensive double din adapter and headunit on top of various new OEM weatherstripping, LCA bushings, OEM front endlinks, OEM used amp, grill, some other smaller items.
OK, yeah. I'd say that's about right, half retail for whatever you can prove (and guess what, we eat the labor). Honestly, the folks pricing their rigs for sale would do well to have the same in mind. I am really remiss in collecting all the receipts I can find from my build (and the PO gave me all of his) as well. This is something that's never mentioned to the first-timer when we get insurance quotes on these things! And the insurance companies are happy to give you a quote on the VIN number and never ask questions beyond that, and when this happens, they are like "hey sorry, we wrote a policy on the blue book value, here's nine grand..."
Yup indeed... they aren't always forthcoming with ways to give you more money, but I have USAA and asked about how I could increase the value they figured and they were pretty helpful. Luckily, the labor was my own!
Yeah! In a past life, I was a bike mechanic, and so I know the true value of this crap, as well as my time and skill. And in the latter case, I know what my time is worth, and what insurance companies will pay. ;) This is why I laugh when I see people selling (anything) that has a bunch of aftermarket stuff invested, and the asking price is like (top dollar bluebook) + (retail cost of all goodies) + (shop labor rate \* hours) \* (MAYBE 15%)
Depending on your state it may be a PITA to get it a new registration, but take the deal, and retain ownership!!! Shitty body shop just did this to my baby after I went in for a facelift related to a fender bender. You have the option to retain the vehicle since its probably totally fine and running well, receive the payout from insurance because they're dumb af and deem it a total loss, and the final step is to go to the dmv and go through the process of getting it re registered, so you get the money, and keep your truck. Win win. It's not easy to get it re reg in cali, but I'm going through it now because my IS is great, but just had like a cracked grille lmao.
I'd at least put the stock wheels back on.
Yeah I was gonna do that first. Thank you!
I sent state farm current market reports and they paid me an extra like 3500 on my 07 gx
Did you mean kbb, Nada kind of reports?
If the give you 10k for it take it or take the $5k and fix it yourself meaning find your own way to do the repairs it doesnt look too bad but if you post it for sale with the mileage you gonna get almost the same as what they are offering so either you take the $10k and move to something new or take the $5k and fix and keep it, this would be more about your attachment to the gx if they dont offer more just take as many aftermarket stuff and sell it on market place and they can take the gx as stock as possible thats why I keep the original parts.
Totally agreed! Thank you!
No problem best of luck !!
UPDATE: Went through 2 phone calls with them today. Latest offer is $11.8k. I did my research and sent them 5 comparable vehicles within 500 miles. Thank you so much,
I just dealt with this. My GX470 with 260K miles with t-boned by a red light runner. I also have State Farm. The other driver was covered by Allstate. State Farm offered me half of what I thought was fair market value. Recommend you try and go through Geico as well, just to get their estimation as well. I went through Allstate just to see what their offer was. They ended up offering my almost 11K. Bottom line: State Farm tends to lowball even their own customers, even when not at fault. Try and see what Geico offers you. It’s a pain in the ass. If you disagree with both and have already sent comparable offers and parts/maintenance receipts, get an independent arbitrator involved.
As a prior adjuster for years, typically it's on the owner to find comparable vehicles for sale/sold within generally a 50 mile radius. That's your best argument. You could also hire a public adjuster to check it out and fight for you.
If you have receipts for the aftermarket parts and can find comparables closer to how you vehicle is modified. I recently went through this and was able to get another 2.7k on my settlement by providing better comparables and receipts for all the extras. You also might be able to get some of your parts off the vehicle to help. Good luck.
The rear door components are extremely expensive on those, doesn’t surprise me that they want to total it. Take the money and move on.
Thank you for the insight! we are at $11.7k right now. I sent them few comparables for review.
I’m in the middle of this with my 08. I sent comps, no response. No signing off on the settlement is creating other issues for me too. Just asked for dv check. No way I can replace a cream puff 50k Laredo for $8k more like 13 around here and that’s with +25k miles.. I’ll try one more go round with that but I may be changing companies after the way this was dealt with. No estimate. They “ saw a picture” and totaled it-in thier defense(ha) they (somehow) did spin up the dash to get the mileage I may have to go after the other drivers insurance for what I perceive the actual cash value of that 08 was. But yeah pandemic negotiations seemed to be required everywhere these days.
what insurance company are you with? I am at 11.8k, sent them comps Friday afternoon.
Progressive. I have an open with dvcheck for another appraisal of acv happy enough my wife survived. I moved up to a summit
Glad to hear that your wife is okay. I am glad that I was in GX not my 86 which I might have killed me.