Help....

My Volvo S40 may have saved my life this past Wednesday. I was driving to work in my 09 with only 5800 miles (bought in July) when I was in a bad accident. Long story, short: dual lane highway in left lane headed East; local police barracks was launching their AM shift when one of their cruisers pulled out in front of us headed North without yielding....20 yards later, I hit his rear door doing about 35 mph; seat belt really locked me up; airbag out; no one hurt; front end really messed up bad and towed away. My new car is awaiting the city's insurance adjuster to do the appraisal at my local Volvo dealer's body shop. My initial "chat" with their representative was like being on the witness stand. Given the extensive damage, the Volvo shop feels we are looking at major dollars, possible a "total". Even if we fix it to specs. it will have a carfax hit for life, hence I am investigating claiming devaluation due to the accident. Their rep. said it cannot be computed until I sell the car. With a major fix like this, I'll never know what is "under the hood" or if new issues will show up later.

Has anyone been through this mess before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My insurance company is being rather coy about this mess even though I'm not at fault. The estimate of damages to the car is to be done tomorrow so advice/comments would be appreciated.

thanks in advance.

 

Generally speaking, large repairs are done much better than smaller ones. Typically because many parts are simply removed and new parts welded in, whereas smaller accidents tend to have things repaired and filled.
So, the city loss adjuster looked at the car? Forget that, have YOUR insurance company handle things from here on in, you pay them handsomely for it!
And say nothing more to anyone about the accident, give them a written statement and no more.

Regards, Andrew.

 

If it has already been determined that the City is at fault then your insurance company will not get involved unless there is a problem with the settlement. They are not being "coy", right now they are not involved in the claim. Just make sure that you keep them apprised of what is going on with the other company.

They are correct about not being able to compute a devaluation, since the only way to do so is if you sell the car. Anyway, the devaluation would only be the difference between what you might be able to sell a no accident vehicle for vs. what yours would sell for, and if someone is willing to pay a normal price for your car then you have no devaluation.

I'm sure you felt like you were on the witness stand but the adjuster is only trying to get as much information as possible. Information like did you try to swerve to avoid the contact, were his emergency lights on, etc. You have to remember that there job is to obtain as much information as possible so that the claim can be adjudicated fairly.

Make sure that the Volvo dealer specifies new Volvo parts, not aftermarket. Generally they will be of higher quality.

Unless there is major damage to the frame/unibody then they will most likely NOT total the vehicle. A 2009 with only 5800 miles has way too much value to total unless there is major, major damage. Fixed correctly the car should be as good as new.

 

If you don't plan to keep the car 8 years and you are concerned about resale value, trade the car in TODAY!!! That will determine "devaluation".