# Need advice. Just got a settlement...good news and bad news



## nightshaadow (May 2, 2019)

Good news: Settlement amount for a totaled vehicle was a little over 15k. I was happily surprised because I was expecting about 10k if I was lucky. Bought the car 2 years ago for around 16k and during that time I put about 100k miles on it. I know you're not supposed to take the first settlement offer because the insurance company will try to low-ball you but they actually gave me actual cash value or fair market value for the car. 

Bad news: It took them about 3 weeks to get an inspector out to the body shop and racked up more than 4k in storage and towing fees. The insurance company (btw it's Progressive) paid about half of that and deducted 2k from the settlement amount so I actually got 13k into my account. Is this fair? It wasn't my fault that it took them so long to get the inspector out there and remove the car from the body shop.

What do you guys think? Should I file a lawsuit?

Also, can I get pain and suffering if the accident was 100% my fault?


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## Irishjohn831 (Aug 11, 2017)

I think the answer may be in your settlement. If the insurance companies legal put something in their that they take no responsibility for any costs other than what they are paying, and the matter is final upon agreement, they will hold you to what you readily agreed to, even if it was hidden in wording in your final settlement


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## Taxi2Uber (Jul 21, 2017)

nightshaadow said:


> so I actually got 13k into my account.
> I was expecting about 10k if I was lucky.
> Is this fair?


More than fair according to YOU.
Did you have to pay the other half ($2000) out of that 13k to the body shop?

You kind of sound greedy.
I wasn't sure until I read this...


nightshaadow said:


> Also, can I get pain and suffering if the accident was 100% my fault?


I guess you can try to sue yourself.
Let us know who wins.


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## circuitsports (Apr 19, 2020)

Yes, crashing your car will give you pain and suffering.

Hopefully it arrives soon and with such ferocity that you never crash your car again and then try to blame the rest of us by jacking rates on bogus claims.


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

nightshaadow said:


> Also, can I get pain and suffering if the accident was 100% my fault?


And people wonder why insurance is so high...


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

nightshaadow said:


> Also, can I get pain and suffering if the accident was 100% my fault?


It pains me that someone would ask a question like this, and yet I laughed so hard my belly was suffering. 
Being that this comment was 100% your fault, I may have to sue you.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

nightshaadow said:


> Good news: Settlement amount for a totaled vehicle was a little over 15k. I was happily surprised because I was expecting about 10k if I was lucky. Bought the car 2 years ago for around 16k and during that time I put about 100k miles on it. I know you're not supposed to take the first settlement offer because the insurance company will try to low-ball you but they actually gave me actual cash value or fair market value for the car.
> 
> Bad news: It took them about 3 weeks to get an inspector out to the body shop and racked up more than 4k in storage and towing fees. The insurance company (btw it's Progressive) paid about half of that and deducted 2k from the settlement amount so I actually got 13k into my account. Is this fair? It wasn't my fault that it took them so long to get the inspector out there and remove the car from the body shop.
> 
> ...


Never have your vehicle towed to a storage lot, always have it towed to your house. If the responding tow company will not tow it to your house tell them you will call your own tow truck. Tow lots charge crazy fees and those fees eat into your payment.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

Was the deduction for storage fees a surprise that you discovered after you agreed to the offer? That may be the key. I would think there would have been a notation of the fees in the fine print somewhere. If not, the amount is such that you could take them to small claims court. That court is cheap and you learn a lot about the system preparing to go to court.

on the other hand you have come out very well considering how much use you got out of the car.


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## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

Only way to know if the offer was fa re is . Kellys blue book value .
But what your saying you made money from the crash . How could a person complain ?
And if a person had a newer car and totaled it . Lets say that person put a boat load of miles on that car. uber lyft driver 
That car value will drop in half ! What a person could do is fix the miles on the car. Pick up a brick rock and tap on the glass to adjust it so its accurate . Do not do it to hard it will totally crack the glass and the insurance cant read the milage display forcing the insurance to give you the average miles per year on that car amount .
It be a shame if the cluster was broke . The insurance would not be able to put in 150k will say instead of the national average will say of 40k . It would cost the insurance a lot of money .
Lot of things get broken in crashes . Must of been the rescue crew or dash board flex ? Gee 
Sorry to say if a new cluster is installed it will NOT read the same miles at your old one . 
They can try to scan it with a computer .But they cant go by that alone if they brought it to a shot .Not going to happen .


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## EagleWolfSparrow (Aug 7, 2021)

nightshaadow said:


> Good news: Settlement amount for a totaled vehicle was a little over 15k. I was happily surprised because I was expecting about 10k if I was lucky. Bought the car 2 years ago for around 16k and during that time I put about 100k miles on it. I know you're not supposed to take the first settlement offer because the insurance company will try to low-ball you but they actually gave me actual cash value or fair market value for the car.
> 
> Bad news: It took them about 3 weeks to get an inspector out to the body shop and racked up more than 4k in storage and towing fees. The insurance company (btw it's Progressive) paid about half of that and deducted 2k from the settlement amount so I actually got 13k into my account. Is this fair? It wasn't my fault that it took them so long to get the inspector out there and remove the car from the body shop.
> 
> ...


Insurance always look Kelly Blue book for your car and most of time they DO NOT know your exact mileage. Unless you update at Official store and have record. Otherwise they always use last record they can find. 

3 weeks and Bodyshop charge 4000$? I think you should tell us the bodyshop name so they get famous lol


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

EagleWolfSparrow said:


> Insurance always look Kelly Blue book for your car and most of time they DO NOT know your exact mileage. Unless you update at Official store and have record. Otherwise they always use last record they can find.
> 
> 3 weeks and Bodyshop charge 4000$? I think you should tell us the bodyshop name so they get famous lol


In California, where the OP is located, cars must be smog checked every two years. The mileage is written down at this time.

Insurance companies have access to the smog check info.

So they may not know your exact mileage but they do have a rough idea, depending on how long ago your smog check was performed, it could be pretty accurate.


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