Auto Insurance gurus...

[Got5onIt]

My '04 Audi A4 with 130k miles got hit in the hail storm last week. It has lots of damage, specifically on the roof. My adjuster said the car was $500 from being totaled, with a damage estimate of $4500. He said the break even point was $5K. I'm not happy about this because I know if I take it to my shop of choice, the bill will be closer to $7k.
Do I have any options in trying to get them to total it?

[black50]

you got an estimate, when you take it to a body shop I can almost guarantee you that they will go over the estimate...

My car had hail damage last year, the adjuster estimated 6,200 and the final bill was 8,000

[Scott Mc]

Sorry dude but most likely it is time to keep the check and drive it till it dies or get a new car. I have been having to tell most my customers the same news.

[92calypso]

The insurance company always writes a half ass estimate hoping you will take the check to the bank. If they are $500 away from total, more than likely it is a goner. Take it to a shop, get them to write an estimate.

[Pooter]

What insurance company?

And yes, their preliminary estimates are always way low anyway, especially cat teams, they write everything for PDR and let the shop sort out any supplements. My last hail damage $6k estimate turned into $9k, the one before went from $3k to 5K, and this one from last week was just written up at $1500(and will be closer to 2500 or 3k all said and done).

[Y2KSilverGT]

I'm in the same boat. 156k mile 2004 Screw. Got a check from State Farm for $2800 and trying to figure out if I should put the money in the bank and forget about or get the truck fixed ...

[mustang_revival]

My GFs 06 Scion TC (125,000 miles) was in the storm too just got appraised this morning with 8K of damage, i couldn't believe it. KBB says the car is worth 6-7k.

She is pissed though cause its been paid off for a while and she wanted to get another year or two use out of it.

The State Farm adjuster said they have been totaling 80% of the cars from this last hit.

[astig00]

At what point do they total the vehicle?? My 01 Accord has $3500 in damage and the value they said was $4800. What will they do in that situation??

[sosoe]

At what point do they total the vehicle?? My 01 Accord has $3500 in damage and the value they said was $4800. What will they do in that situation??

when damage exceeds the value of the vehicle

[92calypso]

Most insurance companies total at 70%.

[94mstng94]

An Audi with that kind of mileage is a ticking time bomb anyway.

[Got5onIt]

Just an update, my insurance said take it to a shop and get another estimate. They said they'll take that into consideration. We'll see how that goes....

[Unicorn Jeff]

Don't get your hopes up br0.

[Got5onIt]

We'll see, I guess. I'll know Thursday....

[neilhank]

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