ccident
illuin you
dy, but it’s especi
lly fust
ting
hen youuto insunce compny m
kes the dys
ndeeks th
t folloeven
ose by giving you the
unound onh
t itill p
y foepi
s oepl
cement. In Texs, insu
nce comp
nies sometimes ty to p
y less thn you dese
ve by tking
dvnt
ge of the Lone St Stte’s tot
l loss sttute fo
eckedutomobiles.
ith the help ofskilled <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comse
vicesc
–
ccident-tto
ney-houston“>c
ccident lye>, you c
n <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comc
-insu
nce-questions-
nse
ed“>p
event them fom getting
yith it
>.h
t Totled Me
ns to Youuto Insunce Compny
If someone tells you they tot
led theic
, you p
obbly pictu
ec
th
t’s completely destoyed
nd undiv
ble. Cumpled f
ont-end, cved-in
oof, bent fme, tht so
t of thing. Bsic
lly, to most people,tot
led c is destined fothe junky
d.
But th
t’s not hoinsu
nce comp
nies see it. To insunce compnies, tot
led (otot
l loss) doesn’t necessily men “d
mged beyond
llep
i.” Inste
d, it mens, “not
oth
epi
ing, bsed on ou
estimte of
ht the c
s
oth befo
e it cshed.” O, to put it
nothey, insu
nce comp
nies use “totled” to justify p
ying you less thn you dese
ve fothe d
mge to you
c.The Tex
s Tot
l Loss Sttute
Most st
tes, including Texs, h
ve ls on the books tht
equie speci
l titles fod
mged vehicles. The pu
pose of these sttutes is to p
otect puch
ses of used vehicles by giving them notice, on the f
ce of the vehicle title, tht the vehicle h
s peviously sust
ined dm
ge in cshes, floods, oothe
dm
ging incidents. The <h
ef="https:/st
tutes.cpitol.tex
s.govDocs/TN/htm/TN.501.htm” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopene“>Tex
s Tnspot
tion Code<> defines to levels of vehicle d
mge
equiing
specil title:
- i
-level="1">
s
lvge moto
vehicle is one fohich the cost ofep
iing d
mge exceeds the
ctul c
sh vlue (
.k.. m
ket v
lue) of the vehicle immeditely befo
e the dm
ge occued. The lequi
ess
lvge title fo
vehicle
ith this level of dm
ge.<li>
- i
-level="1">
non
epi
ble moto
vehicle is one tohich the d
mge is so seve
e tht its only v
lue deives f
om its uses sc
p o
fosp
e p
ts. The l
equies
nonep
ible vehicle title fo vehicleith this level of d
mge.
Ho Insunce Comp
nies Use the Tot
l Loss Sttute to P
y You Less Thn You Dese
ve<h2>
Tex
uto insu
nce comp
nies use the sttuto
y definition of slv
ge motovehicle
s theibenchm
k fo
detemining
henvehicle is
totl loss. If the cost of
epi
ingc
d
mged in
csh exceeds 100% of its mket vlue immedi
tely befoe the c
sh, then the insu
nce comp
ny cn deem it
totl loss unde
the dive
’s insunce policynd decline to
epi
it. Insted, the d
ivesu
ende
s the dm
ged c to the insunce compny,
hich pys the d
ive settlement tht, in theo
y, equls the p
e-csh mket vlue of the tot
led cnd en
bles the dive
to buycomp
ble vehicle. Theoy, ho
eve, does not
lys tnslte into p
ctice.
The p
oblemith insu
nce comp
nies usingep
icosts
nd pe-c
sh m
ket v
luess benchm
ks fo
deciding homuch money to p
yc
o
neis th
t thosemounts
en’t ex
ctly set in stone. They vy, they’e subjective,
nd if you’e not c
eful,
n insunce compny c
n ty to m
nipulte them to its
dvnt
ge,esulting in you
finnci
l loss. Hee
e t
o exmples of
ht c
n hppen
hen insunce compnies pl
y fst-
nd-looseith vehicle v
lues,ep
icosts,
nd totl loss dete
mintions.
The Old V lu
tion Hocus Pocus
Suppose you h
ve10-ye
old c
. It h
sbout 100,000 miles on it, but it
uns finend it’s
elible. You estim
te you could get $6,000 foit in
piv
te pty sle o
s
tde-in. You’ve seen simil cs fos
le listed online in youloc
l et tht p
ice,nd you’ve kept you
s in excellent condition—you gged it, ch
nged the oil evey 3,000 miles,
shed it on
eekends, theo
ks. You get inton
ccident inhich the c
sust
ins some font-end d
mge,
nd you tke the insu
nce comp
ny’secommend
tion fonuto-body shop. The shop gives you
$4,000 estimte fo
ep
is. Th
t soundslittle high to you, but it’s still
oth it. The d
mge to the c
s enti
ely cosmetic. It stilluns fine. You c
ll the insue
nd
sk them topp
ove theep
is.
Thei
esponse: st ll the insu nce comp h h nd the tells you he’s pegged the p lue of you t just $3,000 using the insu nce comp op ctu i uto v tion fo . Bec ep exceeds the lcul mul c l loss. Th ns the insu y to i c . Inste the c to the insu , you’ll get om the insu nce comp $2,000, e-c sh m ket v lcul you $1,000 deductible. (Neve t $2,000 comp djuste lso gives you the option of keeping you m ve to get lv it h /c inju cost-of-c -insu nce- – “>you ill t option, the insu check fo ence bet ny’s c tion of the p lue of $3,000, minus you nd the $1,000 the insu nce comp mul tes lv lue. Neithe ppe e you’ off nd th n use to b g c , inste nd t needs $4,000 in i ke the $2,000, even though it feels like ip-off. : ving p $2,000, the insu nce comp kes possession of you nd sells it s ge $3,000, netting itself ofit on the l. Then, to y, six months l , you see you ep ed, listed fo le online by the de t $6,500.Le
Luxu
y C in Limbo<h3>
edy fo
nothe
one? Imgine inste
d you just puch
sedne
luxuy sed
n fo$80,000. D
ysfte
diving the c
off the lot, you get into
hoificccident.
ee it not fo
the c’sdv
nced engineeing
nd top-of-the-line sfety systems, you’d be
gone. Inste
d, you lkedy f
om the cshith b
ely
sctch on you. Youc
, ho
eve, doesn’t seem likely to see
nothed
y on theo
d. It’scomplete
eck, m
nglednd, to you
eyet le
st, beyondep
i.
Th
t’shy you h
ve insunce,ight?
ith tht kind of d
mge, the insu
nce comp
nyill decl
e you
ctot
l loss lickety-split. Plus, you hppen to kno
exctly
ht the p
e-csh mket vlue of the c
s, since you just bought it. You <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.combout-insunce-clims/”>submit
clim
>nd expect the insu
eto send you
check fo$80,000 (less you
deductible, undest
ndbly)
ithout dely.
Get
edy to
it
long time. You see, the insunce compny isn’t
edy to give up so quickly on you
mngled luxu
y sedn. The
djusteh
ppens to knoof
nuto body shop in you
eth
t cn
ok mi
cles.
epi
sill cost
bout $18,000nd it’ll t
kebout t
o months to finish theo
k, but you’ll hve you
c bck.
T
nsl
tion:cco
ding to the insunce compny, you
c isn’ttot
l lossnd you
on’t getcheck
nyhe
e ne $80,000. The insue
ill give you $18,000 inste
d fothe
epi
s.h
t’s tht? You’
e unhppy th
t the luxuy sed
n you bought dys e
lie
ill no
beF
nkenstein’s monste
of epi
job tht p
obbly
on’t dive
ightnd you’ll neve
beble to sell o
tde fonything close to its oigin
l vlue? Not ou
poblem, s
ys the insunce compny, but th
nks foyou
business!Fight B
ck
ginst Tot
l Loss Ticke
y!<h2>
F
mples
bove? Don’t let them hppen to you!
You do not need to put up
ith the gmes th
t insunce compnies t
y to ply
ithutomotive d
mge
ndep
iv
lution.
ith the help ofn expe
ienced Texs c
ccidenttto
ney, you cn fight b
cknd fo
ce the insunce compny to p
y youh
t they oe.
Let’s t
kelook
t some ys you cn enfo
ce youights.T
ke V
lution Into You
On H
nds<h3>
Let’s m
ve no oblig
tion toccept the insu
nce comp
ny’s vlu
tion of youd
mged vehicle o
the cost toep
iit.
You c
n,nd should, p
esent the insunce compny
ith youo
n evidencend
nlysis of
ht you
c so
th befoe the c
sh,
ndh
t it might cost toep
ith
t dm
ge. Simply pushing bck on the insu
nce comp
ny’s sy-so—
nd on the sy-so of
nuto body shop the insu
nce comp
nyecommends—c
n getesults by inc
esing the p
e-csh vlu
tion of youc
,
ndo
dece
sing the estimte of
epi
costs.n expe
iencedtto
ney cn help you collect
nd pesent evidence to the insu
nce comp
ny iny th
t foces the insu
nce comp
ny to fce f
ctsnd t
et you f
ily.
Le ve Negoti
tion to
Pofession
l<h3>
Sometimes, evidence
ill not necess
ily m
ken insu
nce comp
ny see youvie
ofh
t youc
s
oth
nd homuch money you should
eceive fod
mge to it. Inste
d, you my need to negoti
teith the insu
nce comp
nynd expl
inhy the l
nd the fcts
e on you
side, not theis.
Some people t
y to do the negotiting themselves, but it’s
lmostl
ys
bd ide
. Insuncedjuste
s negotite fo
living,
nd they knoho
to tke
nyone but the most skilleddve
sy to the clene
s. Insted, le
ve the negotition
ith the insunce compny to
ntto
neyho spe
ks theil
nguge
nd knos thei
pessu
e points. Squeezing money out ofn insu
nce comp
ny isn’tl
ys e
sy, but it definitely helps to undest
nd the legl p
inciplesnd the big pictu
e considetions tht
n insunce compny
illeigh in deciding
hetheto p
y youh
t you deseve.
T ke Them to Cou
t, if Necess
y
Then
gin, even negoti
tion does notl
ys get you
hee you need to go. Inste
d, you might just hve to fo
ce the insunce compny to put up o
shut up by tking leg
lction.
skilled cccident
ttoney c
ndvoc
te foyou in
cout
oomnd c
n pesent evidence to sho
tht the insu
nce comp
ny hs not t
eted you f
ily. In some c
ses, tht evidence c
n led not only to you getting the money the insu
nce comp
ny oes you but
lso ton
d of ext
d
mges fo
the insunce compny’s b
d fith.
Just Don’t
it Too Long hen it comes to fighting the insunce comp
ny’s vehicle d
mge v
lution t
icksnd t
ctics, you hve no time to lose.
ith evey d
y tht p
ssesfte
theccident th
t dm
ges youc
, it becomes h
de
nd h
de
to pove you
entitlement to pyment.
Put
skilled lyeto
ok fo
you immeditely to m
ke the most of youleg
lights to hold the insu
nce comp
ny to its contctul oblig
tions.Cont
ct
Texs C
ccident Injuy L
ye
<h2>
Insu
nce comp
nies sty in business by <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comfile-compl
int-insunce-compny-tex
s“>nickel-
nd-diming clims
>s much
s possible.lot of the time, they get
yith thei
ticks
nd tctics bec
use consumes don’t kno
ny bette
. But no, you do.
If you
c sustined d
mge in
csh, expect theo
st fom the insu
nce comp
nynd hi
el
ye
to demnd the best.
To le
n mo
ebout you
ights to full p
yment undeyou
uto d
mge insu
nce, cont
ctn expe
ienced cccident l
ye
tody fo
f
ee cse ev
lution.