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Negotiate Insurance Settlement Totaled Car – If you are involved in a car accident in Alaska and your vehicle has been deemed a total loss, you may be wondering how to negotiate with your car insurance company to get the best possible settlement. Understanding the total loss process and your rights as a policyholder can help you negotiate a fair settlement with your insurance company.
In Alaska, a vehicle is usually considered a total loss if the cost of repairing the damages exceeds the value of the car. Your insurance company will use a “total loss calculator” tool to determine the value of your vehicle based on its make, model, age and condition. If the cost of repairing your car is more than the value of the vehicle, your insurance company may declare the vehicle a total loss and offer you a settlement.
Negotiate Insurance Settlement Totaled Car
If you were at fault for the accident, your insurance company would normally be responsible for paying for the damages to your vehicle. If the other driver was at fault, his insurance company would be responsible for paying the compensation. Sometimes both insurance companies may be involved in the total loss settlement process.
I Can’t Believe It But Insurance Says This Is A Total Loss 0_0
If you disagree with the value of your compensation determined by your insurance company, you have the right to challenge the valuation. You can do this by providing evidence that your vehicle is worth more than the amount determined by the total loss calculator. This may include documenting the condition of the vehicle and any upgrades or modifications that may have increased its value.
Negotiating with a car insurance company after a total loss can be a challenging and stressful process. Hiring a car accident lawyer and understanding your rights as a policyholder can increase your chances of getting a fair settlement and protecting your interests. After an Accident and Injury, you want your life back. We Are Ready To Help You! Serving Clients Through Arizona, California, Florida and Texas
Below we’ll cover important tips and tactics to help you maximize your personal injury settlement, including answers to common questions about progressive car accident settlements.
Progressive is the third largest insurance company in the United States (by direct premiums written). We’ve all seen their commercials featuring their well-known mascot, Flo, their fictional salesman. Flo, like the GEICO gecko character and Allstate mayhem, is used by marketing companies to soften the image of insurance companies and to appeal to the public using humor. Without that it would be almost impossible to market a product like insurance in a way that would appeal to the masses.
Can You Insure A Total Loss Vehicle?
The fact is that the car insurance business is anything but funny. It is a business where huge sums of money are collected from people with only a small part of it paid out in claims. The vast majority of this money is invested in the stock market and other investments. Insurance companies like Progressive make huge profits as a result.
Progressive serves a specific market segment just as GEICO does. It offers low cost insurance for all types of drivers. Most of the policies sold by Progressive are on the low end. This is both good and bad news. The good news is that Progressive is more likely to pay their policy limits on a claim if, in their opinion, the damages warrant doing so. The bad news is that if you have serious injuries, it is likely that there will not be enough insurance to cover all of your compensation.
Progressive is known for being cheap. They will do everything they can to avoid paying fair value for a claim. How do they do it? First, they will deny liability on claims for a multitude of reasons. Even if they accept fault for the accident, they will significantly reduce the amount they pay for your medical bills by using an internal arbitrary amount that they consider “usual and customary.” Then, they will refuse to pay some of your medical bills with the excuse that the treatment is unnecessary or excessive. Next, they will further insult you by paying only a fraction of your pain and suffering and other general damages (eg emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.). Finally, they will fight you tooth and nail in litigation if you file a lawsuit against their insurance.
Don’t fall victim to Progressive’s unfair claims system. Knowing your rights and being an informed claimant will help level the playing field against this huge insurance company. The following 10 tips will help overcome Progressive’s unfair claims system:
My Car Is Totaled
Limit your contact with Progressive as much as possible. Once their adjusters get you on the phone, be brief and try not to be cornered by their questions on the facts of the accident or your injuries. In fact, I would avoid talking to Progressive altogether if they want a recorded statement. If the at-fault party’s insurance company is Progressive, there is no requirement for them to take a recorded statement from you. If your insurance company is Progressive, you may need to give them a recorded statement. In either situation, do not give Progressive a recorded statement until you have consulted with a car accident lawyer.
Document the accident as best you can. This means gathering as much evidence as possible in case Progressive tries to place some or all of the blame on you. This is very common in intersection accidents, left turn accidents, and head-on collisions where there are no independent witnesses. Many times, Progressive will gamble and take the side of their insured even though there is no clear evidence that would release their insured from liability.
Gather any evidence you can with one of the best tools we all have everywhere we go – our smartphones. Use your camera and note apps to document everything you can. Take pictures and videos of the vehicles involved, the parties involved, driver’s licences, license plates, insurance cards, road conditions, weather, traffic signs/lights, road debris, lights, and any other physical piece of evidence which may be relevant.
An essential piece of evidence you will want to have is the accident report. Either download a copy of the accident report online or collect a copy from the appropriate police sub-station. An accident report is prepared by the officer who arrives at the scene of an accident. Most of the time, if there are injuries or significant property damage, the officer must write an accident report.
How The Total Loss Of Your Car Is Determined After An Accident
The accident, including the names of parties and witnesses, time and place, and facts about how the accident happened. In the report the officer can blame one or both parties based on his/her opinion. This is usually very important to Progressive and other insurance companies as the officer is not only an independent witness but can be considered an expert witness if your case goes to trial. Also, the accident report itself may come into evidence at trial but some parts of it may not come in as they are considered hearsay evidence.
Having an independent witness can be vital to your case. An independent witness is someone who witnesses the accident with their own eyes or ears but has no interest in the outcome. This will usually be another driver or pedestrian who saw the accident as it happened. In addition, a police officer who arrives at the scene of an accident is also considered an independent witness, as mentioned above.
What is not an independent witness? That would be someone such as a passenger in one of the vehicles involved in the accident or anyone who has a financial interest in the outcome of the case, including a spouse or family member of a party to the accident, even if they witnessed the accident themselves. .
If your accident involved significant property damage and/or injuries and Progressive denies liability, it may be helpful to download the data from your Incident Data Recorder.
Still Owe Money On A Totaled Car? Here’s What To Do
What is an Event Data Recorder (EDR)? EDR is a device installed in vehicles by car manufacturers that records certain data before and during an accident. Most vehicles on the road have some version of EDR. Federal law mandates that the EDR record certain data, including vehicle speed, acceleration, braking, airbag deployment, seat belt status, and other important data.
You will need an expert like an accident reconstructionist to download and interpret the raw data from the EDR. This can be expensive. So, it might only be worth it if your accident was serious.
Remember, if you intend to seek the other party’s EDR data, you will likely need a court order to access it and that usually requires filing a lawsuit.
If the accident happened near a busy road or street where there are businesses around with security cameras, one or more of those security cameras may have captured footage of the accident.
Metairie La Car Accident Lawyer
Additionally, if your accident occurred in direct view of a residential home with a doorbell camera, there may be photos that can help your case.
The challenge with the security camera and doorbell camera footage is that it may be difficult to obtain from the owner. This film is the private property of the business or home owner
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