Auto Insurance Attorney recommendation in Los Angeles area?

[Chris Yewdall]

Many thanks to those of you who replied with the recommendation of a body shop in the LA area where we could get our car fixed. We took it to San Pedro and unfortunately, while the car can be repaired, the cost of repair is nearly 85% of the book value of the car, so it looks like we'll be totaling my wife's pride and joy for the last 10 years.:frown:

So here's my question - our car was hit by a driver who ran a red light and their insurance company has admitted responsibility. It even says as much on the police report. Up until the day of the accident, we were very happy with the car and we've kept it in great shape with a lot of the niggly stuff (ignition key switch, deck and trunk lid struts, ignition control module, antenna mast, Bose amps etc.) all replaced as and when they started to cause problems. Aside of a small dime sized ding in the passenger door, everything was 100% functional.

Given that the book value of the car is about $24K I'm expecting to receive an initial offer somewhere lower than that but looking at Autotrader.com, the same year and same mileage is available for between $25 and $30K in Southern California. Our car was also an auto and these are all sticks which my wife doesn't drive.

Since we weren't planning on replacing our car anytime soon, and we weren't 'at fault' I don't really see why we should suddenly find ourselves out of pocket to replace the car.

Can anyone recommend a good auto insurance lawyer in the Los Angeles area who might be able to help us i) negotiate with the insurance company to secure a reasonable loss amount and ii) potentially pursue the at-fault party for the difference between the total loss and the cost of replacing our car?

Thanks in advance

 

[scorp965]

You can typically handle these negotiations yourself, simply provide the adjuster with comparable vehicles, in the area, with higher prices than his offer, and be prepared to refuse offers until he makes one you will be satisified with. The insurance company's responsibility is to replace your car, if they can get you to agree to a value less than the replacement cost of your vehicle they will do it, but autotrader price comparisons, and a firm demeanor, work wonders in these situations.

 

[ss_md]

As posted, you should first try to negotiate with the insurance yourself.

Bringing in an attorney will cost you money. Taking away $$ for a replacement. If you negotiate for an example $25K then you have $25 to spend. With a lawyer involved he/she may get $28K. Someone has to pay their fees and it won't be the other insurance. You end up with only $18.6 (assuming the lawyer takes the normal 1/3). You lost over $6K using an attorney.

If you can't get satisfactory results yourself, then hire an attorney. Just my $.02.

 

[9doors]

I'll concur with my $0.02.

Get all your comps and data in good order and let the process unfold. Give the insurance company a chance; they may actually not be out to screw you.

If it doesn't go well, then you're onto the attorney. I'm sorry I don't have one to recommend, but I really hope you won't need one.

 

[NSX@40]

Chris: I suggest you use the values published in NSX Driver and cars currently for sale or recently sold. These values are likely to be higher than what you'll see in Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, NADA or Intellichoice. The other driver's insurance company's admission of liability is a great step in the right direction. If you firmly but politely demand to be compensated for your loss -- here, the cost to obtain another NSX of the same year and mileage -- they will pay it. Also refer to the production figures to emphasize that NSXs with automatic transmissions are even more rare.

Which insurance company are you dealing with?

 

[Taiwanese]

I always wonder about situation like this.

Let's say the at-fault insurance company is willing to pay your price from Autotrader, what about sales tax?

If you need to replace it, there is also sales tax involved when you made the purchase. The $2k to $3k sales tax will come from your pocket?

Anyone experienced this?

 

[drmanny3]

AAA or the Auto club would allow you to establish the price of the car by either having quotes from dealers and/or ads in the paper. You would not want to use Edmonds or Kelly blue book as they often low ball these types of cars. So I would contact a number of local dealers in the Southern California area and ask them to give you an estimate of what they would sell you the car for. There are very few automatics. A Acura Dealer in Tustin Ca was telling me that he was considering a 92 automatic with low mileage and the asking price was $32k. You definitely want to tell the insurance company that you will purchase your car from an Acura Dealer to insure the integrety of the automobile. Acura Dealers tend to sell only quality NSX vehicles that they thoroughly investigate. Used car tax plus license fees are part of the replacement costs associated with buying a car. You must add these fees to the cost of the replacement car. Spend a bit of time now and you will benefit in the long run. As others have said forget the lawyers as they will just take their portion and drag out the process. Use them as a last resort. Besides your insurance company will pay for the car short of the deductable. So you really don't have to go through the other person's insurance. Your company should represent you that is why you pay for insurance.

Manny

 

[Chris Yewdall]

Here's how it ended up

Thanks to everyone who posted their advice on this. On Friday before Easter weekend, the insurance company for the at-fault party called in the late afternoon and advised that they'd pay just under $24K for the total loss. Never having been through this before, and not knowing exactly what they were talking about with the various figures they were quoting on the phone, I went to Autotrader.com and looked at local NSX's with similar mileage on Monday this week - they were pricing out in the $27-28K range. This was so that I could be forearmed before speaking to them about their offer as had been recommended.

While the car is totaled, it is repairable (but the cost would have been greater than 75% of the insurance company's book value for the car hence their decision to total it) and basically needs a little straightening and a new front end panel//light set which I noticed are readily available used from various sellers on Prime for about $3K. The door gaps are fine, it runs, drives, and the steering/suspension appear to have escaped any damage.

When I spoke with the adjuster and they walked me through the offer, they mentioned that they were charging us $963 as a salvage fee for keeping the car! At this point, any notion of grinding them on the price flew out of the window - $24K and we keep the car! As we all know, $900 will just about buy one used rear fender so I focused on getting them settle for the tear down costs associated with the repair estimate and also the cost of towing it from the shop back to our house.

The same trip to Autotrader.com unearthed a 1995 NSX-T black/tan auto in Dana Point that we looked at on Monday, bought on Tuesday, smogged on Wednesday and titled on Thursday (happy wife by Tuesday!). We had to move quickly since the insurance company took the position that we had to start paying for the rental car three days after they made the verbal total offer to us (thanks - 4:30 on a Friday on our answer machine that we didn't pick up until Sunday night) and we'd have had to start paying storage at the repair shop too at about $35 a day. Not a particularly user friendly experience since we hadn't actually got their check in our hands/bank account by their Tuesday deadline!

Once we've got the salvage title sorted out with the DMV, we'll probably list it here on on EBay together with pics for someone to fix up put back into service. I'd have done it myself, but we just bought a 57 T-Bird about one week before the accident and I don't have enough time to work on all of them!