Incentives

[RickMachE]

Family member in California needs a new vehicle due to an accident, car was totaled. Interested in the following:

- Any experience in California with totaled vehicle, i.e. specific California laws/rules? It appears they can get FMB plus tax, title, registration, etc. from the insurance company. Goal is to maximize insurance payout, not keep the car and fix it.

Possibly buying an EV:

- They will likely not qualify for any income-based incentives. It looks like the lucrative CVRP ended, but they likely would not have qualified for that.

- They are a tenant, but with a cooperative landlord. So, if there are incentives the landlord can take (for example the 30% tax credit on wiring / charger), they might be able to get the landlord to pay for that so she gets the tax credit AND increases the value of the rental property.

Thanks in advance for any help / ideas.

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[Stu H]

They can likely purchase the wrecked vehicle from the insurance company with an adjustment to settlement amount.

The vehicle will then have a new title issue which reflects a salvage was involved.

Generally. An insurance company seems to call a car a total when cost of repairs exceed a percentage of the market value of the vehicle.

If you know that a vehicle has had work done (like a rebuilt engine, etc - as in.my case) and the rest is body work or an easy or relatively minor fix, it can be a smart move, especially for those with mechanical abilities.

I did this exact process with my older daughters car.

I hope this helps.

 

[RickMachE]

They can likely purchase the wrecked vehicle from the insurance company with an adjustment to settlement amount.

The vehicle will then have a new title issue which reflects a salvage was involved.

Generally. An insurance company seems to call a car a total when cost of repairs exceed a percentage of the market value of the vehicle.

If you know that a vehicle has had work done (like a rebuilt engine, etc - as in.my case) and the rest is body work or an easy or relatively minor fix, it can be a smart move, especially for those with mechanical abilities.

I did this exact process with my older daughters car.

I hope this helps.

Thanks, but he's not interested in fixing it. We just want to get the maximum value possible from the insurance company, and then CONSIDER buying an EV to replace it.

 

[Avelli]

The insurance company will likely use comps to assess value of the vehicle. They'll pull market value from a database of similar cars, and give you the median or average value.

When this happened to me, they were comparing sedans to my hatchback, and NA engine to my turbo engine. Their estimates were thousands of dollars lower than the actual value of the car. I had to keep sending it back to them to redo it based on engine/body/trim level, as they would see the difference. This went on for three months. meanwhile the market softened into a poor car sales period, and the negotiations stagnated. At that point I was tired of dealing with them, and accepted the offer as it stood

The timeline was Thanksgiving when I was hit, to late December/early January after the adjuster and assessor took care of the initial "total loss" assessment, first offer in mid-January, then back-and-forth three times until March before accepting the payout.

Additionally, there was a separate process for add-ons, where they paid out 50% based on the receipts for the items bolted to the car. It wasn't much (less than $300), but every dollar counts!

 

[RickMachE]

He pulled comps from various online sites showing they are about $5k low.

 

[Avelli]

Their comps probably look like they came from the Hertz rentals sales department. The trick is to find the reliable/trustworthy comp site. My BMW wagon fetches a pretty penny on BaT or e90 forums. The insurance company isn't going to accept that (and TBH, if I really felt it was that special I'd get an appraisal and invest in Guaranteed Value Insurance- not something I would do for a daily driver). You also have to find valuations on cars that actually sold, not just for sale.

State Farm was using Mitchell reports, which was the issue I was dealing with. Check these guys out and see if they can help: https://autoclaimconsultants.com/news-results/

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