Parked vehicle was totaled

If you accept their settlement, AND you wan to keep the vehicle then you will have to PAY the insurance company for the salvage vehicle. The money they offer you is an exchange-you take the check, they take the car. They are only required to offer the actual cash value of the vehicle and they will knock of $ for high mileage (average is about 12k/year, you are higher than that), previous damages, etc.

Your only repeating what I stated, is this the law? Do we have to accept their settlement figures less mileage and cosmetic damage when that did not affect the driveability of the vehicle??

No, its not a law, but its written in every insurance policy. They are only required to offer that to you. There is no LAW that says they have to offer more, and since there is no LAW that requires that, they are not doing anything illegal. Just as if you were found at fault, and you totalled the other person's vehicle, your company would offer the same. You are not required to accept it. You can always sue. But since there is no LAW, you won't win. Cosmetic dings may not affect the driveability of the vehicle, but they affect the VALUE.

One more thing

Since your car is totaled, the car's title will have to be converted to a salvage title. You'll have an extremely difficult time getting rid of it later on if you chose to keep it (or buy it back) from the insurance company. Plus, some insurance companies have rigid rules on insuring cars with salvage titles.

Your car is six years old. It's hard to prove it's in pristine condition, more so since you have high mileage. I guarantee you the adjuster objectively looked at the car and saw it as an ordinary Spectra.

What you're probably thinking is most unfair is the car was probably paid for and now you have to find something comparable without a whole lot of cash in your pocket. I agree with you - it's tough. There's just no good answer for that. Good luck on which ever way to chose to go. I personally would not keep a vehicle with a salvage title.

Given your car and a some assumptions about its condition..

Kelly values your car at

Between Fair and Good (aprx)

Trade In: 1600 to 2500

Private Party Sale: 3200 to 3800

Retail: 5275 (ASSUMES EXCELLENT CONDITION)

GO to all the car value websites.

Be honest with all aspects of the car. Installed equipment that did not work at time of crash don't count..

Armed with this knowledge, argue with the adjuster.

Being nice can only cost you money.

If you are being honest about the car, IMHO if the adjuster is offering anything under 2k you are being screwed.

Good luck, and be pushy, demanding, and make lots of calls, and LOTS of irrational demands.

First and most important,do your homework.You should be made whole as you were prior to the accident.There are more mumbo jumbo bs scenarios but if you are insistant on getting a fair settlement ,yu can win. First ,if you havent doneso,do a google on totatled car.theres plenty of info there to start.Next,regardless of nada,bluebook etc.look your vehicle up on autotrader,or the like and find what YOUR CAR in YOUR pre ACCIDENT condition is selling for.Yes,you need to deduct for milage ,but you can find out what they give for high milage on the bluebook etc sites;.For some reason,insurance companies can decide at what point they consider a vehicle totaled. It can be between 51 and 72 percent of the vehicles value.I had a similiar problem with my daughters 97 explorer. Bought it 6 mos, earlier,a drunk driver hit it in a parking lot.She paid 7000 for the car. 6 mos later ,they were considering totaling it for 3800.There were different values in all the regular books, kelly,nada etc.I looked online and read where she needed to be made whole .Sugested as I did,the look and see what it costs at a dealer.Bottom line,car was still selling for 7-10 thousand dollars. She got her check for 4300 in damages.Kept the car,bought parts in salvage yard for under 1000.Good as new.Put your boxes gloves on and fight ,fight . fight.ut be nice