California Auto Body and Insurance Company

[DanH]

I bought a 2019 Toyota for 20K, four weeks later it was involved in a crash (our fault), but insurance sends to appraiser who appraised damages at 5K and sent it to body shop, which agreed to fix it for that price. After 5 weeks in the body shop, no written supplement to invoice we went in to confront them. Insurance adjuster has also not received an update from them. The car is still there, needs at least two more weeks and they gave us an updated invoice today of nearly 14K, which is 70% of the car value at this point. Toyota told me they would have totaled the car with that estimate, but since the Auto Body did not send any updated invoice to insurance they didn't know, and the auto body just kept doing repairs and repairs. It's not over, the car still needs two more weeks and has to be sent back to mechanic for more work. I contend the car should have been totaled, do I have any recourse against the insurance company or Auto body repair (for mostly not updated the invoice to insurance to show that the car needed to be totaled). Very likely the damages will exceed 20K.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

The insurance company hasn't done anything wrong. What did the insurance adjuster or claims person say when they heard that it was going to cost at least $7K more?

 

[Zigner]

I bought a 2019 Toyota for 20K, four weeks later it was involved in a crash (our fault), but insurance sends to appraiser who appraised damages at 5K and sent it to body shop, which agreed to fix it for that price. After 5 weeks in the body shop, no written supplement to invoice we went in to confront them. Insurance adjuster has also not received an update from them. The car is still there, needs at least two more weeks and they gave us an updated invoice today of nearly 14K, which is 70% of the car value at this point. Toyota told me they would have totaled the car with that estimate, but since the Auto Body did not send any updated invoice to insurance they didn't know, and the auto body just kept doing repairs and repairs. It's not over, the car still needs two more weeks and has to be sent back to mechanic for more work. I contend the car should have been totaled, do I have any recourse against the insurance company or Auto body repair (for mostly not updated the invoice to insurance to show that the car needed to be totaled). Very likely the damages will exceed 20K.

What does Toyota have to do with this?
Be aware that, if you bought a new Toyota for $20k, then the value of the car is much less than $20k, which means that $14k is well over 70% of the value. Your insurance company should still total the car and pay you off. I hope you had some kind of gap insurance (assuming that you financed the car) so that the deficiency (if any) between the value of the car and the balance of of your loan is covered.

 

[DanH]

I have only Toyota's opinion on the amount of damage and what they would have done. No gap insurance. paid cash and just a deductible and the insurance should cover the new car if this one totaled. The Auto Body shop did not send an estimate and the work had not been authorized above the original 5K, yet they have already done the 13K repairs.

 

[DanH]

The car had 900 miles on it at the time of the accident

 

[Zigner]

The car had 900 miles on it at the time of the accident

You DO understand that a "new" car loses a ton of value the moment you drive it off the dealer's lot, right?
What kind of car is it?