Dealing with a Car Accident

Three weeks ago, I was involved in 3-way car accident. I was driving back home from work on an Interstate highway. It was a typical rush hour traffic day, although not too heavy. The traffic ahead me of slowed down and came to a complete stop. As a result, I slowed down and stopped as well. However, the car behind me came speeding and couldn't stop. It rear-ended my car. The impact was so great that my car was forced into hitting the car in front of me despite having a safe distance. Luckily, all three drivers did not suffer any injury. All three cars suffered damage, but my car took the most of the beating on both sides.

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignright" width="300"] Toyota Corolla Accident[/caption]

 The first couple of days following the accident were a bit stressful not knowing how the insurance companies would react. I immediately called my own insurance company and reported the accident. After I received the police report, I felt somewhat relieved that based on the statements taken at the scene of the accident. The report showed that the driver behind me was following me too closely and was issued a ticket.

I asked my insurance company to make a claim against the at-fault driver's insurance company. His company contacted me in a couple of days. From the conversation, it became clear to me that they would be responsible for damages to my car. They also immediately rented me a car. My car was taken to an auto-body shop for evaluation. The at-fault driver's insurance company called me to let me know that the damages were beyond repairable and that they would be declaring the car as a total loss.

The at-fault driver's insurance company then made an offer on my car. It was a 2004 Toyota Corolla LE with 82,000 miles. It had power tilt and slide moon-roof, with a wood trim interior. I had kept the car very clean with regular maintenance. Therefore, their initial offer on this car was clean retail price at around $9300 including taxes and registration cost. The KBB private private party value on this car was around $9800. Also, the NADA retail value was around $9700. Knowing this information, I pushed back on the offer. They asked me to to fax ads of used cars that were equivalent to my car. I sent them a few of these cars and waited for the counteroffer.

Interestingly, I did not hear back for a couple of days. I was thinking about calling them, but I decided to wait. Finally, a call came on the Friday evening with a counter offer. The new offer was around $12,000. This was actually $1,000 higher than what I had paid for the car 4 years ago when I bought it from a used cars dealer in 2008. Essentially, I used the car for 4 years and made some money on it. My car accident had a happy ending.

There are a couple of things I learned through this experience. One, you have a right to reject the offer by the insurance company on your total loss car. Second, a little bit of research helps you become knowledgeable that helps have a sincere conversation with insurance adjusters. FINALLY, there is one important thing, always have a safe distance between cars while driving. It saves you not just from a car accident, but also from the liability of an accident. In the US, the person who rear-ends the car is usually the one who is found at-fault when in an accident.