HOW MUCH DOES AN INSURANCE COMPANY PAY FOR CAR DAMAGES AFTER AN ACCIDENT

Usually the driver at fault for the accident has to pay for the damages caused to the other car. This will include the cost of repairs to the car, the cost of replacing any part/s of the car, the cost of towing and storing the damaged car, the cost of renting a car until the car is repaired, or the car’s value if it is totaled. However, it is the insurance company of the at-fault driver, who will be covering these costs.

Value of Your Car
The insurance company of the at-fault driver will pay for repairing your car, unless the worth of your car is less than the cost of repairing it. In such a case, your vehicle is considered “totaled”, and you are entitled to receive the ACV (Actual Cash Value) of your car before it became damaged in the accident. Most insurance companies will estimate the cost of repairs, and if these costs amount to 75% or more of your car’s value, then your car is considered, “totaled”.

A Fair System
The theory behind an ACV is that you should be able to use the money to buy a similar vehicle that you had. However, in actual practice, the insurance company will offer a much lower ACV, and you may have to do your own research to determine the ACV of your car, and negotiate with the insurance company, based on that figure. To determine the ACV, you could research online services such as Edmunds or Kelley Blue Book, which provide the values of comparable cars.

No Assumptions
You could also look in the classifieds for the price at which similar cars are being sold in your area. Secondly, if you have done extensive repairs or installed new tires, it will be mentioned in the documentation. Armed with all this information you can negotiate a better ACV for your vehicle with the insurance company. But you cannot assume that your car restoration projects will amount to too much more according to the insurance company. No one can actually prove how much more value your car became because of those improvements.