Sad start to a new gladiator

[NachoRuby]

Yeah, that's why I even said "if you have upgrades covered" meaning parts like I have added.
(this, for example, if someone ADDED a cover and their policy covered it)


Some policies do not cover such additions or "improvements" while others do to a specific dollar amount like they might cover $500 of added parts and/or you can have a higher dollar amount covered via rider - all I had to do was take photos of my changed parts, list them and send the list and pictures to my agent.

Still, it depends on if they saw it with the upgrades if you are not covered for them.
A person needs to check their policy and not just start yanking parts. If I had gone in and taken off the running boards, added lighting and other stuff I had put on my WJ - they'd have had a fit because I got paid more because I had all that stuff. They owned it.
In the case of my WJ - they SAW the upgrades - running boards and other accessories and paid added value.

If you have different bumpers and other such parts and got paid based on the truck's value as it was bought and not more based on the accessories, whatever your policy does, then put the stock stuff back.

When my old Subaru was totaled, I was allowed to take out my radio, as long as I replaced it with the oem radio.

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[Elff]

Ouch,
Good thing is, the gladiator protected you. You can repair or replace it.
Happy to hear you are ok.

Good luck with the rest.

 

[glassjawkid32]

This was my sister's and USAA fixed this the beginning of 21.

I'll probably be with usaa for life but from my experience they seem very reluctant to total a vehicle. Was there frame damage?

 

[NC_Overland]

I'll probably be with usaa for life but from my experience they seem very reluctant to total a vehicle. Was there frame damage?

USAA totals lots of vehicles. It’s not the insurance company itself that’s the biggest factor. It’s that every state has a different percentage as to when the vehicle is deemed a total loss. When I worked for USAA, I dealt with auto claims in 18 different states and the percentage was different in almost all of them.

my father has State Farm and he had someone do an illegal I turn in front of him in his brand new at the time Colorado. It was a $36k truck and they did $28k worth of repairs to it. They didn’t total ot because no structural or frame damage or airbag deployment. Luckily, his truck is fine years later and he got a pretty big check for diminished value.

 

[Trickster]

Ouch,
Good thing is, the gladiator protected you. You can repair or replace it.

Repair or replacement is entirely up to the insurance company, at least with my insurance company, not the owners choice.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

USAA totals lots of vehicles. It’s not the insurance company itself that’s the biggest factor. It’s that every state has a different percentage as to when the vehicle is deemed a total loss. When I worked for USAA, I dealt with auto claims in 18 different states and the percentage was different in almost all of them.

my father has State Farm and he had someone do an illegal I turn in front of him in his brand new at the time Colorado. It was a $36k truck and they did $28k worth of repairs to it. They didn’t total ot because no structural or frame damage or airbag deployment. Luckily, his truck is fine years later and he got a pretty big check for diminished value.

Yeah, you hit on a reason people can't look at pictures and say "it's totaled" or "it's not totaled".
Here's an example of how it works in IOWA -

A car is considered a total loss in Iowa when the cost of repairs plus the salvage value is at least 50% of the vehicle’s actual cash value. Actual cash value refers to how much the car was worth immediately before the damage, while the salvage value is the car’s worth in its damaged state.

When a car is totaled according to the Iowa totaled car law, the policyholder will receive the car’s actual cash value from the insurance company if the loss was covered. Insurance companies in Iowa are also required to pay applicable taxes and title costs if the policyholder purchases a replacement vehicle.

Iowa Total Loss Threshold ->
The Iowa total loss law is also called a total loss threshold. Threshold systems account for the fact that damage is often more extensive than it appears. For instance, the threshold of 50% assumes that a car with that much damage is likely to have even more problems that won’t be visible until a mechanic starts repairing the car.

Repair or replacement is entirely up to the insurance company, at least with my insurance company, not the owners choice.

Mmmmmm, not totally. It's state laws, too. Of course an insurance company I suppose could "fudge" on the ACV part and what hourly rates are in some areas compared to others, but it's jot totally up to the insurance company.

A car is considered a total loss in Iowa when the cost of repairs plus the salvage value is at least 50% of the vehicle’s actual cash value.
So in Iowa, if a vehicle meets that criteria, you can force them by pointing to our law.

 

[Gladiator832]

I'll probably be with usaa for life but from my experience they seem very reluctant to total a vehicle. Was there frame damage?

There was some frame damage, but the way my sister explained it was since the truck only had 2800 miles and the total to repair it was $10,000. The price of the Jeep was 42k. Now if the repair was a certain percentage of the value of the Jeep then they total it. I assume different insurance companies have different guide lines.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There was some frame damage, but the way my sister explained it was since the truck only had 2800 miles and the total to repair it was $10,000. The price of the Jeep was 42k. Now if the repair was a certain percentage of the value of the Jeep then they total it. I assume different insurance companies have different guide lines.

Different states in the U.S. have different guidelines. It's up to the state laws (and to some extent, the insurance company can control things by declaring different values, tweaking things) in the end, it's the state law.

I posted Iowa above - Iowa is really easy to get a vehicle totaled - Texas it twice as hard to see a vehicle totaled.

A car is considered a total loss in Texas when the cost of repairs plus the salvage value is at least 100% of the vehicle’s actual cash value. Actual cash value refers to how much the car was worth immediately before the damage, while the salvage value is the car’s worth in its damaged state.

When a car is totaled according to the Texas totaled car law, the policyholder will receive the car’s actual cash value from the insurance company if the loss was covered. Insurance companies in Texas are also required to pay for applicable taxes and title costs if the policyholder purchases a replacement vehicle.

Texas Total Loss Threshold
The Texas total loss law is also called a total loss threshold. Threshold systems account for the fact that damage is often more extensive than it appears. For instance, the threshold of 100% assumes that a car with that much damage is likely to have even more problems that won’t be visible until a mechanic starts repairing the car.

Texas Total Loss Law Example
Pre-crash value: $15,000
Cost of repairs: $3,000
Salvage value: $8,000
Sum of salvage value plus repair cost: $11,000 (less than 100% of the pre-crash value)
Result: car is not declared a total loss

In Iowa, that $11,000 is more than 50% of the pre-crash ACV so it WOULD be totaled.

As far as the OP - he's in Canada and I don't know what province so we don't know if there are laws there and what those laws are for where he lives.

 

[glassjawkid32]

There was some frame damage, but the way my sister explained it was since the truck only had 2800 miles and the total to repair it was $10,000. The price of the Jeep was 42k. Now if the repair was a certain percentage of the value of the Jeep then they total it. I assume different insurance companies have different guide lines.

Yeah that is how usaa makes their decision but my last vehicle also required about 10k in repairs and was only worth somewhere between 13-16k. Couldn't believe they wanted to repair it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yeah that is how usaa makes their decision but my last vehicle also required about 10k in repairs and was only worth somewhere between 13-16k. Couldn't believe they wanted to repair it.

If you lived in California at that time -

Once the repair costs, salvage value, and ACV are calculated, your insurance provider will use a Total Loss Formula (TLF) to see if your vehicle it totaled. The TLF in California is Cost of Repairs + Salvage Value ≥ Actual Cash Value.

If the sum of the repair costs and the salvage value is more than or equal to the ACV, your car is deemed a total loss.

If it would take 10K to repair it and the salvage value was 4K and they figured the ACV pre-crash to be 16K then 14 is less than 16, they'd not total it in California. It's not the company, it's the state.

*If it needed 10K in repairs and the salvage value was 5K and the ACV prior to crash was 15K by CA state law they had to total it.

Whenever there's a question, people should consult their state law and tell your insurance company you want their figures and proof they complied with laws in your state.
*In this example, the company legally had no choice but to total it because the total was equal to or greater than ACV pre-crash.

-------------------------------------------
A car is considered a total loss in California when the vehicle’s actual cash value is equal to or less than the cost of repairs plus the salvage value. Actual cash value refers to how much the car was worth immediately before the damage, while the salvage value is the car’s worth in its damaged state.

When a car is totaled according to the California totaled car law, the policyholder will receive the car’s actual cash value from the insurance company if the loss was covered. Insurance companies in California are also required to pay the sales tax and title costs if the policyholder purchases a replacement vehicle.

California Total Loss Law Example
Pre-crash value: $15,000
Cost of repairs: $6,000
Salvage value: $10,000
Pre-crash value - cost of repairs - salvage value = -$1,000
Result: Car is totaled
In this example, the driver’s car is totaled according to California law because its pre-crash value, or actual cash value (ACV), is lower than the sum of its repair cost and salvage value.

It’s also worth noting that the vehicle used in this example probably cost more than $15,000 when it was originally purchased. The ACV is meant to reflect the car’s worth in its depreciated state, not the cost of replacing the vehicle.

 

[SonoranMojave]

Since there seems to be some experts on this topic, how do insurance companies pay out taxes on a new vehicle purchase replacement? I know that law is on the books in AZ, but when I asked my adjuster about it she said they didn’t pay that. They did pay out residual tax on my totaled vehicle.

 

[Higher_Ground]

It's been a while since I watched The People's Court.

It seems like these sort of cases were always on with Judge Judy and involved shady mechanics and a car that was somebody's sister's boyfriend's.

 

[Trickster]

Yeah, you hit on a reason people can't look at pictures and say "it's totaled" or "it's not totaled".
Here's an example of how it works in IOWA -

A car is considered a total loss in Iowa when the cost of repairs plus the salvage value is at least 50% of the vehicle’s actual cash value. Actual cash value refers to how much the car was worth immediately before the damage, while the salvage value is the car’s worth in its damaged state.

When a car is totaled according to the Iowa totaled car law, the policyholder will receive the car’s actual cash value from the insurance company if the loss was covered. Insurance companies in Iowa are also required to pay applicable taxes and title costs if the policyholder purchases a replacement vehicle.

Iowa Total Loss Threshold ->
The Iowa total loss law is also called a total loss threshold. Threshold systems account for the fact that damage is often more extensive than it appears. For instance, the threshold of 50% assumes that a car with that much damage is likely to have even more problems that won’t be visible until a mechanic starts repairing the car.




Mmmmmm, not totally. It's state laws, too. Of course an insurance company I suppose could "fudge" on the ACV part and what hourly rates are in some areas compared to others, but it's jot totally up to the insurance company.

A car is considered a total loss in Iowa when the cost of repairs plus the salvage value is at least 50% of the vehicle’s actual cash value.
So in Iowa, if a vehicle meets that criteria, you can force them by pointing to our law.

Once again, maybe in America.
In our frigid Northern country the decision to repair or write it off is not the owners call. Insurance adjuster makes the call.

 

[YYCGLADIATOR]

Thanks for the insights and warm welcome ! Based on the initial statement I provided to the claims office, they said it may be a total loss since it looks like frame damage and airbags deployed. They will follow up once an official appriaser goes to assess the damage.

I am based on Alberta, Canada, haven't had a total loss before so any insights appreciated !

From what I've gathered, there are two cases:
1. Insurance fixes car
2. Insurance declares total loss

Hopefully like most comments I think total loss is best, was already talking to my sales about what to do if I need to replace the gladiator.

If it is case 1 then it looks like I should try to go for diminished value as well...will keep updating once I hear back from insurance.


Attached some photos of the other driver's car.

 

[YYCGLADIATOR]

what a tank, I am glad I was driving this

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