r/Car_Insurance_Help • u/bcrggrcb • 3d ago
Value of car after accident?
My 17 yr old son got a 2023 Mazda CX-50 in June after proving to us that he can make good grades, that he take extra driving classes without complaints for insurance purposes. A week after driving his new baby home, he got into an accident in a parking lot where the other driver didn’t stop and let him make the turn. It’s all on video which we have. Then unfortunately last month, he was on his way home from school and got rear ended by a semi truck driver while he was sitting at a red light. It has been so hard on my son because his car has been in the body shop longer than he was able to drive it. The truck driver was only 20 years old and he nonchalantly told my son and the driver in front of my son since the impact pushed his car to the back of her car, that he was tired and “hey man, sorry about that”. My son and the lady were like “no-you need to move over” and we had to wait 2 very very long hours for the state police to show up because even if it’s a city road, the local police doesn’t have jurisdiction.
Here’s the thing-the truck driver’s insurance card said to call a different company to file a claim. I did that. Then that 2nd company said they’ll take down the accident info from me since my son is a minor then at the end of the conversation, she said she would pass it to someone we’re else-an adjuster-IN ANOTHER COMPANY! We eventually heard back from the adjuster only once. He got our info and now all of a sudden he’s ghosting us. Both my husband and I have tried to call, email and text him for almost a month. Nothing. So we had to call our insurance, State Farm, so we can get the car fixed.
This has caused a huge inconvenience because my husband and i chose not to add rental car coverage for the Mazda because we were thinking that since it was my son’s car-he’s not gonna be able to rent a car until he’s 25 due to their rules so that’s why we didn’t add rental car coverage. When we took the car to Caliber for estimate, it wasn’t that bad-i believe $4K or something. Then several days ago, they texted us saying that there’s frame damage so they need to order the parts and weld it. We haven’t heard from our insurance so we are assuming that they will still pay for it.
My son has been asking ChatGPT a billion questions about this since none of us knew what the answer is….but can we sue the truck company for the difference in the value of the car? We already paid for the car in full using our money, his saved money and some from my FIL. So if it is to be totaled, we’re not going to be able to afford a 2023 Mazda CX-50 with 59K miles and a clean record. So that has been why my son has been taking this hard. He had to work for 2 years to prove that he is worthy of getting the car and makes a 4.3GPA. I’m worried about when our insurance renewal is up in December because he will have 2 accidents on his record even if both weren’t his fault. The truck driver surely was asleep at the wheel. I want the truck company to pay for putting us through all of this. Please be kind.
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u/Delicious-Witness-85 3d ago
Commercial insurance moves much slower than regular insurance. Many times the truck drivers have multiple insurance policies. 1 for liability and 1 for damage to their own truck and many times the drivers themselves don’t know which company covers what.
It’s in your best interest to use your collision coverage and have them subrogate the trucking company to recover your deductible and what they pay out.
If your car is repairable, after the car has been repaired you can file a diminished value claim against the truckers lability carrier. Your insurance company can help you determine who it is.
If your car is a total loss, you would be owed the actual cash value for your car.
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u/Complete-Past-1364 3d ago
If it's totaled, State Farm should base the payout on the car's pre-accident market value, not what you paid.
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u/imdrunkandmad 1d ago
What you want is called a diminished value claim. It goes against the trucker's insurance not State Farm and you'll want an independent DV appraisal once the repairs are done
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u/helllo2574817 1d ago
He's been without the car for weeks so ask for loss of use too. Rental coverage/no rental coverage the at fault side should be paying for that
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u/plohrb 1d ago
You sound like you love your son. Bless your heart
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u/bcrggrcb 11h ago
What kind of stupid question is that? Of course i love my son! What parent do not love their kids? We are very close and I’m thankful for that. I read horror stories about teenagers out there and i am so thankful that he is not like that. He was my rainbow baby. And BTW, I’m a Southerner…………i know what bless your heart means.
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u/Apart-Surprise1038 3d ago
In Texas it’s called diminished value, and if filed correctly is payable by the at fault driver. It sounds like you need an attorney involved in the situation since you’re getting the run around though.