Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 4/20/2010

Question
Hello , My daughter was involved in an automobile accident approximately 1 month ago .The repair shop and state insurance adjuster at that point deemed the car not to be a total loss and the work began so I along with state farm rented a car while the work was being done. The repair shop does the work ,state farm pays the shop and I pick the repaired car up which so far looks ok to me and all is over , I thought. I receive a phone call from state farm saying the car is totaled and they would by it back because of the damage over 75% of total value law which is in affect .And finally my question is should the state farm adjuster informed me prior to the work begriming before the work started because now I still owe a little more than the total loss amount there giving me . I would have never had the car repaired and would have opted to buying her another car because now if I buy the car back and keep it its going to have the reconditioned tile which devalues the car . I believe state farm made a mistake in there initial assessment and I should have had an option before work started. It seems they are in a hurry for me to sign the buy back policy . Any help are info would be appreciated.Are there any laws on the books to require an insurance company to inform an individual of total loss before work begins?

Answer
Hi David,

This whole thing is wrong. There is no law that says they MUST total the car at 75% of value. If they claim there is then demand that they produce a copy of the statute. The 75% is just an industry standdrd that is in place to keep insurance companies from losing money. Most state laws allow an insurance company to repair a vehicle up to 100% of the car's value. Ihave personally seen situations where they spent far inexcess of 100% to repair a vehicle.

You are correct, the time to determine the car to be a total loss is before the repairs are started not after te repaired car has been delivered back to you. You should tell state farm that now that you have the repaired vehicle back, they have no right to take the vehicle from you and that if they want to they will have to file suit and you'll see what a judge has to say about it.

Unless I'm wrong and your state has a specific law that says the vehicle MUST be totaled at 75%, you shoulkd not give up your car if you do not want to. Even if there is a law, I wouldstill question it considering the vehicle was in factr repaired and dlivered back to you.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh