Any insurance workers? Question about claims...

My wife bought a new 2017 Prius last year. I think it was $21k.

She ripped her bumper cover off (front) a few months back and the total bill was around $5k.

While we were away for the holidays, a rodent made a nest under the hood and chewed up a harness. Found out after she called and told me she was getting all kinds of system failure warnings, including brakes and all the TSS stuff. So I told her not to drive it and have it towed in to the dealer, thinking it was a warranty issue and/or related to the previously done body work.

Anyhow, dealer is estimating $5400 for the repairs. She’s insisting on the dealer doing the repair.

So - my question is:

With two claims totaling over $10k on a vehicle worth maybe $16-17k, is it over halfway to being a total loss / salvage vehicle?

What happens if another claim is made for several thousand?

My thought is to see what the dealer might offer for trade in, in its current state, and just start over with a new car.

 

Damaged caused by rodents probably isn't covered, so you can't add a claim for it.

 

They’re covering it.

 

Was just about to reply, it's probably covered under comprehensive. So disregard my comment. Good luck.

 

Prior insurance claims adjuster here...

It sounds like you already had the damage for the first claim (bumper cover) repaired? If this is the case, they will not consider that payout in any type of total loss determination. Claims payouts are not cumulative so you don't need to worry about that. In this case (based on the numbers you provided) it seems very unlikely this could be determined a total loss.

If you did NOT repair the front bumper damage, they may take that into account for a total loss determiation but in a few different ways. One way is to reduce the value of your unrepaired vehicle by the dollar amount of the repair estimate from the bumper cover. So instead of a 16k-17k vehicle they would be looking at a 11k-12k vehicle value (minus the 5k in unrelated prior damage for the front bumper cover). In this scenario it's possible they could total it based on a lot of other factors like length of repair time, likelihood for supplemental repairs, salvage value, state laws etc etc.

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

 

Yep, bumper damage was repaired.

So, let’s say KBB value is $17k, not considering the bumper claim. Does the $5k bumper repair get subtracted from the vehicle’s insureable (pretty sure that isn’t a word) value, and the insurance company will then only insure it for $12k? Then we get the harness repaired at ~$5k payout. Same thing: will they then only insure it for $7k?

I think you’re saying that this isn’t the case, but I’m not quite clear.

 

Welcome to TW, btw

 

No. The previous claim did not depreciate the value of your car $5k.

 

Your claim is covered and value goes back to blue book.

 

Prior repaired claims won't be factored into your current claim. For first party coverages like comprehensive and collision your maximum covered value of a vehicle at any given time is its "Actual Cash Value," this is generally determined by a market survey. Most companies use a company called CCC or Mitchell to determine the value. This is important because if KBB say $17k, your insurance company may value it at more like $15k, but they only run these values when there MIGHT be a possibility of a total loss. So you can't call them and ask "what my car worth?"

Basically what this means, is that if you car is worth $17k, you're covered for up to $17k because your damages cannot exceed the value of your vehicle. If you have damage to your vehicle (normal wear/tear or prior unrepaired collision damage) this reduces the value of you vehicle only because the condition is worse at the time the value is determine. If you've repaired all the prior issues those do not count against you as completing the repairs brings your vehicle value back to $17k.

It's a complicated concept to try to explain in a short amount of time, but the main takeaway is that as long as you repaired the prior damage for the front bumper, I don't think you need to worry about a total loss determine on this one UNLESS the repair estimate goes up and gets closer to that $17k number. You can always speak to your claims adjuster about this and they can give you a more clear idea since they know the actual numbers involved.

 

Great, thanks for the explanation! Very helpful...