I'm looking for someone with experience to gauge the ongoing interaction I'm having with Progressive on my damaged car. My car was hit by a stolen car while parked on the street (pic). Progressive towed it to estimate, then came back to give a valuation and say it was totaled.
I asked to see the comparables, and found that they compared my 2009 Civic Si (149k miles) to 6 Civic LXs and 2 Civic EXs. I sent back a list of 2009 Si's, showing many were much higher than this, and they proceeded to move to a "more intensive dealer quote process." Presumably, the value could come back higher (still waiting).
In parallel, I asked for the damage estimate to understand what they thought it would take to repair, which is where things got a little weird to me. The response was:
I felt there was a contradiction between something being an "obvious total loss" and going back out for a revised appraisal. If we know neither the definitive value or the definitive repair cost, how do we know which side things land on? I also work with body shops and have heard they're repairing over 100% severity due to the inflated prices on used cars right now. The estimate in my claims documents literally shows $0 for everything; I'd be much more inclined to believe this if they estimated e.g. the top 5 most costly items (e.g. straighten frame, paint 3 full/2 blend panels, etc.) and could see this was easily more than the initial $8700 valuation they arrived at (80% in my state).
I've been looking for cars in the meantime, as supply is short and I don't want to get stuck without a car for too long. I've been following up to find out if there's any way the valuation comes back high enough that the car would transition from being totaled to repairable.
This was after asking 3 separate times via different wording (answer only to the last time I re-asked), as I really want to know if there's any chance that if I buy a new used car, I also end up with the old one being repaired. To me, "not likely" is not the same as "100% no possible way."
Has anyone experienced this chicken-and-egg where a car is supposedly totaled by just looking and not itemizing the repair, but they also don't know the definitive value? Can I/should I force them to estimate the damage formally at a shop of my choosing? Thanks for any input.
I asked to see the comparables, and found that they compared my 2009 Civic Si (149k miles) to 6 Civic LXs and 2 Civic EXs. I sent back a list of 2009 Si's, showing many were much higher than this, and they proceeded to move to a "more intensive dealer quote process." Presumably, the value could come back higher (still waiting).
In parallel, I asked for the damage estimate to understand what they thought it would take to repair, which is where things got a little weird to me. The response was:
So with vehicles that are evaluated as total losses, there is the outcome where the vehicle is deemed an obvious total loss. This was written up by our inspection yard with listed damages to both doors, the frame, the rocker and other damages resulting in a total loss determination. When that happens, an estimate is not written and the vehicle moves straight to valuation.
I felt there was a contradiction between something being an "obvious total loss" and going back out for a revised appraisal. If we know neither the definitive value or the definitive repair cost, how do we know which side things land on? I also work with body shops and have heard they're repairing over 100% severity due to the inflated prices on used cars right now. The estimate in my claims documents literally shows $0 for everything; I'd be much more inclined to believe this if they estimated e.g. the top 5 most costly items (e.g. straighten frame, paint 3 full/2 blend panels, etc.) and could see this was easily more than the initial $8700 valuation they arrived at (80% in my state).
I've been looking for cars in the meantime, as supply is short and I don't want to get stuck without a car for too long. I've been following up to find out if there's any way the valuation comes back high enough that the car would transition from being totaled to repairable.
We looked over vehicle damages and even with a valuation adjustment, the vehicle being deemed an obvious total loss means it will not likely convert to repairs, because there is fairly significant damages to that frame and the doors.
This was after asking 3 separate times via different wording (answer only to the last time I re-asked), as I really want to know if there's any chance that if I buy a new used car, I also end up with the old one being repaired. To me, "not likely" is not the same as "100% no possible way."
Has anyone experienced this chicken-and-egg where a car is supposedly totaled by just looking and not itemizing the repair, but they also don't know the definitive value? Can I/should I force them to estimate the damage formally at a shop of my choosing? Thanks for any input.