Can you argue with the car insurance adjustor's decisions?

[Lewisc]

You're probably better of letting them total the car.

A body shop can sometime negotiate with the insurance company. Maybe locate a deal on parts. Get the repair costs under the threshold for totalling the car. The total cost may not be know until work begins. The body shop may have to do more work then.a typical estimate to untotal the car. Not worth it for a Kia.

You do NOT want a salvage title. Difficult to sell and to insure.

 

[Miffy]

@leebee : From what I've been reading the major repair expense for your car will be the airbags. After they deploy, it's extremely expensive to repair/replace them--thousands of dollars per airbag.

This is probably why the insurance company totaled your car, since the blue book value is no doubt less than the cost of the airbag fix.

I'm very sorry this happened to you. Seems like such a minor thing and it's turned into a huge problem and an expense that may not be worth it, should you decide to pay for this yourself.

We bought a new Soul a few months ago and we love it, so I'm sure you love your 2015 Soul a lot. One thing I will say about a brand-new car is that the safety features on it are amazing. The 10-year-old car we replaced didn't even have a backup camera.

 

[MillauFr]

You're probably better of letting them total the car.

A body shop can sometime negotiate with the insurance company. Maybe locate a deal on parts. Get the repair costs under the threshold for totalling the car. The total cost may not be know until work begins. The body shop may have to do more work then.a typical estimate to untotal the car. Not worth it for a Kia.

You do NOT want a salvage title. Difficult to sell and to insure.

If it has a salvage title why would you bother getting collision and comprehensive insurance on it?

 

[Lewisc]

If it has a salvage title why would you bother getting collision and comprehensive insurance on it?

You need liability insurance. Assume your car would be worth 20K without a salvage title. Maybe you paid 16K to repair.
Some people might want comprehensive coverage and not realize they will have trouble getting it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Sad this happened to you.

 

[tvguy]

That fact that the air bags deployed and the seatbelts locked is an important clue to just how hard an impact your car sustained.
For the air bags to deploy, if you were wearing your seat belt, the air bags in the Soul are set to deploy when the structure of the car sustains and impact of at least 16 mph. If you were not wearing a seatbelt, they deploy at 10 mph impact. So the cracked plastic front end probably absorbed some of the impact, before the structure behind it was reached. And there may be hidden damage to the structure behind that plastic front end. Your insurance company of course knows that, which is why they warned you it might not be worth fixing. And by their standards, that would be if repairs cost close to or exceed the actual cash value of the car. They know from experience that odds are pretty good it is not worth fixing.
Mind you, I keep my cars nearly forever, 20 to as much as 31 years. I have never had to replace an engine, but I would not hesitate to, and I have replaced several transmissions. But collision damage is where I draw the line.
No harm in getting an actual repair estimate, but remember, there may be hidden damage that will increase the repair cost. I would guess based on my area that the retail value of that car with that mileage is about $5-7,000, and the Actual Cash Value is about half that. I bet just replacing the air bags and seatbelts will cost close to that.

 

[tvguy]

@leebee
Any update?

 

[leebee]

@leebee
Any update?

No, we are still waiting for the insurance company to do their thing. I talked with the guy at the auto body shop on Monday and he said he was really surprised that the air bags went off, as there is so little damage otherwise. He was going to have to get info on repair/replacement cost for the airbags, but he said sometimes, especially in smaller cars, the whole front dashboard has to be replaced. Not loving that!

 

[leebee]

@leebee
Any update?

UPDATE!! We got the estimate from the body shop and it's about $6200 to repair my car. $600 of that is for parts, labor, and paint repairs to the actual damage; the rest is for the air bags and seat belts. Here's the unexpected part: They valued my vehicle at $9400!!! I have a check for $8900 to put towards a new car! I am totally in shock over this! I figured I'd have to throw in $10K and get an older car with as much or mileage on it as I had on my car. Well, now I can still put in $10K, but can look at much newer, better equipped vehicles. I am so relieved!!! We are in a tight financial spot at the moment- temporary, we can manage without anyone having to resort to ramen noodles as a staple food- and the need for a new-to-us vehicle was weighing heavily. Now, not so much! I guess Santa DID come early!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Great news!

People don’t realize that airbags are basically tiny explosives. It is actually dangerous for technicians to work with them because one wrong move could detonate them. They have to have special training in order to do so. (Or they should but some shady shops don’t make them). It’s very costly to replace just one, and now most cars have multiple airbags. That is why cars are so often totaled after airbags deploy.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Airbag humor - my Civic had a recall because the passenger airbag could deploy & release metal shards. Thus the joke until the airbag was replaced: it really gave a new meaning to riding "shotgun!"

 

[tvguy]

Great news!

People don’t realize that airbags are basically tiny explosives. It is actually dangerous for technicians to work with them because one wrong move could detonate them. They have to have special training in order to do so. (Or they should but some shady shops don’t make them). It’s very costly to replace just one, and now most cars have multiple airbags. That is why cars are so often totaled after airbags deploy.

The seatbelt tensioners that activate in a crash actually have small explosive charges in them too.

 

[barkley]

UPDATE!! We got the estimate from the body shop and it's about $6200 to repair my car. $600 of that is for parts, labor, and paint repairs to the actual damage; the rest is for the air bags and seat belts. Here's the unexpected part: They valued my vehicle at $9400!!! I have a check for $8900 to put towards a new car! I am totally in shock over this! I figured I'd have to throw in $10K and get an older car with as much or mileage on it as I had on my car. Well, now I can still put in $10K, but can look at much newer, better equipped vehicles. I am so relieved!!! We are in a tight financial spot at the moment- temporary, we can manage without anyone having to resort to ramen noodles as a staple food- and the need for a new-to-us vehicle was weighing heavily. Now, not so much! I guess Santa DID come early!

CONGRATS! sorry you have to shop for a new car but at least it wont be as costly as you anticipated. it's surprising how much used cars are being valued at for total loss these days-a friend had a total loss of a very used high mileage vehicle due to a fire and were shocked at the check the insurance company issued.