Do we have a case?

(Phoenix,AZ)

Was recently in an accident in a 2003 Honda Civic.

The initial repair estimate was approx 5000 dollars, the adjuster said the car was worth aprox 8-9000.

We agreed to have the vehicle fixed,went to pick it up when it was finished and repairs were now at about 7000 dollars and the advisor at the repair facility said "we did a bunch of work for free to keep the car from being totaled, it was about 100 dollars from a total loss"

We took the car and it now has several problems with suspension noises and such. The adjuster said also that they would total the car at a 70 percent loss which it is basically at now,but the car still isn't fixed so there is more damage/money involved from the same accident.

Is there any way to get them to take the car back and total it since we no longer feel safe in this vehicle and when it come to resale we will have the hard time selling???

(this is not the first accident, it has been in 3 prior so I would think the worth would be even lower)

Answer:

Well Robert, you are in a very hard spot. It is very unlikely (they will fight you until the end) to have you keep the car. They already invested 7K (or 5K, not sure if they did 2K of free work).

Your best attack now is a “diminished value
claim.”

You can also ask for a “letter of guarantee” and make sure if you take the car, the back up the repairs at 100%. Visit our section on this subject:

http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/diminished-value-claim.html

Hector