total loss evaluation issue

by john
(las vegas, nevada)

Hello,

I was in a minor accident in las Vegas Nevada. i have an older car -- a Toyota Camry v-6 with 70,000 miles in excellent shape - really!
and it was totaled.

the "local market" did not provide many reasonable comps or comps in general that ccc value scope used to determine the value of my car. I used the autotrader.com web site to look up used car values.

I expanded the area to look for comps in the Los Angeles basin area and found that the prices for used vehicles similar to mine were considerably higher and closer to what i think my car is worth.

is it reasonable for me to use these comps even though they were from and area that far away from my home base?.

Answer:

Hello John,

Depends. You say there are few car comps in your area. The question is how many and how similar are they to your car. If you are talking about 2 or 3 vehicles you have a strong argument to try have the adjuster include "farther out" comps. If they are 20 comps in your area, you will be hard pressed to win the argument.

Either way, look carefully at the comps they are providing.
Try to "strike" those that are low and do not reflect the condition of your car (equipment or condition). Many times adjusters will trade take the lower comp and accept something higher even if they are going a little out of the scope of the local market. If you can strike the lower comps, the average value will go
up.

Remember that you have a right of appraisal if you are not happy with the offer. Check out more on that here.

http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/Right-of-Appraisal.html

Good Luck,

Hector.