Wednesday, May 27, 2009

What to do in a write off car insurance situation

By David Victorino

Once you met with an accident, the insurance company looks at vehicle and determines whether to declare write off or repair and get on road. The insurer will want to look at a vehicle by them or heir a private mechanic team to inspect the vehicle. The mechanic team sends the estimate to the insurance company about how much cost is required to get vehicle on road. As the insurance company write off about million cars annually, based on the estimate, the insurance company decide whether the vehicle should be write off or to get on road.

But what is really cancel? When a vehicle met with an accident and completely destroyed and it is too expensive to solve the problem and the performance of the road is called depreciation. Usually, when the vehicle is depreciated the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle.

However, when there is extensive damage to car, the insurance company wants to inspect the car by themselves to decide the write off. This is because to avoid the conflict between the mechanic team and insurance company. Generally the mechanic team vests their interest in fix the problem and gets them on road which is waste of amount to insurance company. One common factor, upon which the insurer decides to write off, is if the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the car. This is very complex calculation than it appears because this calculation needs to take into account several factors before determining.

The state law and the insurance company determine that total loss. If they believe that the repair cost reaches the 80% of the value. When the vehicle is being estimated for write off, the adjuster will take into account the scrap value or salvage value. The car insurance companies will take into account the scrap value while estimating the write off. Let say, the settlement value in the state is $2700 and the scrap value is $800 then the $1900 must be compared against the repair cost.

But how the scrap value is determined? When the car is being estimated for scrap value the individual will look at the condition of the vehicle like what additional equipment it posses, how clean it is, your mileage etc. before coming to final evaluation of the vehicle.

Type of the policy you have for the car which is damaged determines whether the vehicle needs to be write off or not. Storage charges: normally, the car which met with an accident has to be stored or park in an area. Many garages normally charge high rates to written off vehicles. In order to avoid such cost, it always advisable to declare write off and dispose them at scrap yard. Hire charges: normally, if you policy covers rental car, then the cost to rent can effect the decision because they prove to be higher cost to the insurer. Taking into consideration all the above mentioned factors, the insurance company will declare the car write off if the repair cost plus the incidental charges like rental, parking, and storage charges exceed the actual cash value of the car.

Taking into consideration all the above mentioned factors, the insurance company will declare the car write off if the repair cost plus the incidental charges like rental, parking, and storage charges exceed the actual cash value of the car.

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Auto Insurance -- Ways To Get It Cheap

By Chimezirim Odimba

Insurers give give customers who have remained loyal a long term discount and accident forgiveness. Most insurers will give you a discount of about 5% if you stay with them for up to five years (some will give you once you stay for up to three.

The accident forgiveness discount means that your insurer will not raise your rates if you file just one claim. It makes sense for the insurer as it is cheaper to give discounts to existing policy holders than to acquire new ones.

But it will only be right for me to also point out that in spite of these incentives, you might actually gain more if you switch to another insurer.

Don't make the mistake of parking your car in places where it won't be safe. .By safe I mean places where the risks of theft, vandalism or accidental damage are very low. I hope you also know that you'll pay less if you have a garage for your car.

Also make sure that your car is always parked in a well-lit area. It's certainly not a good idea to leave your car in the open street all through the night.

Being part of associations, especially the big ones, will get you discounts on your auto insurance. They stand to get many prospects easily if an association decides to adopt them as their insurer. Even though you may not necessarily join an association because you want a group auto insurance discount, it makes sense to take advantage of it if it's offered to any association you already belong to.

One good way to make sure you get more affordable rates is being careful always while driving. Please, ensure that you make it a policy not to drive if you so much as sip any alcoholic beverage.

Traffic offences that are related to having more than the permissible level of alcohol in your blood will make you get very high rates. While alcohol-related traffic offences have very immediate and grave repercussions, speeding tickets will also affect your rates negatively if they pile up. You'll do yourself a world of good if you obey all traffic laws at all times.

If you live in an urban area do your best to use the public transport system as much as possible. The less you use your car, the lower your mileage will be. And since mileage is a strong factor that determines your premium, you'll attract more affordable rates. The rule should be: Use your car only when you do not have a more cost-effective alternative.

And...

You will save much if you really have between 25-30 minutes. Visit, obtain and compare auto insurance quotes from several insurance quotes sites. The lowest quote should be what you pick easily.

But, you have to go beyond just the cheapest quote to the best price/value. The cheapest may not be the best price/value for you as an individual.

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