2011 Leaf total loss with new battery replaced in 7/2016

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vgonzalez

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Messages
51
Location
Concord, CA
Hi there,
Short story, my wife's Nissan Leaf was declared total loss, it suffered cosmetic damage (passenger front fender and passenger front and rear door) plus $460 to repair the front alignment (quote provided by a near by car shop). the insurance company is offering 5.5k, my question, if I decide to keep the car and repair it at my own cost, what will be a good price to pay the insurance to keep the car?


note: A local body shop has provided me with a quote $2,500 to repair the car, plus the $460 to fix the alignment.

I understand the title will change to SALVAGE and possibly the insurance will only provide me a liability insurance.
thank you,
Victor
jqSaDlmHHUEYq2nOJt49PvYpxELxVTYr7TvhOnnHHPd


https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/jqSaDlmHHUEYq2nOJt49PvYpxELxVTYr7TvhOnnHHPd
 
vgonzalez said:
Hi there,
Short story, my wife's Nissan Leaf was declared total loss, it suffered cosmetic damage (passenger front fender and passenger front and rear door) plus $460 to repair the front alignment (quote provided by a near by car shop). the insurance company is offering 5.5k, my question, if I decide to keep the car and repair it at my own cost, what will be a good price to pay the insurance to keep the car?


note: A local body shop has provided me with a quote $2,500 to repair the car, plus the $460 to fix the alignment.

I understand the title will change to SALVAGE and possibly the insurance will only provide me a liability insurance.
thank you,
Victor
jqSaDlmHHUEYq2nOJt49PvYpxELxVTYr7TvhOnnHHPd


https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/jqSaDlmHHUEYq2nOJt49PvYpxELxVTYr7TvhOnnHHPd

Don’t let the insurance company push you around! Don’t let them label it a SALVAGE, if you believe you can still use it. If they are offering $5500 that could be used to fix the vehicle.

Get other opinions.
 
lkkms2 said:
Don’t let the insurance company push you around! Don’t let them label it a SALVAGE, if you believe you can still use it. If they are offering $5500 that could be used to fix the vehicle.

Get other opinions.
The ins co ISN'T offering to spend 5.5k, they're offering to spend 5.5k minus the salvage value. That's why even if he can get it repaired for $2500, it might be more than the ins co is willing to spend. Also, if the ins co agrees to repair it, they're on the hook for any extra repair expense that crops up. Once they pay the OP off and sell it unrepaired, it's salvage, they have no leeway.
 
When my 2003 Ford Focus was salvaged out in 2009 I got a settlement of $8200 (which I thought was way too generous) and bought the car back from the insurance company for $400. I had $600 in new Falken tires I'd just put on it a couple of months earlier, so getting it back just to recover those was worth it.

I had front end damage (bumper cover, grille and radiator) and rear quarter damage (DS quarter panel, bumper, tail light and trunk lid/floor). There were no alignment issues, what with the minimal damage to the front and the crumple zones under the trunk floor doing their job.

I learned to weld well enough and fixed the car myself to the tune of $1400 in used parts and needed tools. We continued to use it as the family beater for another 4 years before the transmission finally went out and we gave it up for junk. I even got $500 for junking it.

Having a salvage title on it after the accident was neither here nor there to me or anyone else in the family. The only thing I had to give up was being able to tow with it - I wasn't confident enough in my welding to be sure that the rear end and half the trunk floor wouldn't pull off under the load of a utility trailer. LOL!

https://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/ford-focus-builds-general-showroom/219359-totalled-focus-resurrection-56k-warning-anyone-really-56k-anymore.html
 
Well if you decide to junk it, I'm interested in your battery pack. Just message me and we discuss the pricing.
 
Valdemar said:
$5.5k if you keep the car or if they take it?
5.5K if they keep the car but not sure how much will the insurance want for me to keep the car, my question is what is a good price to pay the insurance for the car?
 
vgonzalez said:
Valdemar said:
$5.5k if you keep the car or if they take it?
5.5K if they keep the car but not sure how much will the insurance want for me to keep the car, my question is what is a good price to pay the insurance for the car?

They will arrive at a "salvage value", if you keep your car your net will be $5.5 sans the salvage value. My experience was that salvage value is not negotiable. You will probably end up with $3k give or take if you keep your car, I'd say fixing the car doesn't make sense given the market values and the fact you're already 2 years on a replacement pack in a hot-ish climate, if the damage is truly cosmetic and doesn't affect day to day operation I'd just keep the money, fix the alignment, drive it like that for a year or two and junk it afterwards. Otherwise just take $5.5 and run, perhaps try to negotiate some more if you can find comparable listings substantiating higher market value.
 
vgonzalez said:
Valdemar said:
$5.5k if you keep the car or if they take it?
5.5K if they keep the car but not sure how much will the insurance want for me to keep the car, my question is what is a good price to pay the insurance for the car?

Like I said in my post, I paid $400 for a six year old Ford Focus. Your LEAF is now at least 6.5 years old.

How about you ask the insurance company what the salvage value is?
 
mwalsh said:
vgonzalez said:
Valdemar said:
$5.5k if you keep the car or if they take it?
5.5K if they keep the car but not sure how much will the insurance want for me to keep the car, my question is what is a good price to pay the insurance for the car?

Like I said in my post, I paid $400 for a six year old Ford Focus. Your LEAF is now at least 6.5 years old.

How about you ask the insurance company what the salvage value is?

I paid $4,500 for my '11 Leaf 2 years ago, perhaps a bit less - don't remember how the math worked out, but it was $12k to surrender or $7.5k to keep, there were taxes mixed in the formula.
 
Valdemar said:
mwalsh said:
vgonzalez said:
5.5K if they keep the car but not sure how much will the insurance want for me to keep the car, my question is what is a good price to pay the insurance for the car?

Like I said in my post, I paid $400 for a six year old Ford Focus. Your LEAF is now at least 6.5 years old.

How about you ask the insurance company what the salvage value is?

I paid $4,500 for my '11 Leaf 2 years ago, perhaps a bit less - don't remember how the math worked out, but it was $12k to surrender or $7.5k to keep, there were taxes mixed in the formula.

Here are the final numbers after talking and negotiating with the insurance, the total loss settlement value is $6,602 - $500 deductible = 6102 minus - $1064 to buy the car back - $500 alignment repair - $3000 body shop repair = $1500 to spend on a vacation. I guess I am keeping the car. Thank you for all for the provided information.
 
2011 doors are aluminum, double check with the shop if they took that into account. You will lose a good part of that $1500 when you try to sell a salvage title, unless of course you plan to keep the car until the wheels come off.

In your position I'd be very tempted to save the repair and salvage title DMV registration headaches, take the money and use it to lease a Honda Clarity EV if Leaf range covers your needs, as 3 years down the road the salvage-titled Leaf will be worthless with much degraded pack, not counting additional repairs you might run into on the way there. Current deal on the Clarity is $200/mo for 36 months, $1,500 at signing, 20k miles/year, and you get the CVRP rebate back, the deal runs till the end of this month - good timing.
 
If you don't insist on cosmetic perfection and allow the body shop to source used parts, sometimes body work can get cheaper. A lot of places are used to meeting insurance requirements to make the car like it had never been wrecked, and a budget minded place can often do better. Of course at $3K, you may have already done that.
 
Valdemar said:
In your position I'd be very tempted to save the repair and salvage title DMV registration headaches,

I don't remember the salvage title being a big deal at all. I did need an inspection by a DMV registered repair shop, but there was one right by work and all the DMV was interested in were brakes and lights (headlamp alignment seemed to be a big deal). I also think my insurer wanted to take a quick look too, but that was just a formality.
 
mwalsh said:
Valdemar said:
In your position I'd be very tempted to save the repair and salvage title DMV registration headaches,

I don't remember the salvage title being a big deal at all. I did need an inspection by a DMV registered repair shop, but there was one right by work and all the DMV was interested in were brakes and lights (headlamp alignment seemed to be a big deal). I also think my insurer wanted to take a quick look too, but that was just a formality.

No big deal, just 4 hours of my time and $100 or so wasted.
 
Valdemar said:
mwalsh said:
Valdemar said:
In your position I'd be very tempted to save the repair and salvage title DMV registration headaches,

I don't remember the salvage title being a big deal at all. I did need an inspection by a DMV registered repair shop, but there was one right by work and all the DMV was interested in were brakes and lights (headlamp alignment seemed to be a big deal). I also think my insurer wanted to take a quick look too, but that was just a formality.

No big deal, just 4 hours of my time and $100 or so wasted.

Thank you for the heads up on the DMV, the insurance has acknowledge that yes the car will continue under my insurance policy.
 
vgonzalez said:
Valdemar said:
mwalsh said:
I don't remember the salvage title being a big deal at all. I did need an inspection by a DMV registered repair shop, but there was one right by work and all the DMV was interested in were brakes and lights (headlamp alignment seemed to be a big deal). I also think my insurer wanted to take a quick look too, but that was just a formality.

No big deal, just 4 hours of my time and $100 or so wasted.

Thank you for the heads up on the DMV, the insurance has acknowledge that yes the car will continue under my insurance policy.

You are welcome. The insurance rate may go up, or not, I carry only liability now that my car is salvaged but my understanding you can usually still buy collision/comprehensive but they may want to see your car first. As for DMV I had to go to 3 different places:

a) a CHP office with paperwork about repair and parts used, I guess they wanted to make sure I didn't use parts that were stolen
b) a certified salvage inspection shop
c) DMV office - auto club doesn't do salvage title registrations

I'm not totally sure about the total cost of the above, it may have been more than $100, I know it registered in my memory as an expense I didn't plan for.
 
Valdemar said:
vgonzalez said:
Valdemar said:
No big deal, just 4 hours of my time and $100 or so wasted.

Thank you for the heads up on the DMV, the insurance has acknowledge that yes the car will continue under my insurance policy.

You are welcome. The insurance rate may go up, or not, I carry only liability now that my car is salvaged but my understanding you can usually still buy collision/comprehensive but they may want to see your car first. As for DMV I had to go to 3 different places:

a) a CHP office with paperwork about repair and parts used, I guess they wanted to make sure I didn't use parts that were stolen
b) a certified salvage inspection shop
c) DMV office - auto club doesn't do salvage title registrations

I'm not totally sure about the total cost of the above, it may have been more than $100, I know it registered in my memory as an expense I didn't plan for.

I am documenting the California process and wiil be posted here for others to know.
 
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