Insurance Totaling My 2018 Leaf with New Battery Pack and not giving fair market value!

[DIME]

Hi,
I urgently need some one's advice. My 2018 Leaf got in accident recently and Insurance has decided to total it. I replaced the HV Battery Pack recently on Aug 2024. With the new battery pack, I was getting 160 miles on full charge (though it has published range of 150 miles). I just drove 4k before accident. Its practically like a new car. The accident did not damage Battery pack.
But the insurance company just going by year and miles on car to get the fair market value and they decided to total the car.
They said, i need to provide proof that the EV car with new battery significantly increases the car value.
How and from where can we get this kind of proof?. It seems its upon consumers to find the any car listed with new battery pack with higher value. I could not find any.
Any suggestions from fellow members?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. Is the pack brand new, or a good used one? One route you might consider, PITA though it be, would be to buy the car back for a modest price, and then sell it to someone looking for a good used one. The buy back price should be fairly low, for the same reasons that are stopping you from getting a good reimbursement...

 

[DIME]

Its a brand new battery pack. The collision center said, if i take car from them and repair my self, it will be consider salvage title and insurance company may not insure it.. I am not sure how all this works. If i buyback, i need to repair it somewhere and repair estimate is almost same as what they are giving me. I don't now trust collision center.

 

[GaleHawkins]

Its a brand new battery pack. The collision center said, if i take car from them and repair my self, it will be consider salvage title and insurance company may not insure it.. I am not sure how all this works. If i buyback, i need to repair it somewhere and repair estimate is almost same as what they are giving me. I don't now trust collision center.

Our 2016 SL got totalled 8 months after getting the new 40 kWh pack under warranty. Found a mint 2015 SV totalled due to electrical problem and got our 2016 back on the road for less than the insurance check
Many cars on the road in Kentucky today have salvage titles. I was not about to let that new battery get away from me. I can get in and out of the leaf in the model y just fine. I cannot get in a model 3 due to arthritis. Was planning to use 27K mile 24 kWh 2015 battery in a solar system but Covid happened. All I needed was the loaded front cap, windshield and air bags.

 

[cornbinder89]

My advice, for what it is worth:
Try and establish a relationship with a good body shop before you need one. I always "self insured" my self for damage (except long ago when I bought my 1st new vehicle). In recent years I have needed body work for deer strikes a few times.
Then came the accident where a driver pulled in front of my semi tractor. He was at fault (Not always the truck is at fault, in fact it is more rare they are) and his insurance had to pay. They wanted to total my tractor because it was over 30 years old. I had just rebuilt the engine and it had many new parts. I talked to my body shop and he said he would work to keep it under total, I said do that even if you can't fix it for that and I'll supply parts (I had some" and make up the difference.
That way I got my truck fixed, no branded title, and the insurance picked up most of the bill.
If your priority is to have the "Insurance pay" than you may have to accept what they come up with.
If your priority is to keep the vehicle, then working with a reputable shop that can go to bat for you via the estimate and are willing to throw a few bucks into the pot yourself, to keep what you have, than my method might work for you.

 

[MARK4JON]

Depends on your situation. If you really want to keep the car, but back and have it repaired at a body shop. That will be break even, but you will most likely have a salvage title car. Alternately, you can buy back and part out the car and since you have almost new 40kw pack (you may get upwards of 5k) you can sell just the pack or the car as a whole for parts, if you have the time and resources to handle that.

 

[knightmb]

Hi,
I urgently need some one's advice. My 2018 Leaf got in accident recently and Insurance has decided to total it. I replaced the HV Battery Pack recently on Aug 2024. With the new battery pack, I was getting 160 miles on full charge (though it has published range of 150 miles). I just drove 4k before accident. Its practically like a new car. The accident did not damage Battery pack.
But the insurance company just going by year and miles on car to get the fair market value and they decided to total the car.
They said, i need to provide proof that the EV car with new battery significantly increases the car value.
How and from where can we get this kind of proof?. It seems its upon consumers to find the any car listed with new battery pack with higher value. I could not find any.
Any suggestions from fellow members?

If the insurance company refuses to acknowledge the value of the new battery pack even with receipts because you have proof that you bought and installed the new battery pack right? If after all of that they refuse, then take your battery pack and let them use the same value for a totaled out vehicle. You'll have no issues finding a buyer for a new battery pack and the extra money plus the insurance amount can be put towards your next vehicle purchase. I've had to do this with vehicles in the past where I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on new replacement parts only to have the vehicle get totaled with no damage to the new parts soon after. It was a brand new Volvo gas tank in my experience where the front of the car got totaled and insurance didn't want to add in the value of the new tank. I told them if they didn't include the value of the tank I would just remove it and put the old one back on. They decided to give a higher total value after that. In truth, I didn't have the old tank as it was already scrapped, lol.
Tell the insurance company if they don't include the value of that new battery, you'll put the old battery back instead, even if you really can't, they won't know any better, unless they read this forum?
If the insurance company won't pay, they don't play.

 

[DIME]

Well it seems like Insurance company is not changing their decision. If they had included new battery pack in their valuation, the car would not have totalled.
I do not have skillset to take out the battery pack and store it safely somewhere before i can sell to someone. This will be my last EV car. I loved leaf, but insurance company has not been evolved yet to understand how new battery pack increases the value of car. I think, they are inviting a big lawsuit in future.
Insurance company not giviing enough time as well. I am thinking about hiring lawyer. But , my next car will be a regular car. I bought EV thinking , will be helping enviromment.. Now , with new battery pack and perfectly alright car- they are totaling it... well, this has created more damaged to environment.
I am surprised, after so many years of EVs in US market- still insurance company not able to recognize value of new battery pack in EV car! I will miss my leaf!

 

[cornbinder89]

sounds to me your issue is with the insurance company, not EV's or the Leaf. That will not change with a ICE vehicle.
Your profile does not say where you are at, so no way to know what may or may not be available in terms of arbitration or other legal remedies.
Yes, it may take a law suit, but if no one steps up to the plate and forces the issue, insurance companies will do what is in their best interest not yours.
It is why I have tended to "self insure" because in a bad situation it is very unlikely that you will get "made whole" by a replacement car or the cash equivalent to replace the car.

 

[Drew21]

To the OP - you mentioned serious concern about having a salvage title and getting the car insured in the future. I have owned several salvage title cars over the years in multiple states and have never had any issues. If you let us know where you're located someone can likely provide more specific information regarding any insurance implications.

To my knowledge, the point of the salvage title is to indicate that the car was repaired and meets some minimum standards allowing it to be on the road. If repaired properly, a salvage title car is no different from any other car on the road in terms of safety or reliability.

So, if you want to keep the car for the long term, buy it back, get it repaired, and drive it. What's the problem with that?

 

[EVPowers]

Not sure where you are located, but I know of a few independent EV shops (like mine) that may be interested in talking with you more.
Feel free to message me to discuss.

Certainly may be able to provide you data to share with the insurance. Or speak to them directly.

 

[kmcmahan]

Hi,
I urgently need some one's advice. My 2018 Leaf got in accident recently and Insurance has decided to total it. I replaced the HV Battery Pack recently on Aug 2024. With the new battery pack, I was getting 160 miles on full charge (though it has published range of 150 miles). I just drove 4k before accident. Its practically like a new car. The accident did not damage Battery pack.
But the insurance company just going by year and miles on car to get the fair market value and they decided to total the car.
They said, i need to provide proof that the EV car with new battery significantly increases the car value.
How and from where can we get this kind of proof?. It seems its upon consumers to find the any car listed with new battery pack with higher value. I could not find any.
Any suggestions from fellow members?

Hi,
I urgently need some one's advice. My 2018 Leaf got in accident recently and Insurance has decided to total it. I replaced the HV Battery Pack recently on Aug 2024. With the new battery pack, I was getting 160 miles on full charge (though it has published range of 150 miles). I just drove 4k before accident. Its practically like a new car. The accident did not damage Battery pack.
But the insurance company just going by year and miles on car to get the fair market value and they decided to total the car.
They said, i need to provide proof that the EV car with new battery significantly increases the car value.
How and from where can we get this kind of proof?. It seems its upon consumers to find the any car listed with new battery pack with higher value. I could not find any.
Any suggestions from fellow members?

Hello DIME What is your location and what is the insurance company offering to settle. Thanks Kevin