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OY- wreck advice

JJacobs

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Collins CO
So, I got in a nasty multi-car pileup recently. My car was hit from behind, likely hard enough to total it. The tow yard has it until Monday, I will be picking it up and towing it to my employer's shop to avoid further storage fees. I have full coverage on it, but I was not cited and the car behind me was.
So here's where it gets sticky, the car is a 2012MY and has over 10K of mods on it. Most of the modifications, if not all, were unhurt in the collision. They were not declared with my insurance company, but my understanding is that should not matter as it will be on the other car's ins co.

I've been told I need to leave it completely as-is how it was at the time of the collision and others advise to start removing my parts as soon as I get the car back.
Who's right?

Will I ever get my mods money back without having to return the car to stock? I'm thinking if it gets totaled (hope so!) that I may have a very limited time frame to remove the parts, which unfortunately involves very internal engine components..

Any thoughts here? Thanks

heh- should say OT above not OY..
 
who is the insurance company for the car that his you?
last time i had this happen i had to return the car to stock IE if i removed an aftermarket part then i had to replace it with an OE part
since its not your insurance though, i will assume if you can show proof (receipts) then they should cover a percent of it. when my dodge was stolen i had to dig up receipts for the performance parts on it to be covered but even then it was only ~25% of what those parts cost me
 
I don't know, she went off in an ambulance before I could find out. The CSP has all that info, will call the officer on Monday.

Most everything is easy enough to put back to stock except for the built engine. That's gonna suck, I think.
 
Several years ago we had our Expedition stolen and the thieves burned it to the ground. I had a few aftermarket parts on it. I had to fight the insurance company to cover the cost even with receipts. I seem to recall if the parts were installed they would not cover it, but if the parts were in the vehicle uninstalled the would cover it. My agent specifically stated things like stereo equipment. Seemed odd to me at the time and that's probably why I remember it.
Oh, my insurance is state farm. Good luck!
 
As soon as you figure out the insurance company call them tell them that the engine is completely gone through and has upgrades. If you have receipts that will help a ton in getting most of that back. I work at an insurance auction. My Dad is an adjuster for usaa I will ask him to see what they do about that.
 
If they give you any problems, contact a good lawyer. A simple letter and a promise of litigation about your injuries will bring surprising results. Give me a call if you need help. I have a bit of experience in this.

The key is if you are having to deal with their insurance or if they don't have insurance, then yours. Their insurance has no option but to pay for the total damages. They can't refuse to pay for damage just because it wasn't stock, unless that is what caused the accident. Now if it is your insurance, then you need to read the policy real close.
 
When my 98 XJ was wrecked I removed the lift and 32's from it before bringing it into the body shop that was to do the estimates for USAA. I got 5500$ for it.

I would personally take all of the parts back off of it assuming you still have stock parts to go in their place. Even if the insurance company is nice about it and increases your car's value due to the mods you aren't going to get full value of your parts. You could always buy it back and then remove the parts, but considering its a brand new car I'm sure you'll be relying on GAP coverage to pay it off after the insurance check falls short.
 
Plan for this to be a lengthy process, any previous accidents I have been associated with have taken 2-4 weeks to settle out.

Probably should not take a single item off the car if someone was injured in the accident, until the process gets further down the line.

There are lots of negotiable parts of this whole process. Even the "total vs repair" is negotiable too. Push for the total part as they will probably be biased for the repair part.

Tell them you have personal items on the car, which includes modifications and they will probably give you authority to remove them as part of the settlement.

Be prepared to hire an attorney as mentioned above and openly discuss that you have items on the car that you have to have removed if it is totaled.

PS... This sucks!! Loved that car!
 
same thing recently happend to me, insurance said if i claimed any anymarket part, you need to come up with ever receipt and they will pay used price on all aftermarket parts
 
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