What is the value of a totaled vehicle?

Answer
The value of a totalled vehicle is an assessment of what that vehicle's actual cash value was prior to the loss. States vary in how carrier's assess a total loss evaluation. For instance, in NY a carrier has the option of using the "book" value such as Kelly Blue Book or NADA, doing a "market value survey" which is essentially reviewing the "market value" of similar vehicles for sale in the same area (such as the classifieds in the newspaper), or they may use an average of the two. In any case, it is not the actual price you paid for the vehicle brand new as the vehicle would have been subject to depreciation.

What happens if you have no insurance but the other driver was at fault?

No Insurance, But Other Driver at Fault
Generally, the same thing that would happen if you did have insurance. Although every state has different insurance laws, fault is not determined by who has or does not have insurance. This is a common mistake. However, all states have penalties for driving uninsured and in most states, they can be severe. Penalties such as license suspension, heavy fines, road crew assignments, etc. This is in addition to the increased cost of your insurance. But, this is true whether you have an accident or not; simply being pulled over for any traffic violation will have the same result. And if you did cause the accident? Oh, man....

Here are more opinions and answers from other FAQ Farmers:


In the cases where the other driver was at fault, they (or their insurer) should pay. However, YOU will have to submit the claim to their insurance carrier. And their carrier will say they are not going to pay because yada-yada-yada. So then you have to sue. In most jursidictions, each driver will collect from their own insurance company and the companies take care of all the nasty stuff.

I was just in an accident and immediately began calling attorneys. Get an attorney, and don't just handle it yourself. Try to go for a traffic law attorney and claim for personal injury. Whatever you do don't give a statement to the insurance company and don't let them talk to anyone but your attorney. They may seem nice, but they aren't your friend, and you really can view yourself as the enemy toward them. I was told the insurance adjuster would be out there by today, and they still haven't come. The car accident happened almost a week ago and my car is sitting out in a lot uncovered with the interior exposed. Get insurance if you can, even liability, because at least you'll have help from an insurance company that's willing to deal with the issues for you.

Do you have to report all car accidents to your insurance company?

Yes, auto insurance policy states that you are required to report all accidents (losses) immediately.
There are a few reasons for this.

The carrier wants to quickly see your vehicle - take photos and write an estimate. If it was a single vehicle loss, and no monies are owed to any other party, they STILL want to do this because, essentially, they are not still insuring the 'same' vehicle. It is now damaged and likely has a different estimated value. Even though damage appraisers can distinguish old damage from new, your carrier has the right to know the condition of this insured vehicle. EVEN IF you don't carry first party collsion coverage on this vehicle, you could have another accident in the future and if we view this vehicle for THAT accident, we already know the damage incurred in the prior accident.

If you were in a two car or multiple car collision, your carrier needs to speak with you as soon as possible after the accident - and you should WANT to also; you certainly want both your carrier AND the carriers of any other involved vehicles to hear your side of the story. If you don't, they have only the version given by the other parties and have to make their liability decisions based on what they've heard.

Who's responsible for hit and run damage?

The question is, 'who's responsible for hit and run damage?', The 'runner' would be responsible of course, but if they 'ran' chances are they may not be caught and thus made responsible for their actions. Hopefully the victim got a license plate (if that were possible and not just hit while parked and no one around to witness this accident) and this can be traced either thru their local law enforcement agency or their states DMV.

If you have collision coverage you can file the claim, and have your vehicle repaired (subject to your deductible) your company will attempt to subrogate the guilty party, recouping your deductible and their payout (if information on fleeing vehicle is available).

You do not say which state you are in, so I couldn't check that states requirements or coverage definitions directly, however I think it needs to be clarified that uninsured motorist coverage (in all but very few states that mandate UM also includes UMPD), will ONLY cover injuries and costs associated with the injury caused by a negligent uninsured driver. Uninsured motorist property damage coverage, is NOT a required, but rather optional coverage that (unfortunately), most people neither know about or have. Will cover the physcial damage to your vehicle caused by a negligent uninsured driver subject to the deductible. Most people however would not see the necessity of carrying UMPD if they have collision coverage. There is no deductible for uninsured motorist coverage.


Responsibility for Hit and Run Damage
Here are answers and opinions from FAQ Farmers:


The driver and or the owner of the vehicle being driven is responsible for the damage caused. Since it was a hit and run, I assume no coverge on their part. If you have Full coverage Insurance or at least uninsured motorists, then your policy will cover the loss. A police report is recommended.

This is a good question, particularly since it's such a frustrating thing. The best way to look at it is this: Your deductible has nothing to do with liability. Rather, your deductible relates to the rates you pay for insurance, and how much of the damages you are willing to absorb out-of-pocket. Your insurance carrier considers your deductible the amount you agreed to pay in any accident, regardless of fault and assuming your carrier is paying for damages to your vehicle. For instance, say you're sitting at a red light, and a drunk driver comes up behind you and rear ends your vehicle. Obviously, you're not at-fault for that; however, if you choose to go through your own insurance, you'll still be required to pay your deductible when you have your vehicle repaired. Unfortunately, unlike an accident in which the other driver is known, your insurance company can't go after a hit-and-run driver (this is called "subrogation," which most insurance companies are happy to pursue when they can because they want their money back, too). So, unless your insurance policy waives deductibles for hit-and-run accidents (which is rare), you'll be paying.

Be careful about reporting this if the damage is minimal. Someone dented my truck overnight in a parking lot. I reported it to my insurance company, the repair was $526. I paid the $500 deductable, and they paid the $26. About 4.5 years later, I'm shopping for new insurance, and the insurance companies are adding about $130/6-months because of that 'accident'.

EXACTLY.. (referring to the last post).. I was in a hit and run, my car was totaled. My own insurance company paid me $5,196 for my dead Honda Civic (RIP). But the pay out was from my collision insurance. SO... that claims record shows up when I try to shop around to other insurance companies... even though my carrier (GEICO) coded the accident as me being NOT at fault... the other companies don't care! They see your claims history, and their risk algorhithms return higher rates! It's crap!

If you have uninsured motorist coverage, it should cover this damage. It could depend upon on policy language and state law, but only to the extent that crafty adjusters use such reasons, falsely, to convince their trusting insureds not to pursue coverage for the deductible. While there is not a deductible, per se, for this coverage, an insured is usually required to pay 'the first $250' in damages. This is an important distinction; while you can choose varying amounts for your deductible, which will influence your premium amount, the amount you pay toward your damages due to an uninsured motorist does NOT change, allowing you to influence your premium amount. Additionally, because it was paid under Uninsured Motorist coverage, it will be clear to any potential NEW carrier, that this was NOT an at fault accident. And to further complicate matters, with some insurance carriers, you could possibly be required to identify the hit-run driver in order to trigger the UM coverage. (license plate, year/make/model/color, etc. You may not have to have name, rank, & serial number.).
Again, this is inevitably an insurance adjuster ploy. The only legitimate reason for which an adjuster may ask for such information is when an insured damages their own car and claims that the cause was another car which forced them off the road but did not actually strike their vehicle. (known in the trade as a "phantom" driver claim).