You have been in a serious car accident and are wondering whether your car insurance company will consider your car totaled. In order to determine whether or not a car is totaled insurance companies in Jacksonville will look at the actual cash value at the time of the accident when they take into account depreciation. Cars usually depreciate at a rate of between 15% and 25% in the first 5 years and higher after that. Basically, at a certain point it is cheaper to replace than repair.
Your insurance company will also take into account the salvage value – this is the value of the parts of the car if they are stripped and sold for recycling. If the salvage value is high then the car is most likely going to be considered totaled. The last factor that they will look at is any unseen damage in the car – they assume that there has been internal damage that will increase the cost of repairs.
Unfortunately, insurance companies are not always as easy to deal with. There are many cases where they drag their feet after a car has been totaled to avoid giving you a check so that you can buy another car. This is not only unfair, it is also inconveniencing. That is why it is in your best interest to hire a Jacksonville car accident lawyer. There are several things that he will do for you.
First, they will bring an independent assessor who will make an assessment as to whether or not your car is totaled – insurance companies are not always on the up and up. The second thing that he will do is help you file your claim – often, claims are delayed because claimants fill in forms wrong. After he files it is his job to make sure that your claim is dealt with in a timely manner – they know all the right offices to visit in the insurance company and they also know who can help process your claim faster.
Some people worry about the cost of hiring a Jacksonville car accident lawyer. It is more expensive not to hire one when you take into account how much running around you will have to do to get your claim dealt with.
