Re: Help with insurance appraisal

[TCame86712@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-01 12:27:45 EDT, you write:

> In my experience, the insurer NEVER gets the TITLE to the 'totalled' car
>  unless YOU give it to him. If you 'buy back' the car, in reality all you
are
>  doing is settling for the difference between the appraised value and what
>  the insurance company expects to get when the car is sold. 

I can only speak from experience in California, and each state has different
laws, I'm sure. But here, the title never changes hands in the event of a
salvage retention. You never loose possesion of your car. The public
perception is that it is "bought back" from the insurance company, but in
reality they never bought it from you to begin with. The DMV requires the
insurance company to file a notice with them that the car is a total loss.
You are not permitted to drive it again until you physically take the car to
the DMV and prove that it has been repaired, and they allow you to
re-register it. Notice that it is the State that requires this, and not the
insurance company.   

>  
>  In Illinois, the 'totalled' car is still licensed and legal to drive -
>  unless the TITLE is transferred to someone else, YOU STILL OWN THE CAR,
>  regardless of whet ANYONE else says. The insurer has no right to your
>  property unless you agree to give it to him. Of course, the onus is on the
>  owner to make whatever repairs are required to make the vehicle drivable 
> again.
>  
>  In the absence of state laws requiring certain disposition of a 'totalled'
>  car (and I suppose some states REQUIRE it to be 'junked'), the ownership
of
>  a vehicle does not change without the explicit approval of the owner of
>  record, and the transfer of the title. The sense of this thread seems to
be
>  that some people think that because they are insured, the insurer
>  automatically has the right to decide ownership of the car. This is not
so!
>  
>  Now, if you let the insurer have the title, and it gets sold to a scrap
>  yard, it WILL get that 'salvage' title, and is probably never going to see
>  the road again, until it is made into a new car...
>  
>  Sorry about the rant.
>  
 By the way, WHAT'S with ALL the CAPITALIZED words in all of your posting
about INSURANCE, Chuck? Kind of APPEARS that you're a little ANGRY about this
SUBJECT. Do you really feel that THREATENED by INSURANCE COMPANIES?...(just
an observation)

Todd


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